This gamepad is officially licensed by Sony and works on PS5 and PC. Along with the usual four face buttons on the right side of the control, you’ll find two additional face buttons as R1 and R2. All six face buttons utilize microswitches, which Hori states were used to increase the accuracy and durability of the inputs.
Even with R1 and R2 moving to the front of the controller, the Octa Pro still has four tactile shoulder buttons. You can also map inputs to the pair of remappable back buttons.
The 8-gate analog stick was designed with fighting games in mind, so diagonal inputs should be easier to execute on the Octa Pro compared to a standard controller. Inside the box, you’ll find three hot-swappable D-pad designs. Hori also added a low-profile “analog slide pad” that resembles the Switch’s Circle Pad. The slide pad is meant to be used in menu systems.
The controller is wireless, though it does include a USB-C cable for charging and wired play. It comes with a cable lock to mitigate the risk of a disconnection during a match. Hori says the the controller can run for roughly 10 hours between charges. In addition to the USB-C port, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack.
You’ll find a cable lock feature on the back of the gamepad–so you can lock the cable in place to ensure it doesn’t disconnect during the heat of battle. Expect to get around 10 hours of game time per charge. While the Octa Pro is technically compatible with PS4, it can only be used in wired mode on PlayStation’s last-gen console.
