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When I find a game I love, it’s hard to tear myself away from it. However, I also have a hard time making time to sit back and sink into a few hours of gaming when I have chores to do, walking the dogs, and deadlines that I don’t need to be late for. So I don’t usually play much when I’m at home. And as much as I love my Switch, it’s just too bulky to fit in most bags I take with me when I leave my apartment, so it collects dust in its dock until I have some time to focus on the Sit down on the couch and play a game or two.
Like a Switch or Steam deck, the Backbone has joysticks and buttons on either side of its controls, all of which feel comfortable and pleasant to use, even during long gaming sessions. It works with games you downloaded from the App Store (as long as the developer added hardware controller support), such as: retro bowl or Gunfire reborn, and it is compatible with cloud gaming services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming. Apple Arcade has an impressive library of games, also designed for hardware controllers. So while you can’t play Switch games with the backbone, you still have plenty of options.
On the bottom of the controller is a 3.5mm. A headphone jack (or you can use wireless earbuds, of course) and a USB-C or Lightning port (depending on whether you have the Android or iPhone model) for charging so your battery doesn’t die during a round Fourteen days. The backbone itself is powered by the phone’s battery and doesn’t need a Bluetooth connection to work, so you don’t have to worry about charging the battery before you head out the door – just pop it in a pocket and You can understand everything.
The backbone shines in this convenience. Sure, a Switch or Steam Deck will easily fit in most backpacks, but I always carry my phone with me anyway, and an iPhone plus Backbone will easily fit in most small bags, fanny packs, or even a large enough clutch. The added portability – and the console-like experience that the Backbone offers when paired with a good game – has made gaming on my iPhone a premium experience that can take me almost anywhere.
When I have some free time while waiting for my doctor’s appointment or a long drive ahead, I can pull out the Backbone, pop in my phone, and lose myself in one of my favorite games. This can be a simple roguelike card game Kill the tower where I can spin a few laps pretty quickly, a day of hard work on my farm Stardew Valleyor even an immersion in the zombie-infested world of The last of us via Playstation Remote Play. No matter what mood I’m in, there’s a game to match and I can do it all from my iPhone screen.
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