I’ve always admired the attempts to make mobile gaming feel comparable to my experience gaming on consoles with a controller in hand. I have the Riot PWR controller that mimics the Xbox gamepad, a couple of Backbones, and some other random ones, but none have ever given me the impression I was doing anything more than just making it work. I’m always left wanting something better, something more premium. With Razer’s latest controller, the Kishi V3 Pro, I finally have the controller I’ve always wanted when gaming on my iPhone.
Let’s get some caveats out of the way before I dive into what I love about the Kishi V3 Pro: It is far and away the most expensive mobile gaming controller out there, closer in price to PlayStation’s DualSense Edge and more costly than PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo’s baseline controllers. It’s available worldwide today for a whopping $149.99. It is also only available with a USB-C connection, meaning you’ll need one of Apple’s newer iPhones (if you have an Android phone, you’re likely set) or an iPad Mini to use it. There’s a non-Pro version lacking some of the better features of the Pro for $99.99, and Pro XL version for $199.99, if you want to use a full-sized iPad with it.
While that price is exorbitant for a mobile controller, once you bite the bullet, you will not regret it.
Immediately upon opening the box, you’re greeted with premium packaging with a blocky foam insert to ensure the controller stays secure. With the controller I received – the Pro – there was another set of analog sticks to connect to the controller: rounded bump sticks and traditional concave sticks. I like the latter on the left side for movement and the former on the right side for faster aiming. Swapping these sticks is as easy as pulling them off with a little bit of force, but it doesn’t feel terrifying to as though you’re breaking the device. You’ll also find a couple of gummy plastic inserts that provide different bumper sizes to the top of your phone, the left side (or top), which isn’t connected to the USB-C connection port. The box is so lovely that I’ve been using it as the controller’s “case” when not in use, and I appreciate Razer’s Apple-like presentation with the packaging. If people are expected to pay $150, every aspect, including the box, needs to feel worth that price tag.
Prompted to download the Razer Nexus app, I do so and am happyit’s free, because it’s a really nice game launcher that groups together mobile games, ones available in the App Store (which pairs nicely with the free 3 months of Apple Arcade the controller includes), and Xbox PC games available for cloud streaming or remote play. In my briefing with the Razer team before actually receiving a Kishi V3 Pro, it emphasized that Nexus is free and will remain free, making sure to subtly shade “other” mobile controller apps that aren’t free, cough cough, Backbone+, which costs $50 a year after a free year trial.
Even if Nexus didn’t exist, the Kishi V3 Pro is still an excellent controller. Its design feels most similar to an Xbox controller and has enough girth to feel premium, versus something that feels like it’s doing its best to mimic a standard controller but missing the mark. Razer says the USB-C connection promises little to no latency, though admittedly, I’ve never had latency issues on any of the mobile controllers I’ve used.
There’s much customization under the hood, too, even beyond the swappable thumbsticks and phone bumpers. The triggers can be switched to an Analog or Digital mode, allowing you to customize their feel, how much you need to press before registering an input, and more. The two back “pedal” buttons are circles that your hands grip around the controller, and they feel similar to clicking a mouse. I haven’t used them too much, but I can imagine the possibilities with shooters, strategy games, and other genres where a mouse click is often more competitive than triggers.
The Tunnel Magnetoresistance (or TMR) thumbsticks are apparently longer-lasting and more precise than other types, including Hall Effect thumbsticks, according to Razer, and while I’ll need more time to put these to the test, I can say they feel incredible. The same goes for the Hall Effect triggers, 8-way d-pad, and face buttons. There are even two additional buttons up top by the bumpers for more customization. The entire package is lifted by Razer’s Sensa HD Haptics, which do feel quite premium, especially for a mobile controller. Though haptics have never been the gamechanger controller makers boast them to be, I would compare the Sensa HD haptics with Nintendo’s Joy-Con and PlayStation’s DualSense haptics technology.
If you aren’t familiar with the mobile gaming controller market, these are features you won’t find in other controllers. Instead of taking the more casual approach to designing a controller for use with phones, Razer has treated this device like something for the market of gamers the DualSense Edge or Xbox Elite controllers appeals to – it’s for the gamers who want to tinker and toy with small customizable options, the players who don’t want caveats just because they’re using their phone to game. The Riot PWR controller works, the Backbone works, and so do all of my other random devices, but none feel as intentional as the Kishi V3 Pro. It feels like a controller that will become an integral piece of my gaming rotation rather than something I only use on planes or as a quick fix, which is what the Backbone has been for me as of late. Admittedly, this is my first Kishi, so perhaps this line of controllers has always been this way. Still, I imagine this is the company’s best swing yet.
At the end of the day, though, it’s still a mobile gaming controller. If you play a lot of mobile games, there is no better controller than the Kishi V3 Pro, unless you believe fake gamer and also my boss, Kyle Hilliard. If the feeling of gaming via your mobile device has always hampered your desire to do so, this controller could change that, but if mobile gaming just isn’t for you, this controller likely won’t. Nonetheless, the Kishi V3 Pro blows every other mobile controller I’ve tried out of the water. It is the best controller for my iPhone I’ve ever used, and I look forward to taking more of my games (and this controller) with me on the go.
The Razer Kishi V3 Pro is available starting today for $149.99.
