I like the Wii U Gamepad

[Herschie]

I wish that Sony would adopt this feature for the Playstation 4. Many people don't have a dedicated video game room, and spouses, roommates, or other family members don't necessarily like to watch someone playing a video game. I love how I can sit next to my wife when she watches some dumb show of hers and play Mario Maker. This way I get to play in the comfortable furniture, and we get to spend time together when I would otherwise be holed up in the other room.

Of course, for those of you who have read a few of my posts, you'd know that the game I'd prefer to be playing is MLB: the Show. Yes I know that I can use the Vita for this purpose, but the trigger buttons are awkward with the rear touchpad, and the timing is off. Very bad considering that hitting a baseball is all about timing, both in the game and in real life. And the Vita version of The Show doesn't really cut it either.

I wasn't a fan of the Wii Mote, but I really do like the Wii U's Gamepad.

[VideoGameCritic]

I agree that being able to play a Wii U game on the pad alone is an underrated feature. Why Nintendo never used it as a major selling point I'll never know. Well, I do know - their PR sucks.

But the control pad is also a liability. Why? Well in multiplayer games only one person can have this big, comfortable control pad, and everybody else is stuck with a Wiimote. I would have thought the system would support multiple control pads by now, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

[Herschie]

Yep. And with Mariokart, it's still splitscreen instead of one person playing on the TV, while the other plays on the gamepad. Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing as able to successfully do this. And it is a liability, especially if it breaks. It's 140 smackers to replace.

[VicViper]

I agree that being able to play a Wii U game on the pad alone is an underrated feature. Why Nintendo never used it as a major selling point I'll never know. Well, I do know - their PR sucks.

But the control pad is also a liability. Why? Well in multiplayer games only one person can have this big, comfortable control pad, and everybody else is stuck with a Wiimote. I would have thought the system would support multiple control pads by now, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

But there's still the Wii U Pro Controller, right ?



Plus, knowing how the Wii U Gamepad puts a strain on the performance of several games (depending of whether it streams something different or not compared to what you have on the TV), having four of them activated in, say, Nintendo Land, would blow up the console. Not to mention the fact that the Wii U Gamepad's vanilla battery is poor, that would make four batteries to recharge on the side.

Also, a replacement for a Wii U Gamepad costs 150 bucks. For three other Wii U Gamepads, you can purchase like eleven or twelve Wii U Pro Controller at FULL PRICE.

[VicViper]

Daaah, scratch that last one : nine to ten Pro Controllers at full price.

I just failed at basic arithmetics.

Just so that this message isn't simply to show how terrible I am at third grade maths, here's something else.

The Gamepad is a bit fragile, I mean not REALLY fragile, but since I'm a student, I go back and forth from my apartment to my parents'/former home with the Wii U, and the Gamepad's touch screen unfortunately can easily get some scratches. Not terrible ones mind you, but there's like a small cavity on it, and using the stylus around that one cavity either doesn't register anything, or very jittery movements.

I wish it was sold with something compact to protect the screen easily, I didn't have bubble wrap at that moment.

[VideoGameCritic]

Forgot about the Wii U Pro controller. My friend Brent tells me they are quite good!

[ptdebate]

Forgot about the Wii U Pro controller. My friend Brent tells me they are quite good!

They're great. And I heard there's a company making an adapter specifically for this controller so you can play PC games with it. I find that the buttons are ideal for fighting games because of how easy they are to press and how good the response is.

[Rev]

The Wii U Pro Controller is excellent. I have it (and pretty much all the other ones) and it is very comfortable and works well with most of the games. I pretty much stick to that controller for all the Wii U games I play.

[MoarRipter]

The Wii U Pro controller is great but I don't like how small the face buttons are, and they are bunched too closely together. I prefer the spacing of the Classic Controller Pro that more matches the classic SNES controller. It also could use a microphone port. Just minor quibbles, the Pro controller is otherwise great. Its best feature is the 80+ hour battery life, haven't seen a controller with battery life that great since the Wavebird. That's pretty much why I use it instead of the Gamepad in games that don't rely on the Gamepad.