Razer Kishi Ultra | Trusted Reviews

Introduction

The Razer Kishi Ultra is the green peripherals brand’s most premium and pro-grade mobile controller yet.

It builds on previous entries in Razer’s mobile controller canon, such as the Kishi V2 Pro, with more advanced haptic feedback, wider device compatibility and even addressable RGB lighting that easily makes it one of the most premium options out there.

Therefore, it makes sense for the Kishi Ultra to be priced accordingly, and its £149.99/$149.99 price tag is indicative of this. It also surpasses options we’ve rated highly in the past, including the GameSir Galileo G8 and Backbone One.

I’ve been testing the Kishi Ultra for the last couple of weeks to see how well it performs.

Design 

• Chunky, full-size feel
• Sensible button placement
• Good compatibility

The most startling thing about the Kishi Ultra on initial perusal is how chunky it is against key rivals. It comes with proper, full-size controller buttons and thumbsticks wrapped up in a big plastic chassis that goes some way to justifying the higher cost.

General build quality is excellent, with no sign of any creaking or horribly scratchy plastics used. It’s also a wonderfully comfortable controller to hold with larger grips making it suitable for those with larger hands, while there is also some texturing on the underside to aid with general feel.

Inputs are sensibly placed, with a similar layout to an Xbox controller to allow for an easy transition if you’re moving from a more standard device. That means we’re getting two rubberised diagonally opposing thumbsticks, complete with a D-Pad on the left side and ABXY buttons on the right side. There are also a couple of extra buttons for opening the Nexus app, as well as for pausing your game, and taking a screenshot, on the faceplate.

You also get a set of triggers and two sets of shoulder buttons on the Kishi Ultra, with the smaller L4 and R4 buttons strictly for remapping or programming. The underside is home to a headphone jack and USB-C port for charging pass-through, while you also get a smattering of RGB on the front side.

The Kishi Ultra features a USB-C port on its inside for solid compatibility with a range of mobile devices, including virtually all modern Android phones and tablets, as well as more modern iPhones and iPad Minis. Razer says it’ll be happy with devices from 4.7 to 8.3 inches. There are also different grips inside the box to ensure a secure fit with varying types of devices.

The thing that this controller lacks against some competition is the fact it isn’t collapsible for portability’s sake – a feature that the more affordable Acer Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller has. It also doesn’t have swappable thumbsticks, nor are they hall effect.

Performance

• Especially comfortable for longer periods
• Reasonably responsive triggers and thumbsticks
• Worked well with Android devices in testing

During my time with the Kishi Ultra, I didn’t feel that the larger nature left it feeling unwieldy in hand, and it actually made it more comfortable to use for extended periods. You certainly don’t feel as if you’re having to hunch over the thumbsticks as it were.

I spent a lot of my testing using either Xbox Cloud Gaming or via Steam Link with respective items from my game library. It integrated well with Xbox titles especially, in the likes of Forza Horizon 5 and EAFC 24. The Kishi Ultra here offered snappy main buttons, decent trigger action and accurate analogue sticks.

The sticks and triggers unfortunately, aren’t hall effect, as with other controllers, although the main ABXY buttons are satisfyingly tactile and clicky, making button mashing for sprinting in titles such as Grand Theft Auto V quite satisfying. The shoulder buttons and triggers are sensibly placed, although those additional L4 and R4 buttons are in a bit of an unnatural position where others feel very familiar.

The Kishi Ultra features proper haptic feedback and rumble, which makes it surprisingly excellent for playing everything from shooters to racing games. I streamed Dirt Rally 2.0 via Steam Link from my main Windows gaming PC, and with it, the Kishi Ultra managed to transmit the force feedback and rumble of my Lancia Delta S4 rally car on a rough gravel rally stage with good precision and weight.

I was impressed by how easy the controller is to set up, with simple plug-and-play connectivity with the Android devices I used – both the Poco Find F7 Pro and Honor Magic V3 worked without a hitch.

Software

• Surprisingly detailed software integration
• Decent options for customisation
• Also integrates neatly with other streaming apps

Given Razer’s longstanding reputation for offering one of the best lots of peripheral software for their other devices in Synapse, I had high hopes for the downloadable Razer Nexus app for the Kishi Ultra.

The app is one of the complete software solutions for a mobile controller, far eclipsing the sometimes buggy choices from competitor brands with a smooth and useful interface. It provides everything from a helpful list of games with proper controller support to links to compatible apps such as for Xbox cloud streaming, Steam Link and even to paid apps for emulators, such as for the PS2 or PSP.

Razer Nexus also allows you to tweak the Kishi Ultra to your liking, allowing for a means of configuring its RGB lighting, remapping its two extra shoulder buttons, and even adding a ‘virtual controller’ to mobile games that don’t have it by mapping the Kishi Ultra’s buttons to on-screen controls. It takes some time to configure, but it is nonetheless a handy addition.

When using an Android device, you can also configure the controller’s Audio Haptics, which maps game audio into feedback you feel through the controller for a touch more immersion in supported titles. The list isn’t exhaustive, but in titles such as Jetpack Joyride that do support it, it provides detailed haptics for cues such as footsteps and in-game action that you can certainly feel through the controller.

Should you buy it?