RIG Nacon Pro Compact Controller Review

Credit: Cody Campbell / HGG

Human Made

Penned by Cody D. Campbell

Cody has been a gamer ever since his family got a Sega Genesis when he was five-years-old. In addition to his love of narrative-focused RPGs and ho... Read more

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

RIG Nacon has just come out with several new products including a couple of gaming headsets and a new Xbox controller called the Nacon Pro Compact.

Competitive gaming is RIG’s bread and butter, so it wasn’t much of a surprise to discover that their new Nacon Pro Compact is a wired controller since they are faster and more reliable than wireless. They sent us one to review so we could let you know our thoughts on it.

If you’re looking for the best controllers for PC gaming, check out our roundup here.

Unboxing and Build Quality

The Nacon Pro Compact controller comes securely wrapped in cardboard inside the box. There’s also some instructions and other printed information.

The controller feels extremely light the first time you pick it up, but it doesn’t feel cheap. The version they sent us was white with gold accents around the thumbsticks, but they also make it in black.

Both the grips and the thumbsticks have a light texture to them which is enough to help to keep your grip mid-game but not so abrasive as to ever be uncomfortable. The action on the thumbsticks is smooth, all of the buttons are clicky and the triggers and bumpers feel particularly nice. It has a standard d-pad rather than the rounded, hybrid version that’s become more popular, but that’s not a big deal. My only complaint is that the controller feels small for my hands.

The standard Xbox Core Controller for the Series X/S is a good fit for me, but I found my pinkies slipping off the bottom of the Pro Compact grips a bit. 

Pro Compact Software

The Pro Compact PC software is versatile, but also easy to use. You can use it to update the firmware on your controller, edit the response curve of each individual thumbstick, adjust trigger sensitivity, turn vibration on/off, invert your thumbsticks, or change your d-pad between 8-way and 4-way sensitivity. There are presets for racing/sport, FPS, infiltration and fighting games, but you can also manually adjust each setting so that they’re fine-tuned to your individual preferences.

I don’t own an Xbox, so I couldn’t test it myself, but RIG told us during their press release that there will also be an app to control these button mapping functions in the Xbox store as well.

Should You Go Compact Pro?

The RIG Nacon Pro Compact controller is fairly unique. It’s cheaper than most pro controllers like the Power A FUSION and the Razer Wolverine V2. It doesn’t have paddles, but it is “the world’s first game controller to include Dolby Atmos® for Headphones.” It’s also extremely light and compact, making it very attractive to gamers who don’t feel comfortable holding the standard size Xbox controller.