| Price | Junkfood Custom Arcades |
| Release | Early February to March 2025 |
| Compatibility | PS5 / XSX / NS / PC |
Preview
The SWORL is perhaps Junkfood Custom Arcades’ most ambitious project yet. Its name is a mixture of swirl and world. Despite the company’s groundbreaking success with the Snack Box Micro, the controller’s fighting game specialty was somewhat of a setback, so this new controller is more than a fighting game controller. It can also work with rhythm games, RPGs, and more.
On the SWORL’s left, you will find a slanted set of WASD keys. On the right, there are 10 attack buttons with five buttons per row (and a total of two rows). The two middle attack buttons are supposed to be for L3 and R3. Oh, and the MX switches are hot swappable, which is awesome.
Instead of analog sticks, the SWORL has two grippy & rubbery trackballs or “thumb domes” with a Hall effect that you can move with the sides of your thumbs, and it seems that they return to the neutral position after release. They are supposed to limit the needed travel distance for an input to register by a whopping 40%!
By the way, why does the SWORL’s Hall effect matter? You see, it allows for precise and smooth tracking with little wear & tear since there are no components rubbing against each other in a way that would cause degradation over time..
Hardware-wise, the SWORL features a heavy metal plate. Furthermore, custom MX mounting plates change the feeling and sound of the buttons.
You can also disable the SWORL’s analog controls, such as when playing RPGs. You can even latch the analog control to a forward direction when playing RPGs and then pull backward to unlatch.
Moving on, the six secondary buttons can be found in the upper center of the SWORL’s top panel, which seems to be held together by six screws. Also, the wrist resting space is sloped downward for ergonomic purposes.
That said, the SWORL has three independent PCBs for easy upgrades and repairs:
- Main PCB
- Analog control PCB
- USB PCB
The SWORL’s chip is provided by Brook, and there is support for a battery & wireless dongle. The controller’s edition with less compatibility can accept a compatibility boosting dongle.
When ordering a SWORL, you can choose the MX switches, LEDs, case color, and art. In fact, the controller features toolless artwork swapping, thanks to the magnetic design.
We at The Arcade Stick can help you with the art through our custom service. For example, our Carlos Martinez made this art for the SWORL, and he can make some art for yours as well:
Gamers of all kinds should absolutely consider the innovative SWORL, and be sure to also grab the hard shell dual-compartment carrying case to travel with the controller in style.