If you follow our site, you probably know I have a small child who is following in his father’s nerd footsteps. Up until recently, our gaming habits have been somewhat hit and miss, as a number of games or controllers are a bit too big for his tiny grasp. While there are several third party branded controllers that are on the market, most feel cheap or lack the reputation that Hori brings to the table. Since this is backed by the folks at Sony, which rarely happens with third party peripherals, I assumed it was worth the purchase and am happy to report, neither I nor my son have been disappointed. While I was originally going to do a video review with my son’s thoughts, I figured I would save you from hearing 10 minutes of why he loved it because it’s blue.
The controller itself is about 1/3 smaller than the already tiny PS4 controller and features most of the same options the base unit offers. The touch pad is still included, but a bit… wonky. I have yet to properly get it to work while playing one of the few games in my collection that make use of it, as there’s a button you must hold while using the sticks to control the “motion.” The headphone jack, speaker, light bar, motion controls, and rumble features are all missing. While these are minor complaints, younger gamers would likely not notice the differences; my son only seemed to be disappointed that the rumble and light features were removed.
The controller is extremely light which some might consider to be “cheap feeling,” however, it is comparable in quality to the recently released Super NES mini controllers produced by Nintendo. The analog sticks are the exception to this, as they feel very sturdy, even more so than the vanilla controller. While I find both of the units mentioned above to be kind of small (I honestly prefer the Xbox One controller due to having larger hands), it feels comfortable in my grip and fits my son’s hands perfectly. In my experience with the controller, the only issue I encountered personally was the placement of both sets of the trigger buttons (L1, L2, R1, R2). They are rounded and placed extremely close to each other, which put me at a disadvantage when playing Street Fighter V. Players looking for a cheaper alternative closer to one of the more pricey 6 button layout controllers promoted for fighting games may want to look elsewhere.
Like many PS4 users, I stand my unit up vertically which is normally not a problem; however, the mini controller is only offered in a wired option. Coming with a cable (10 feet), it means that there is a higher probability for the console breaking. My son, like many younger gamers I have had the pleasure of playing with in the same room, is very animated when playing, which has resulted in the need to lay the console down or face the risk of it falling over.
While this controller won’t be for everyone, if you need something more affordable than the standard PS4 option that retains the quality of other Sony products, you could do a lot worse than the PS4 Mini Wired Gamepad.
8 out of 10
Pros
- Budget Price Point
- Fits Younger Hands Perfectly
- Sturdy Yet Light
Cons
- Poor Trigger Placement
- Wonky Touch Pad
The Playstation Mini Wired Gamepad was manufactured by Hori for Sony. The controller was released on December 1st, 2017, for $29,99. The controller was not provided for us to review. For more on the Playstation Mini Wired Gamepad, please visit it’s official site here.
Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth using, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great piece of hardware that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.
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