July 25th, 2011

Nintendo doesn’t have plans to support two Wii U controllers

32 Comments



It is possible for the Wii U to support two of its touchscreen controllers at once. But Kit Ellis, a spokesperson for Nintendo of America has said:

We do not have any such plans right now, but in the future we could explore how two controllers might be used in game play and what new experiences that might introduce. We will make such announcements (about selling controllers separately) later in each territory.


And that’s a bit of a bummer, although it’s not unexpected. There’s so much potential in how two controllers could be used, so at least they’re thinking about it.

  • butterbiscuitt

    I’m actually kind of glad that they’re not planning on the two controller setup, because if there are two-player games restricted strictly to the Wii U controllers, you’d HAVE to bu another, and I would imagine those things are EXPENSIVE, or at least will be. It’s practically a tablet.

  • James

    It all depend on when “in the future” and making announcements “later” is. If they are talking about AFTER the launch, then there is a big issue.

    They need to know that if there will only be one U Controller at launch, then all those multiplayer experiences that were established with many people on Wii won’t be there. It’ll make people mad. The fact that the only situations for local multiplayer are that one guy gets a U controller and the rest get Wii remotes; or everyone has a Wii remote. It just isn’t the same experience as everyone getting a new controller. There NEEDS to be support for 2+ controllers. They will probably lose plenty of sales if this is not included.

  • http://www.wix.com/destroyah/broknrhytm2 D2K

    Agreed. There really is no excuse to not add functionality for two controllers for the Wii U. Let the consumer decide if they want to pay big bucks for extra controllers. If they only want to pack one controller with each console, fine. I have no problem with that. Just don’t handcuff us to only one controller. Also, if they are that adamant about it, then they need to get to work on having a normal Wii U controller to go along side it. It’s really silly to have a system with games built around functionality of ‘one’ controller. They can at LEAST allow functionality of other people whom own Wii U’s to bring their controller over and link it all on one console the same way you can link Wii-remotes, Balance Boards, etc.

    But I guess that’s why they named the system Wii ‘U’ (you)

  • Belinni

    They don’t have plans to support the controllers but that doesn’t mean they can’t support them. I’ve already heard that the Wii U is capable of more than just one tablet at a time. Most likely they will wait a while after launch to decide if they want games to have multiplayer exclusive to the tablet controllers.

    Seeing as how Nintendo is afraid of selling the tablets alone due to the price they would be forced to place it at makes me kind of happy they think about almost everyone when planning for the next gen.

  • kidtendo

    forget 2, I want 4 to be compatible.

    I don’t get why everyone saying that, not including the option is a good decision… I know the controllers can be expensive.. but that’s why you HAVE THE OPTION not to (or to) get it.

    I’m sure they could have extra alternatives with multiplayer Wii U games that people don’t want to buy another touch-controller for (you can use all the previously used wii motes, classic controllers etc)

  • lazygoron16

    no prob, i dont tell my friend to bring his keyboard and mouse when e comes over. either way these are times that playing online is the shyt.

  • Keyblade

    Nintendo has always been about local multiplayer. SSB, Mario Party, Mario Kart, ect…
    So surely any games that feature local multiplayer will have the option to use classic controllers and the such, which honestly i would prefer. However, Mario Party with up to 4 tablet controllers would have been grand.

  • abbe

    I see fights in the future…..fights between little children about who will get.to use the new awesome controller, i damn serious, this WILL happen.

    It is sad that a console that has wii (we) in the name, will maybe only support one of the new controller, everyone else get to use 5 year old hardware

    Nintendo should really think about the benefits of each person having a touchscreen in multiplayer games. (FPS anybody?), why not release a LITE cheaper version of the controller, that would just be like a classic controller with a screen.

  • A Link to the Present

    Bummer? That’s great news!!! Previously they said that they wouldn’t look into it, but they just confirmed that they plan to in the future, what I assume to be after they get the ball rolling at launch with one player games and multiplayer games using only one controller and also with the controller and Wii Remotes.
    Wii sounds like we, and the “ii” represents the multiple Wii Remotes gathering around the console, represented by the “W”. The “U” in Wii U represents the new controller, playing along with the Wii Remotes, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t look into multiple new controllers at the get-go.

  • Neoxon

    I believe the Wii U can handle the streaming of 4 SD video feeds to the controllers. The only issue is the price, as stated by Nintendo. Though I’m happy it can support it, I’m willing to wait it out until the production costs go down enough for them to sell them separately with a clear head (hopefully in time for the next Smash Bros.).

  • Jmaster720

    bULL CRAP

  • http://nintendo3ds.wikia.com J. Severe

    Games like Smash Bros. and Mario Kart require at least 2 controllers if you want to really have fun. :/

    Price the controller at $75 or$100 or something, I’d have no problem with that. >.>

  • Santiago

    You can still use wii controller and wii accessories, so that isn’t a problem

  • Patrick

    Well Nintendo is going to have to sell U controllers on retail eventually since if someone was to break their U controller they are gonna need to replace it. So they might as well put the ability to use multiple U controllers, since they are going to be on retail eventually.

  • Ozoned

    Will it work if my friend brings over his wiiu controler and we both use our controllers???

  • JMAN

    exactly what i was thinkn, only one wii u controller is unacceptable!

  • JMAN

    who would wanna play with wii motes and such when your friend has the new cool lookn wii U controller?!

  • Zchnullmund

    Yh I really wonder how they’ll pull that off. I didn’t like playing with the wiimotes in brawl.

  • Bergheim

    Has every one forgotten about the classic controller plus? i would happily be the second player “stuck” with that controller.

  • http://MacroManJr.blogspot.com/ Brian L.

    Probably about $100 each, my guess.

  • http://MacroManJr.blogspot.com/ Brian L.

    Considering that most parents of small children most likely won’t be buying a Wii U for them immediately, I don’t see the problem. The core gamer is the bigger aim with Wii U’s launch, and they tend to game online more than children.

    Besides, they can use Wii Remotes–Mama and Papa ain’t buying perhaps a $100 controller for some kid who’s probably going to tear it up anyways.

    And about the “5 year old hardware,” first of all, Wii Remote Plus is not the kind of hardware that needs updating. And as innovative as Wii U is, everything on the Wii U controller has been out for 10 years. Consoles always use gaming PC’s last hardware–it saves us all money.

    Actually, people would LOVE the fact that they can use their Wii controllers on Wii U–they’ll just want 2 Wii U controllers soon, and Nintendo’s probably going to support 2 Wii U controllers. Meanwhile, online gaming on Wii U is supposed to be robust–perhaps for that very reason of the initial single-controller support.

    We may want more than two Wii U controllers at once for each local player, but we’ll probably want a streaming bandwidth of the game content more. Having 4 Wii U controllers supported at once might tax the Wii U console more than one may want.

    And finally, this final model of controller probably IS the” lite cheaper version” of the Wii U controller.

  • xavier

    well ill play my first person shooters with the wii mote and ill play smash bro wit the classic.

  • xavier

    yeah i used classic or my more preferred gamecube controller

  • http://tanookisuits.wordpress.com Oscar

    I had an idea for “Mario Kart: Double Dashers 2″ where one person (the one driving the kart) would use a Wiimote, and then the person using the Wii U remote could catch ? boxes and aim to shoot power-ups and give P1 a boost every now and then.

  • sissling hot

    1x wiiu pad 4x wii remote plus has been confirmed time and again ,what more do you want more than one wiiu pad has already been confirmed for the future…im personally looking forward to using wii remote plus and nunchuck and the wiiu pad together unlimited possibilities…

  • Q

    That sucks. This makes the Wii u sound like another controller for the Wii. And if they do not change this on the final modal then I will not buy the Wii u.

  • ZeldaCrazed

    They could even bring back 8 player Mario Party…one person per side in wii u mote & classic controller…and u can use wiimote w/ nunchuck too…one player uses wiimote n da other da nunchuck…

  • ninjapenguin120

    it could be about 100 US dollars. But maybe less, because it is absolutely NOT a tablet. Everything happens within the console. It only sends the touch, camera, and button info to the system, then processes the picture data to show on the screen, which are simple computer processes. So it isn’t a tablet. Not even close! The console does everything.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/TheIcedude545?feature=mhee icedude545

    wow i just noticed that ds pen

  • michael

    imnoy what is you have kids they are not gonna like the fact that they can only have one nice controller while the other doesnt plus I was looking forward to this conrollter I didnt like the whole wii mote concept

  • lazarus

    kinda offtopic guys, but do you think shenmue could be done in the wii? im sure that some moves there can be done by the nunchuck…

  • Jorge

    mack the Wii u on in possible to beat i do not want to hear that wii u has problems oooooo it sucks mack the wii u fantastic