> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://averagetechnerds.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # NYXI Hyperion 3 Ultra for Switch 2: Everything Fixed but the Price - URL: https://averagetechnerds.com/nyxi-hyperion-3-ultra-switch-2-first-impressions/ - Published: 2026-10-19T20:21:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-26T04:28:47.000Z - Description: I returned the regular NYXI Hyperion 3 and paid $160 for the Ultra. It fixes everything the first one lacked, but Mobapad’s prices make it a hard sell. - Author: Victor - Tags: First Impressions, Handheld Gaming, Controllers & Accessories, Switch 2 controllers The [regular NYXI Hyperion 3](https://averagetechnerds.com/nyxi-hyperion-3-switch-2-first-impressions/) lasted about two weeks on my Switch 2 before it went back in the box. The rumble was the old single-buzz kind, and faint even at that, and the shell had a hollow, budget feel in the hand. While I was still forming that opinion, NYXI announced a second version with every missing feature bolted on, so I returned the first one, pre-ordered the Ultra from NYXI’s store for $160, and waited eleven days for it to show up. This is what happened when it did: the unboxing, the scale, the D-pad, the pairing, the rumble, a firmware misadventure, turbo, mouse mode, amiibo, and the question of whether any of it is worth seventy dollars more than the controller I sent back. Bottom line up front ## So what does this mean for the *Average TechNerd*? NYXI delivered. Every feature the regular Hyperion 3 lacked is present and working on the Ultra: proper HD rumble, mouse mode, an NFC reader for amiibo, and TMR sticks, all inside the same shell with the same clicky microswitch buttons and the same pair of back paddles. NYXI’s name for the rumble is HD2, which is its own branding and separate from Nintendo’s HD Rumble 2, but the effect is layered, detailed vibration rather than a buzz, and it changes how games feel. What hasn’t been fixed is the price. At the $160 I paid, the Ultra sits $70 above the regular model, and more to the point, above both of Mobapad’s answers: the M12 Pro I pre-ordered for $119.99, which lists the same feature set, and the M12 HD I already own, which cost me about $90 and wakes the Switch 2 too. The Ultra stays in my collection. Priced around $100, it would be the easy recommendation it deserves to be. At a glance What it is Joy-Con-style split controllers for the Switch 2, with a bridge that joins them into one controller Price I paid $160 on NYXI’s store; $169.99 on sale, $199.99 list (October 18); $129.99 on Amazon from a third-party seller (October 19) Good HD rumble, a world apart from the regular model; Home button wakes the Switch 2; mouse mode and amiibo both work; pairs the moment it touches the console Not good lighter than I like; clicky, audible buttons and an even clickier D-pad; digital triggers and fixed stick tension; hard to justify against Mobapad’s prices Key specs TMR sticks, microswitch buttons, HD2 linear rumble motors (NYXI’s name), 9-axis gyro, NFC, mouse sensor, Bluetooth 5.0 or USB-C, 230 g a pair on my scale, NYXI rates 6 to 8 hours My pick keeping it, but at $160 the Mobapads make it difficult to recommend ## What is the NYXI Hyperion 3 Ultra, and what does it cost? Think of it as the regular Hyperion 3 after a trip back to the drawing board. Two controller halves snap onto the Switch 2’s magnetic rails, work wirelessly when you pull them off, and slot into a center bridge that turns them into one conventional gamepad. The silhouette, the microswitch buttons and the two back paddles are carried over unchanged. The additions are the whole reason the Ultra exists: HD2 rumble, a mouse sensor on each half, an NFC reader, TMR sticks in place of the Hall effect ones, a magnetic metal D-pad with a second shape in the box, and metal SL and SR buttons on the rails. NYXI still rates the battery at six to eight hours, the gyro is a 9-axis unit, it connects over USB-C or Bluetooth 5, and the KeyLinker app on iOS and Android handles firmware and a handful of settings. Pricing is where the story gets complicated. The regular model cost me about $90 on Amazon on sale. The Ultra is [$169.99 on NYXI’s store](https://nyxigame.com/products/nyxi-hyperion-3-ultra-wireless-hd2-joypad-for-switch-2-black?ref=averagetechnerds.com) against a $199.99 list price, and my pre-order came to $160\. Amazon had it at $129.99 on October 19 from a third-party seller with a single unit left, and Reddit has people saying they paid considerably less through AliExpress. NYXI covers it with a two-year warranty and quotes seven to fourteen days for delivery to the US and Europe. ![The NYXI Hyperion 3 Ultra retail box, labelled NJ22 Ultra](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/23/b323103c-90c0-46a8-9230-7d317a5ebaf3/content/images/2026/10/hyperion-3-ultra-box.jpg) The Hyperion 3 Ultra box. ## What’s in the box? Both halves arrive already docked in the bridge, alongside a spare D-pad, a USB-C cable and a manual. NYXI’s listing also mentions a warranty card and a welcome booklet. The two D-pads are metal and held on by magnets: a round one is fitted from the factory, and a plus-shaped one waits in the tray. ![The Hyperion 3 Ultra joined in its bridge, with the spare plus-shaped metal D-pad and a USB-C cable](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/23/b323103c-90c0-46a8-9230-7d317a5ebaf3/content/images/2026/10/hyperion-3-ultra-in-the-box.jpg) Straight out of the box: the Ultra in its bridge, the spare plus-shaped D-pad and the cable. ## How does it feel in your hands, and how much does it weigh? Better than the first one, and that was my first thought before I’d pressed a single button. The regular Hyperion 3’s plastic was one of its strikes against it, and the Ultra’s shell has a firmer, more finished feel, even if the difference is one you register with your fingertips rather than your eyes. It is still a featherweight. I’ll own my bias here: I like a controller with some mass to it, and anything this light reads to my hands as less substantial than it probably is. That’s a preference rather than a verdict on the build, which so far seems solid. Mine is days old, so ask me again in six months. The numbers from my kitchen scale: 230 grams for the pair, 282 grams docked in the bridge. NYXI’s own figure is 225\. The regular pair I returned weighed 206 grams on the same scale, so the Ultra gained 24 grams along with all those features. With medium-sized hands I can rest comfortably on the grips and reach the back paddles with either my middle fingers or my index fingers, depending on how I’m holding it, and shifting my grip for the sticks still leaves my middle fingers on the paddles. Retro Handhelds, whose reviewer also has medium hands, thought the halves were on the thick side and found the right stick awkwardly placed in first-person games. ![The Hyperion 3 Ultra pair on a kitchen scale reading 230 grams](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/23/b323103c-90c0-46a8-9230-7d317a5ebaf3/content/images/2026/10/hyperion-3-ultra-weight-230g.jpg) My pair on the scale: 230 g. ## How do the magnetic D-pads and the buttons work? Lift the D-pad and it comes away in your fingers, and the magnets that hold it are right there on the controller face, which is a small but satisfying upgrade over the regular model’s plastic pad, which clipped in and wasn’t metal at all. The fitted round one is my preference, and it stays put. Every input on the Ultra is a microswitch: the D-pad, the face buttons, the shoulder buttons and the triggers. Retro Handhelds identifies them as Kailh switches and found the metal D-pad considerably louder than the face buttons. The triggers being microswitches settles a question I’d been chewing on. A microswitch is either pressed or it isn’t, so these triggers are digital, with no pressure sensitivity, and NYXI’s listing confirms it. On a Switch that’s standard; Nintendo’s own Pro Controller has digital triggers too. Around the back you’ll find the GL and GR paddles, the release buttons, the metal SL and SR buttons on the rails, and, new on the Ultra, the mouse sensor on the face that meets the console. ![The Hyperion 3 Ultra left half with its magnetic metal D-pad lifted off](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/23/b323103c-90c0-46a8-9230-7d317a5ebaf3/content/images/2026/10/hyperion-3-ultra-magnetic-dpad.jpg) The fitted D-pad lifted off. The magnets sit underneath. ## Does the Home button wake the Switch 2, and does it pair without any setup? It does both. Snapping the halves onto the console produces a firm magnetic click, and they sit as securely as the regular model did, with the same slight wobble when you deliberately rock them. I rock every controller like that since dbrand’s Killswitch saga, and I don’t hold the result against anyone, least of all a controller that passes the test the same way the original did. The left half lit up instantly, the right half followed, and both were paired without my touching a setting. That’s the Switch 2 protocol at work: the console sees the Ultra the way it sees Nintendo’s own Joy-Con 2\. The regular Hyperion 3 had sent me into the system menu to switch on Pro Controller wired communication before it would respond, and none of that applies here. Detach the halves and they reconnect wirelessly on their own. Slot them into the bridge and you have a single Pro-style controller that charges both halves through the bridge’s USB-C port as you play, exactly as the regular model’s bridge did. The wake test was the formality I’d been waiting for. Console asleep, one press of Home, console awake. ![The two Hyperion 3 Ultra halves joined in the bridge as one controller](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/23/b323103c-90c0-46a8-9230-7d317a5ebaf3/content/images/2026/10/hyperion-3-ultra-bridge-controller.jpg) Joined in the bridge, the halves work as one regular controller. ## Is HD2 the same as Nintendo’s HD Rumble 2, and how does it feel? The names are different for a reason. HD2 is NYXI’s label for its own linear motors, and Nintendo’s HD Rumble 2 is a separate thing found in the Switch 2 Pro Controller. What they share is the quality that matters: texture. Where the regular Hyperion 3 gave you one flat buzz at one intensity, the Ultra produces gradations, small taps and swells that track what’s happening on screen. I felt it the moment I toggled the vibration setting in the console menu, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond confirmed it. This single feature is the reason the regular model went back, and the Ultra answers it completely. Retro Handhelds rates the rumble as accurate but found the motors rattle the shell with an unpleasant scratchy noise. Intensity is adjustable without opening an app. Hold one of the two T buttons and nudge that side’s stick up or down, and the rumble steps through its levels, pulsing at each one so you can feel where you’ve landed. The KeyLinker app offers the same control. A warning born of experience: the Switch 2’s own controller update screen will offer to update the Ultras, and you should decline. I didn’t. The progress bar reached 100 percent and stayed there for five minutes before I gave up and canceled. NYXI makes no claim that the console can update these controllers; firmware goes through the KeyLinker app, full stop. ![Metroid Prime 4: Beyond running on a Switch 2 with the Hyperion 3 Ultra attached](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/23/b323103c-90c0-46a8-9230-7d317a5ebaf3/content/images/2026/10/hyperion-3-ultra-metroid-prime-4-rumble.jpg) Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the Switch 2, where I felt the HD rumble. ## Are the buttons loud, and how are the TMR sticks? Audible, yes. Microswitches click by design, and the Ultra’s D-pad clicks louder than its face buttons. Plenty of people avoid clicky controllers for exactly this reason, whether for late-night sessions or shared rooms, and that’s a legitimate dealbreaker. Go in knowing what you’re buying. The sticks are the quiet part. Their tension is fixed, but there’s a pleasing firmness to the throw, and side by side with a Joy-Con 2 I’d say Nintendo’s stick is fractionally stiffer, though I wouldn’t argue the point. TMR sensors read the stick’s position magnetically, so there’s no contact track to wear out, which is the whole argument against drift. Retro Handhelds singles the sticks out as the highlight of the controller, smooth and silent, with a silicone glide ring and a 5 percent default dead zone that gave it no trouble in games. ![The Hyperion 3 Ultra in its bridge next to a Joy-Con 2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/23/b323103c-90c0-46a8-9230-7d317a5ebaf3/content/images/2026/10/hyperion-3-ultra-vs-joy-con-2-sticks.jpg) Comparing stick tension with a Joy-Con 2. ## How do turbo, the back buttons and the RGB work? The two T buttons run all of it, and the manual stayed closed while I worked it out. Hold T and tap a face button, and that button fires repeatedly for as long as you hold it. Repeat the combination and the button switches to automatic turbo, firing on its own until you tell it to stop. A third time returns it to normal. The automatic mode was a pleasant surprise mid-game. Remapping a paddle uses the same button. Hold T, press the paddle until its light turns white, press the button you want copied onto it, then press the paddle again to lock it in. Mine now jumps. The circle button captures screenshots, the C button opens GameChat, and minus and plus are where you’d expect. The RGB rings around the sticks are back from the regular model. They’re subtle enough that I leave them alone, but NYXI built in an off switch for anyone who’d rather not have light leaking out of their controller: hold T and double-click a stick to cycle through the lighting patterns, with a short vibration at each step, until they go dark. The app can do it too. ![The top edge of the Switch 2 with the Ultra's silver shoulder button](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/23/b323103c-90c0-46a8-9230-7d317a5ebaf3/content/images/2026/10/hyperion-3-ultra-amiibo-screen.jpg) The silver shoulder button, a microswitch like the triggers. ## Does mouse mode work, and does it read amiibo? Both do. Detach a half, set it sensor-down on the desk, and a cursor appears on screen. The console asked me to press Home and pair the half again the first time, for reasons I couldn’t work out, and behaved after that. Mouse mode isn’t a feature I reach for, but it’s present and functional, which the regular model couldn’t say. Retro Handhelds notes the half tips over easily when it’s standing on a desk. The NFC reader works as well. My first guess at the touch point was the LED, and I was wrong: NYXI’s product images show the reader sitting under the four face buttons on the right half, so hold your amiibo there. ![A Switch 2 with the Ultra's left half detached for mouse mode, cursor on screen](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/23/b323103c-90c0-46a8-9230-7d317a5ebaf3/content/images/2026/10/hyperion-3-ultra-mouse-mode.jpg) Mouse mode, with the left half off the console. ## Will it fit in a case? With the halves attached, almost certainly not. The Ultra adds a lot of width to the Switch 2, enough that most cases built for the console won’t close around it, so the realistic plan is to pull the controllers off and carry them separately. They don’t sit flush on the rails either; Retro Handhelds measured the faces standing proud by about an eighth of an inch. NYXI also cautions that the magnetic hold can release under twisting, hard shaking or lifting the console by one controller. ## What are the specs? The headline parts are TMR sticks, microswitch buttons, HD2 rumble, NFC, a mouse sensor and a 9-axis gyro. The table draws on NYXI’s store page and Amazon listing, with the weights from my own scale. | | NYXI Hyperion 3 Ultra | | ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Type | Magnetic split controllers for the Switch 2, plus a center bridge that joins the halves | | Model | NJ22 Ultra (box) | | Connection | Direct on the console rails, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C wired | | Protocol | Switch 2: the console treats it like its own Joy-Cons, and Home wakes it | | Sticks | TMR with a silicone glide ring and RGB rings; fixed tension | | Buttons | Microswitch face buttons, D-pad, shoulders and triggers; two back buttons (GL, GR); two T buttons; C for GameChat | | D-pad | Magnetic metal: round one fitted, plus shape in the box | | Rumble | HD2 linear motors (NYXI’s name), adjustable strength | | Motion | 9-axis gyro (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer) | | Extras | NFC for amiibo, mouse mode, turbo, RGB lighting | | Battery | NYXI rates 6 to 8 hours and a 2-hour charge | | Charging | Both halves charge in the bridge through its USB-C port | | Listed size | 157.3 x 116.7 x 52.2 mm | | Weight | 225 g a pair (NYXI); 230 g, or 282 g in the bridge, on my scale | | Material | PC+ABS | | In the box | Both halves, bridge, spare D-pad, 1 m USB-C cable, manual with warranty card, welcome booklet | | Price | $169.99 on sale, $199.99 list on NYXI’s store (October 18); I paid $160 | | Warranty | Two years, from NYXI | ## Is it worth $160 next to the regular Hyperion 3 and the Mobapads? Measured against its own promises, the Ultra passes every test I put to it. Switch 2 protocol, wake from sleep, amiibo, turbo, HD rumble, TMR sticks: the list NYXI printed on the box is the list of things that work. The harder question is the $70 between the $90 I paid for the regular model and the $160 I paid for this one. Whether the Switch 2 features are worth that much is a personal calculation, and mine came out marginal. The reason isn’t the regular Hyperion 3\. It’s Mobapad. The [M12 Pro](https://averagetechnerds.com/mobapad-m12-pro-switch-2-joy-con/), which I’ve pre-ordered, is $119.99 for the controllers alone and advertises the same feature set as the Ultra. Mobapad plans to start shipping pre-orders on October 29, no review has landed yet, and until units are in hands every line on Mobapad’s spec sheet is a claim rather than a fact. But even today, the [M12 HD](https://averagetechnerds.com/abxylute-n6-mobapad-m12-hd-switch-2-first-impressions/) sells for around $90, and while it still speaks the original Switch’s protocol, its Home button wakes the Switch 2 all the same. A cheaper rival that already covers the headline feature, and a cheaper rival on the way that promises all of them, is a difficult position for a $160 controller. None of that makes the Ultra a bad buy. It’s a genuinely good controller, with a better-feeling shell than its predecessor and a bridge that keeps both halves charged. My reservations run deeper than NYXI’s pricing, though. Every split controller I test nudges me further toward the one-piece deck designs. The [CRKD Nitro Deck 2](https://averagetechnerds.com/crkd-nitro-deck-2-first-impressions/) and the abxylute N6 remain my two favorite Switch 2 controllers, the CRKD despite a rocky start and the N6 despite being a sub-$60 deck with the compromises that implies. Both have successors coming, and the value a deck offers for the money is proving hard for any pair of split pads to match. | | Hyperion 3 Ultra | Hyperion 3 | Mobapad M12 Pro | Mobapad M12 HD | Nintendo Joy-Con 2 | | ------------------ | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------ | | Price | $169.99 on sale ($199.99 list) | $118.99 on sale ($169.99 list) | $119.99 pre-order ($129.99 list) | $99.99 with grip | $99.99 | | Status | Shipping | Shipping | Pre-order, fulfilment from October 29 | Shipping | Shipping | | Sticks | TMR | Hall effect | TMR | TMR | Standard | | Buttons | Microswitch | Microswitch | Mechanical (Omron) | Microswitch | Membrane | | Rumble | NYXI HD2 linear motors | Rotor motors | Mobapad HD2.0 linear motors | HD Rumble (first generation) | HD Rumble 2 | | Mouse mode | Yes | No | Advertised | No | Yes | | NFC / amiibo | Yes | No | Claimed | Power-saving mode only | Yes | | Console sees it as | Joy-Con 2 | Joy-Con 2 | Joy-Con 2 (claimed) | Switch Pro Controller | Joy-Con 2 | ## So, am I keeping it? Yes. The Hyperion 3 Ultra is an excellent pair of controllers that does everything NYXI said it would, and everything the first Hyperion 3 should have done. The problem is the company it keeps. There are a lot of strong Switch 2 controllers on the market right now, and at $170 the Ultra is asking a premium that the field makes difficult to defend. Drop the price to around $100 and the calculation flips entirely; at that number this would be an easy recommendation. Whether NYXI will ever sell it that low, I have no idea. I gave up the regular Hyperion 3 for these because full Switch 2 compatibility was the point, and they’ve earned a permanent place in the rotation. What they won’t do is unseat the abxylute N6 as the controller I pack for work trips. Would you buy the Ultra, wait for the M12 Pro, go deck style, or are you happy with your Joy-Cons? What’s your solution? Based on my own unit, NYXI’s store page and Amazon listing, Mobapad’s product pages, Retro Handhelds’ review and my earlier first impressions, as of October 19, 2026\. Prices and stock may change. [Watch the companion video.](https://youtu.be/m8CZIxcbEso?ref=averagetechnerds.com)