The Gameboy Advance was a true upgrade of the previous Gameboy hardware with more buttons to make use of, thousands of colours, amazing battery life, superior hardware and lastly tons of outstanding game releases. The Game Boy Advance has had many, many fantastic games in it's library but only ten of the very best of the GBA handheld will appear on this list. So, which of the best games on the Game Boy Advance made the list.

10: Mario Kart Super Circuit

Developer: Intelligent Systems

The first Mario Kart handheld game was developed by none other than Intelligent Systems who are known for the Fire Emblem series and they did an exceptional job with this entry. While it wasn't the most innovative entry in the series it did introduce things like classic race tracks from previous games which would go on to become a staple for future games. And in terms of race tracks there are 40 really enjoyable race tracks to play with also multiplayer that you can play only requiring one game copy of the game with four GBAs. Mario Kart Super Circuit also had superb presentation with the visuals and audio and fantastic gameplay. Even with the limitations of the GBA hardware what was pulled off with Mario Kart Super Circuit was incredible and still it is one of the kart racing games on the system.

9: Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Developer: Game Freak

Continuing the additive trend of the Pokemon franchise was the release of Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire and also later Emerald which added more to the formula on top of the added features from Pokemon Gold/Sliver/Crystal. The games introduced double battles where Pokemon Trainers send out two Pokemon to fight, there were 135 new Pokemon added and there were Pokemon Contests to partake in. Multiplayer allowed for four Game Boy Advances together for Pokemon battles. Pokemon Emerald introduced the Battle Frontier and the Pokemon would animate as well. Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald has gone on to sell over 16 million units worldwide and become one of the fastest selling games despite not being too much of an upgrade over the previous Pokemon games.

8: The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap

Developer: Capcom/Flagship

After their success with the Game Boy Color Capcom returned to deliver another solid Zelda which would be for the Game Boy Advance. The game is a prequel to the Four Swords and Four Swords Adventure, in it Link finds a magical talking cap named Ezlo who can shrink Link down to mini size to access very unique areas in the game. In addition to the Minish Cap and the other Zelda staple items like bombs & bows there are new items like the Mole Mitts which allows Link to dig through earthen walls, the Gust Jar which can sucks up enemies and objects, and the Cane of Pacci which can flip objects upside down. With fun additive puzzles, enjoyable bosses and amazing graphics and sound, The Minish Cap is a must have for any Zelda fan.

7: Mario VS Donkey Kong

Developer: Nintendo Software Technology

Mario goes back to his rivalry against Donkey Kong in the form of a successor to the Donkey Kong game on the Game Boy with Mario VS Donkey Kong. In it Mario has to navigate through a series of levels inside a toy factory and rescue the little mini-Mario toys from Donkey Kong. It is your standard Mario platforming fare with different moves that Mario can do but also it has puzzle elements such as being able to activate switches that flip the blocks around, also the classic Hammer time is there too. With fun additive challenges and well tight gameplay it would later go on to spawn a franchise with plenty of sequels on other Nintendo platforms.

6: Advance Wars

Developer: Intelligent Systems

Advance Wars is part of the Wars franchise that started with the Japanese Exclusive games called Famicom Wars and the original Advance Wars game on the Game Boy Advance was the first time that players outside of Japan could experience the series. The game is a turn-based strategy game where you build and command your units on grid-based maps to attack enemy units and also capture enemy positions. The gameplay was made to be easy to understand without it being too complex for western tastes. With that Advance Wars is a very addictive turn-based strategy with plenty of depth to it and for a worldwide release it was a solid entry and also a brilliant first taste of the series.

5: Fire Emblem

Developer: Intelligent Systems

When Fire Emblem characters Marth and Roy were added in Super Smash Bros Melee people knew absolutely nothing about what Fire Emblem was until the two characters gain massive popularity to warrant western releases which then started with this entry on the Game Boy Advance. Fire Emblem has you guiding your units to victory against enemy units all with different classes and weapons that affect how each unit plays out. Take care and think very carefully about how you guide your units though because if a unit dies in battle they are gone forever, which makes for tense and strategic encounters. Thanks to the popularity of this game and the follow up Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones it allowed for future Fire Emblem games to reach regions outside of Japan.

4: Metroid Fusion

Developer: Nintendo R&D1

Released 8 years after Super Metroid on the SNES sees Samus go to a space station that has become infected with the shapeshifting parasite known X which Samus came into contact with and infected her old suit which gave birth to the most feared threat in the entire series, the SA-X. Metroid Fusion introduced mission-based progression, Samus can now grab ledges and climb ladders and of course Samus can gain new abilities over the course of the game like classic Morph Balls, Bombs, Missles and powered up Charge Blasts. It is all accompanied by an amazing soundtrack and superb graphics. With high sales and massive critical acclaim Metroid Fusion was an all-round fantastic package improving everything the previous Metroid games have done and also creating an outstanding title with some new things to it.

3: Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga

Developer: AlphaDream

The first of the incredible Mario & Luigi RPG series featured incredible turn-based battles that were different from other RPGs and also had plenty of whimsical and laugh out loud funny moments. After Princess Peach has her voice stolen and replaced with explosive bombs Mario & Luigi set off to Beanbean Kingdom to get it back from the villians Cackletta and Fawful. Battles focused on timing the button presses to do massive damage to enemies as well as being to dodge and counter attack enemy attacks. The presentation from the graphics to the animation is top notch superb and a musical score that has a legendary battle theme music track that is so catchy it is impossible to resist not listening to it especially when it is used for memes. Everything about it from the humour to the combat, exploration and the overall presentation are top notch quality and incredible for a GBA game aimed at younger audiences with some cases of adult humour done in a clever fashion.

2: Castlevania Aria of Sorrow

Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo

All three of the Game Boy Advance Castlevania games are the best titles but if I had to pick out the very best Castlevania game on the system then that would go to Castlevania Aria of Sorrow. Firstly, this is a Castlevania game set in the future with Soma Cruz who has the power to take the souls of defeated enemies and use them for either for combat or some puzzles and there are dozens of souls to collect that have different abilities and effects that you can collect and try out to see what they do. Add to that the game's storyline and new characters are incredible and have depth and also has one of the biggest plots reveals in the franchise that you wouldn't believe. The amount of praise, reception and high sales that it got allowed for a follow up game to spawn on the Nintendo DS which improves on all of the fundamentals of this game.

Honourable Mentions:

Mega Man Battle Network Series (Capcom)

Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green (Game Freak)

The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past Four Swords (Nintendo R&D2)

Sonic Advance 3 (Sonic Team/Dimps)

Wario Ware Inc Minigame Mania (Nintendo R&D1)

Wario Land 4 (Nintendo R&D1)

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (Marvelous Entertainment)

1: Golden Sun/Golden Sun The Lost Age

Developer: Camelot Software Planning

And taking up the top spot of this list is Game Boy Advance masterpiece Golden Sun. Both Golden Sun & Golden Sun The Lost Age are on this list together because the game is so massive that it had to be split into two games, one where you experience the original storyline as Isaac with the other storyline in The Lost Age as Felix. Both storylines offered deep characters, fantastic lore and one of the best use of the Game Boy audio chip which is still a blessing for all ears from legendary composer Motoi Sakuraba. What made Golden Sun so incredible was the the Psynergy System which were abilities that could be used not just during battles but also were used for environmental puzzle solving and little creatures called Djinn could not only strengthen characters' stats but also granted additional abilities which you could customize your characters with. The battle screens where incredible and seeing how each of the various Psynergy abilities and also summons that play out showed how amazingly well detailed the game's graphics are. Best of all that once you beat the first adventure you can then transfer all of your progress you made in that game into the sequel and continue your adventure on there. Since the first game's release on the Game Boy Advance Golden Sun has gained massive popularity and also a mass fanbase with many still callout that is one of the very best RPGs on Game Boy Advance. Despite how well loved the series it is it is however sad that it only gained three games with the last one being on the Nintendo DS and fans still demand a new entry in the beloved series which is why many GBA and Nintendo fans still fondly look back at the original game and still see why it holds a place in gamers hearts which is why it is the pick for the best GBA game of all time.

Even with the jump to full colour the Game Boy Color still offered several bad game releases. Whether they are quick and easy cash grabs to badly executed and poorly designed messes these are the worst of the worst of the Game Boy Color games.

Rules:

European Game Releases Only

10: Animorphs

Developer: Runny-Fun

Starting the list of is with an RPG based on the scholastic books by K. A. Applegate where the characters are able to transform into various animals. Animorphs on the Game Boy Color suffers from a ton of serious problems including terrible turn based battles where attacks barely hit enemies and fights become insanely difficult and areas where often confusing to get through due to little to no guidance to where to go. It is also an RPG where you don't save on a battery but instead only by utilizing passwords and I mean that is just incredibly stupid and dumb on all levels. Who would any RPG be using passwords to save your progress at that point in gaming?

9: WWF Betrayal

Developer: Wayforward Technologies

Before Wayforward became so known for Shantae they turned out a rather terrible wrestling game that was WWF Betrayal, rather than a standard wrestling game on a portable device wrestling fans were treated to a side scrolling beat em up and it wasn't fun. Attacks were sluggish, lackluster movesset, gameplay was monotonous, you only got to play as four characters and it just didn't feel like a WWF/WWE game (whatever) at all and something different entirely. This game got wrestled down and pined out quickly by better wrestling games especially ones that were out at the time like WWE No Mercy on the N64 which is more worthwhile and entertaining than this tedious slog that is a “Betrayal” to the WWF/WWE license.

8: The Mask of Zorro

Developer: Saffire

The Mask of Zorro had a series of great swashbuckling movies and books which although really insanely old are still vastly entertaining to look into. The games based on those however are not so good because being one of those movie tie-in games it shouldn't be surprising to anybody that this Game Boy Color is absolute trash. It was a poorly designed pile of garbage with difficult and annoying enemies alongside having horrible controls, awful platforming and combat and poor collision detection. Even if you are a fan of the classic films or books of Zorro this utterly flawed and boring trash is one to avoid.

7: Godzilla The Series Monster Wars

Developer: Crave Entertainment

Godzilla the king of the monsters has had a fantastic series of monster movies over the years alongside different cartoons that were not so good including the 1998 American cartoon based on the 1998 American film. Then Crave Entertainment gave Godzilla fans games based on that cartoon series with two Game Boy Color games that are vastly identical to each other in terms of gameplay and if I have to decide the worst of them all it would be Godzilla The Series Monster Wars. Every single stage is on-rails as you simply go to the right and move a crosshair to fire his fireballs to defeat enemies which all consist of human soldiers and armed tanks, helicopters with each stage having face off against other giant monsters like El Gusano Gigante, the Nanotech Creature and lastly Cyber-zilla. The gameplay was very boring and seriously repetitive and doesn't offer up any challenge what-so-ever let alone any semblance of controlling the giant monster. You don't get to destroy any buildings which as Godzilla is something you should be doing but in this game. It is seriously a Gozilla game where this and also the other game on the Game Boy Color should be destroyed by Gozilla's breath.

6: Men In Black The Series

Developer: Tiertex Design Studios

While the brief cutscenes may look nice for a Game Boy Color game everything else about the Men In Black The Series game however is completely terrible and the team responsible for this turd is none other than Tiertex who were known for terrible ports of arcade games including Street Fighter so it is no wonder why this game sucked. The gameplay was horrendous suffering from sluggish controls, shooting enemies is a chore due to enemies being too small making them impossible to shoot and trying to shoot upwards is very unnatural. There is no variety to any of the levels, has very simplistic gameplay that is not very fun to play, the game itself is super short and lastly the music audio is so awful. Everybody who dares to play this game should be neuralyzed and pretend that this doesn't exist.

5: Mortal Kombat 4

Developer: Digital Eclipse

Mortal Kombat 4 was the first entry in the over the top violent fighting game series to make the jump into the 3^rd Dimension with 3D character models albeit still remaining on a standard 2D plane. While it wasn't any kind of big leap for fighting games when compared to the Tekken series and had some issues but still Mortal Kombat 4 was still a decent fighter introducing temporally weapons, a more robust combo system and a bigger character roaster. After being released in Arcades, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and the PC Digital Eclipse thought it would be great to bring Mortal Kombat 4 to the Game Boy Color instead of it being 3D it goes back to being 2D but with its own designed character sprites and using the fighting engine of the Game Boy port of Mortal Kombat 3. Everything about the Game Boy Color port of Mortal Kombat 4 is massively downgraded from the game mechanics to the fighting system, the characters were reduced to nine with the hidden unlockable character being Reptile, blood is not shown and Fatalities were reduced to horrible looking FMV screens, there are no combos, the AI was horrendous, no two player mode, the moves are basic as there are no combos and no temporally weapons to use. The game even runs poorly with a very abysmal frame rate and the soundtrack is disgusting for any Game Boy Color game. This is one Mortal Kombat port that rightfully deserves the Spike Pit Fatality.

4: Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Developer: Gamebrains

Everyone's favourite vampire slayer has had a film which then went on to create an excellent TV series that lasted seven seasons, plenty of novels and only a handful of video game tie-ins with the Game Boy Color game with a doubt being the worst of them all. The gameplay was a bare bones beat em up with little to no variety of enemies, the fighting is tedious with a very basic move set with no weapons and only a can of paint to throw at enemies and soda cans to give you super punches and kicks and you have to stake the enemies when you knock them down otherwise they get back up and while true to the source material it becomes massively very repetitive fighting one single enemy at a time and then finishing it off. This game deserves to be staked in the heart and be prevented to taking another a bite on any player who plays this tedious boring game.

3: Shrek Fairytale Freakdown

Developer: Prolific

Shrek has a number of films that is well liked by families and from it's success came up a series of video game tie-ins that were expected to be terrible. Shrek Fairytale Freakdown tried its hand at a Shrek fighting game featuring characters from the films and it is arguably one of the worst fighters on the Game Boy Color. There is no strategy what-so-ever to the combat as there is no special moves, it had awful AI, simplistic arenas and no two player mode to speak of. You can easily beat the AI by doing one move over and over till you win and you do it for every enemy making everything too easy even by fighting game standards. This miserable piece of garbage deserves to get a uppercut by much better fighting games Game Boy systems than this.

2: Star Wars Yoda Stories

Developer: Lucasarts/Torus Games

While the force has been strong for many Star Wars video games there are some games that came from the dark side of the force to reign disappointment on fans and Star Wars Yoda Stories is easily the worst. Although the game's purpose to be desktop adventure game that was meant to be beaten quickly by casuals but the game itself is so poorly designed. The gameplay was a terrible Zelda clone with awkward combat, really terribly dated graphics & animations, atrocious sound and really bad controls. Missions in the game were nothing more than a series of fixed objectives that grew repetitive no matter what you ended up in and this barely has anything to do with Yoda. Even if this game had more to do with Yoda I'm sure that he would say this famous line. “That is why you fail!” With awful scavenger hunt objectives, dated visuals and horrendous gameplay this game has gone on to become on the lowest reviewed games in the Star Wars franchise.

Dishonourable Mentions:

Resident Evil Gaiden (M4)

X-Men Mutant Wars (Hal Corp./AVIT)

Rugrats In Paris The Movie (Software Creations)

Dogz (Saffire)

Disney's Dinosaur (Digital Eclipse)

1: Austin Powers Oh Behave! & Austin Powers Welcome to my Underground Lair

Developer: Tarantula Studios

Austin Powers a comedy spy movie series deserved anything better than whatever these games are supposed to be. These are two games that got released together while two others were planned but were never released and for good reason. Both Austin Powers Oh Behave! And Wellcome to my Underground Lair are nothing more than a bunch of silly minigames on top of a reskin knock off of Microsoft Windows which no one not even huge Austin Powers fans would find any of them amusing. The minigames range from a terrible Pac-Man clone with versions of Othello, Reversi and Rock, Paper, Scissors and each of these are dreadful and unfunny. These games have nothing groovy in them that is entertaining and for what game is inside them are so boring and completely lackluster. You are better off watching the films instead.

Taking the Game Boy into full color with the Game Boy Color and while it wasn't a huge step up from the original Game Boy in terms of specs but it was a great Game Boy system for wanting your Game Boy games in Colour as well as being able to play your old games. Here of the best of the best of the games on the Game Boy Color.

10: Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble

Developer: Nintendo R&D2

A Kirby game that introduced the Tilt control mechanics that were revolutionary for it's time. You control Kirby by tilting the Game Boy device around to move and also rotate the character around and flipping the console upwards like you would flip a pancake will even fling Kirby up into the air. The player's goal is to complete the levels by finding the Red Star in each level and the levels are designed well with the tilt mechanics in mind. The game was well praised for the Tilt controls which worked out pretty well solid level design making it a simple game to pick up and play.

9: Metal Gear Solid

Developer: Konami/Tose

A Metal Gear Solid game on the Game Boy Color that was not directed by series former creator Hideo Kojima but instead it is Shinta Nojiri leading the project alongside assistance from Tose. It adapts the trademark stealth gameplay of the 2D entries in the series as well as utilizing mechanics from the PSOne Metal Gear Solid game. With smooth well animated sprites, amazing graphics alongside excellent cutscenes and a storyline that acts as a alternative continuity of the original Metal Gear game 7 years after that game. Anyone who enjoys the main console releases of the Metal Gear games will enjoy this entry on the Game Boy Color.

8: Pokemon Trading Card Game

Developer: Hudson Soft/Creatures

Pokemon goes into the Trading Cards arena and then a game comes out from that and it is a really fantastic one at that. In the game players draw out different Pokemon Cards resembling the different Pokemon to use in battle and also use special cards to not only heal their Pokemon but also to power them up to attack as well. The card aspect of the game is addictive and features many different cards based on the actual card decks. It was a truly unique spin on the Pokemon formula and was a brilliant way to catch em all.

7: Bionic Commando Elite Forces

Developer: Nintendo Software Technology

Bionic Commando Elite Forces is a great handheld adaptation of the NES Bionic Commando game however playing a little different from that. The game features a different plot with an unnamed male and also female commando alongside brand new segments like sequences where you get to use a sniper rifle to take out enemies. It also features a map design similar to Super Mario Bros 3 and it has all round solid gameplay where you use a grapple hook to get around the levels and pull yourself up to higher ledges. It may have NOT been made by Capcom but it is still a very amazing worthwhile game to play.

6: Mario Golf

Developer: Camelot Software Planning

While the Mario Sport series of games have been the more recent things to come out from Nintendo just so that they can easily fill up empty holes in their release schedule but the original Mario sport games released as far on the Nintendo 64 and the Game Boy Color were where the games were at their best. The Game Boy Color version of Mario Golf sports fantastic visuals even for the platform, a nice variety of different courses and the mechanics were simple and easy to pick up and get the hang of instantly. It even added RPG mechanics where your golfers will get experience points making them more efficient and even features music composer for Tales of Series and Dark Souls games Motoi Sakubara who crafted excellent music for the game. Anyone wanting to take a brilliant golf out on the go the Game Boy Color version of Mario Golf is easy to recommend.

5: Shantae

Developer: WayForward

Despite coming out when the brand new Game Boy Advance console was on the market Shantae still managed to become a cult classic among fans. You play as the eponymous half genie character Shantae on her quest to travel the lands of Sequin Land while dealing with the evil pirates and their leader Risky Boots. It was well praised for the fantastic graphics and animation as well as brilliant sound as well as getting upgrades like new dance moves as well as a day & night cycle. It maybe overly expensive because of the obscurity due to being released late in the Game Boy Color's life but thankfully it has been re-released on other platforms including the Nintendo Switch Online Service and modern PlayStation consoles.

4: The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages

Developer: Flagship

Two fantastic Zelda games that were developed by a subsidiary of Capcom known as Flagship and they truly delivered. Oracle of Seasons as Link travel through the different seasons that can be controlled with the Rod of Seasons while Oracle of Ages as Link going through time for the Harp of Ages which allow him to travel through the past, present and future. These two games carry the gameplay of Link's Awakening which also got a fantastic Game Boy Color upgrade with fun puzzles and gameplay mechanics. You can even link the two games together so the storyline of Ages follows from Seasons allowing for a very unified experience. So you don't just get one adventure but you get both fantastic adventures that can transcend incredibly well and they are worth experiencing to see how the two play out.

3: Wario Land 3

Developer: Nintendo R&D1

After his villain role in Super Mario Land 2 Wario would go on to star in his own series of games with Wario Land and change his role into an anti-hero. Wario gets taken into Music Box World where he gets to go through a series of all new levels that have treasures to collect and enemies that can give Wario different abilities to use. These abilities range from being turned into a zombie or getting set on fire which doesn't kill him at all. With the exception of the final boss Wario can't die or lose a life in anyway from enemies instead he shows off such massive resilience that he has against everyone else in the game. With treasures that open up new paths in levels, minigames to play and seeing what other abilities that Wario can try out this was an insanely entertaining platformer for the GBC handheld.

2: Super Mario Bros Deluxe

Developer: Nintendo R&D2

An incredibly faithful handheld adaptation of the NES game Super Mario Bros Deluxe not only has levels of the original Super Mario Bros but also levels from Super Mario Bros The Lost Levels that you can unlock. It looks and plays like the original NES game albeit with a smaller screen to compensate for the resolution of the Game Boy Color. It even has new features including two player races to see who can reach the finish line the fastest, challenges for different levels with various toys and collectibles that you could print out on the Game Boy Printer accessory. Super Mario Bros Deluxe has went on to be one of the most successful games on the Game Boy Color selling over 5 million units worldwide and like the NES game gain massive acclaim.

Honourable Mentions:

Pokemon Pinball (Jupiter/Hal Laboratory)

Mario Tennis (Camelot Software Laboratory)

Tetris DX (Nintendo)

Lufia The Legend Returns (Neverland)

Dragon Warrior Monsters (Tose)

1: Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal

Developer: Game Freak

And taking this top spot of the best Game Boy Color games list is the 2^nd Generation Pokemon games with Pokemon Gold/Sliver and later Pokemon Crystal which take place in the Johto Region. The amount of Pokemon you get to capture is up to 250 Pokemon from both new and old. It introduced a day and night system which affect events and what Pokemon could show up. Pokemon can hold items and use them when needed and special kinds of Poke Balls were added to make use of when needed to capture certain types of Pokemon and there were new types like Steel and Dark. A new called the Poke Gear was added that functioned as a watch, map, radio and phone which allowed you to call other characters who give you their phone numbers, words of encouragement or possibly a rematch. Best of all you didn't just have the Johto Region to go but you also had the original Kanto Region with redesigned Gym Leaders like Brock, Misty and Blaine and after that one more final challenge which many who have played the game before knows. Pokemon Gold/Sliver/Crystal continued the addictive trend that Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow started and expanded upon them with all new features and all new Pokemon that you wanted to catch. The 2^nd Generation Pokemon games have went on to become one of the most popular and fastest selling games on the Game Boy Color while also going on to still becoming one of the best Pokemon games in the franchise selling over 29 million units.

After watching the underwhelming Nintendo Direct last month this Nintendo Direct is the main event where they unveil their next Nintendo console which is going to be an upgrade over the original Nintendo Switch console. The Nintendo Direct got to share plenty of information about the hardware and compare to the original hardware of the Nintendo Switch as well as talk about new features and a few games that will come exclusively to Nintendo Switch 2.

Firstly the size of the system is much larger than the original Switch console as it has a 7.9 inch screen supporting 1080p resolution in Handheld and 4K resolution when plugged into the TV. It also supports 120 FPS and HDR, Two USB-C slots, has 256 GB internal storage, fan ventilation for power cooling, improved audio as well as having 3D Audio support.

The game changer is the updated Joy-Con called the Joy-Con 2. It is taller than the regular Switch Joy-Con Controllers with bigger sticks but still using the not-so-good thumbgrips that the original Joy-Cons used. But the Joy-Con 2 can be used now as a Mouse which will games take advantage of the Mouse feature and I personally would like to see First Person Shooter games on the console take full advantage of this. The Mouse feature of the Nintendo Switch 2's Joy-Con 2 looks to deliver an experience closer to the PC and it is great and about time a game company decides to implement it to the Joy-Con 2. Just hope that the new Joy-Con 2s are more long lasting and resolve the Joy-Con drift once and for all.

The Nintendo Switch 2 will still offer up a Pro Controller for those wanting a traditional controller to use and the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller is for the most part the same as it was on the original Switch with the exception that it has two back buttons with GL and GR Buttons that you can assign any of the controllers buttons to. This again is a game changer to compete with Third Party PlayStation and Xbox controllers that offered those features but with only having two of the back buttons instead of four.

One of the big main features that the Nintendo Switch 2 has that Nintendo talked in depth about was the GameChat feature where you can talk with your friends while still playing your games which has been a thing since the Xbox 360/PS3 era. However you will be able to enable friends game screens so you can watch friends or family play. The New Joy-Con 2s and the new Pro Controllers have a C Button which will allow you to pull up a Chat Menu for you to customize screen settings as well as turning on or off the microphone which is built into the console which is another game changer that means no longer needing to buy a separate microphone or headset to chat with friends or family. So Nintendo is finally stepping up with the whole game chat party thing that every other 8^th gen and 9^th gen console has already done brilliantly up to this point. The Nintendo Switch 2 will also have a camera which you can use to display your body on the game screen similar to how streamers and Vtubers display themselves in their own game streams and they plan to have games take advantage of having player bodies show up and be used for interacting in gameplay.

They also talked about being able to share games with other Nintendo Switch 2 consoles locally through wireless which can also be used for GameChat as well.

As far as specs for the Nintendo Switch 2 will go it won't be as powerful as a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S but will be as powerful as a PlayStation 4 Pro which makes the Nintendo Switch 2 console much behind the current gen consoles much like the original Nintendo Switch.

You can still enjoy the online features of the original Switch on the Nintendo Switch 2 such as streaming classic games alongside other features that are on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack as well as transfer everything you have on the original Nintendo Switch console to the new Nintendo Switch 2 Console.

On the subject of streaming classic games the big highlight of this Nintendo Direct was announcing that releasing exclusively onto the Nintendo Switch 2 at launch is the Nintendo Gamecube Library coming to the Nintendo Switch Online Service with three games confirmed to launch with the service. These are The Legend of Zelda Windwaker, Soulcalibur 2 and F-Zero GX, all of the game's can be save stated if needed as well as being able customize controls to their liking. More Nintendo Gamecube titles like Pokemon Coliseum, Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance are planned to come in future, just a shame that the original Nintendo Gamecube version of Tales of Symphonia is NOT one of games announced.

As for the games that are announced to come for the Nintendo Switch 2 most of the games announced are either games that were already released on other platforms or first party Nintendo Switch games that have been updated to take advantage of the new Nintendo Switch 2's more powerful hardware. Games like The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have higher resolution, support higher frame rates and HDR that makes for an improved visual quality experience while Mario Party Jamboree for the Nintendo Switch 2 will have more minigames to play and Kirby and the Forgotten Land will have a new storyline exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2. The upcoming Metroid Prime 4 Beyond for Nintendo Switch 2 will not only take advantage of the new hardware of the Nintendo Switch 2 but also take advantage of the Mouse control features.

Other games announced coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 are Eldern Ring Tanished Edition, Street Fighter 6 Years 1 + 2 Fighters Edition, Daemon X Machina Titanic Scion, Split Fiction, Hogwarts Legacy, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, Hitman World of Assassin Signature Edition, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster, Yakuza 0 Director's Cut, Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment, Deltarune, Borderlands 4, Sid Meier's Civilization VII, WWE 2K, NBA 2K, Survival Kids, Enter the Gungeon 2, Starseeker Astroneer Expeditions, Kirby Air Riders, Donkey Kong Bananza, Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition, the utterly disappointing Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Edition which will no doubt come with that stupid and pointless Yuffie chapter and lastly from the minds of the souls/borne genre From Software with their latest game The Duskbloods.

So the Nintendo Switch 2 has a decent number of games that are going to be available at launch as well as a couple that will come in the future of 2025 and 2026 but however there are few stand outs from them all. Plus plenty of the announced games were just games that are already available on other platforms without much Nintendo Direct 2 exclusives.

By far the biggest standout Nintendo Switch 2 Launch game is the new Mario Kart game with Mario Kart World which will have a new Battle Royale type game mode called Knockout Tour where you can get eliminated if you don't reach the placement when you reach a checkpoint, a free roam mode where you can freely drive around each new track and explore around to your hearts' contempt.

Nintendo have a revealed the release date for the Nintendo Switch 2 which the system will launch on the 5^th June 2025 is a bit too early in my opinion. Surely they could have waited maybe a couple more months or waited for the right holiday session to launch it but instead they picked 5th June 2025 which we only have to wait two more months for the console.

What will turn off people is the price tag which the Nintendo Switch 2 console with retail for £429.99 for Europeans like me and $449.99 for those in the US which is a very hefty price tag which will include the console and Mario Kart World game Bundle. It shows that with these new game consoles coming out the price tag for them raises so it is going to be too much for those that currently still holding on to their old Nintendo Switch consoles.

The Nintendo Switch 2 will be compatible with the original Nintendo Switch titles but Nintendo has confirmed that NOT every Nintendo Switch game will work on the new Nintendo Switch 2 console so you need to check online to see if the Nintendo Switch you want to play on the Nintendo Switch 2 will work on it or not.

Overall the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal was okay, it showed off the capabilities of the new hardware with some of them being game changing like the Joy-Con 2 working like a mouse. I do like that Nintendo Gamecube games are coming to the Nintendo Switch's Online Service and launching with Mario Kart World is great but is £429.99 even worth getting it. Honestly I don't think so, mostly because there isn't enough standout games for the Nintendo Switch 2 to make you want to invest getting this console yet especially when the library of games announced are just a bunch of re-release titles and remasters. There are other things I would want to see from the console like would Nintendo add a more traditional achievement system like what PlayStation, Xbox and Steam have to adding more classic games to the Nintendo Switch Online Service and lastly will the new Joy-Con 2 last better than the old Joy-Cons. I'm sure that Nintendo will do more with the new Nintendo Switch 2 as time goes on but we'll need to see what support this new Nintendo console gets when it launches.

Are you going to get a Nintendo Switch 2 console when it comes out on 5^th June 2025 or wait when more worthwhile titles come out or when the price goes down a bit.

Written by Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)

So, I just watched Nintendo's newest Nintendo Direct stream showcasing news for the old Nintendo Switch console. This direct only focused on the games coming to the old Nintendo Switch console and not the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 console which will have its own Nintendo Direct announcement on 2nd April 2025. I watched the direct all the way through and honestly it was a very lackluster Nintendo Direct showcase.

There was no classic game announcements for the Nintendo Switch Online Service this time which was disappointing, they introduced a new virtual game card system which wasn't really all that interesting. There were plenty of life and farming simulators announced and most of them weren't even interesting to even care about.

I also did not like the announcements of Patapon 1 + 2 Replay and Everybody's Golf Hot Shots mostly because these are PlayStation exclusives that don't need to be on any other game platform so go back to PlayStation Patapon 1 + 2 Replay and Everybody's Golf Hot Shots.

There was the upcoming remake of Dragon Quest I & II in HD 2D which was previously announced but still looks amazing, there were rhythm games for those who like rhythm games and also a new Tomadachi Life game coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2026 for people that like Tomadachi Life.

There was new information regarding two previously announced games with Pokemon Legends Z – A & Metroid Prime 4 Beyond. Pokemon Legends Z – A has Pokemon Trailers going about their daily business but in Night time trainers can attack you in battles and getting the drop on them first will open them up to heavy damage especially if you attack with moves that a Pokemon is weak too. In Metroid Prime 4 Beyond Samus ends up in a Jungle Planet of Planet Viewros where she faces hostile aliens that roam the jungles. Samus obtains pyshic powers to use in combat including controlling where Samus' shots go.

By far the highlight of this Nintendo Direct was the announcement of Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha VS The Soulless Army which is getting an HD Remaster for modern consoles as Raidou Remaster The Mystery of The Soulless Army. The game is an Action RPG that was originally on the PlayStation 2 where you can get Demons to fight alongside you in Real Time Action Combat. Each Demon you have has different attacks that can strike enemy weaknesses in battle which makes using different ones useful.

That Raidou Remastered game was the only thing about the Nintendo Direct that I cared about and the highlight of the announcements they had on offer. I know they have another direct about the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2nd April 2025 which I plan to check out but honestly this was a rather weak Nintendo Direct overall and I didn't enjoy the game announcements all that much.

Written by Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)

Ever since I got my new PS5 I have been rather busy trying to sort what accessories and other stuff I want to get for my PS5 console. I got the controller charging station sorted out, I have a cheap pro controller to use for the PS5 which I plan to work on a review on that in the next coming weeks after I play a couple more games on the PS5 with it. My current plan now is to play what games I have on my PlayStation Plus Subscription and getting their Trophy Lists registered in which I have more than over 50 or so to deal with. After I spent enough time using my new controller on my PS5 I'll eventually start working on my next game controller review.

I am going to be putting all of my current game review plans including top tens that I need to get started on hold for the time being because I want to do a review on my newest game controller I recently got. I understand that I have not done many reviews or top tens so far in the past two months but please note that I have got a couple of things going on in my life and I need to spend time with the PS5 and get everything with it and some other stuff sorted out before I go back to my review projects.

You can check out my recent reviews I did on the SWCTIM Wireless Controller and the Razer Raiju Tournament Edition Controllers, the Hidden Bunny Game Review as well as First Impression Blog I did for Splitgate 2 where I give my first thoughts on the Open Alpha build of the game.

Written by Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)

Game Title: Splitgate 2

Platform: PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X/S/PC

Genre: First Person Shooter

Developer: 1047 Games

Demo Released: 28^th February 2025 - 3^rd Match 2025

Age Rating: PEGI: 16+

Indie Developer 1047 Games made a successful online multiplayer shooter with portals that was Splitgate that originally launched all the way back in Beta in 2019 before re-emerging with cross-play support and refining a lot of the gameplay in 2021. Since then, Splitgate has went on to become a remarkable throwback shooter that wasn't anything like the amount of Live Service Battle Royales and Hero Class Shooters that die out very quickly and Splitgate was popular among PlayStation players like myself.

Now 1047 Games is looking to follow from the success of Splitgate with the sequel which is going to evolve from more than just portals. The studio did release an Alpha Build of the game for players to play during the Gamescom 2024 Showing for PC players and 28^th February 2025 was when the developers released another Open Alpha Build showing off additional progress made and allowing Cross-Platform play on not only the PC but also the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S which finally allows console players to join in the fun. The Open Alpha lasted from 28^th February till the 3^rd March. I played the Splitgate 2 Open Alpha on the PlayStation 5, which gave me a taste of what was to come and I was able to play a few game modes that were on offer.

For what I have played of the Open Alpha my first impression of the game is for the most part very positive with only one or two things I don't like but I like the rest of the ideas that 1047 Games that they going to go with the sequel.

So, the first thing about Splitgate 2 is that the game is refining the portal system where there is now a single portal button you use now to create one portal and another at what areas you can portal to instead of having two buttons to create as well as shut down portals which you can still do if you prefer the old setup in the control customization settings. There are no EMP Grenades to shut down enemy portals anymore, instead you can now shoot a portal at an enemy portal to disable their portals to prevent enemies going through their portals or shooting from them. This adds more ways of dealing with enemy portals so that enemies don't get the drop in on you and your team.

The new arenas for the game have many more spots to be able to use your portals and get around the arenas and your enemies quickly and are much more bigger and have more layer and floor planes than the design of the maps of the original Splitgate. One of the new maps shown in this Open Alpha is the Glacier map which is one of the first major large maps which is made specifically for the Multi-Team Playlists. The Glacier Map however is just a largely uninspired map with many ways to get ambushed over and doesn't have much spots to be able to make use of portals on it so everything just boils down to teams jumping right into the combat areas and getting the jump onto enemies before getting jumped on. I do like all of the other maps with my personal favourite maps being the Ozone and the Bypass which have the most creativity with the portals put into them. You'll still see some spots where players can place a portal on the top of something that they can portal through, jump into it and go flying which can give them the high ground advantage.

By far the biggest game changer with Splitgate 2 alongside the refined portal system is that the game introduces a faction system which is much similar to class-based shooters like Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch. So Splitgate originally started as a shooter that played like classic Halo and adopted classic multiplayer game modes and now wants to adopt a class-based system. Splitgate 2 features three different factions that have their own weapon loadouts, skills & abilities that change different play styles and these are the Sabrask, Aeros and the Meridian.

The Sabrask focuses on being as defensive by pulling out a smart shield wall to protect allies and being able to shoot through it as well as being able to throw Sticky Grenades that can stick to enemies just like the Plasma Grenades in the Halo games as well as allowing equipment items to recharge faster for both you and teammates. The Meridian is a support type who has grenades that heal other allies, can scan for nearby enemies which allows allies to see them through walls and lastly allows for faster health regeneration for you and other allies. The Aeros is the most unique of the three factions in the game so far as the Aeros moves faster than everyone else, can even boost the movement, firing and reload speed of their him and teammates while slowing down enemies and lastly pull out a Porta-Portal which allows you to shoot out a portal anywhere without even needing to put a portal at a wall which is the most game changer ability of them all.

They each have their own passive traits that can benefit their team and having three players on your team picking all three of the factions will give your team the maximum traits benefit of each faction to have better chances of victory rather than having everyone just favoring one faction.

Each of the factions have their own lineup of weapons ranging from Assault Rifles, Carbines, Shotguns, Burst Rifles, SMGs as well as a Light Pistol, Heavy Pistol and lastly a Burst Pistol which later weapons are unlocked by levelling up the faction's rank. Weapons can now be levelled up as well which will unlock perks for the weapon like increased ammo magazine size, improved range or increased overall weapon accuracy or rate of fire. The Sabrask's Trailblazer Assault Rifle has a nice mix of damage power and speed making it a very balanced choice for most encounters. Burst Rifles are great for zooming from long distances, pistols mostly function as small back up weapons for when you need to quickly swap to them and the Meridian Charger Shotgun functions like a Railgun requiring a second to charge before firing. There are also Power Weapons that spawn into the arena like a Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher, the BFB Bat which makes very well graceful return and also a new special weapon called the Splitstream which is an Assault Rifle that can both be wielded as a standard Assault Rifle as well as splitting into an akimbo mode at the cost of preventing you from using your portals. Yes, Shotguns can now be selected as a starting primary weapon in this game whereas they were one of the Power Weapons that offered a few shots to use in the original game so it is satisfying to be able to have the Shotguns be a primary weapon option in the sequel. They are overpowered as you would expect from them but all it takes is a good skilled player to know how it is meant to be handled.

Every weapon can now be Aimed Down Sights which is nothing more than just a basic zoom system much similar to the zooming in the Halo games. There is no Iron Sights or any kind of Scoped Aiming like in a lot of modern shooters like Call of Duty and also the crosshair doesn't seem affected by spraying fire much like in the original Splitgate so the ADS mechanic isn't really all that necessary unless it is for long range combat which rarely happens. Just work on the Aim Assist then the aiming is otherwise just fine.

My personal favourite weapons I used in the Alpha where the Sabrask's Trailblazer Assault Rifle and the Rattler SMG, the Meridian's Synapse Assault Rifle and lastly the Aeros' Tempo Assault Rifle which are all fantastic and fun to use weapons. I even enjoyed getting my hands on the BFB Bat anytime it spawned on the map and the impact of bonking someone with it is incredibly satisfying.

I did spend a lot of the time in the Open Alpha playing as the Sabrask mostly because of the Smart Wall ability was great to pull off when needed to save my allies as well as tossing Sticky Grenades into a room and watching it go off to clear a room is brilliant. I do like the other two classes as well and I wished I could have had more time to try out the Aeros faction because I do think that the Aeros faction is the most unique and creative faction in the game. I also just like the Aeros' Tempo Assault Rifle for the incredible balance of speed and power, like I can't express how good that gun really is.

As for game modes, the Open Alpha had a bunch of game mode playlists on offer as well as introducing the Multi-Team Game Type Modes where there are more teams competing for the objective which is going to lead into mass chaos. Currently the game has Team Deathmatch which is a simple take out all targets to reach the max score before the other team does, Hotzone is similar to King of the Hill but a team needs to sit in the capture area and hold out till the counter reaches 100% to win, Domination has teams trying to take hold of three control points on the map and hold them till the score reaches 100%. One of the stands out modes of Splitgate which makes a glorious return in the sequel is Splitball, in its teams have to score by getting hold of the ball whenever one of the Splitballs spawns into the arena. However now teams need to pick up the Splitball and bring them to their bases to score, you can now steal the balls from the enemy base when they take one of them and you have to prevent the enemies from taking the balls from your base. The newest game mode to Splitgate 2 is Firecracker where teams take turns planting the Firecracker at either one of two objective points on the map and defending it till it detonates while the defending team has to prevent the Firecracker from being detonated.

The vast majority of game modes are really well varied and are pretty fun to play. The standard playlists are quick and easy to get into while the multi-Team game modes lead to all out massive chaos on massive maps and thankfully the maps are well designed to take advantage of the map design. The biggest thing I have against the game modes and I am going to be really nitpicking about it is that I do not like the whole Round Based approach to matches that the game plans to go with. It just ruins the pacing and overall engagement of the matches and it just slows things down when matches were just only getting intense. Rounds are divided into a best of five rounds where each match requires three out of five round wins in order to win the match. If two teams win two rounds the game goes into a sudden death round where respawns are disabled and only objective is available to take so quick smart decisions are crucial to take that final win. I prefer for matches in my multiplayer games to go in a single run without any breaks inbetween them. Now they are going to introduce future playlists like the No Breaks Playlists which will not have any of the round-based stuff to it and the Multi-Team Game Modes are not round based so anybody that wants long singular based matches will have other modes to play.

If I have to pick out my favourite game mode so far in the Open Alpha it would easily be this version of Splitball especially with that now you have multiple Splitballs to get and defend from enemies which leads to a lot of all-out skirmishes trying to get three of the Splitballs to your base without other enemies trying to take them away from you. I do hope that 1047 Games add more game modes to Splitgate 2 in the future and if I had to suggest what game mode desperately needs to make a return then that would easily need to be Teabag Confirmed. It was an enjoyable game mode which even though teabagging other players is never encouraged in games but Teabag Confirmed was a comedic spin on Kill Confirmed that had you doing it to score points and I really would like to see that game mode return in the sequel and I hope that it happens even if it is one of the rotating game modes.

As for the gameplay and the gunplay, Splitgate 2 does pretty well in that regard. All of the guns sound incredibly good and getting an enemy down with any of the weapons in the game feels really empowering. The game manages to control pretty well especially on the controller and the console versions like the first game support Keyboard & Mouse if you prefer that setup. You can customize the control settings to your liking allowing for quicker and easier access to actions which is handy for things like portaling or jumping high, however you can't change the buttons you want to have for faction's abilities and if you assign certain actions to the two buttons that are assigned to the faction's abilities, you'll end up doing other actions you don't want by accident. I'm one of those people that prefers having L2 for Jump and L1 for Crouching and having R1 for Zooming and the faction abilities on the PS5 version is both L1 & R1 together which has me Crouching and Zooming when I don't want to. The option to change the button for the faction abilities would be most welcome and would make certain actions less of a hindrance.

Splitgate 2 manages to run pretty well on the PS5 Slim with a smooth Frame Rate Performance and I didn't experience any major dips down chaotic gun fights. The arenas so far have more detail to them than in the original game such as seeing a crowd of people cheering the competitors on in the Ozone and Zenith Maps, there are multiple fictional adverts of weapons and contests on panels that cycle around and the portals that you shoot out has an excellent whirlpool effect to them showing what is on the other side. It is also accompanied by fantastic explosion effects that are a sight to see, you can see snow flowing through the glacier map and the overall environment just looks really stunning.

Splitgate 2 Open Alpha's online net code and connections so far are great without the lag suffering from lag and you can choose whether or not you want to play with Cross-play on or off which determines how long it takes to find matches which I did have issues finding some matches outside of Quick Playlist when I disabled Cross-Play. I did have some disconnections which happened a total of four times including an actual game crash as well but these didn't ruin the experience for me overall. I even had one moment where some of the controls didn't work properly when I first booted up the game and I had to restart it to fix that.

Despite some minor internet connections and how I feel about the round-based setup for matches, Splitgate 2 seems to be heading in a positive direction. 1047 Games have still got a couple of ways to go of refining the game mechanics, adding more game modes to it alongside adding more features. I look forward to seeing more future updates for this game with what new things are going to happen with this game and also what will happen with the original Splitgate in the next few days. I do hope that more comes to this game because of the potential for evolving the formula that the original Splitgate built up and there is room to improve on that. I do hope that they improve waiting times for searching for matches, they add AI Bot matches to the game in case servers take too long to find matches and hope we get the Waiting Room back to warm up and practice while waiting for matches to start. There is still more to come within the next couple of months before the full release, hopefully we will be to customize our characters and weapons with different skins and also record stats.

As of making this First Impression Blog 1047 Games have said that there will be another chance to play the game again with a Beta coming out this May which will offer up more things to try out than what we experienced with the Open Alpha.

Wherever 1047 Games really goes with this sequel I am more than ready to step through the portal into a sequel that is actually looking to improve from what the original did and actually maybe do things better unlike what happened with some other live service shooters that got sequels. Yes, I'm looking at you Overwatch 2.

Controller: Raiju Tournament Edition

Year: 2018

Developer: Razer

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Razer is similar to Nacon in which it is a company that deals with making different kinds of ESport Pro Elite Gaming Controllers to give the players a competitive edge over others. The company has released a couple of different controllers that were designed for competitive gaming for an overly expensive price tag of £200 and one of these is the Raiju Tournament Edition released in 2018. The Raiju Tournament Edition Controller is Pro Elite Gaming Controller with some interesting ideas with the Trigger Buttons & Back Buttons called Multi-Function Buttons but suffers from some bad design decisions that hold the controller from being the next go to competitive controller.

Like all of the Third-Party Pro PlayStation 4 Controllers it is supposed to work with the PlayStation 4 console with also compatibility on PC. It also works on the PS3 in case you ask but the Home Button doesn't operate for it for some reason. Opening the box inside you'll get the controller itself included with a Micro-USB Cable that plugs into the controller which has a nice slot to plug it in with the other end being a standard USB that plugs into the console, alongside the user guide instructions on how to set it up.

Setting up the device is simple enough for when you want to play in wired mode, you first need to plug in the controller from the Micro-USB to end of the standard USB into either the PS4 or the PC, make sure that the controller device is in USB Mode by the switch located on the back of the console. When the console is turned on make sure everything is plugged in and lastly press the Home Button to turn on the controller.

As for setting the device in wireless mode for either PS4 or PC is a bit more complex, you first need to go to the Bluetooth Devices (Bluetooth Accessories on the PS5) in the Accessories Options Menu in Settings then while in the Bluetooth Devices Menu press and hold the Home and Share Buttons for a few seconds to put the controller into Pairing Mode. While it is in Pairing Mode the Raiju Tournament Edition Controller should appear on the Bluetooth Devices Menu, select the controller in the menu and select yes to register it onto your console. You can then disconnect the cable from the controller, place the switch on the back of the controller on to PS4 Mode and finally press the Home Button to activate the controller in wireless mode.

Setting up the controller for wireless play on the PC is a similar deal, you set the controller to PC Mode then press and hold the Options & Home Buttons for a few seconds to activate pairing mode. On your PC go to Devices and Bluetooth & other devices in the settings menu, while in the Bluetooth & other devices menu click add Bluetooth & other devices which will bring up the setup window, afterwards select Bluetooth and then click the Raiju Tournament Controller to add it and then click done. After that you can remove the cables and press the Home Button again to connect the controller wirelessly through Bluetooth and play wirelessly. So, setting up the controller to play wirelessly takes some time because you need to install the drivers on both your PC and PS4 console in order to use the controller wirelessly and once they are installed you just need to toggle the switches if you want to play wirelessly or wired on either your PS4 or PC. In Wireless Mode the controller lasts for about 19 hours on a single charge which is impressive for a Pro Competitive gamepad.

The Raiju Tournament Edition Controller is designed to be a competitive type controller for competitive games and it has the main functions necessary for competitive gaming. It has the control button layout of an Xbox/Nintendo Switch type controller that has the Main Face, Triggers, Bumpers, Touch Pad Buttons, Analog Sticks, D-Pad, Options, Home & Share Buttons which all function very much like a standard PS4 controller. It even has a 3.5 Headphone Jack where you can use your compatible headphone microphone with the controller to communicate with others online and the controller works with any headset that you might have laid around and picks up voices without issue.

The controller does have some unique things that make it different from other Third-Party Controllers on the PS4. Firstly it has two Trigger Stop Switches located on the back of the controller that lock the Triggers in place by sliding the switches which means that you can use the Triggers like standard buttons which for shooters this is a very welcome feature and the Trigger Buttons function very well with the Stop Switches and you can use the Stop Switches if you want to reduce the response time which you will want for certain games.

Much like all of the competitive pro controllers there are the Back Buttons called Multi-Function Buttons which you can use to make quick reaction presses without having to move your fingers to buttons that have a distance from each other. This controller has two Multi-Function Triggers located on the back of the controller and also two Multi-Function Bumpers located near the Main Triggers & Bumper Buttons that can be customized to give you the fast responses that you need in a serious competitive game where you want the edge over other players.

Customizing the Multi-Function Buttons, however, with this controller is a horrendous pain due to a bad design decision. Normally with every Third Party PS4 Controller that has Customizable Back Buttons or Multi-Function Buttons you just hold down the Set Button for a few seconds to put the controller into customize mode where you can then chose one of the Back Buttons you want to setup and then pick whichever button on the controller from the D-Pad, Triggers, Bumpers, or any of the Four Main Face Buttons on the controller that you want to set the Back Button to and then repeat the process with the remaining other Buttons on the controller.

The Raiju Tournament Edition, however, doesn't follow the same customizable Back Button rulebook compared to so many others. Instead in order to customize the Multi-Function Buttons you need to have an Android/iOS Phone Device with the Razer Raiju Controller App Installed which you can still get from the Apple & Google Store Pages for Free. The Razer Raiju Controller App can do a couple of things, from not only being able to remap the Multi-Function Buttons to the button setup you want them, customize the Analog Stick Deadzone, manage the Chroma Settings as well as setting up different custom profiles that are tied to your online Razer account. The mobile app works with not only the Raiju Tournament Edition but also the Raiju Ultimate and the Razer Wolverine V2 Pro as well and you can customize them to your liking. That is fine, that is if you have an iOS/Android Device with the app to be able to do the customizing but if you don't have an iOS/Android Device let alone the mobile app then you can't do any Multi-Function Button Customizing and even worse there is no version of the app for the PC. I mean come on Razer, that is just ridiculous and stupid, even Nacon with their pro controllers have customizable Back Buttons and have an app that you can download on PC to setup controller profiles and best of all their pro controller's Back Buttons can even be customized without the app. Just not being able to customize any of the Multi-Function Buttons without the requirement of the mobile phone app or not even offer up a PC version of the app is a huge design oversight on Razer's part especially if you bought one that doesn't have any of the Multi-Function Buttons setup.

How does the controller feel in hand? Well, it is a very comfortable controller to hold and all of the buttons do feel nice to put your thumbs and fingers on. All of the buttons on the controller have a very clicky feel when you press them and it is a fantastic feel, the buttons have the right sound feel to them when you press a button which is what makes the buttons on the controller so excellent.

As for the D-Pad I will say that I do like that it looks like a classic PlayStation style D-Pad looking very much like a PSOne D-Pad and if you are familiar with the original D-Pad designs with the Dual Shock Controllers on the PSOne/PS2/PS3 then you'll like what Razer attempted with their controller. However, what stops it from being a great D-Pad is that it is designed at a downward curve much similar to the Thumbsticks today having that same downward curve which to designers looks to be a place to rest your thumb on for comfort but instead it is the total opposite as the downward curve placement of the D-Pad just makes it awkward and uncomfortable to use. There were times I use the D-Pad to try and move in a 2D game or try to do special moves in fighting games but however the D-Pad thanks to the awkward design either outright doesn't register diagonal motion or the D-Pad has me doing something else instead of the input I want my character to do. That has been an issue ever since the Xbox 360 era and it still is a problem with the Razer Raiju Tournament Edition Controller. I may like that the D-Pad has that original PlayStation Style D-Pad but the positioning and curving of the D-Pad combined with how the input responds just makes it a really bad D-Pad.

Speaking of Thumbsticks this controller also uses the Thumbsticks which we have all seen a hundred times on many of those Xbox/Nintendo Switch type controllers of the modern era just that they have a crosshair like look to them and it is very uncomfortable to put my thumbs on. Thankfully placing Third Party Thumbgrips like the GTX Pro Thumbgrips will fit on to the Thumbsticks of the controller very easily and are recommended.

As for everything else on how it plays when you have everything set up, the Razer Raiju Tournament Pad excels for the most part in being a competitive game controller. It is a great working controller for many of the competitive games you would want to use the controller for. It is great for shooters like Fortnite or Call of Duty where you use the Multi-Function Buttons to quickly switch to another weapon, jump or crouch without needing to move your thumbs from the Analog Sticks. It is great for sports games where you can make quick reactions to take back the ball and get one last ultimate goal to win the game.

While it may lack any Light Bar or any Six-Axis Motion Controls it does have a Touch Pad which works for games that make use of the Touch Pad Functionality so if you did want to use the controller for any Touch Pad heavy games then you can do that with this controller.

The Razer Rajiu Tournament Edition nearly succeeds in being a decent choice for those wanting a competitive controller and doing its own thing compared to what Nacon offers. There is good intentions of this controller like the Trigger Stop Switch Mechanism to make the Triggers respond like regular buttons which is good for shooters, I love the clicky feel of the buttons, an attempt at doing a classic PlayStation style D-Pad is decent and I like having two Multi-Function Bumpers near the real Trigger and Bumper Buttons. When all of the controller functionality is set up it works for the competitive games you want to play competitively with. The biggest main drawback is how Razer expects you to setup the controller, if you don't have an iOS/Android Phone Device and the Mobile App to setup the controller for competitive gaming you won't be able to customize the controller's Multi-Function Buttons to use the controller to its full potential. This is one of those £200 pro controllers that you would have to ask yourself before you make the decision to purchase the controller. Are you willing to put with it the hassle in getting the Mobile Device with the app installed to set up an overly expensive pro controller that has uncomfortable Thumbsticks and D-Pad setup with no way of being able to do the customization on the PC? If not then this controller is not for you and you should consider getting the pro controllers from Nacon or cheaper pro controllers online instead that provide much better ways of customizing controllers for competitive play.

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Review Score: 6/10

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The Goods

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Two Multi-Function Buttons placed near the Trigger & Bumper Buttons is a unique setup

Trigger Stop Switch Mechanism is cool to make the Triggers feel & respond like standard Buttons

Very Clicky Buttons and classic PSOne style D-Pad

19 Long Battery Life for playing Wirelessly

The Bads

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Customizing the Multi-Function Buttons requires the Mobile App and there is no PC version of the App

Uncomfortable Thumbsticks

D-Pad downward curve position is uncomfortable for the thumb

Controller: SWCTIM Wireless Controller

Year: 2023

Developer: SWCTIM

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The SWCTIM Wireless Controller is easily described as a PlayStation 4 controller that looks very much close in shape design to a PlayStation 5 Dual Sense just from looking at it front the front box cover with a control layout of a Nintendo Switch/Xbox Controller. Although it is designed to be used as a PlayStation 4 controller through and through with compatibility on PC and also the PS3 without features to allow support for PlayStation 5 games. Once you look past all of that the SWCTIM Wireless Controller provides all of the features and more that you want for a Third-Party Controller released very late in the PlayStation 4's life.

Unboxing the SWCTIM Wireless Controller device, the box contains the controller itself with a 2m USB-C cable that can connect to the PS4 console by regular USB alongside instructions on how to setup the controller on the PS4 console or PC as well as other features I'll talk a bit later in the review. Setting up the controller is as simple as plugging in the controller to the PS4 console with the cable provided and then pressing and holding the Home Button for a few seconds and then the controller is connected and ready to play. As for setting it up on PC you do the same thing but it will start out operating in a mode where the PC will detect it as an Xbox controller, to get it to be in Dual Shock 4 mode you need to press and hold the Share & Option Buttons for 3 seconds and then the PC should recognize it as a Dual Shock 4 controller. It can also connect to iOS and Android through wireless Bluetooth by following the provided instructions in the Manual so setting it up the controller on whatever platform you want to use it for is not all too hard to do which is what you want from it. The controller uses a 1000mAh Battery which lasts 10 hours in Wireless Mode while taking 2.5 hours long to charge it which is really great if you plan on having long game sessions playing wireless.

The SWCTIM Wireless Controller has all of the basic functions of a standard Dual Shock 4 controller from the Face Buttons, Analog Sticks and the Touch Pad Button which all work well and feel natural to press. The button layout of the controller has the style of an Xbox/Nintendo Switch type controller and the button layout works well and feels good for anyone familiar with an Xbox or Nintendo Switch controller. It has the Controller Vibrations that let you feel the impact of the action alongside having the controller speaker which sounds really clear when games use the speaker functionality. It has a Touch Pad which works not only as a simple Touch Pad but also as a Touch Button and it feels pretty nice and mirror's the look off the PlayStation 5 Dual Sense controller. It also has a Headphone Jack for you to use your Headphones or Microphone for chatting with other players online and the feedback and response works well with any of the Official or Third Party you would plan on using with the SWCTIM Wireless Controller with. It even has Six-Axis and Light Bar Motions as well so you can use the controller with games that rely on the Motion Controls and they both work and responds really well to any kind of Motion Control input you give out. So as far as the basic functionality of the SWCTIM Wireless Controller it works really well and it responds and functions just like a standard Dual Shock 4 controller with all of the features of what that controller has without cutting any controller features out which is impressive for a Third Party PS4 Controller.

As for the Thumbsticks the grips are on par with the Dual Shock 4's Thumbsticks and I still do not find the Thumbsticks all that comfortable and can make the thumbs sore after about a few minutes of use. You can however put different Thumbstick grips from Third Party companies on to the controller Thumbsticks so you can the controller more comfortable for your thumbs plus the Thumbstick Height is also much shorter than the Thumbstick Height on a regular Dual Shock 4 Controller which makes the small Third Party Thumbstick Grips favourable to use because of their size as long as they fit on it. I tried my Kontrolfreek Borderlands 3 Performance Thumbsticks on the SWCTIM Wireless Controller which has a short Thumbstick Height and it fits and works perfectly well on the controller and feels more comfortable on my thumbs.

The SWCTIM Wireless Controller also has a Reset Button located on the back of the controller which is accessed by using a needle sized object like a paper clip into the hole which holding it for a few seconds will reset the controller to reset to its natural position and set all settings to default. This is there in case the controller ever goes out of sync or doesn't respond properly but during my long play sessions I never experienced any controller malfunctions and worked perfectly fine but it is there in case you ever need to if you experience any problems.

What is easily the biggest highlight of the controller is the customization of the LED Lights and how beautiful they each look. On the back of the controller is the Light Button where when holding down the button for two seconds will turn on or off the LED Lights and also when combined together with the L3 or R3 Buttons will change the display type and colour of the LED Lights. Pressing the Light & R3 Buttons together changes the type of LED display you want whether it is displaying a rainbow of colours in a circular fashion, you can also switch it to where it cycles through all of the available colours and you can press the Light & L3 Buttons to stop the cycle at where it is at and the press them again to resume it. There is also the option to pick from a list of available colours and pick out your favourite and stick with it, sure it resets to the default blue colour every time the controller gets turned off but setting the Led Lights is rather easy to do and isn't really an issue to pick the colour you like the most. Whichever setting you use for the controller the LED Lights look absolutely beautiful especially if you have the LED Lights cycle around.

As for how the controller feels, in hand it feels great, the handles are comfortable, the buttons are smooth and the triggers and bumper buttons have an excellent feel to them. Each of the buttons on the controller are clicky and very responsive while the precision triggers respond well to how much they are held down just like the triggers on the PlayStation 5 Dual Sense Controller.

This controller does not use Adaptive Triggers and Haptic Feedback or in hands feel like holding a PlayStation 5 Dual Sense Controller but still the SWCTIM Wireless Controller still manages to function almost like a PlayStation 5 controller made for the PlayStation 4. The D-Pad is one of the things that makes the controller very different from the PlayStation 5 Dual Sense Controller alongside the LED Lights & handles. The D-Pad may not look amazing or anything but it feels somewhat comfortable to press, as for precision it functions better than a lot of those Third Party PS4 Controller and you can somewhat get used to it for 2D games and especially Fighting Games with some practice.

Lastly the controller has a Turbo Function where you can put any of the face buttons, triggers and bumpers into Turbo Mode by holding down one of the buttons with the Turbo Button to put it into Turbo Mode. It has two Turbo Modes like with every Third-Party Controller on the PlayStation 4 which is toggled on and off by holding down the button with the Turbo Button. The Turbo Functionality works really well with each button in each setting and it is useful for anything in games that heavily relies on rapid button mashing.

The SWCTIM Wireless Controller functions really well in gameplay and is great for many of the games you want to play with it. Shooters, Driving, Fighting, Sports, 2D Games including Motion Control type games, this controller works perfectly with anything that you can throw at it. The controller never experienced any lag and also never experienced any sign of input delay, the controller never broke down or had any moments where the controller stopped functioning even after long gaming sessions so it is perfect for gaming on the PS4.

As for using it on the PS3, everything functions perfectly with no issues and the Analog Stick Axis behaviour is precisely spot on even with PS3 games that have different Analog Stick Axis behaviour than other games. Using the controller on PC or Mobile devices also works really well with any games that are compatible with controller setups and never experienced any issues during play sessions.

The only main downside with the SWCTIM Wireless Controller is with the functionality of the D-Pad, like I said you can get used to it for the majority of games that rely solely on the D-Pad but it is NOT perfect for Fighting Games much like any other Third-Party Controller on the PS4. That is because trying to get special moves that use quarter circle or back circle or any diagonal motions sometimes don't come out as they should which can be a problem with Fighting Games that rely on precise inputs for special moves. You'll might get the hang of the D-Pad overtime and so many other types of games that you try the D-Pad with that will work perfectly with.

What is best about this controller that it has all of the functionality of the Dual Shock 4 Controller including Six-Axis, Light Bar Motion Controls, Vibrations, Controller Speaker, a Headphone Jack, Turbo Functionality, LED Lights and all for a cheap price tag. On Amazon the SWCTIM Wireless Controller costs £23.99 for the White Colour one with the option for a Black Coloured variant of the controller for £22.99 and it is a fantastic deal. Most cheap Third Party PS4 controllers would take away some features to make the controller affordable but however the SWCTIM Wireless Controller manages to carry every single feature of the Dual Shock 4 and function perfectly well is impressive for a PS4 controller released late in the system's life.

The SWCTIM Wireless Controller is one the cheapest controllers that has everything that a standard Dual Shock 4 controller has and even more while looking very much like a cousin to the PlayStation 5 Dual Sense which you can appreciate. It may not be a PS5 controller that you would want for PS5 games but everything about this controller functions incredibly well on PS3/PS4/PC & iOS devices. If you are looking for a cheap PlayStation 4 controller that has a control layout of a Nintendo Switch/Xbox type controller that has every single function of the Dual Shock 4 and like that it looks like a PS5 Dual Sense Controller while functioning perfectly than the SWCTIM Wireless Controller is an easy recommendation.

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Review Score: 9.5/10

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The Goods

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Allows Customization of the LED Lights

LED Lights look absolutely beautiful in each setting

Has Six-Axis, Light Bar Motion Controls & Headphone Jack all together

Can fit Third Party Thumbgrips on top of the Thumbsticks to make them more comfortable

Has all of the main necessary functions of a standard Dual Shock 4 for a cheap price

Looks a lot like a PlayStation 5 Dual Sense Controller

Has Turbo Functionality

The Bads

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D-Pad Precision is NOT perfect for doing special moves in Fighting Games

Thumbsticks are not comfortable especially for long or short gaming periods

Doesn't work with PlayStation 5 games

So Sony kicks of the start of their year with their State of Play video for February 2025 with them looking to get some good upcoming announcements of games coming either in 2025 or 2026. The State of Play was good but nothing really too special was showcased and nothing was said about any of the games rumoured to come to PlayStation which may likely come in the future alongside previously announced games showcased in the video as well. I will talk about the game announcements that stood out for me.

Shinobi Art of Vengeance

Sega's Shinobi franchise makes a fantastic return with a vengeance showcasing challenging combat, platforming with wall climbing, and ninja surfing. It is everything that you want for a Shinobi game and it looks absolutely solid. By far the best game announced in the video.

Splitgate 2 Alpha

On the 27^th February a new Alpha will be released for the upcoming Splitgate 2 which will allow PlayStation 5 players to take part and see what is to come in the coming year. I look forward to stepping through the portal into 1047's sequel to the multiplayer shooter I'm still playing today.

Lies of P Overture

2023's Lies of P was fantastic souls/borne take on 1883 Carlo Collodi's story classic Pinocchio and there is a new DLC announced for it coming soon which looks really good.

Stellar Blade & Nikke Goddess of Victory DLC Crossover

Just like with Lies of P, Korean studio Shift up's action-adventure game Stellar Blade also has DLC coming soon which is going to be a crossover with anime mobile game Nikke Goddess of Victory alongside a release date for the PC version which will be on June 2025.

Armored Core PSOne Games coming to Classics Catalogue

Lastly there were some classic games announced with the three original PSOne Armored Core games that will come to the Classics Catalogue with Trophy Support, widescreen support and also customizable control settings. If you want to experience the original Armored Core games and see where the series started after playing the recent Armored Core Fires of Rubicon then you want to play these games. Also Patapon 3 for the PSP is coming to the Classics Catalogue

So overall it wasn't bad of a State of Play videos but without much Sony standouts coming in to take the show. I liked the new Shinobi game announcement the most and the worst game announcement for me was the Days Gone Remastered for PS5 which I find to be (much like The Last of Us Part I & II releases on PS5 to be somewhat pointless considering that the PS4 version is compatible on the PS5 and looks and runs fine on it.

Written by Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)