Hardware Advice for getting a controller (or adapter) that can play most games on the Wii U virtual console?

[robco7]

I've heard about the classic or pro controllers, or whatever, and about using an adapter to play with a Gamecube controller (though apparently the official one is only for a single game, what the hell?), and I even bought some random third party controller, one by Nexilux (I admit I was partially motivated by the fact that it looks like a Super NES controller). I found it wouldn't turn on when playing games with emulators for Gamecube, Wii, and DS, not to mention anything with Wii64 or Wiisx. Plus I found it even worse for playing fighting games than the Wii U gamepad. I also bought the Wii controller by Prodico (though for Wii game specifically; I don't remember how much the official controllers go for, but considering the knockoff cost me over $20, it probably was pretty expensive by that point), but it's not a good example of what the Wii controllers can do, since it won't even turn on with some Wii isos.

I'm looking for something wired specifically, since the idea of hooking up a controller to a Wiimote in order to use it with the Wii U sounds unwieldy. That's one good thing about my Nexilux controller, it can be hooked up with a cord to the front of the Wii U (though the cord is only like 2 or 3 feet long and the charge time is awful). I've also been looking at some adapters, preferably for the Gamecube or PS3/4/etc. controllers, or any generic PC gaming controllers if there are some decent ones. I've no idea how many types of games they work with though. I appreciate any help that can be offered.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

HID to VPAD is an awesome solution, and it's even fairly simple to add support for gamepads that aren't supported by the program already. It doesn't take long to run the program though I can understand that it'd be annoying for you to do it on every boot. I'm not sure of anything third party that's any good specifically for the Wii U, but HID to VPAD has always been something that just worked for me, personally. Being able to use the GameCube controller (using a MayFlash adapter) in games like Pokkén is great.

 

[robco7]

So you do have to run it every time you want to use the other controller? Yeah, that sounds like it'd be a real hassle to run both Mocha and that before playing something. I hope most 3rd party adapters wouldn't require that to run.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

So you do have to run it every time you want to use the other controller? Yeah, that sounds like it'd be a real hassle to run both Mocha and that before playing something. I hope most 3rd party adapters wouldn't require that to run.

If those adapters are made specifically for the Wii U, odds are they wouldn't. But most of those tend to be the odd ones that plug into Wii Remotes. I have no experience with those.
I also didn't take into consideration that you might not be using CBHC to have homebrew access from boot. That would definitely be a pain, yeah. You would have to run it after boot and then it persists until you power the console down, I believe.

 

[robco7]

That doesn't even sound worth the trouble to me, having to open Mocha and then go back to open HID to VPAD every time to use another controller, I'd probably just find myself using the Gamepad. I don't get why most controllers don't give the option to connect to the system anyway, it's got 2 USB ports right there at the front. Why did no one stop to think "hey, the idea of having to use 2 controllers running seems pretty dumb, and it defeats the purpose of having a wireless controller when it's wired to something else"?

 

[AkikoKumagara]

That doesn't even sound worth the trouble to me, having to open Mocha and then go back to open HID to VPAD every time to use another controller, I'd probably just find myself using the Gamepad. I don't get why most controllers don't give the option to connect to the system anyway, it's got 2 USB ports right there at the front. Why did no one stop to think "hey, the idea of having to use 2 controllers running seems pretty dumb, and it defeats the purpose of having a wireless controller when it's wired to something else"?

You can set up more than one controller at a time via HID to VPAD. I don't quite remember what amount, but you can definitely set at least 4 at once.

 

[Kevin Beam]

I've been looking at other options as well. What choices are there besides the gamepad??