September 21st, 2012

Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku “hates” the Wii U Pro Controller

86 Comments
Wii U Pro Controller Black White

Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku is not a fan of the Wii U’s Pro Controller. As shared in his recent article, he thinks that it’s too light, has weak force feedback, feels cheap, and has mushy buttons. The title of the article — I Hate the Wii U Pro Controller — screams of sensationalism, but you still might like to read his thoughts.

  • HBOVER9000

    I haven’t really seen or touched one, but from what I’ve saw in screenshots, and from the Black Ops 2 video here on the blog, it doesn’t seem to bad of a controller. Like a mix of 360 and CCPro.

  • http://www.facebook.com/alex.caballero2 Tsugumi Himura

    how can he hate something, it’s something!

  • http://twitter.com/Loganku Logan

    I respect his thoughts on the controller about being too light, but does the controller really feel cheap?

    • Ziggy

      I think he used on the Wii U gamepad soo much, it feels different to him

  • Jairo

    Only thing I’m complaining about is the price on that thing…

    • 8bitglitch

      Why? PS3 and 360 controllers are more expensive.

    • Jairo

      I don’t own those consoles. If I did however… it wouldn’t really matter, I said the control was expensive… that’s it…

    • mr

      YA DUDE WTF DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH PS360.

    • http://www.facebook.com/ian.aldridge.528 Ian Aldridge

      He’s just saying $50 is a typical controller price these days i guess

    • Hybrilynx

      and everybody hates those companies. if nintendo wants to be hated too, well..

    • anonymous

      Who is everybody?

    • Arsonist Monkey

      What is love?

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1581638598 Tylor Ray Gallagher

      honest who is everybody? I have all 3 systems and even plan on getting a ouya, David has a xbox! though I must say I have just about given up on Sony

    • xdlugia

      well it is really expensive with 50$ for a controller without motion controls and sensitive triggers in 2012.
      And if it’s really is true that its vibration is weak, then it is really expensive.

    • DementedAvenger27

      a 360 controller is just as much

    • xdlugia

      Yeah, but it at least has analogue triggers which Nintendo discontinued after the Classic Controller.

  • http://twitter.com/CycloneAkuma chrisblass1

    the button layout looks ok i guess but it would be hard for me since i own a xbox 360

  • Wolf

    Never even been near one of these, so I’ll see for myself someday. Most likely just some anti-nintendo micro-bot trying to get hits on his article.

    • Nargacuga

      ……..Spooder man, we meet again……

    • Wolf

      Narga, pls

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/MrKoopan?feature=mhee MrKoopan

    looks cheap anyway, i’ll get one or two, but just for smash bros.

    • RockieOllie

      Definitly

  • Hybrilynx

    light is okay. he must be too familiar with xbox controllers being out of date and pack too much chips. like one of those old calculators that weights tons and etc when they first created it. it probably feels cheap becuz it doesnt feel like cheap other controllers. add skin to it or something when it comes out.

    then i dont know what force back means, and i can understand mushy button a little bit. the 3ds buttons feels like crap to me. i wanted something like the dsi buttons. exactly like the dsi buttons. but i dont gotta worry about this. $50 for a controller yeah right. im not going to buy that crap.

    • Relytgninroht

      Force feedback is the technical term for rumble.

    • Hybrilynx

      then that sucks. i was hoping the 3ds would have it built in but if a controller doesnt even have good rumble you might as well not even add it.

    • Babymario26

      I dont even use rumble for my controllers most of the time so no problem to me.

    • Alex_Atkin_UK

      I do, but I agree that I do not really miss it when its not there.

      The only time force feedback is essential is with racing wheels, and then I mean REAL force feedback, not just simple rumbling.

    • http://www.nintendoworlds.com/members/turbopikachu.22921/ TurboPikachu

      You can understand mushy button issues… But then criticize the 3DS buttons?!?!?! WTF
      The 3DS had the opposite of mushy buttons. The 3DS has very responsive, clicky buttons, like the first DS, and the DSi XL. The DS Lite and DSi has mushy, unresponsive-feeling buttons.
      But I’ll tell you the controller with THE mushiest buttons ever.
      Wii Classic Controller/Wii Classic Controller Pro. Why do I say this?
      It’s not the ABXY, or the L/R/zL/zR.
      It’s the D-Pad. That flippin’ D-Pad constantly gets inputs wrong, and it feels like play-doh when I use it. I encounter this same problem (albeit to a lesser degree) on the D-Pads of the N64, GameCube, PS1/PS2/PS3, Wii(remote), but the Classic Controller stands out as having the worst D-Pad ever.

    • Ziggy

      I think the game cube get the cake actually, the buttons on my 3ds are too grippy, which is really annoying when playing Mario Kart, I think the classic controller pro is actually pretty fantastic.

    • Hybrilynx

      have you ever played something like metroid prime hunters where you use every direction of the control pad every nano second? if you havent, then you havent used the 3ds’ control pad.

    • http://www.nintendoworlds.com/members/turbopikachu.22921/ TurboPikachu

      I can kinda relate. Though I’ve never had a game like Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS, I have had CoD: Modern Warfare Mobilized for the DS, and I haven’t had problems using the 3DS’s circle pad to move around in the game.
      As far as the 3DS’s D-pad is concerned, It’s the main thing I use in Mighty Switch force (it being sidescroller), and I’ve had no issues with it in other 3DS applications like Colors 3D.

    • Hybrilynx

      in metroid prime hunters you do alot of i guess ‘mini movements’ which you do thing like press left/right repeatedly to dodge snipers. i used the circle pad but it makes things worse. it makes tetris party on dsiware harder to play fast too, and i guess thats a much better example.

      its obvious that when nintendo made the 3ds, it wasnt focused on playing actual games, but just making a console look and feel good, for beginners or games like animals crossing where you play games slowly. or at least, they didnt think about dsi games.

    • http://www.nintendoworlds.com/members/turbopikachu.22921/ TurboPikachu

      I don’t think that they did that just to make it feel good.
      I know that when SSB4 comes to the 3DS, the controls will be perfect for that game, and the circle pad will be just fine. :)
      And they didn’t think about making the controls to be optimized for DSi, because, let’s face it, the DS series is no longer Nintendo’s focus. IMO, I despised the DS and it’s remakes for garbage graphics, no analog stick/pad, and online that’s a joke. I’m just really happy that the with the 3DS, we finally have graphics that are actually good (especially for a handheld), full 360-degree movement with the analog circle pad, and good online featues.

    • Symbol de Au

      The first run 3DS’ had mushy buttons(my ambassador cosmo black buttons aren’t clicky at all.) but I compared them to a DSi and they feel pretty much the same.
      I don’t believe the Gameboy Advance can beat DS graphics, but even if this is some technical truth it still doesn’t work in reality. Whether they could or not they didn’t.(maybe some of the games on DS but nothing like Animal Crossing etc.)

    • http://www.nintendoworlds.com/members/turbopikachu.22921/ TurboPikachu

      I was exaggerating…

      But it is indeed true that developers were unbelievably lazy in challenging the DS’s graphical capabilities. When I say GBA can beat DS graphics, I mean that very few games for the DS even bother to step out of the 2D sprite-based games, or even feel next-gen compared to the GBA… It really feels the DS is really GBA 1.5, just like the Wii is a GameCube 1.5…

      If the next-gen went traditionally for Nintendo, then the Wii would be 1/2 the power of the PS3/360, not 1/18, and the DS would be (exactly) as powerful as the N64 and feature trilinear texture filtering, instead of having power similar to a Sega Saturn(not even close to PS1/N64)…

  • Dave

    For now, I don’t really want to hear what other people say about it until I personally hold one. Too many people are going to give it mixed reviews since they’re used to the system they’re currently using.

    • http://www.facebook.com/henrik.puetz Henrik Puetz

      Well – though this might not interest u (:P )
      I – actually wii player only played Rayman at Gamescom with the controller , I liked it – it might still look a bit cheap…
      My friend-XBox 360 player – who also hold it said its allright , the same as XBox 360Controller,only right stick switched with abxy-buttons…
      we both find its easy to hold and to play – but the kinda reflecting part looks a bit cheap/plastic.Only opinion left is from a PS3 gamer^^

    • OctoWara289

      I also played with one at one of the Wii U experience events when I played Rayman, and it felt great. The only nitpick I had was that sometimes I would hit the right analog stick, but ONLY because I wasn’t used to the button placement/configuration, but it felt good in my hands altogether. It’s a traditional controller, what more can you expect/want. It works, it does what it does, and it does it considerably well.

    • Sonic20012

      I’m a PS3 gamer, so when I get it 11/18 I’ll be sure to let you know! :)

    • http://www.facebook.com/8xBIT Thomas Reifenberg

      I think it is just like the pro controller that came with Goldeneye 007 Wii.

    • Ziggy

      I want that gold controller ;(

    • http://www.facebook.com/8xBIT Thomas Reifenberg

      I will tell you, getting that game with the controller was so not worth it. The controller was nice. I put that away and got a HORI turbo controller that looks like a Gamecube controller for Wii. It is a Japanese controller and I have no problems with it.

  • 8bitglitch

    I dont think being light should necessarily be considered bad. Buttons that are too mushy, on the other hand…

    Well, I guess i’ll find out soon since I pre-ordered it with my console. I hope it meets expectations.

    • Alex_Atkin_UK

      I just hope that doesn’t mean the gamepad buttons are mushy too, that would be a PITA.

      Personally I’m not a big fan of the mushiness of the PS3 buttons either, I won’t even get started on the problems I have with the ergonomics on that controller though.

  • http://www.facebook.com/alex.martin.5688 Alex Martin

    can’t say i like the right joystick placement, xbox and gamecube had the right feel to them, i dont get why they think this’ll work better

    • Alex_Atkin_UK

      It was probably due to having to keep it comparable to the normal gamepad.

      On the normal gamepad I believe the reason for the stick placement is if they did it the same as Xbox/Gamecube then reaching the right side of the touch screen quickly with your thumb would have been tricky.

      I reserve judgement for if its “the end of the world” by putting the right analog so high up, until I actually try it for myself.

    • http://www.nintendoworlds.com/members/turbopikachu.22921/ TurboPikachu

      Right analog being high up:
      Perfect for shooters. It’s actually fixing a problem I’ve had with every single controller to ever feature dual-analog. ^-^

      See, the PS/PS2/PS3 controllers, and the Wii Classic Controller/WCCPro were inferior due to both sticks being so far down there, and as a result, I’m unable to have my thumbs in the correct orientation. On such controllers, my thumbs are diagonal to the sticks, and to make the left stick aim UP, it feels like I’m aiming UP/LEFT. (feels like UP/RIGHT for right stick on every system)

    • Alex_Atkin_UK

      Oh absolutely, I recently got an adapter to use an Xbox 360 controller on the PS3 as I always found the Playstation analog sticks so far down they were painful to use.

      However I have no major issues with the Xbox 360 layout and think it will take some getting used to the Wii U button the 4 buttons lower down. Might be painful reaching the trigger and the buttons at the same time, might not too.

      Like I said, I have to reserve judgement on that until I have tried it.

    • VioletFox

      I completely agree with you. I can never get used to playstation controllers because of that.

  • Sam

    I’m getting a bit sick of the media negativity towards the wii u, his comments might be perfectly valid but there’s seems to be a lot of articles attacking the wii u because it’s the cool thing to do at the moment.

    • Ichigo Kurosaki

      Well just like the Wii, people will try and find things wrong with the system and other small things the more popular it gets. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions so for him to actually make an article saying he flat out hates it is kinda ignorant. It at least should’ve said reasons why I dislike the Wii U Pro Controller. Hate is such a strong word don’t u think?

    • DementedAvenger27

      exactly. for some reason, when I see the word “hate” in the title of a professional journalistic article, it makes me cringe. The guy just lost some credibility.

  • TheFarmboy

    I see no problem with it. When people complained about it looking like a 360 Controller, does that mean some of the flaws apply?

    When I get ahold of one of them, I will make my decision.

  • http://www.facebook.com/martin.kearney.104 Martin Kearney

    Saying that is like hating the Xbox controller. I am NOT a personal fan of Xbox 360, I don’t love the controller feels decent. This looks more comfertable (for me at least). What happend to this? (NES Controller). Then went to this. (Kniect).

  • SagiMewtwo

    Wait…force feedback?
    So that means it does have rumble.
    Definitely grabbing one at launch now.

  • Anon

    Too bad for him. I dig it. Feels great, responds great, and looks awesome.

  • the vita is dead

    Brian “BASHcraft” usually have negative comments and impressions about Nintendo’s hardwares. This guy makes annoying reviews without having a tripod to set his camera. He probably did not check if the vibration feedback was set to low on the game’s settings.

    • DementedAvenger27

      anyone who writes “Why I hate…” as their title article needs a lesson in freakin’ journalism. He sounds like a 5 year old whining.

    • http://www.facebook.com/SonRocco Rocco Loria

      My thoughts exactly.

  • Marty

    Ya know I really want to know about the whole 360 controller comparison, I mean just look at a classic controller pro, It looks nothing like a dualshock or 360 controller. Does the whole no ridge and joystick swap + trigger for zr/zl buttons change that much?

  • Ruby Doobie

    Fair enough reasons not to like it. At least 3rd party ones are guaranteed to be made. Hopefully someone will make a heavier one.

    • Symbol de Au

      Hopefully someone makes one with the anolog sticks in different locations.

  • ABEzilla116

    Everyone get your pitchforks, torches, and odd blunt objects!

  • Ichigo Kurosaki

    That’s nice, don’t care. Will still have one for Smash Bros tho.

  • http://www.facebook.com/audie.bowler Audie Bowler

    THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH WII REMOTE NUNCHUCK PRO PAD OR GAMEPAD AND ALL THERE ANALOG STICKS ARE VASTLY SUPERIOR TO ANY ANALOG STICK MADE BY SONY OR MS PROVABLE FACT

    now take your nintendo hate opinions elsewhere anti nintendo idiots theres nothing wrong YOUR MAKING IT UP OUT OF SPITE AND JEALOUSY ,iwasnt born yesterday

  • ePik Min

    Just another idiot complaining without a single mature or intelligent argument.

  • http://www.facebook.com/henrik.puetz Henrik Puetz

    well-there will be differnet ones from release -if he want he should buy a one with 1 kg of useless iron in it so its not too light xD-Controller cant be too light in my opinion…

  • Nigella Lawson

    Stop linking to gawker sites! They don´t deserve the hits.

  • GalaxyWafles

    Don’t know him so I don’t give two shits.

  • Daniel

    c|_|

  • http://www.facebook.com/8xBIT Thomas Reifenberg

    Brian Ashcraft doesn’t like Nintendo.

  • BellaKazza

    Why do I feel that he is trying to hate the Pro Controller?
    I mean, light feeling, light rumble and “mushy” buttons? (What the hell does that even mean??)
    The Classic controller for the Wii had no rumble, light feeling and I’ve never heard anyone complain about it.

  • http://twitter.com/Omarsonic9 Omar Ahmed

    Who cares about you Brian Ashcraft? LOL WAIT A MINUTE NOW, Ashcraft as in Minecraft…
    LOL

  • http://www.facebook.com/tyrell.jones.9 Tyrell Jones

    Meh, it’s his opinion. I, for one, will get one because ik I’ll enjoy it.

  • YayGs

    What I’m taking from this is that the pro controller has force feedback. I don’t ever remember reading about rumble being confirmed, I had assumed but still it’s nice to know.

  • http://www.facebook.com/antonioromeromario Antonio Romero

    who cares what he thinks. Is he like god or something. Ah lot of people are not going to like it and ah lot that will.

  • Tails the Foxhound

    “BAshcraft” can often be inflammatory, as proven by his article’s title choice, but he also often raises pretty good points. The concerns he lists are legitimate ones, however until handling it myself, I don’t know if he’s off his rocker or right on the mark. I myself was disappointed with Wii’s secondary controllers (Classic and Classic Pro), so maybe Nintendo didn’t actually learn from those? Guess I’ll see when I get my own Pro.

  • Bashcraft_Sucks

    This can be resolved easily-
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX43Z4xmlUY

  • Relytgninroht

    Love how everyone is discounting his article as ‘a way to get page hits’. If you actually visited the site regularly you’d see that they write articles like this quite a bit- articles giving you their opinion on something. Plus, they post so many articles daily that this is just a tiny blip buried underneath everything else.

    He didn’t say the controller sucked- he just said he didn’t like it. His opinion, not fact. People just need to calm down when others have contrasting views.

  • mightyXtreme

    I still plan to buy the Pro Controller for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1581638598 Tylor Ray Gallagher

    When I used it at the Colorado preview event it felt just a bit lighter then Xbox, but it was attached by a cord so that did make it bit heavier so it could be much lighter, it was also thinner then the Xbox controller….nothing good or bad just thinner. I’m a big Xbox gamer so it was hard to brake the habit of ware the buttons were which was hard on zombie u. The gamepad was just heavier then the Xbox controller its got a good solid feel to it, pixels are a bit bigger then I’d like but from what I played it suits gaming needs. I hope they make it so Wii ware, virtual console, and first gen Wii games can be played on the gamepad as it well be a big selling point

  • jkvasn

    I don’t get people complaining about this stuff looking/feeling cheap. “Heavier = better” is 1980′s logic.

  • PixelFyxe

    I actually really like the Pro Controller’s button and stick layout. My only really complaint it the lack of analog triggers which means racing games on the Wii U won’t be as good as with other platforms.

    • londragon

      Yeah, but I’ll just use the Gamepad as a steering wheel. It’s going to be awesome on an F1 game with all the info on the S.Wheel like real.

  • Nargacuga

    ……..Well that’s a shame, but to each their own.

  • Jimbob

    Of course. Kotaku is just a tabloid at this point.