Review Time
I should preface this review by stating the follwoing...
* My Warrior is being used purely for PC gaming on my Steam Deck
* The main OS on my Deck is Windows 10
* Im that crazy dude that installs all of my games to separate SD cards
* I do NOT believe that GameCube controllers are solely for Smash
* I DO believe nearly every game works well with a GameCube styled controller
* I own 30 plus GameCube styled controllers of various types
As you can already see, I'm not your standard use case and that should give you some perspective on where my mindset is with this controller.
When this controller was announced I was happy to see a GameCube styled controller with nearly every modern feature
* All expected buttons are here along with clickable sticks
* Analog Triggers
* Gyroscopic motion control
* USB-C cable, 2.4 Ghz Wireless AND Bluetooth support
* Dual rumble motors
At face value I can see why the controller is 70 USD. Personally I still believe it's worth the 70. The unboxing experience is pretty good. The box has a slip cover with cover art and some information on the back. You take the slip off and a blue box with the NIXY logo is waiting for you. The moment you open that box you see the controller wrapped in a thin foam bag and a compartment for all of the accessories. In the box you receive the following
* NIXY Warrior GameCube styled controller
* manual
* paper insert about NIXY customer service
* replacement standard sized right stick (for those of you that hate the C-Stick nub
* a pair of circulat stick gates (the octagonal gates are default on the controller)
* 6.5 foot USB-C to A braided cable
* 5.5 inch USB-C to A cable for use with the GameCube adapter for 2.4 Wireless mode (PC gaming)
* GameCube Controller port adapter
Upon holding the controller you can feel a nice bit of heft. It's a bit heavier than the Switch GameCube styled offerings from PowerA and PDP. Compared to the NIXY Wizard, its a bit smaller but feels perfect. The Wizard has a bit of "chonk" vs the Warrior's more "streamlined" design. Button wise there are some changes. Most GameCube controllers, including the NIXY Wizard, have this for lack of better phrase, "hollow click" to their buttons. I fucking enjoy the sound! I really do feel at "gaming home" while mashing GameCube layout buttons. The NIXY warrior.... well, the buttons click but they feel like you're pressing your mouse buttons with your thumbs. They are a bit more clicky than your standard mouse but that hollow feel you expect from most GameCube styled controllers, simply not here. It will mentally take someone a bit to get used to. Also throwing this out there, the D-Pad is AMAZING! As a fighting game fan I can see myself being awesome at those quarter-circle maneuvers!
As for connecting the Wizard to your PC. I'll just list the options
* Holding the sync button and using Bluetooth results in the controller being seen as a Switch Pro Controller
* Sync + X (Bluetooth) = X Input mode (XBox One to be exact)
* USB cable = X Input mode
* GameCube adapter to USB for radio wireless mode = X Input mode
Unfortunately in Steam if you're in Switch Pro mode Steam will see the gyro support and rumble but not the analog Triggers. In X-Input mode, Steam will see the analog Triggers and rumble but not the gyro. this means that you will need to switch modes depending what features you want to use per game. I can try shooting Valve an email to see if there's a way around this but that the moment rumble, gyro and analog triggers together, the "Pro dream" of GameCube styled controllers isn't quite there yet. Maybe if Nintendo gets off they ass about analog triggers or if Microsoft decideds to join the 2020's with gyro support, this will change. Oh and before I forget, the analog triggers do NOT feature the secondary click expected from older GC controllers. Lastly those programmable buttons on the back can not be seen by Steam. Instead, they are used as shortcuts for your face buttons and the DPad
So, would I do it all again? As you can see from one of my pictures I "own" (technically the other two belong to the Mrs and kid) three NIXY Wizards and the original plan was to slowly add more Warriors to the colection. My answer, "yes" with caveats. It would be nice if NIXY could include some sort of PC software to add gyro as mouse mode and make the back padals editable all while using the controller as X-Input. That would solve the major issue of being able to use all features. For now, Warrior owners will be completely at the mercy of Valve. Hell even a Warrior to Dual Sense mode might work but then you'd have to deal with all the button glyphs reflecting PlayStation and that would be a bit of a mind fuck. A major plus, While the controller will not wake up your PC (as far as I can see), you wont have to worry about Windows forgetting your damn controller and needing to sync every time. My PowerA GC style pad had that issue and I was like"fuck it, I'm going wired!"
The Warrior has been a fun controller to use. It does have all the features advertised. Software wise, it needs just a tad bit to get over the hump. Overall, definitely worth the 70. Now that the Wizard and Warrior are on the market I would LOVE to see NIXY tackle the follwing...
* A less bulky version of the Wizard that's more motion gaming friendly. Something similar to those old GameCube styled joycins from China but not as small and add some NFC support. That would be nice!
* A high end 90-100 dollar upgrade to the Warrior with lovey rubber grips, 4 back padals, a return to the backlit face buttons. controller software for the PC, click buttons within the triggers and NF-freggin C support. NIXY, if you're seeing this, I would seriously toss money at you for this!!!
I should preface this review by stating the follwoing...
* My Warrior is being used purely for PC gaming on my Steam Deck
* The main OS on my Deck is Windows 10
* Im that crazy dude that installs all of my games to separate SD cards
* I do NOT believe that GameCube controllers are solely for Smash
* I DO believe nearly every game works well with a GameCube styled controller
* I own 30 plus GameCube styled controllers of various types
As you can already see, I'm not your standard use case and that should give you some perspective on where my mindset is with this controller.
When this controller was announced I was happy to see a GameCube styled controller with nearly every modern feature
* All expected buttons are here along with clickable sticks
* Analog Triggers
* Gyroscopic motion control
* USB-C cable, 2.4 Ghz Wireless AND Bluetooth support
* Dual rumble motors
At face value I can see why the controller is 70 USD. Personally I still believe it's worth the 70. The unboxing experience is pretty good. The box has a slip cover with cover art and some information on the back. You take the slip off and a blue box with the NIXY logo is waiting for you. The moment you open that box you see the controller wrapped in a thin foam bag and a compartment for all of the accessories. In the box you receive the following
* NIXY Warrior GameCube styled controller
* manual
* paper insert about NIXY customer service
* replacement standard sized right stick (for those of you that hate the C-Stick nub
* a pair of circulat stick gates (the octagonal gates are default on the controller)
* 6.5 foot USB-C to A braided cable
* 5.5 inch USB-C to A cable for use with the GameCube adapter for 2.4 Wireless mode (PC gaming)
* GameCube Controller port adapter
Upon holding the controller you can feel a nice bit of heft. It's a bit heavier than the Switch GameCube styled offerings from PowerA and PDP. Compared to the NIXY Wizard, its a bit smaller but feels perfect. The Wizard has a bit of "chonk" vs the Warrior's more "streamlined" design. Button wise there are some changes. Most GameCube controllers, including the NIXY Wizard, have this for lack of better phrase, "hollow click" to their buttons. I fucking enjoy the sound! I really do feel at "gaming home" while mashing GameCube layout buttons. The NIXY warrior.... well, the buttons click but they feel like you're pressing your mouse buttons with your thumbs. They are a bit more clicky than your standard mouse but that hollow feel you expect from most GameCube styled controllers, simply not here. It will mentally take someone a bit to get used to. Also throwing this out there, the D-Pad is AMAZING! As a fighting game fan I can see myself being awesome at those quarter-circle maneuvers!
As for connecting the Wizard to your PC. I'll just list the options
* Holding the sync button and using Bluetooth results in the controller being seen as a Switch Pro Controller
* Sync + X (Bluetooth) = X Input mode (XBox One to be exact)
* USB cable = X Input mode
* GameCube adapter to USB for radio wireless mode = X Input mode
Unfortunately in Steam if you're in Switch Pro mode Steam will see the gyro support and rumble but not the analog Triggers. In X-Input mode, Steam will see the analog Triggers and rumble but not the gyro. this means that you will need to switch modes depending what features you want to use per game. I can try shooting Valve an email to see if there's a way around this but that the moment rumble, gyro and analog triggers together, the "Pro dream" of GameCube styled controllers isn't quite there yet. Maybe if Nintendo gets off they ass about analog triggers or if Microsoft decideds to join the 2020's with gyro support, this will change. Oh and before I forget, the analog triggers do NOT feature the secondary click expected from older GC controllers. Lastly those programmable buttons on the back can not be seen by Steam. Instead, they are used as shortcuts for your face buttons and the DPad
So, would I do it all again? As you can see from one of my pictures I "own" (technically the other two belong to the Mrs and kid) three NIXY Wizards and the original plan was to slowly add more Warriors to the colection. My answer, "yes" with caveats. It would be nice if NIXY could include some sort of PC software to add gyro as mouse mode and make the back padals editable all while using the controller as X-Input. That would solve the major issue of being able to use all features. For now, Warrior owners will be completely at the mercy of Valve. Hell even a Warrior to Dual Sense mode might work but then you'd have to deal with all the button glyphs reflecting PlayStation and that would be a bit of a mind fuck. A major plus, While the controller will not wake up your PC (as far as I can see), you wont have to worry about Windows forgetting your damn controller and needing to sync every time. My PowerA GC style pad had that issue and I was like"fuck it, I'm going wired!"
The Warrior has been a fun controller to use. It does have all the features advertised. Software wise, it needs just a tad bit to get over the hump. Overall, definitely worth the 70. Now that the Wizard and Warrior are on the market I would LOVE to see NIXY tackle the follwing...
* A less bulky version of the Wizard that's more motion gaming friendly. Something similar to those old GameCube styled joycins from China but not as small and add some NFC support. That would be nice!
* A high end 90-100 dollar upgrade to the Warrior with lovey rubber grips, 4 back padals, a return to the backlit face buttons. controller software for the PC, click buttons within the triggers and NF-freggin C support. NIXY, if you're seeing this, I would seriously toss money at you for this!!!
Last edited by LightyKD,