Pro controllers are all the rage at the moment with every first party and third party accessory manufacturer wanting to release one, but none are quite as unique as the ASUS ROG Raikiri Pro.
Straight off the bat, you’ll probably realise that the most unique thing about this controller is the 1.3-inch OLED screen. I was super excited to see how it was used earlier this year, and whilst it was cool, I do wish it was used for a little more.
There are some great reasons to use the screen including quickly checking the battery life, changing profiles, checking mute status or putting the controller into pairing, but these are things that have all been done successfully without a screen in the past. When you don’t need to take advatnage of any of these things, you can have a number of ROG animations playing that are extremely cool to watch, but don’t add a heap, but luckily you can add your own custom images which is a nice touch.
Getting your way around the OLED screens is a little bit finnicky as well with the same button used for scrolling through the menu and selecting, but once you get the hang of it, it isn’t too bad.
THE CHEAPEST PRICE: $270 WITH FREE SHIPPING
Connectivity is a little bit of a mixed bag as well depending on whether you’re a fan of wired or wireless. If you’re playing on PC, you can connect using the included 2.4 GHz dongle and that works super well, and it also has Bluetooth connectivity for connecting with mobile devices, but if you’re playing on Xbox, the controller will only work wired, which obviously isn’t ideal if you don’t like a wired connection.
The controller is super stylish with its semi translucent design. It also has customisation RGB lighting all the way down it, and as far as actual comfort goes, it’s really good, the triggers are solid and have trigger length adjustment which is essential for a pro controller and the buttons also feel great to use as well as the D-Pad.
As far as customisation goes, there’s four buttons on the back of the controller which feel perfectly with in reach, and these can be customised through Armory Crate by connecting the controller with a cord to your PC. These customisations can then be saved to profiles and will also carry over to Xbox as well.
There’s a lot of other customisation that can be done with Armory Crate as well including changing the lighting, changing the deadzones of each analogue sticks, the vibration amount as well as exactly how much you have to press each trigger to get a response.
There’s also a 3.5mm jack at the bottom of the controller that has a built-in ESS Dac and a dedicated mute button as well, so if you’re somebody who’s always wearing a wired headset and wants to be able to goggle that on the fly, it’s a good addition.
The controller has a fantastic battery life lasting up to 48 hours with vibration and lighting turned off. This is well ahead of any other controller on the market.
At $270, it’s obviously a little bit more than the Elite Series 2 controller, so you’d have to really want that OLED screen to jump across to this controller. I’m a bit fan of pieces of tech that do things differently, so I really praise ASUS for doing something a little different here.
