Brook PS2 Super Converter and Brook Wingman SNES Converter GBAtemp review
Hardware
Product Information:
- Official Store: https://focusattack.com/
I've never been one to turn my nose up at a gaming controller--so long as they're first-party, at least. But lately, the prices of anything to do with retro gaming have skyrocketed over and over, with no end in sight. That, and sometimes it's just plain hard to get a hold of an old controller that is, in my case, nearly a full decade older than I am, especially one that's in decent condition. So, when I found out that I no longer had the NES and oldschool DualShock controllers from my childhood, I thought, maybe there's an alternative out there.
Surely enough, there is. Enter Brook Gaming. They have an almost staggering amount of various accessories for just about any console out there, but the two things that caught my eye were the PS2 Super Converter and the recent Wingman SNES. Both of these devices are used on older consoles, and allow you to connect any modern controller to them through the magic of USB or Bluetooth.
First off, the Super Converter is designed with the original PlayStation 1, PlayStation Classic, and PlayStation 2 in mind. It has the classic PS connector that plugs right into the console and dangles out a slight bit. The adapter is fairly small, and the short cable can be folded back to sit atop the flat surface of a PS2. From there, you can either connect a USB controller such as the Xbox Elite or even a fightstick, while wireless will let you sync just about any gamepad out there, from the DualShock 3, 4, DualSense, or if you're feeling particularly crazy, a Wii U Pro Controller.
The Wingman SNES functions virtually the same. Although it feels a little weird to use an Xbox controller on an NES that has far less buttons, it's really awesome to not have to deal with the annoyingly short cable that NES controllers had. It's also pretty fun and novel to hook up an arcade stick to use with these classic games, which is an extra bonus. As an extra feature, you can turn on turbo mode or remap buttons, both of which are really useful. I did notice that sometimes when using an Xbox One controller on my PS2, Triangle was X and Square was Y--backwards and confusing automatic mapping. Luckily it's easy to just change the button mapping and fix any issues you might run into, or customize your layout for specific games.
Unlike a traditional cordless controller from back in the early days of wireless, this won't chew through a Costco-sized barrel of AA batteries in a week, and it's far more reliable in terms of input lag. In fact, I used the Super Converter to play rhythm games on expert difficulty, and I never noticed a single issue. If there was any severe lag, that's where it would have been most noticeable.
If you have a particular dislike of a specific controller, both the Super Converter and Wingman SNES are great methods of playing old games a lot more comfortably. The only major downside is that you can only connect one controller to one adapter at a time. Perhaps that's a limitation of the consoles rather than the adapter, but it's still disappointing all the same. Otherwise, this is a near flawless adapter.
Store Links
US: Super Converter / Wingman SNES
UK: Super Converter / Wingman SNES
Verdict
- Support for a variety of different controllers, fightsticks, and wheels
- Remapping
- Vibration support
- It'd be better if you could sync more than one gamepad at a time
