Turtle Beach has announced a whole slew of officially licensed Nintendo Switch 2 accessories are on their way starting in November. That includes two, three, or six new controllers, depending on how you want to count them, as well as some new cases for transporting your new Switch 2.
Let’s talk controllers first. They come in three visual styles – called Afterglow, Afterglow Wave, and Rematch – each with wired and wireless versions. Generally, though, you can think of these as pretty much the same controller, with some slight feature differences between the wired and wireless versions.
If you’re not a fan of Turtle Beach’s usual chunky, 1990s-third-party look, the good news is that these spring forth from a PDP-branded lineup of original Switch controllers, debuted before Turtle Beach’s acquisition of PDP last year. In other words, they’re shaped a lot more like Nintendo’s relatively unassuming Switch 2 Pro controller than whatever the Mad Catz is going on here, and even than a lot of other third-party Switch 2 controllers.
That doesn’t mean Turtle Beach’s new Switch 2 controllers lack flair! The translucent Afterglow has customizable RGBs lighting it from within, while the Afterglow Wave has its own custom RGB lighting that shines through wavy lines that carve through its opaque black, blue, purple, or white plastic shell. If you happen to think RGBs are just a pointless extravagance, the Turtle Beach Rematch Wireless Controller for the Switch 2 comes only in black, with bright red rings around its joysticks.
Each of these controllers features Tunneling Magnetoresistance (TMR) sticks – the other big drift-resistant approach besides hall effects – up to 30 feet of wireless range and as much as 20 hours of play time on a charge. They each have mappable back buttons, motion controls, and a GameChat button. The wired versions, which will cost $29.99 each, will lose motion control but gain a 3.5mm audio jack that you could use for GameChat purposes. It’s not clear whether any of these can actually wake a sleeping Nintendo Switch 2, but for the price – $64.99 for wireless and $29.99 for wired – they sound like they’ll be nice, cheaper player two options when the Rematch launches first on November 24th. (The rest will trickle out between late November and January next year.)
Turtle Beach also introduced some new Switch 2 cases, like a $19.99 PlayTrek Slim Case in black that hugs the Switch 2 and looks a lot like the Tomtoc one that IGN tested and loved earlier this year. It also released a slightly-less-compact $24.99 PlayTrek Travel Case, which you can buy now in black or white. And on November 12th, the company will roll out a 2-in-1 case, comprised of a travel-style Switch 2 case, and a larger bucket-style one that the company says can hold your dock, power adapter, two extra Joy-Cons, and a standard wireless gamepad. (Although I’m curious if I can cram in that Virtual Boy accessory I’m going to buy as soon as I possibly can.)
Finally, Turtle Beach released a new Airlite Fit Wired Gaming Headset for the Switch 2. These closed-back, over-ear headphones have 40mm drivers, a 3.8ft, 3.5mm audio cable, and an integrated headset mic that you can flip up to mute. The company says they’re noise-isolating, but don’t confuse that with active noise-cancellation – these just tamp down noise with their ear cushions. Still, they could be nice, and they’re not terribly pricey at $27.99. If you don’t already have a good gaming headset, they might be worth a shot.
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.
