Anbernic winded up and threw a curveball with one of their recent announcements. They decided to get into the controller game. As a company that makes many, many handhelds, it only makes sense. I mean, they are already making handheld controls, now they don’t have to worry about a screen and all that other stuff that comes along with it.
Anbernic RG P01: Price and Availability
Whether you’re just a fan of collecting new controllers, or you’ve been looking for something different, the RG P01 might fit the bill. Pre-orders for Anbernic’s first controller begin on October 29, and it will set you back just $15.
Orders are expected to begin shipping sometime around November 15, at which point the RG P01 price will go up $18. So unlike other Anbernic devices, you’ll have more than a few days to enjoy a pre-order discount.
Anbernic RG P01: The Feel
When I first unboxed the Anbernic RG P01, I was happy to see some protection around each analog stick. I received the one I was wanting the most out of the color options, white and purple. I instantly grabbed my new 8BitDo Ultimate C that I just purchased as a comparison. These controllers look very similar and I will be doing a bit of comparing them throughout this review.
The sticks on the RG P01 feel pretty good and smooth in their movement, but unfortunately smooth on the surface as well. There seems to be a lack of grip at all on them, which if you are a sweaty-palmed gamer like myself, sounds like a recipe for disaster on having it slip. The 8BitDo seems to have a bit more resistance than the Anbernic controller, which I prefer.
The face buttons have a nice feel to them and I have no issues with those. One feature I really enjoy is the 2 back paddles of the controller. They rest perfectly where my middle fingers lay so I can easily press them. They also have a nice feeling grip to them that is lacking on the sticks.
The dpad feels good and I am curious to test it and see how it performs. The triggers are decent and I always enjoy a hall trigger. When comparing it to the 8BitDo though, I notice that the Anbernic isn’t as satisfying to press, especially for the R1/L1. It is hard to put into words. The R2/L2 also does not have as much resistance as the 8BitDo, which I prefer.
Anbernic RG P01: Performance
It was finally time to turn this thing on and see what it could do. It has a USB dongle that you can connect, or you can connect it with a USB C cable or even with BlueTooth. I chose to use the dongle and connect it to the USB hub for my ROG Ally. The first thing I had to check was if there was cardinal snapping like some of their recent handhelds. I used the joystick calibration through Armory Crate and I am surprised and happy to report that it does not have cardinal snapping. The video of this is above.
I decided it was time to try out the D-pad. I fired up RH Podcast favorite Celeste for Pico-8. While playing, I did not notice any issues and it performed quite well. I decided to try a different game to test if I could get any false diagonals. I fired up Tetris and when moving the D-pad to the right and pivoting on the right a little towards the down, it would trigger the down direction. That is always frustrating to me, but may be the preference of someone else.
Finally, I wanted to test how easy it is to program the 2 back macro buttons. It is a very easy process and works very well. You have to hold down the back button you want to program and then also press select. Once the RGB starts flashing (yes, of course, there is RGB), you press the button you want to program it to. After that, press your macro button again and it should be programmed.
When using the controller with Metaphor ReFantazio, I had horrible latency issues. I have been playing this game flawlessly in handheld mode, but it was very rough on the controller. My character would go rogue and just start running in circles or into the wall. He would aimlessly slash and make initiating combat a pain. It was a very bad experience.
Anbernic RG P01: Final Thoughts
So the question remains, is this the best budget controller? No, in my opinion, it is not. It is serviceable and a good first attempt at a controller by Anbernic. It honestly surpassed my expectations. I am still happy with and leaning towards my 8BitDo Ultimate C. I prefer the subtle differences like resistance in the triggers and sticks and overall feel. It is more bulbous like an Xbox controller, which feels good to me.
Should you buy the RG P01? Well, do you need a new controller? Do you like Anbernic? Do you like easily programmable macro buttons? Then I would say, why not? It is for sure a controller worth a shot and you can order your own at the links below. Also, be sure to watch Todd’s unboxing below.
UpdateÂ
I haven’t been able to recreate the issues on Metaphor. I am curious what the original issue was, but it runs fine now. I still think it is good to keep that part in though if someone else has similar issues. This is also a preproduction product and can have some updates before release.
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“When using the controller with Metaphor ReFantazio, I had horrible latency issues. I have been playing this game flawlessly in handheld mode, but it was very rough on the controller. My character would go rogue and just start running in circles or into the wall. He would aimlessly slash and make initiating combat a pain. It was a very bad experience.”
I feel like I had to quote this whole thing, for emphasis. This controller was straight up broken when playing a new game, on Windows.
At the very least it sounds like it needs a firmware update or two before it’s even a contender to be viable. If the controller made a game unplayable, that is a very bad thing. It’s kinda the opposite of what a controller is meant to do!
It was really frustrating to deal with. Luckily today upon more testing, I haven’t been able to recreate the issues and the article has been updated, but keeping that in just in case someone else has the issue. Hopefully anbernic still supports this past release with firmware
Does it offer Xinput and Dinput modes like the 8bitdo controllers?