Hardware Wii U - Advice on what controllers to purchase

[InsaneNutter]

I have been thinking about getting a Wii U for quite a while now, however its always been the cost of all the different controllers which has put me off. Anyway after eyeing up Mario Kart 8 for a long time i've ordered a Wii U and Mario Kart 8 for £160 which I didn't think was a bad deal.

Controller wise I have:

1x Wii U tablet gamepad
4x GameCube controllers

Now given the Wii U is pretty much backwards compatible with every Nintendo console released to date i'd like to take advantage of this for some classic local 4 player gaming, however from what i gather it depends on the game what controllers I can use with it?

Wii U Pro Controller - Wii U games only
GameCube Controller - Super Smash Bros and GameCube games via Nintendont with the USB adaptor

So for Wii games such as Mario Kart Wii do i need yet another controller such a Wii Classic Controller Pro? or do some hacks exist for the vWii that would allow me to use the Smashbros USB adaptor for GameCube Controllers with Wii games such as Mario Kart Wii?

 

[Bladexdsl]

Wii U Pro Controller works best with mario kart and can also be used on smash bros. it also works on emulators in vwii. it's a deff must have.

 

[oji]

It's depends on what type of games you want to play. As you already wrote, there are a wide controllers choices for Nintendo consoles. If you stuck with a Wii U titles only, it's better to invest into the Wii U Pro Controllers. But if you want to try the Wii gaming, you have to buy Wii Remotes (Plus) for most multiplayer games. As for gamepad, Wii retail titles running on the Wii U can't use a Wii U Pro Controller or a GC gamepads through the Nintendo GC Adapter. You have to buy Wii Classic Controllers Pro (or PDP & Hori Fightpads which are a GC-styled CCPs) or GC to WiiRemote Adapters (and for each one you have to use a WiiMote as connection base) to use with your already bought GC Pads.

 

[InsaneNutter]

Wii U Pro Controller works best with mario kart and can also be used on smash bros. it also works on emulators in vwii. it's a deff must have.

So it will work fine with emulators and actual GameCube games, just not actual Wii games that support a gamepad, such Mario Kart Wii? even if for example I rip the game and use a USB loader? (Guessing its the loader that enables it for GC games in vWii mode?).

It's depends on what type of games you want to play. As you already wrote, there are a wide controllers choices for Nintendo consoles. If you stuck with a Wii U titles only, it's better to invest into the Wii U Pro Controllers. But if you want to try the Wii gaming, you have to buy Wii Remotes (Plus) for most multiplayer games. As for gamepad, Wii retail titles running on the Wii U can't use a Wii U Pro Controller or a GC gamepads through the Nintendo GC Adapter. You have to buy Wii Classic Controllers Pro (or PDP & Hori Fightpads which are a GC-styled CCPs) or GC to WiiRemote Adapters (and for each one you have to use a WiiMote as connection base) to use with your already bought GC Pads.

Very true, I was mainly thinking of playing Wii games that worked with a controller, such as Mario Kart and Smash Brothers, so had ruled out buying any Wii motes for now and was trying to buy one controller that would work with GameCube, Wii and Wii U games. However it seems that's not going to happen sadly!

I think I might just be better off getting a couple of Wii U Pro controllers for now, its the Wii U exclusive games i'm interested in more than anything, been able to play all my old GameCube games and get a couple of Wii games running on the same console would have just been a nice bonus.

 

[Bladexdsl]

So it will work fine with emulators and actual GameCube games, just not actual Wii games that support a gamepad, such Mario Kart Wii? even if for example I rip the game and use a USB loader? (Guessing its the loader that enables it for GC games in vWii mode?).

yes it works in snes, nes, genesis (need the special versions their in the wiiu homebrew section) and nintendont. i don't know if it works on mario kart wii i havn't played that in years but unless there is a special hacked version of it i'd say the wupc would not work on it.

 

[InsaneNutter]

yes it works in snes, nes, genesis (need the special versions their in the wiiu homebrew section) and nintendont. i don't know if it works on mario kart wii i havn't played that in years but unless there is a special hacked version of it i'd say the wupc would not work on it.

It seems it might be possible with a USB loader, the change log mentions:

* Added WiiU pro controller support.
Some menus or buttons might not work. (Thanks Airline38)
L3+R3 to shutdown the pad.
* Added PS3 controller support over USB, requires loader's
IOS set to IOS58. Button mapped as Classic Controller.
* Added a WiiU Auto aspect fixer based on current WiiU setting.
* Added a WiiU Widescreen switcher in Features menu.

https://code.google.com/p/usbloader-gui/source/detail?r=1235

Maybe thats just for the GUI to load a game however, Ill have to give it a try and see once my Wii U is delivered.

 

[oji]

It's just for the GUI, to make it easy for the Nintendont usage. You can't use Wii U Pro controller in a Wii games.

 

[InsaneNutter]

Ah i figured as much, thanks for the confirmation.