I’ve been playing my Nintendo Switch more and more recently due to being stuck at home. Subsequently, I’ve been falling in love with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Often, I find that playing on a bigger screen is more fun, so I like plugging my Nintendo Switch into the charging stand and running it on the TV or my computer. The controllers for the Nintendo Switch often glitch a bit if something is blocking the signal, or sometimes they just feel like they are a bit small for me to use, so I started using a controller instead. The Afterglow Deluxe+ Audio Wired Controller from PDP, to be exact.
The design of the controller is exactly like that of an Xbox controller, which is perfect as my Xbox One is what I primarily game from and use a controller for. It’s the best controller in our house, so having this Nintendo Switch controller laid out in the same way is great. The look of the Afterglow Deluxe+ Audio Wired Controller is what captured my attention.
As the name may have told you, the controller is actually transparent with glowing features. It glows in several different colors, with loads of different customization features. Holding down a small button with the right joystick and pressing other buttons on the controller will allow you to customise the different colors and lights within. The D-Pad changes the color, whereas clicking the other joystick will change the light to plain white. The controller also has a few different modes for the lighting, which can be flipped through by hitting this same function button and clicking the two bumpers. Some of these modes slowly cycle through your picked color, making it lighter and darker, another one cycles through the entire rainbow, and leaves a solid color that you picked. The best mode is ‘Stick Mode’ which literally has the controller changing color in reaction to moving the joystick. You can also change the brightness of the controller if you wish!
All of these color customisations really make the controller feel your own and bring a lot of color and light into what you are playing with. It just feels super cool. It’s also neat seeing all of the bits and bobs within the controller due to its transparency. Sometimes, clear technology does feel a bit flimsy, but the Afterglow Deluxe+ Audio Wired Controller feels good. The quality of the plastic feels thick, the joysticks move nicely and all of the buttons work super well.
The controller also has a jack which supports in-game chat and audio — if that’s something you’d like to use and rather have closer to you and away from your Nintendo Switch.
The back of the controller has some back-pad buttons that feel pretty interesting, but aren’t something I play, so I just have left them alone and treated this as a normal controller. Many of the Nintendo Switch games have motion controls, which the Afterglow Deluxe+ Audio Wired Controller is capable of doing, another plus if you play those types of games.
To finish it off, and as somewhat of a surprise, the controller is actually fully licensed by Nintendo — which is another reason why it is so high quality, it’s theoretically a Nintendo Product.
Personally, I fell in love with this controller after seeing it light up, but the controller is more than the beautiful lights that really make it shine. It’s very good quality, not just a gimmick, and with a large number of features, the Afterglow Deluxe+ Audio Wired Controller is a great pick for anyone looking for a lovely controller for their Nintendo Switch.
You can pick up an Afterglow Deluxe+ Audio Wired Controller on Amazon. (There is even a wireless version if you don’t like wires.)
