Mayflash’s MAGIC-NS 2 is the other famous way to dodge driver installation: a USB adapter that pairs with a Switch Pro Controller or Joy-Cons (among a long list of Bluetooth pads) and presents them to a PC, a Switch, or another console as a standard controller. Against free software like BetterJoy, its pitch is simplicity and versatility — one gadget that follows your controller between machines. Its documentation also makes a claim the 8BitDo adapter doesn’t: motion support in XInput mode. This comparison separates what is documented, what is claimed, and what we could not verify — because that gap is exactly what should drive your buying decision.
How the MAGIC-NS 2 route works
Like all adapters in this class, the MAGIC-NS 2 is a self-contained translator: pairing happens on the device, mode selection happens with its button/LED combinations, and the host just sees a controller. Its modes include an XInput mode for Windows, and Mayflash publishes firmware updates for it — worth knowing, because adapter features and compatibility genuinely change between firmware versions, and any second-hand unit should be updated before you judge it. The flip side of the class is also present: one adapter connects one controller. Multiplayer, or several pads in rotation, means several adapters.
The console dimension is the MAGIC-NS 2’s real party trick. The same adapter that presents your Pro Controller to a PC can present controllers to a Switch and other hosts, which makes it a traveller: one purchase covers the “wrong controller, wrong machine” problems across a household. BetterJoy, being Windows software built on the Windows driver stack, does exactly one machine — yours, running Windows — and does it for free (download page).
The gyro claim, labelled honestly
Manuals and listings for the MAGIC-NS 2 describe 6-axis motion support and adjustable vibration (seven levels), including gyro in XInput mode. We present that as what it is: a manufacturer claim. Here is the part the listings skip: even where XInput-mode motion exists on the wire, we could not verify that PC emulators can consume it as a motion source — it is not a DSU/Cemuhook server, and it does not present the SDL-style native Switch device that modern emulators read motion from directly. In practice that means:
- If a PC game itself reads gyro from the presented device in a way the adapter supports, the claim may well hold for you.
- If your plan was “adapter feeds gyro into my emulator setup the way BetterJoy’s DSU server does”, that plan is unverified at best and misconceived at worst — the DSU feed is a software function, and no adapter in this comparison performs it.
Compare the cleaner negative from the 8BitDo adapter: there, XInput mode is documented as rumble-only. Mayflash claims more; Mayflash’s claim is also the one we’d want to see demonstrated in your exact emulator before spending money.
Day to day: what ownership feels like
With the adapter, ownership is close to invisible: pair once, learn the LED colour for the mode you use, and the controller simply appears when you pick it up — on the PC today, on the Switch tomorrow. The two chores are keeping the firmware current (Mayflash’s updates have historically added controller support and fixed mode quirks, so the update habit is part of the product) and remembering which mode you left it in when a game sees the “wrong” kind of pad. With BetterJoy, ownership is a small ritual instead: the program must be running, you choose XInput or DS4 output per situation, and you keep one eye on not double-feeding Steam. In exchange you get a configuration surface — button swaps, special-button key binds, gyro modes, per-device sensitivities in the config file — that no dongle’s firmware menu attempts. Households tend to split exactly on this line: people who want the controller to disappear choose hardware; people who want the controller to do more choose software. Our troubleshooting hub exists for the software side’s failure modes; the adapter side’s equivalent page would be one line long (“update the firmware, check the mode LED”), which is precisely its selling point.
Joy-Con specifics
The MAGIC-NS 2 lists Joy-Con among its supported Bluetooth controllers, which is handy for a single Joy-Con or a pair used as one controller on a console. What it is not is a Joy-Con system: there is no equivalent of BetterJoy’s click-to-join/split management, no per-hand independent motion routing of the kind the Ryujinx family still requires a DSU server for (that case, explained), and no way around the one-adapter-one-controller rule for multiplayer. And as with every route in this series: rumble support is standard rumble, not a promise of HD Rumble waveform fidelity, and neither NFC/amiibo reading nor the Joy-Con IR camera is passed to the PC by any adapter or mapper we cover.
Head to head
| Factor | BetterJoy v7.1 | Mayflash MAGIC-NS 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Form | Free Windows software + ViGEmBus driver | USB adapter, firmware-based |
| Price model | Free, open source (MIT) | Paid hardware, one per controller (price varies by retailer — check before buying) |
| PC output | System-wide XInput or DS4, plus DSU server | XInput mode for Windows; other modes for consoles |
| Gyro | Yes: to DSU, stick, or mouse | Manufacturer-claimed 6-axis incl. XInput mode; emulator consumption unverified; not a DSU server |
| Vibration | Standard rumble, adjustable in emulator (70–80% suggested) | Adjustable, 7 levels per manufacturer |
| Firmware updates | n/a (software releases) | Yes, from Mayflash — update second-hand units |
| Works on Switch / other consoles | No | Yes — the adapter’s main bonus |
| Joy-Con pair management | Purpose-built join/split UI | Basic support; no pairing management layer |
| Maintenance burden | One driver install; program runs while playing | Essentially none |
Verdict
Choose the MAGIC-NS 2 if your controllers migrate between a PC and consoles, you want a no-drivers household, and your PC gaming is mostly ordinary gamepad use where the adapter’s documented modes suffice. Buy it for the versatility, which is verifiable — not for emulator gyro, which is a claim we’d want demonstrated first.
Choose BetterJoy if the PC is the destination and motion matters: DSU feeds, Joy-Con pair choreography, gyro-to-mouse, several controllers on one Bluetooth radio. Software wins on capability; the adapter wins on never having to think about software. If you are still undecided between all the routes — native, software, paid software, hardware — the best way to use a Switch controller on PC lays them side by side, and the comparisons hub indexes the whole series.