The cutest, smallest, bestest little controller you can keep in your pocket
Make no mistake about it. The CRKD Atom is designed to just be a fun novelty. That being said, though, they didn’t have to go as hard as they did. This is stupidly perfect as both a gimmick and something that I will use for a long time.
I love that.
From the small hanger box, to the foam, to the braided cable, there is some serious effort that CRKD has gone into just the packaging, so we know that the overall product has to match that — and it does. Just look how tiny this sucker is. The supplied lanyard is a must, too, because this controller, this itsy bitsy little thing, can and should be taken with us at all times.
Because to be fair these are designed to be collectible. There are a dozen colors (I went with Glacier Blue because of the translucency and the magenta buttons) so the size and price make us want to grab more than one. My other main is yellow, so the variation with black buttons is on my shopping list now, too.
Novelty aside, does it work? Well basically, yeah.
When we first grab it, we think, “what am I doing with myself?” It’s not the greatest controller in terms of ergonomics., obviously. I don’t know too many people with hands that small. But they’ve shaped it the way as to make it as comfortable as possible. It’s not flat; it actually rounded off and has some curvature on the back. So I can hold it like a controller and have my fingers on the buttons, and it’s fine. (The buttons are audibly clicky too, which is also nice.) It’s light, and weighs almost nothing, and the nice build quality means that I’m not afraid of pushing buttons too hard. It’s not made of adamantium, but for the size and usage it’s what it needs to be.
The controller only has a D-pad. There is no joystick. That cuts out pretty much most games, especially modern ones that require some 3D spacial movement. But we’re not using these for Mario Odyssey or Fortnite, we’re using these for the Nintendo Switch Online games, the NES games, the SNES games, Game Boy. It can connect to a variety of platforms, but the Switch and mobile (for those, uh, legally backed up NES games) seem like a target, because they’re natively mobile platforms.
I could really see myself at the office on break thinking, you know what? I’m sitting at my desk at lunch. I’m eating a sammich or leftovers from the night before. I’m just going to take this sucker and just play a little bit of gaming on my phone. Yeah Excellent. Which makes this a great thing to have for a Player Two (or Three or Four), because if I have my Switch and I ask a friend to play some Contra, it’s perfect.
I will go on record right now and say that if there is somebody in your life that plays mobile games, this is the perfect stocking stuffer because it’s cute, it’s kind of funny, but it’s also well designed and it works. You will not be unhappy with the purchase of one of these, I think.
Bravo, CRKD. I’m glad you pulled this off because I really thought it was just going to be a goof. But now I’m the one who’s ready to buy several of these and be proud of it.
This review is based on a unit sent to SideQuesting by the manufacturer. It first appeared on The SideQuest for October 04, 2024. Images and video courtesy J.J. / CRKD.
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