While handhelds are primarily my biggest source of financial ruin, I too have a second issue that plagues my wallets. Controllers. It doesn’t seem as bad as handhelds because I don’t have all of my controllers on display. Just in the drawer below my TV, and in the drawer under my bed, and the drawer in my closet, and the — you get the idea.
So when the fine folks over at AKNES were kind enough to send me over the GuliKit King Kong Pro 3, I decided to give it my best shot and see if maybe it could replace a couple of the controllers in my household. There was no expectation for me to talk about it here, but my experience with it was good enough I wanted to give talking about a controller a shot.Â
So join in for my (likely poor) opinions on what could be one of my favorite controllers this year. Sorry Stadia controller.
What You’re Getting
When it comes to specs there’s a lot you should already expect, but I want to cover my bases at least.
The front covers both the Xbox layout for sticks, the Nintendo layout for face buttons, and seemingly both for function. You’ve got two full-sized hall sticks on the front that’ll match the two hall triggers on the back. Alongside that, you’ve got four slots for back button paddles, though you only receive two in the box.
All of this is powered by a 950mAh battery that can last for up to 15 hours with Joystick lights on, and 28 hours with the Joysticks off.
What Works
To make this easier on me, I want to talk about the pros and cons in two specific categories, just like they did in my RG Cube article. Plus, it makes it easier to take in for you as well.Â
The Ergonomics
This is a pretty simple one. The KK3 Pro looks like an Xbox One controller, it’s shaped like one and has the same button layout in the front. The only difference is that the KK3 Pro is slightly shorter than the Xbox One. It’s not by much, maybe half an inch, but it keeps the controller feeling incredibly comfortable and familiar. As someone who always likes the feel of an Xbox controller that makes me feel at home.Â
Actual Controls (Mostly)
While I’m not a fan of the whole setup. The hall sticks move smoothly and feel very accurate in the game. I had no issues using the left stick for steering in Forza Horizon 5. The face buttons have a nice actuation to them thanks to GuliKits’s tactile button switch. Personally, I think they’re a nice middle ground between an Xbox controller and something you might find on a TrimUI Smart Pro with those mondo clicky buttons. Finally, the bumpers on the the back have a nice quiet click which feels nice in use.Â
Accessories and Battery Life
It comes with a lot of accessories, even if they don’t all work together at once.
Taking it out of the box, you’re met with a surprising number of accessories. You get a flat USB-C cable to charge it and a nice hard shell case with a cutout for charging. And then on the inside, you get a nice spot to place your USB wireless adapter and the two paddles that come with your controller.Â
The adapter works really well for connecting to your controller once you figure it out, and from what I can tell, it doesn’t seem to have an effect on performance or battery life from what I could tell. And during my testing, and the return of my Forza addiction, I only had the battery die on me once. And that was day three of not charging it, paired with another long session of racing when I should have been productive instead.Â
Overall, the KK3 gets a lot of the basics right, but there are a few things I don’t like, and maybe that’s a bit nit-picky, but it’s what I’ve noticed in my use.
What Doesn’t
The Rest of the Main Controls
In my last section on controls, there were two things I didn’t mention. The D-Pad, and the Triggers. The D-Pad is fine overall, but in regular use, it feels a bit too stiff when compared to other options, to the point I even prefer the clicky D-Pad on an Xbox series controller. As someone who doesn’t really like clicky D-Pads. That Dish is surprisingly nice by comparison.Â
The other issue I have is with the triggers. On the Xbox, they slide down smoothly and click into place. They’re clean easy, and pretty nice all things considered. The KK3 Pro? They slide down nicely most of the way, but then up the tension at the very bottom. And once you feel like they’re all the way down. You can press them a little bit more. With a lot of effort yes, but it throws me off occasionally in gameplay. Overall though if you get used to it, I don’t think it’ll be the biggest issue.Â
Back Paddles
   
I’m going to be completely honest. After using them once, I never came back to them and used the controller as is, pretending there wasn’t even an option for back paddles. Despite having four slots you only get two paddles in the package, so if you want more you’ll likely have to buy them. They’re super high quality and are metal, but they’re a pain to get in and out of place, and overall they didn’t feel too comfortable to use. I much prefer the flat back buttons on something like a Steam Deck or even the back of my PowerA Nano controller. At best I’ll use them for added grip. If you know you want this style of back paddles though, you will be happy with them.Â
Connectivity
This isn’t a negative thing completely, but rather a cautionary tale. Please make sure to keep the instructions to this controller until you’re used to connecting it to the systems you want. Since it works for Windows, Android, Switch, iOS, and the Wireless adapter, there are steps you have to take to connect it. Use one button to change which system you’re connecting to as it powers on. Remember how to sync it to each device, and go from there.
It’s not hard after you figure it out, but still. Don’t just throw away the instructions on this one.Â
How It Stacks Up
A lot of my comparisons in this review have come down to the KK3 Pro vs a Series Controller. If you know you want to use a wireless controller on Xbox, get the Xbox controller. Want to use it for Switch? Get the KK3 Pro. There are some things that each does better than the other, and it’s up to you to decide which tradeoffs to make.Â
KK3 Pro wins in face buttons, sticks, and connectivity. Series Controller wins in D-Pad, trigger, and general battery life with its double A’s.Â
Both win for how dang comfortable they are in the hand.Â
Final Thoughts
If you’ve got $60 to spend and you want a solid controller, I don’t think the KK3 Pro is a bad choice. It’s comfy, lasts a while, and has a plethora of features. However, $60 is also a saturated space in the controller scene. You could get an 8BitDo Ultimate and have a charging dock, or a Flydigi Vader 3 Pro and get slightly better back buttons that are all built-in.
It’s a good controller, I’m going to keep using it going forward on my PC at the very least. It’ll likely migrate over to my x86 handhelds when I want to dock them to a larger monitor, but overall, I love it. Even if the DMG look isn’t my cup of tea.Â
Buy the GuliKit King Kong 3 Pro Controller
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