Review: NYXI Hyperion 2 – Are These Really “The Ultimate Replacement” For Your Switch Joy-Con?

When the Switch launched, its new Joy-Con controllers were dreamy little wonders stuffed with neat tech and surprises.

Unfortunately, the biggest surprise was an unwelcome one – with time, the sticks were prone to drifting on their own accord, and the widespread problem caused many a Switch gamer’s opinion to sour. The pads’ small size also created problems for many players with larger hands, with some of us forking out for a Pro Controller or switching to a grip or third-party alternative for handheld play.

However, non-Nintendo alternatives always come with compromises. Our beloved Hori Split Pad Pro lacks motion sensors, for instance, meaning stick-based aiming only in games like BOTW or Splatoon. It’s fine, but after you’ve experienced the precision of gryo aiming, it’s tough to go back.

Enter NYXI with its updated Hyperion 2 Joy-Con pads, pitched as “the ultimate replacement” for the real Mc-Con. They don’t quite match the official feature set, but they add a few things Nintendon’t and, pound for pound, these could well suit you better, depending on your priorities.

NYXI Hyperion 2: Design

Having found NYXI’s Warrior pad for GameCube and Switch to be a quirky but quality bit of kit, this new pair of Joy-Con released earlier in January and we were curious to see how they compared to Nintendo’s. The Hyperion 2s are, in fact, the third entry in the Hyperion range, with the originals offering similar functionality with an asymmetric grip design, and a Pro variant adding Hall Effect joysticks that are also present here.

These pads split the difference between the chunkier grips of previous models and the straight sides of official Joy-Con. The backs here bulge out for comfier handheld play, but they feel less unwieldy when you slide them off the rails. They’re around a centimetre wider than Nintendo’s Joy-Con, though, and feel much more substantial – 80g each compared to Nintendo’s ~50g, but with the extra grip they give you, it’s hard to discern the added weight.

What’s missing compared to the official Joy-Con, then? Well, there’s no IR sensor in the right controller, nor an NFC reader for your amiibo. These Joy-Con have rumble (which can be cycled between three intensity settings) but it’s not the HD variety, so you won’t be able to count balls in a box in 1-2-Switch (we tried).

In place of those features, however, you get turbo options, programmable back buttons, removable magnetic faceplates, and natty LED lights around the analogue sticks. And most importantly, they’ve got those Hall Effect sticks, meaning they shouldn’t suffer from the dreaded Joy-Con drift.

At $79.99 (£64.39 / €76,99), they’ll set you back the same as a pair of Nintendo’s Joy-Con, and they’re pricier than HYXI’s Hyperion Pro ($65.99) and the original Hyperion ($56.99). They come with a plastic case if you’re looking to keep them pristine between play sessions, but that and a manual are all you get in the box otherwise.

NYXI Hyperion 2: Performance

Let’s get the lights out of the way first. Each to their own, but this reviewer has never been a fan of I’M-A-GAMER paraphernalia. However, we did warm to the subtle RGB detailing here, which feels classier than your typical screaming neon.

You can have the lights pulsing in rainbow hues, or click the tiny buttons on the back to pick a solid colour from a choice of seven – we ended up with blue on the left and red on the right to duplicate the classic Switch feel. Keeping the lights on halves the 10-hour battery life between charges, but realistically you’ll be sliding the controllers back on the console before they run out of juice.

Fashion-Con aside, these feel great in the hands. Face button placement is good, the grips give you plenty of purchase, the sticks are responsive, and the back buttons fall in a nice, natural position. Firing up some Hades on the sofa, any failures when facing the monstrous hordes of Tartarus, Asphodel, and Elysium were down to our being out of practice.

Years ago, a combination of drift and hand cramps led to migrating to a Pro Controller almost exclusively for TV play, so it’s been a minute since we sat on the sofa playing with crossed arms. We didn’t realise how much we’d missed that feeling, that freedom!

Moving onto TOTK, our go-to controller-tester these days, we started to feel that these could be our default Switch controllers from now on. Other third-party pads have six-way gyro, of course, but the Hyperion 2 feels like the happiest medium that retains the basic shape and functionality of the official Joy-Con but enhanced for larger-handed players.

After we’d turned down the rumble intensity to preserve our fillings, we quickly forgot about them — always a good sign with any input device — and just cracked on assembling Mineru’s Construct. A quick blast of Splatoon 2 was similarly pleasurable and uneventful. A quick dip into 1-2-Switch confirmed that you’ll need to keep your OG Joy-Con handy for high-def rumble (and IR functionality and scanning amiibo) but, for us, the added benefits here far outstrip the lost features.

Detaching and holding them sideways for multiplayer, they’re more or less the same as the official Joy-Con comfort-wise. ‘SL’ and ‘SR’ are similarly tiny and awkward to find, and the grip bulge on the back makes resting the pad on your third fingers (rather than your middle fingers) more natural. This needs-must multiplayer control method has never been optimal, not for long periods, but it’s no worse than the standard Joy-Con if you’re sitting down to some couch co-op.

In addition to the lights, detachable faceplates can be easily swapped on and off, although we only had the one set and it seems that NXYI hasn’t started selling them separately yet. Honestly, with the customisable lights, there’s not a huge need for them, but they’re harmless fun and we like the efficiency of the magnets covering and attaching to the pad’s screw heads.

Personally, we would have preferred a D-pad on the left, but that’s a nitpick given the intent here to more closely replicate the look and functions of Nintendo’s official offering. Our only real criticism comes down to button preference — clicky microswitches wouldn’t be our first choice. They’re perfectly accurate and playing in the living room on a TV is fine, but it’s worth considering if you like to play in bed while someone’s sleeping in the same room.

We’re on the brink of a generation’s end, with Switch 2 and its magnetic, mouse-like Joy-Con on the horizon, and it’s a shame that NYXI’s delivering this genuine improvement to the real deal so late in the day. If you’re going to pick up Switch 2 on day one later this year, you’re best off sitting tight – hopefully Nintendo’s next-gen Joy-Con will solve the endemic drift problem. But if you intend to stick with Switch ‘1’ for a while yet, these are definitely worth a look.

NYXI Hyperion 2 – The Verdict

So are these really “the ultimate replacement” for your knackered old Joy-Con, as NYXI claims? You know, they’re pretty damn close. It really depends on the control functions you use and value most; for us, the loss of HD rumble, the IR sensor, and the NFC reader was more than countered by improved sticks, optional back buttons, and ergonomics that better suit our larger, adult hands.

The lights, magnetic faceplates, and turbo functions are fun but superfluous extras and we might have ditched them in favour of a more competitive price point – these cost the same as Nintendo’s own Joy-Con. However, if you’re looking for a serious alternative that isn’t plagued by drift issues and the other features sound appealing, the Hyperion 2 are absolutely worth considering.

Ultimately, our Hori Switch Pad Pro and official Joy-Con have gone in the drawer and these have become our default Switch controllers; as recommendations go, we feel that’s a pretty strong one.

The sample used in this review was supplied by NYXI.

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