After a long research journey I ended up with the Mobapad M12 S. A bit surprised how few mainstream media sites gave any coverage to Joycon replacements. But the small YouTuber community was a buzz with how great these were. So I took the plunge and spent my own money.

Spoiler alert: they’re not.

I’ve had the controllers for over a month now and the experience has never gotten better than awkward. And I really wish I could get my money back.

Let’s start with the build quality. On first glance it seems pretty sturdy. Initially the controllers even remove the screen flex that the official Joycon exhibit. However within days of heavy gaming I noticed issues. The Joycon stared to flex on the switch (magnets weakened I guess ?), scratches and smudges all over the joy con handles from basic use. Worse yet the (overly clicky) buttons started to get stuck and not register presses. Leading to some issues in games.

It’s been pretty well stated on the M12s that vibration motor isn’t as good as HD rumble. What most people neglected to mention is the games still treat the normal motors as HD motors. Meaning you get long drawn out and loud vibrations that sound and feel awful. Some games are worse than others but they are all terrible.

Ergonomics which is suppose to be a key selling point for devices like this are also not great. The placement of the buttons like screenshot, home and even their custom macro buttons are all to close together. It’s far too easy to accidentally hit the wrong button. The custom buttons in the back of the controller are placed right where your grip and I accidentally click them all the time. The buttons issue led to a scenario where I somehow set a macro to screenshot and enabled turbo. Which lead to my memory card filling up with screenshots taken every second. Spent an hour deleting photos.

The joystick, standard buttons and shoulder buttons for me are still awkwardly placed. I still feel fatigue and cramping with any long play sessions. Especially if I’m playing lying in bed. No matter what I tired I still felt like I wasn’t able to hold the controller comfortably and play. Especially in games like Metroid prime and StarFox.

Even the joysticks supposedly “TMR” also have issues with travel and centering. Not to mention the Mobapad sticks travel pale in comparison to the pro controller sticks which aren’t TMR. Meaning in games which require more precise stick control have issues. You will still hit walls avoiding things in StarFox you will still hit walls you shouldn’t in MarioKart.

The M12S can be found on sale for 80 bucks much of the time. But MSRPs for as much as the switch 2 Joycon do. And considering what you are getting I think it’s far too expensive for something that feels this cheap.

Reading that the Nyxi controllers have durability issues and Crked just a grip that uses Bluetooth. I feel confident saying at this point there is no true pro Joycon controller that’s worth purchasing yet in 2026.

Also do not listen to the small switch controller YouTube community. Save your money for now and do lots of research!