I was initially excited to review the Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 because I was getting kind of sick of having to manually turn on my Nintendo Switch 2 in order to use my old Switch Pro Controller. Jokes aside, I was actually more interested because I had never really used third-party peripherals in my gaming experience.
I had always maintained the perception that first-party hardware was always the way to go. But times have changed, and so many more solid hardware makers have entered the playing field. The Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 lands somewhere in the middle for me, offering a sleek, well-constructed controller that doesn’t always work as well as you’d expect.
In terms of design, the Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 feels pretty good in the hands. Its size is about the same as the first-party Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller—sizing in at 156mm x 104mm x 60mm in comparison to the Pro Controller’s 105mm x 148mm x 60.2mm. Sometimes third-party buttons can feel a little soft or floaty, but all the face buttons, as well as the D-Pad, have a solid tactile feel when pressed.
On top of this, unlike the standard Joy-Cons or Pro Controllers, the ZR/ZL have a more articulated trigger, similar to the PlayStation 5 controllers. However, if players prefer a more traditional feel, the Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 comes with trigger stops for more precise inputs. These stops are also present for the GR/GL buttons in order to reduce accidental presses.
“But my biggest issue with the Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 is its fairly consistent connection issues.”
Furthermore, the Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2’s GRB lighting gives the controller a distinct sense of flair and personality over first-party Nintendo offerings. Lighting the face buttons, joysticks, D-Pad, as well as the seam of the controller, players can choose from two multicolour profiles or a selection of static colours.
However, the devil’s in the details and in a few aspects, the Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 leaves a little to be desired. For starters, as far as I can tell, the controller doesn’t have gyro controls, which may not be a dealbreaker for some, but it certainly felt weird for me, considering how many Nintendo games utilize gyro functionality. The Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 covers for this by implementing Hall Effect sticks, which certainly make them far more precise and functional than the standard Joy-Con or Pro Controller sticks.
But my biggest issue with the Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 is its fairly consistent connection issues. I tested the controller sitting at the normal range from my couch to the Switch 2 (about eight feet) with something simple like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and something a bit more demanding like Street Fighter 6 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.
During both tests, the controller would frequently fail to read inputs, get stuck holding a single one—often sending Link careening off a cliff. Othertimes it would seemingly store inputs so after a few seconds of inactivity, the menu scrolls or actions would blast wildly out of control. Street Fighter 6 became practically unplayable, as more often than not, combos or special move inputs would go completely unread and poor Chun Li would just stand there getting her head kicked in.
When I moved closer to the Switch 2 (no more than five feet), the controller more consistently stayed connected, but it would still drop out from time to time. It just felt incredibly disappointing that a controller that requires a dedicated Bluetooth dongle to function would have such consistent issues at a pretty standard range.
And during my test, the Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 didn’t seem to even stay connected to the system, with almost every time I powered it on it would show the “Paired” icon with my Switch 2. Because of this, the controller couldn’t even reliably power on the system, which may only be a minor annoyance, but it is an annoyance nonetheless.
Hopefully, these issues can be patched with further firmware updates, because if not for them, I would say the Snakebyte Gamepad Pro S2 is genuinely worth having as a fairly inexpensive alternative to the Switch 2 Pro Controller. The unit itself feels good in the hands, and it’s got a nice visual flair, but at the end of the day, a controller needs to work.
