There seems to be another frustrating design miss with the Switch’s left shoulder buttons, L and ZL, which are placed to the right of the Mini Arcade Pro’s eight-button layout, while the right-hand R and ZR buttons are on the left side. However, this arrangement is a clever trick taken from other console arcade sticks and actually works surprisingly well for 2D fighters like Ultra Street Fighter II. In Capcom’s classic series, combos are made from light, medium, and heavy punches and kicks, which are ideally suited to a six-button layout. On a regular controller, these inputs typically stretch from the four face buttons to the right-hand shoulder buttons. Here, the B, A, and ZR buttons along with the Y, X, and R buttons are lined up in rows, making the game feel just like it does on an actual cabinet. It’s pretty neat.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend using the Mini Arcade Pro for competitive fighting games, even for low-stakes online matches. While the joystick feels fantastic, the other inputs don’t quite meet tournament standards. I sometimes encountered overly sensitive “twitchy” controls, where one button press—like selecting a game in a compilation—would trigger multiple inputs, even when the Turbo feature wasn’t activated. It’s not a problem that pops up consistently, but it’s definitely frustrating when it does.
Since the Mini Arcade Pro is designed for just one player, it’s better suited for arcade puzzlers, shooters, and side-scrolling beat-’em-ups. Games like the Golden Axe series from the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Collection, the full lineup from the Capcom Beat-’Em-Up Bundle, and Namco Museum’s Splatterhouse performed well, along with timeless classics like Pac-Man and Galaga. Shooters, in particular, benefit from that Turbo feature—just hold down the Turbo button and then press the desired input to unleash your firepower. You can repeat the process to disable the feature.
But that might not be enough to bring in most players. Unless you’re mainly using your Switch or Switch 2 to play retro games—or at least old-school-style games like Streets of Rage 4 or Terminator 2D: No Fate—its appeal is pretty limited. Combined with the effort required to update it for Switch 2 compatibility and the poor quality of the visuals plastered all over it, the Mini Arcade Pro feels more like a relic of the past that’s better left there.
