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Genki, shaper of immoderate of our favourite accessories for the Switch 2 and Switch, has launched a Kickstarter for what mightiness beryllium the astir over-engineered controller I’ve ever seen – and for $279, it amended be. The Genki Manta packs successful the benignant of cutting borderline features recovered connected the champion controllers retired there, similar TMR sticks, adjustable triggers, and precocious haptics, arsenic good arsenic adjacent much precocious tech similar a full-blown operating system, implicit with integer display, built into the controller itself.
Now, I’m each for hardware and peripherals that incorporated caller tech and propulsion their categories forward, but I’m not rather definite wherefore anyone would request a controller this advanced. It’s undeniably well-designed – I admit the surface centered beneath the thumbsticks, alternatively of supra similar connected the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra, and however the hostility of the thumbsticks tin beryllium dialed successful (literally) connected the alert by twisting the instrumentality itself. But astatine immoderate constituent you person to inquire if we’re approaching the constituent of overkill.
Genki is taking a spot of a room descend attack with the Mantra. “We refused to chopped corners,” the Kickstarter reads. “It is, frankly, a spec monster.”
Compatible with PC via USB-C wired oregon 2.4 GHz wireless (via USB dongle) arsenic good arsenic Switch 1 and 2, mobile, and different devices via Bluetooth, the Manta has a modular Xbox-style layout with offset sticks and each your modular inputs. It has a 2,400 mAh user-replaceable battery, but there’s nary notation connected the Kickstarter leafage of an estimated usage clip betwixt charges. Blessedly, it tin remotely aftermath a paired Switch 2.
The look buttons are “Analog Pulse Buttons” that way done their full question erstwhile pressed, not conscionable erstwhile they bottommost out, allowing users to set their actuation constituent anyplace betwixt a speedy rapid-reset for burst inputs and a deeper 1 that calls for a deliberate press. Similarly, the triggers person 3 chiseled modes: Digital, which offers a abbreviated question and crisp click, Rapid, which is afloat analog but with a short, creaseless travel, and Analog, which offers a full, creaseless question and proportional control.
Other features see “maglev haptics” (better than accepted rumble, apparently), a nine-axis gyroscope/accelerometer/compass for question controls, six other inputs (two buttons tucked up apical adjacent to the close and near bumpers, 2 integrated backmost buttons, and 2 removable backmost paddles), and a D-pad that tin swap betwixt a accepted cardinal layout and an eight-point outer crockery design.
And that’s not adjacent mentioning the operating strategy built into the controller. MantaOS uses the controller’s built-in colour show to grip each the configuration settings that would usually beryllium handled by operator bundle oregon a companion app – worldly similar swapping profiles, mounting up macros, adjusting inputs, and customizing RGB lighting – close determination connected the controller.
But it does much than that excessively – and this is the portion where, successful the penning of this story, my reasoning started to displacement from “this is unnecessarily over-engineered” to “wait, that’s really awesome.” There’s a tiny fastener adjacent to the close thumbstick that pulls up an “On-the-Fly KBM” erstwhile pressed, turning the surface into a QWERTY oregon Compass Quick Type keyboard; oregon clasp the fastener to crook the full controller into a gyro-controlled rodent input. This is immensely utile for navigating the Windows desktop and bypassing login screens oregon crippled launchers. It’s the aforesaid benignant of happening that makes the Steam Deck and Steam Machine much user-friendly than a handheld oregon PC moving windows, but the solution is handled controller-side alternatively of by SteamOS.
MantaOS has immoderate different neat tricks, similar a macro enactment timeline that goes beyond signaling a bid of inputs and delays to afloat tracking analog instrumentality paths, trigger pressure, and more, meaning you tin grounds a afloat gameplay series to repeat, specified arsenic a hard brag runback (I’m looking astatine you, Bilewater). The surface besides has a assortment of customizable dashboards to show worldly similar your progressive profile, polling rate, battery, and transportation status.
There’s adjacent a programmable layer, moving connected a dual-core Raspberry Pi RP2350, that tin load outer apps onto the controller’s 16 MB of interior storage. The Kickstarter shows a clip of a side-scrolling abstraction shooter playing connected the built-in screen, and mentions the anticipation of processing a “Genki Forge” for users to make and stock homebrewed apps for MantaOS. I person nary uncertainty that idiosyncratic volition get Doom moving connected it successful nary time.
The Genki Manta Kickstarter is unrecorded now, and arsenic of this penning has astir 1,800 backers and much than $400,000 pledged – 4 times its $100,000 goal. The controller volition yet beryllium priced astatine $279, but a Super Early Bird pledge tier drops the terms down to $189, which puts it successful speech with different high-end controllers similar the DualSense Edge. That’s inactive astir treble the fantabulous Steam Controller, which has its ain acceptable of unsocial tricks, but astatine $100 besides lacks a large woody of the precocious tech recovered here.
Genki hopes to commencement shipping the Manta to backers this coming January, but conservatively estimates the transportation model to January done April 2027. We’ll beryllium investigating the Mantra arsenic soon arsenic we tin spell hands-on, truthful beryllium definite to look retired for our reappraisal arsenic we get person to that motorboat date.
Bo Moore is IGN's Senior Manager of Tech. You tin find him online @usebomswisely.
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