Following the release of the more budget-friendly Hautepad C16 / C16-S, Cosmox Gaming is back with another iteration, one that’s perhaps its most interesting design yet.

The Hautepad C-AT keeps things on the more affordable end of the scale with its lightweight design and reliance on plastic materials, priced at £90. However, the new functionality introduced here can theoretically put it side-by-side with the significantly more premium Hit Box Ultra.

Just as the Ultra allows you to swap out its ‘optimisers’ to change the travel distance of its buttons, the C-AT allows you to instantly lower or raise the height of the buttons by turning an outer ring surrounding each input. As such, the ‘AT’ in the name stands for ‘adjustable travel’. Don’t ask me what the ‘C’ means, I still don’t know.

Each input has three levels of travel distance, and so you simply insert the included tool into the two holes in the ring, then twist to raise or lower the height. The difference between each level is subtle, but you really feel the impact when you start breaking out the combos in Virtua Fighter 5 or Guilty Gear -Strive-. Naturally, since each button is customisable, you can have them all set to the same height, or perhaps experiment by having the directional inputs at one level, and the attack buttons at a different one.

Considering the fact that you have to completely remove the buttons from the Hit Box Ultra to change the travel distance, being able to instantly alter the inputs on the C-AT is remarkably straightforward by comparison. That said, unlike the optimisers in the Ultra, there’s nothing to cushion the buttons on the C-AT, and given the almost hollow build of the plastic casing, they’re quite loud as a result.

Connecting the C-AT to the Switch 1 or 2 is exactly the same as Cosmox’s previous models – just hold down the right button while plugging the device in to set it to the right mode. The braided cable is pleasingly lengthy and strong, while the C-AT itself takes inspiration from the M-Ultra Gen2 by including a lockable USB-C port at the top, helping to prevent instances in which the cable is accidentally removed.

An extra USB-C port is included on the left if you need it, while a USB-A port can be found on the right for those all-important authenticators for PS5 users. Don’t worry about that if you’re on Switch, though.

As for the button layout, the C-AT includes a total of 18 inputs, which is two more than those found on the M-Ultra. The extra inputs allow for some neat customisation, however, and by connecting the C-AT to a PC and accessing the web configurator, you can remap inputs and find the perfect layout that suits your needs. Naturally, if you’re entering into any official tournaments with the C-AT, you’ll likely be restricted in some ways, but for just playing locally or online, go nuts.

The main directional and attack buttons come with Wind Engine switches, which feel good and actuate with swift immediacy. They’re not quite as low-profile as the Shadow Hunting switches found in the M-Ultra, but by altering the travel distance to its lowest setting, you can pretty much emulate the same feeling. Meanwhile, the function buttons on the top right now come rocking Hide Mountain switches, which deliver a nice, satisfying clicking sound when pressed.

The function buttons actually feel similar to the inputs found on 8BitDo’s Arcade Controller. While I had an issue with having such loud, clicky buttons for the main inputs, limiting them to the function buttons works really well, and they feel wonderful. All of the button caps feel great, too, including a slightly rough texture that’s presumably designed to prevent your fingers from slipping and to stop them being worn down over time.

As for the overall presentation, the C-AT is slightly larger than anything I’ve got my hands on so far from Cosmox, likely to accommodate the extra buttons. You’ve got RGB lighting for the inputs as well on the outer rim, while some extra lighting can be seen at the bottom, shining out from beneath the translucent plastic cover. Each model also comes with a magnetic wrist rest, which covers up those pretty RGB lights, but it’s definitely nice to have if you suffer from pain every now and then (though it’s always good practice to keep your wrists off the device whenever possible).

The two available designs are pretty distinct, with one boasting some retro-inspired black and red buttons against a lighter background, and the other taking on a more ‘edgy’ approach with cat-like claw marks on each button, plus a darker aesthetic on the background. Like the C16 models, you can push the acrylic cover out from the back and replace the included artwork with some custom designs if you wish.

One thing I have to keep calling out with these controllers, however, is the labelling. The input labels are always included on the acrylic cover, and they’re always aligned with the Xbox/PC layout. This means that when you’re in Switch mode, the actual inputs don’t match with the labels, and there’s little you can do about it. The darker variant with the claw marks do include labelling on the buttons too, but this really needs to be the standard. Label the buttons and let us switch them around to our liking – please. If that’s not possible, then take a leaf out of Mayflash’s book and add in multiple platform labels in one go.

Final points to note are that the C-AT has the same OLED screen that you might be used to from Cosmox’s products, so you can keep an eye on your real-time inputs or even add in some custom pixel artwork via the web configurator. You’ve also got two switches next to the screen: one to toggle tournament mode and lock all function buttons, and the other to turn the RGB lighting on and off.

Conclusion

Cosmox Gaming manages to offer something new and interesting with pretty much every product it puts out. With the C-AT, the ability to alter the height of your inputs with a simple tool puts it right alongside the more premium Hit Box Ultra in terms of unique functionality. This, added with the 18-button layout, makes the C-AT one of the most versatile leverless controllers on the market.

Its overall build quality could be better; as someone who values weighty devices that feel premium, this one is a bit too light and hollow for my liking – though if you value lightweight peripherals, this might be a positive for you. I’m also getting a bit miffed at the labelling situation – just label the buttons and let us swap them around to match the Switch layout. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it feels like an easy issue to fix.

Thanks to Cosmox Gaming for providing the sample used in this review.