During our time at Tokyo Game Show, we came across the booth of PB Tails, an up and coming game peripheral manufacturer, who were presenting some of their current game controllers and a few that are still in development, to be released in the coming months.
PB Tron music game controller
The main show piece of the PB Tails booth was the upcoming PB Tron music game controller. With a name inspired by the Tron Legacy, the controller sports a futuristic design to match, with plenty of customisable accent lighting all over the unit with an RGB dot-matrix style display up top. Designed to be the one single controller you can use for most of the music/rhythm games you’d expect to play, The PB Tron controller can be used with DJ Max (The demo unit was being shown off with DJ Max Respect V) , Beatmania IIDX, Hatsune Miku Project Diva, Sound Voltex and more.
While I didn’t get a long time with the demo unit, the build quality seemed quite sturdy and the buttons felt good to press without being too loose or too stiff (I didn’t enquire about the springs or switches used in the buttons at the time but we’ll update this if we get additional information in the future).
The PB Tron controller is currently being prepared for a future crowdfunding campaign.
PB Choc multiplatform controller
Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, this is the first of PB Tails’ controller offerings that is publicly available to purchase for customers. Featuring an angular design modelled after squares of chocolate, the PB Choc controller is a small, lightweight and compact multi-platform wireless controller that you can use with Nintendo Switch and PC via Bluetooth. Its flat and compact design makes it easy to see this as a controller you’d carry around with you when travelling, either in your bag or even a pocket. The PB Choc range of controllers also offer a wide variety of designs, letting you choose a theme that matches your mood and aesthetic.
The PB Choc controller is currently available to purchase direct from PB Tails on their website https://www.pbtails.com/
PB Crush multiplatform controller
The last of the new controllers being shown by PB Tails, the PB Crush is a customisable multi-platform controller with removable faceplates, removable thumb sticks and customisable RGB accent lighting all around the controller. Featuring specs you’d expect to see in a modern controller, bluetooth connection, rumble, motion control, the main draw for the PB Crush is the customisation angle, like being able to change the faceplate to any colour, or a translucent one to invoke those old translucent Nintendo consoles, or even a full metal faceplate. I didn’t ask if the full metal faceplate will actually be available to purchase when the controller comes out, but it did look rather nice and definitely added a bit of heft to the controller, which could be good if you’re one of the people who think that some modern controllers are too light. The LED lighting underneath the face buttons as well as the additional accent lights around the controller can also be customised to multiple colour schemes directly on the controller. The thumb sticks can also be easily replaced depending on your preference, the main variants I saw were come concave thumb sticks with an inner lip and a set of convex thumb sticks (also all metal).
You can find out more about PB Tails and their upcoming hardware on their website https://www.pbtails.com/