The FlipGrip

On my quest to find the best way to play arcade-style games in TATE (vertical oriented) mode, I came across the FlipGrip, which is a product that was advertised to deliver exactly that. It was the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign, and is now available at retail from sites like FanGamer (where I got mine). It seemed like an interesting concept, and wasn’t horribly expensive (with shipping, I believe it came in at under 25 USD), so I figured it was worth taking a shot. I did have a few reservations about the product, which were borne out in retrospect, and I’ll be covering this below.

The FlipGrip itself is made out of a piece of thick grey plastic, with some foam inserts placed in the cavity where your Switch will be inserted from the front. The console only slides in one way, but the FlipGrip makes it easy enough to identify the correct orientation.

As you can see from the above photo, the sides of the FlipGrip constitute a set of “rails” that your Joycons slide into. One important thing to be aware of is that these rails have no actual connection to the Switch itself, and your Joycons are communicating through bluetooth. As you might imagine, this is less than ideal, as the FlipGrip is thus only compatible with Joycons, which lack a functional D-pad and oftentimes suffer from joystick drift.

Worse still is the fact that wireless third party Joycon alternatives have yet to really deliver a quality product, so there are no other options to speak of. To add salt to the wound, because the side rails actually obscure the USB-C port, you can’t charge the device while using the FlipGrip or use any wired or non-bluetooth wireless controllers with it. Really, you are wholly and unavoidably stuck with using Joycons with this bad boy. Perhaps a Joycon mod might alleviate some of these issues, but this seems to be quite a drastic measure to use this relatively inexpensive product.

Moving on, the back of the device has a cute little FlipGrip logo, as well as an eject tab, which needs to be pulled in order to slide the Switch out of the otherwise snug “Grip” that the FlipGrip exerts. There’s also a small option for a hard-plastic credit card, which can be wedged into the device in order to act as a make-shift “stand” for the apparatus. This feels a bit finnicky and cheap, so it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. However, since the FlipGrip isn’t a Switch stand, I’m willing to give a pass for this extra “feature”.

Here’s a photo of my Switch and Joycons held by the FlipGrip. Overall, the build feels solid, and I would never have to worry about the console or controllers ever slipping out. The hold is tight in each case, and functions exactly as intended.

If it weren’t for being stuck eternally to Joycons and the obstruction of the USB-C port, I would be much more enthusiastic about the FlipGrip. As it stands, it just doesn’t fit my needs, as the Joycons are simply too imprecise to seriously play any games that support TATE mode. A simple stand that can support the Switch in vertical mode does (almost) everything the FlipGrip can, at the expense of true portability/mobility. I think that the product shows a lot of potential, and will get better once third parties catch up to improve upon the Joycons. However, at the moment, I truly feel that the FlipGrip is a novelty, and I won’t be using it very much moving forward.

May 10th, 2021 by 1regretbeetle