CRKD announced a pair of new drift-resistant controllers this week, one of which, the Ult Pro, is a surprisingly feature-packed Pro-style wireless controller that’s compatible with the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, PC, mobile, and smart TVs, and costs just $70. The other, the $30 Atom Plus, is an upgraded version of the company’s adorable, keychain-sized wireless Atom controller, now with drift-free tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) sticks and other improvements. Both are set for a June release.
Ult Pro
The Ult Pro is the headliner here, and not just because, at $70, it undercuts the first-party Switch 2 Pro Controller by a full $20. It also comes with a swath of pro-level features, including six mappable buttons (four back buttons and two extra shoulder buttons), swappable stick caps and d-pad, and more. That stuff alone makes it a compelling Switch or Switch 2 accessory. The Ult Pro connects via Bluetooth or 2.4GHz wireless and a paired dongle that ships in the package, and it also comes with its own charging cradle for its rechargeable battery, similar to devices like 8bitdo’s Ultimate Bluetooth Controller.
As for some of the more pro-style features, those include the ability to independently switch each of the Hall effects shoulder triggers between analog and hair-trigger mode when used as a PC controller (they’re digital-only on the Switch or Switch 2), as well as a “No Deadzone Mode” for the analog sticks, making it so they respond immediately when moved, rather than waiting until you’ve pushed the sticks a certain distance from their center before they do anything. There’s also a 1,000Hz polling rate when the controller is used on PC, a turbo function, and the controller saves connections to different devices and has a switch for toggling between them, so you don’t have to re-pair if you move from your Switch to your PC.
All of that sounds a little bonkers for a $70 controller, and whether it all adds up to something truly good remains to be seen. It’s certainly compelling, and CRKD has a good track record so far, at least based on IGN’s reviews of its Les Paul guitar controller, Neo S gamepad, and fret button attachment. All the same, I’d wait for reviewers to get their hands on the Ult Pro to see if it truly passes muster.
Atom Plus
Then there’s the Atom+, which now has TMR analog sticks, where before it only had a d-pad. That may be the most obvious change to the original Atom’s miniature, Super Nintendo controller-style chassis, but it’s far from the only one. The company also rearranged the shoulder buttons so that they’re both full-sized and arranged one behind the other, and added rumble, dual four-way toggle buttons, turbo mode, and programmable buttons.
The Atom Plus comes in two transparent shell options – Smoke Black and Glacier Blue – and two solid ones – Retro Purple and Pal Grey. At $30, it’s unsurprisingly pricier than its $20 predecessor. It’s also a little bigger, at 90mm (3.5in) wide, compared to the roughly 69mm (2.7in)-wide Atom.
Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom’s Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn’t be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.
