It's a great day for Fortnite Festival fans and any Switch 2 players who want to polish up their guitar skills. It's taken only a matter of months for Nintendo's latest gaming platform to get not one, but two guitar controllers. There are so many Switch 2 accessories to keep tabs on already, but the list of controllers made specifically for the platform is still yet to pick up speed.
If you've paid far too much attention to Nintendo Directs in recent years, you'll know that folks in Japan have had access to a really nifty accessory from Hori. While most guitar controllers don't go further than your typical Guitar Hero timepiece, the Guitar Life peripheral takes a slightly different approach. After a roughly a year on the shelves in Nintendo's home turf, it's finally being made available to US gamers.
It's not the most conventional look for a gaming accessory, but its unique design is a lot more in-keeping with the way you hold a classical guitar, and offers a more technical fret board that looks more like actual strings.
The controller is designed to be used with the game Guitar Life, which will let you learn the basics of guitar chords, songs, and techniques using your Switch 2 console. This accessory is officially licensed by Nintendo, with the bundle above also packing three individual songs and a download code for a further ten songs via a DLC pack.
![GUITAR LIFE -LESSON1- [Nintendo Direct ソフトメーカーラインナップ 2024.2.21] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wjAoDWi70ks/maxresdefault.jpg)
If you're not that bothered about learning the actual guitar and you'd rather shred some well-known songs in a rhythm game like Fortnite Festival, your Nintendo horizons have been broadened in other ways too.
The Gibson Les Paul guitar controller has had Switch support since launch, and although its new Cherry Sunburst Collector's Edition has just been made available for pre-order at CRKD, its old rival is joining the Nintendo fun.
Turtle Beach has just launched a new Nintendo Switch 2 edition of its PDP Riffmaster controller, now bringing it to all major platforms. The Riffmaster has enjoyed its first year on the shelves, and a few discounts along the way, but this is the first time it's hit a Ninty handheld.
It makes sense, one of my favorite things about the Riffmaster is how portable it is. Where clunky guitar controllers of yesteryear were a bit awkward to try and tidy away, the Riffmaster has a brilliant folding neck that means you can stow it away, or take it on the go with you if you're headed to a jam session at a friend's house.
Sure, playing with a full-sized guitar controller on a relatively small screen while on the go is probably not anyone's ideal setup. But if you do tend to travel often, or you want to be able to keep the kids happy while on a trip, the portability of both the Riffmaster and the Switch 2 will pair really nicely together.
At present, the Riffmaster and Gibson Les Paul controllers stand relatively alone in a new wave of Guitar Hero/Rockband era controllers. Besides Fortnite Festival, a free-to-play side project of the popular Battle Royale franchise, there aren't too many games to play with these controllers. It also doesn't seem like we'll be getting a companion drumkit, a karaoke mic, or other options anytime soon. I for one would love to see a revival of this era - even if the original wave of these games became so unsustainable due to licesning costs.
GuitarLife does point to a really cool new lease of life for musical rythm games blending with instrument learning, however. People are frequently using the best VR headsets to brush up on their piano skills, for example, especially now that headsets like the Meta Quest 3S have handy mixed reality quirks. VR has definitely shone a spotlight on rythm games like Beat Saber, and Maestro puts a unique orchestral spin on the traditional Guitar Hero formula.
Either way, if you own a Switch 2, your opportunities for honing your axe skills are growing.
1. Best controller: Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller
2. Best case: Belkin Charging Case
3. Best headset: SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 Wireless
4. Best earbuds: SteelSeries Arctis Game Buds
5. Best memory card: Samsung 256GB MicroExpress SD
6. Best portable charger: JSAUX 20,000mAh Power Bank
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