I was impressed when I first saw the original Razer Kishi, a small plastic accessory that turns your smartphone into a Nintendo Switch-like device. Mobile and cloud gaming have become hugely popular in recent years and the Kishi was one of the better peripherals that emerged in response to growing demand.
Unfortunately, the original Kishi’s design was clunky in several ways: the buttons felt mushy and it lacked the future-proofing to accommodate newer phones with weird or chunky camera bumps. About two years later, Razer’s new Kishi V2 solves some of its predecessor’s major shortcomings, while also creating some new ones at the same time.
Razer Kishi V2 – Design and Features
At first glance, the design of the Razer Kishi V2 is very similar to the Backbone One, the leading phone controller attachment currently only available for iPhone devices. Where its predecessor used a Joy-Con style controller that falls apart, the Kishi V2 opts for a Backbone style extendable bridge design. This makes it much easier to fit a larger phone into the controller, but is less portable than the original Kishi’s folding design. Nevertheless, for most people it’s a good trade-off to sacrifice portability in favor of more compatibility – you’ll probably just want to invest in a travel case.
At just 123 grams, the Kishi V2 is lighter than both the original Kishi and Backbone One. Hand fatigue is a common problem in portable gaming, so a lighter device is a plus as it extends your gameplay session without worrying about hand cramps. Together with my Google Pixel 6 (without case), it weighs 330 grams, although the total weight varies depending on which device you’re using.
The Kishi V2 comes with multiple adapters to fit a wide variety of phones. Despite this, you will probably still need to remove the case from your phone. I tried it with a case that I thought would be thin enough to work, but I ended up having to remove it anyway. It’s frustrating, especially when you consider that the Backbone One controller allowed me to keep my thin case for my iPhone XR and iPhone 13 Pro while in use.
Like its predecessor, the Kishi V2 has a matte black finish and a sleek and simple design. The handles don’t leave fingerprints, but I did notice some smudges on the base where the phone is mounted. This is a minor nitpick though, as a phone blocks that part while in use.
The Kishi V2 has two analog sticks, one at each end of the controller. They have a nice feel – not too stiff but not too loose – and are about the same size as the ones on the Backbone One. Sizing feels like a sweet spot considering it’s a controller designed for mobile and cloud gaming. A microswitch D-Pad is included on the left side of the controller, which is responsive and satisfying to press. Compared to the Backbone One’s D-Pad, the Kishi V2 has slightly more range in directional movement than the Backbone One’s stiffness and limited directional movement.
The Kishi V2 has a standard A, B, X and Y button layout in the top right corner. The buttons feel clicking and are pleasant to press. However, I wish Razer kept the Xbox-style color coding, as the white color on these letters feels quite dull compared to the Kishi V1 predecessor.
The knobs use microswitches – a nice upgrade from the mushy membranes on the original Kishi. The micro-switches make a pleasant clicking noise that isn’t obnoxious at all, and pressing each button provides a nice little tactile punch that’s worth pressing.
Four additional buttons are located on the front of the controller: a Share button (for screenshots and gameplay recording), a Menu button, an Options button, and a Razer Nexus button, which lets you launch the free Razer Nexus app. start.
The Kishi V2’s four rear triggers are easily accessible and comfortable to depress, but I did notice that they offer a little more travel to fully depress compared to the Backbone One. There are also two programmable macro buttons, M1 and M2 – one on each side, in addition to the L2 and R2 trigger buttons.
Like its predecessor, the Kishi V2 has a USB-C pass-through on the bottom right of the controller, so you can keep your phone charged while the device is in use.
Razer Kishi V2 – Software
The Kishi V2 has a free software app called Nexus – a dashboard that lets you launch games installed on your phone, showcase other Kishi-compatible games, and is needed to remap those two extra programmable buttons. The Nexus app also includes a feature that lets you seamlessly start a live stream on YouTube or Facebook, and Razer says Twitch support is coming later this year.
Nexus is one of the worst parts of the Kishi V2 and I’ve avoided it many times. While the app made it easy for me to launch my installed games, the inconsistent and slow performance made the software feel like it was in early access. The images for installed games on Nexus are low resolution and blurry, and the Nexus button on the controller didn’t work no matter how many times I pressed it.
This is in stark contrast to the Backbone app, which offers a reliable gaming hub and useful features such as an in-app friend system that allows you to add other Backbone users and set up voice chat rooms. The paid subscription service Backbone+ adds even more features, such as the ability to connect an Android device with a Lightning to USB-C cable or capture gameplay at 1080p at 60FPS. While Razer’s software is free, it still pales in comparison to Backbone’s free version.
Razer Kishi V2 – Gaming
The Kishi V2 feels nice and ergonomic whether you’re playing mobile games locally or streamed via a cloud gaming service. It’s a solid upgrade over the first-generation Kishi, which I didn’t always feel I had a firm grip on, leading to a constant worry that I’d drop the device.
I tested several games, including Apex Legends: Mobile, Diablo Immortal, and Halo Infinite streamed via Xbox Cloud Gaming – all of which were compatible with the controller and fun to play. The only game I ran into a problem with was Call of Duty: Mobile, which was also not compatible with the original Kishi (both Android and iOS models). A Razer spokesperson told me that “it’s up to the developers what they whitelist,” and further noted that the company works “very closely” with publishing partners to support full integration with its products. I also contacted Activision, who confirmed that the game is not currently supported, but may be in the future. Either way, it’s discouraging since Backbone works flawlessly with Call of Duty: Mobile on iOS.
Like its predecessor, the Kishi V2 does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack. While this may not sound like a big deal, especially considering most smartphones don’t have a headphone jack these days, audio lag is a known issue on Android. Although it gets better, it is still an ongoing problem that varies depending on your Android device. While Razer is not responsible for Android’s problem, a headphone jack would have solved the problem altogether.
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