Hands on with Nintendo’s newest innovation.
When I first laid eyes on the new Wii U controller at the Nintendo press conference, I wasn’t sure what to think. At first it seemed as if it would be bulky, cumbersome, and heavy. Even with the promotional video showing off a few ideas, I was still trying to imagine how many would work. Once I got my hands on it however, I didn’t have much else to ask except when and how much.
Picking up the Wii U controller is surprising at first. I thought instantly the device would weigh enough to make it a nuisance. Once my hands wrapped around it, I found it to be a decent weight. It’s not by any means featherlight, but it’s also got a mass to it that doesn’t make it feel cheap. Once in my grasp I noticed it fit nicely in my small hands. It’s thin, but not too thin where your hand might start to fatigue from gripping.
The buttons and D-pad under my fingers felt nicely spaced and smooth. For larger hands, the size of these may present an issue. Pressing down the buttons isn’t clicky, and doesn’t feel forced. While using the D-pad, it reminded me of a Wii Remote. It remains to be seen whether or not this will have decent diagonal direction.
The circle pads on either side had a smooth motion to them when rotated, though I’m not sure if they have the range of circular motion the Classic Controller has considering they’re different. I however didn’t care for the way they felt on my thumbs due to a small lip of material that encircles the top of the stick. It wasn’t quite sharp, but I could see my thumbs becoming irritated after long usage. They, just with the buttons also felt somewhat on the small side for larger hands. Underneath you have a few buttons, L/R and ZL/ZR. When resting your fingers on these, they don’t press down easily. When you do exert force on them, they make a satisfying clicking noise once fully depressed.
As for the screen, it’s 6.2″ and quite vibrant. It doesn’t appear to be in HD, but a 16:9 ratio and it isn’t a 3D display, instead it’s a touch screen with no multi-touch. The lack of multi-touch may be worrisome to a few people, but after playing a few demonstration games on it, I can see why Nintendo went this route. There is simply many more options for input on the controller besides the screen. The stylus for the screen comes from the top backside, similar to the Nintendo 3DS position for a stylus. If you’ve ever used a DSi stylus, this is pretty similar, if not slightly longer. When using the stylus, it flowed nicely across the screen, just as it has with other touch screen products Nintendo put out.
For the minor points of the controller, Nintendo has done rather nicely. The volume slider while small, is still quite accessible on the top right and slides with ease. As for the sound, the speakers are a step up from Wii Remotes, though with how noisy it was on the show floor, it was impossible to get a good idea with how much more improved they are. Nintendo has stated they are stereo speakers however. There’s a headphone jack and charging port on the top of the unit, though no details about what would be powering it were released.
One feature that surprisingly didn’t seem to be utilized in the demonstration games I played was the camera. The Wii U controller features an inward facing camera, but since no software was present, it is impossible to make note of the quality. Strange, considering this is the debut for the new system and controller.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the whole package Nintendo put together. I went in thinking about all the negatives the controller may have and came out with mostly positive comments. There would be a few areas I would tweak, namely the physical inputs, but I suspect this isn’t the final build of the controller anyway.
