I bought my family a Wii for Christmas - it came with one Wiimote with Motion Plus widget and Nunchuck. In order to take advantage of the whole social/family gaming thing, I need some more.
Except they’re really pricey. about 45 quid for the remote with the Motion Plus accessory, plus another 12 to 15 GBP for the Nunchuck. So three additional controllers will cost me substantially more than I paid for the console bundle.
But I’ve seen third-party controllers on eBay and elsewhere that are about half the price of the Nintendo brand ones. They claim absolute 100% compatibility with the console and all of the other plug-in and cosmetic accessories.
What I want to know is: Does anybody here have any first-hand experience of these third party controllers? What are they like?
I’m looking for hard facts (suspicion and scepticism I already have)
Sorry, I can’t answer your question since I only have 2 Wii remotes, with the second being included in Wii Play.
However, do you need nunchucks and motion plus for all 4 controllers? Usually most of the 4 player games only require the Wii Remote. There are several 2 player games that need the nunchuck, but they are much rarer (Wii Boxing, some of the sports on Wii Sports Resort).
What about the Motion+ accessory? Wii Sports Resort and Tiger Woods Golf '10 are the only popular multi-player games that I know that use the Motion+, and even then I think you can pass one remote amongst several people.
The number of games that offer 4-players using nunchucks and Motion+ simultaneously are very few and far between. You need to ask yourself: “Is all this money worth a few games on Wii Sports Resort?” I would say no and would rather spend that money on the basic 4 Wii remotes, a second nunchuck and Motion+, and (most importantly) more games to diversify your game library.
Or to answer your original question: once you have your basic needs met, it wouldn’t hurt to pick up cheap 3rd party controllers because they still work. From past experiences with other 3rd party controllers (not Wii), overall they work fine, but in comparison they are more cumbersome to use, break easier, and don’t work as well as the Nintendo controllers. But you shouldn’t be using them as much anyway because it is only when 3 or 4 people are playing.
Thanks - that’s quite sensible advice. Actually, we probably only have space in the room for two players if they’re standing and waving their arms around - any games with four simultaneous players would have to be sit-down only.
I reckon probably the most sensible purchase for me would be one of those packs that contains a dual charging station, a pair of battery packs and one remote plus nunchuck, and another motionplus.
Then maybe two third-party remotes later, for four-player stuff like Mario Kart (that doesn’t require motionplus)
Mangetout: My Wii controller setup at home (in the US… I’m not sure which 3rd-party remotes you’re looking at in the UK) consists of 2 Nintendo-brand remotes, 2 Nintendo nunchucks, 2 Motion Plus add-ons, 2 Nyko Wand remotes, a Nyko Quad Charger, and a Nintendo Classic Controller that I’m sorry I bought. I think that’s it. This has served Mrs BomTek and I perfectly, as the party games we play most often with others (Mario Kart and Boom Blox) use only the remote.
The Nyko Wand works very well for every task we’ve asked of it, with only a tiny bit of jerkiness when using the Wii’s Sensor Bar for aiming and such (some games are better than others in this regard anyway). We’ve hooked it up to the Big N’s nunchucks and it worked just fine also. I’d read that the Motion Plus isn’t compatible with the Nyko Wand, though, so I didn’t even try. Overall I’d highly recommend every Nyko product I’ve purchased (including the wireless sensor bar and HD cable), and if I ever see the need to get a couple more nunchucks I’m probably going to buy theirs.
I don’t have a third party wiimote but I’ve got a Nyko wireless nunchuck that works great. Based on it I’d certainly be willing to buy other peripherals by Nyko.
It’s difficult to tell. I have looked at the Nyko ones and some branded Mad Catz (or something like that), but there are also a whole bunch of them on eBay where the brand isn’t specified - I think they’re Chinese imports - some of them probably infringe trademarks etc.
Apparently Nyko has fixed the Motion Plus issue. If you happen to buy a Wand that doesn’t work with Motion Plus, you can contact them and they’ll send you a shipping label… you send your remote(s) in, and they’ll either update them or just send you back ones that have Motion Plus compatability built-in. Not sure which actually occurs, but the end result is the same. Also, as the original, MP-incompatible Wands get bought up, your chances of buying one are getting lower, so you may be fine right outta the box.
ETA: My experience says to avoid Mad Catz, and I’d never consider buying something that wasn’t branded.
While we’re here, it occurs to me to ask something else… my searches have been confounded by endless packs of plastic clip-on accessories for the remotes. The steering wheel I can see the point of, but is there actually any value to clipping on, say, a pathetic little plastic racquet, in order to play wii tennis?
I’d say that, rule of thumb, buying non-nintendo controls are a false economy. Only authentic Nintendo products are made out of Nintendium, the single most unbreakable substance known to man. Your TV may shatter, but your remote won’t.
This strange substance was discovered for the manufacture of the first Game Boy, and has been used in all their portable products since.
(tongue only slightly in cheek: the plastic wiimotes are made from is incredibly high quality. And they will last for decades.)
I bought two Wiimotes on eBay directly from Hong Kong and when they arrived they were Nintendo brand! Got two of them for US $41.98 with Free Shipping. They work perfect. There were no wrist straps with them, but that’s no biggie. Am I allowed to post who I bought them from?
Nice deal. I mentioned Nyko in my other posts here, and I’m a big fan of theirs anyway, but here’s a game-changer from them: the Wand+ integrates MotionPlus support into the remote, meaning you don’t have to keep clipping the MP attachment on and off. Nyko just kicked Nintendo square in the nuts with this one… If you’ve ever tried to play NES games (or Punch-Out!! for the Wii) with MotionPlus still attached, you know how much of a pain in the ass it is, and you have to take it off anyway if you’re going to play Mario Kart Wii. Should be priced around $40 and go on sale in March, according to what I’ve read.
Probably not, actually. While Nintendo, unlike most console makers, does make money on the hardware, the real money is in the games. If a third-party controller is good enough to get people to buy more games, that’s a wiin-wiin as far as they’re concerned.