The Tails Seaside Hill Zone REALMz Wired Controller is a Nintendo Switch controller launched by PDP. The wonderful people at PDP have sent us this Switch controller for review. It is a compact, efficient, and well-rounded controller perfect for couch gaming on the Switch. The controller is sold at the price of $39.99.
The packaging of this controller is quite inviting, informative, and simple. The specs and information about the controller are written on the back, highlighted with which part associates with what on the controller. The front of the box displays a big image of the controller with a transparent slit through which you can see the controller. I really like that the half of the controller that is shown physically is the part with the collectable figure, which is a very unique concept compared to other controllers. The controller is officially licensed by Nintendo, so the box has a bright red colour to it. Of course, because this controller line is related to Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog is on the front, which entices gamers even more. The box comes with the following items: The Tails Seaside Hill Zone REALMz Wired Controller, an 8 ft cable, a PDP getting started booklet, and the controller comes with a 2-year limited warranty.
The design for the REALMz Wired Controller is extremely innovative and unique. It’s not a concept you would find normally on a controller, which makes it stand out amazingly. This is a third-party controller, so compared to actual Nintendo Switch controllers, it is slightly smaller in size. The way the controller is built is so intricate. The case is clear plastic, which has the Tail’s collectable figure on the left-hand side and background over the controller’s components from within. With the design of the controller, it does a good job of creating a 3D element with the foreground, background, and colours. In other words, it has a see-through shell with a multi-layered design creating this ‘story’ within it. Now, the colours are very complementary to the character in the REALMz line that you have chosen to buy. The REALMz line comes with two other controllers, one featuring Sonic and the other featuring Knuckles, each with different environments. For Tails, the environment is very beach-like. Besides just the collectable figure inside the controller, the controller itself has so much character. The bumper buttons and USB wire are a bright yellow, similar to the colour of Tails. What I really like is the way the colours flow with one another and slightly stand out from the background of the controller. Another really cool feature of the controller is the LED lighting, which works when the controller is plugged in. The specifications for this wired controller are the following: for audio, it has a standard 3.5mm stereo headset jack for in-game audio and mic; the controller weight is 0.4 kg, and the controller’s height x depth x width is 13.4 cm x 6.5 cm x 16.0 cm. The controller is officially licensed by Nintendo and SEGA.
To begin with, the controller does come with extra buttons that make it more accessible for players. You have buttons such as the home button, the screenshot button, the d-pad, two joysticks, ABXY buttons, and the right and left bumpers, as well as three other buttons. I do wish there was a paper manual that came with this controller rather than having to scan a QR code to figure out what certain things on the controller do, especially because the box does contain a pamphlet anyway. The QR code brings up a whole list of products by PDP, from which you can select this specific controller. The user guide from the QR code does a good job of explaining certain issue solutions and the general functionality of certain buttons, though it does not explain them all. For example, it took me a while before I gave up on trying to figure out what the middle three buttons do. I tried pressing them, holding them in and out of the game, but they did not seem to do anything, which seems to me they do not serve much purpose, making them useless to be placed on the controller. Some of the extra buttons make it difficult to find their purpose. For instance, the three small middle buttons took me a bunch of clicking in-game and out of the game to figure out what they do, but I still could not figure out their purpose. I believe the button with the tiny dot is for syncing, which is usually only meant for wireless controllers, and the other +/- buttons, I’m not quite sure. I would say that I do, in fact, like the layout of the controller as it makes using all Switch functions possible just from the controller itself.
Now, the lighting of the controller is a nice extra touch, but I do not feel it’s extremely necessary for the controller. There are two LED bulbs at the back of the controller, which light up when plugged in. The light is decently bright and shines like an outline for the controller when the front is facing towards you. The LED is nice as it brings attention to the background of the controller, but I do wish there was a little bit more to it than I had expected. The A button makes it brighter, but only by the slightest amount; Y makes the LED flash, and X dims the LED. I wish there were RGB LEDs so that you could have more control over the LEDs you could choose rather than only having the white light with moderately cranky controls. Again, the LED lights just seem a bit useless.
When testing out the controller, we tested it with a variety of games found on the Switch, from heavy FPS games such as Fortnite to platformers like Mario Bros to chill games like ‘A Little to the Left’. While using the controller as it was hooked up to the Switch, there was no delay, and the response time about the buttons and joysticks was extremely quick and smooth. There also seems to be no stick drift, making it a great controller option. The bumpers at the top of the controller have an extremely nice feel to them. They are clicky, and especially because there is a little cut/separation between the two bumpers, it makes using them feel much smoother than most other controllers. The controller feels extremely natural and doesn’t obstruct long-time gaming. The controller also has a headphone jack for earphones and headphones. To test the volume feedback, we watched YouTube on the Switch as well as closely paid attention to in-game sounds. The controller picks up the volume really well, and even with a mic plugged in, the mic is easily picked up with no delay or distortion. I like the functionality of the increase/decrease volume control on the D-pad that works when the headset is plugged in. The Switch also recognizes this as a pro-controller, which is very good. In addition, the buttons have really nice clicks to them. They have a subtle soothing sound to them, which is not as aggressive. The sound is similar to that of mechanical keyboards but a bit more muffled.
Something in addition to the great accessibility of this controller is that it does indeed work with PC/laptop, making it worthwhile for gaming in general. There is no noticeable delay either when playing on the PC, and everything seems to run really smoothly. I really like that even though the controller is meant for the Switch, the controller has great compatibility with the PC. The length of the wire for this controller is 8 feet, which is the perfect length for gaming while sitting on your couch or your bed. Of course, the controller can only be used if your Switch is docked, but it is the perfect controller for any gaming you would like to do on the Switch. Lastly, speaking of comfortability, especially with long-day gaming, the controller would have no issues whatsoever. The controller fits so nicely in your hand and is light. The overall feel of the controller is very smooth, almost like you are holding onto the glass. The transparent shell and its lightness allow players to play without any interruptions. Also, because the buttons feel so smooth and click nicely, it keeps the players immersed in the game. Overall, the comfort of using this controller is excellent.
For this controller, we did not have an extremely similar controller, so we used another third-party controller for a quick comparison. The controller we compared the REALMz to was the PowerA Nintendo Switch Controller Kirby Wired. The PowerA controller is a bit cheaper than the REALMz controller, and they do have a big difference from one another.
Both of the controllers do not have any visible delays, and they work very smoothly when plugged into the Switch. For the Kirby controller, the shell is much more of a hard plastic, making it feel lighter than the Tails controller. Personally, I liked the feel of the Tails controller much more than the Kirby one, but on the Kirby controller, I prefer the layout without having any extra buttons. Both of the controllers are quite similar to one another.
The PowerA controller just has the necessary functionality, whereas the REALMz controller serves as both a collectable and a functional controller. Overall, I like the REALMz one much more because of its weight, feel, and unique design.
The controller overall is really well-designed and has a good lightness to it, which makes it very comfortable to play with. The only suggestion I would make is to remove extra buttons that do not serve any function whatsoever when plugged into the switch, as it can bring more attention to the background of the controller. I wish that for the price of this controller, maybe there could have been different LED colour options; for example, this controller specifically could have LED lights in the colours of yellow, red, blue, and white, which you can switch using the ABXY buttons. Besides these suggestions, the rest of the controller is really good.
This Nintendo Switch controller has a wonderful design showcasing the environment the Tails figure is within. The Tails Seaside Hill Zone REALMz Wired Controller has a sleek design with an interesting button layout to serve more functionality for more efficient gameplay. We found this controller to be amazing and worth $39.99. We would like to say that this controller has a unique look to it with the addition of having a nice feel. It’s also a great option for collectors to collect because of the tiny figure inside. I would definitely say that this controller is worth the price. Plus, there is a line of these REALMz controllers that you can get to fit your preference for Sonic character. So, definitely do go check out the Tails Seaside Hill Zone REALMz Wired Controller!
Overall: 8.5/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
