// THE VERGE — HARDWARE & GADGET
This tiny gamepad with dual analog thumbsticks pushes the limits of portable controllers
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Larger hands may struggle with the Atom Plus, but it squeezes a lot of functionality into an extremely tiny controller.
Larger hands may struggle with the Atom Plus, but it squeezes a lot of functionality into an extremely tiny controller.
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As much as I appreciate the ingenious design of the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con, my family and I can’t stand using them as standalone gamepads. So when we travel with the Switch 2, we always bring at least one full-size gamepad, plus a couple of 8BitDo’s Zero 2 controllers for games that don’t use analog thumbsticks. I’ve spent years hunting for an alternative that pairs the size of the Zero 2 with as much of the functionality of a larger controller as I can get, and CRKD’s new Atom Plus is nearly exactly that. But if you have larger hands like I do, you may find the gamepad’s focus on portability a struggle.
Measuring around 3.5 inches wide, the $29.99 Atom Plus is about a half-inch smaller than the 8BitDo Zero 2 but squeezes in considerably more features and functionality. The most obvious is a pair of symmetrical analog thumbsticks with anti-drift tunneling magnetoresistance technology. You also get shoulder buttons and triggers, rumble feedback, a dedicated home button, motion controls, and customization through a mobile app.