Returning to the Wii many years after the console was discontinued, I find that I still enjoy many of the games, but the original controller leaves a lot to be desired for games that require it to be held sideways. The location of the A & B buttons is awkward and the d-pad is uncomfortable for long sessions. Thankfully the majority of games that need a traditional controller support the Classic Controller peripherals, but not all do, so I've been on the hunt for a replacement for the Wii remote for such games. While there are many 3rd party Wii controllers, InterWorks' Pro Controller U is the only traditional style controller I've found thus far that advertises working as a classic controller, so despite a poor reputation I thought I would give it a shot.
Right away I had issues getting the Pro Controller U to sync up with my Wii. I had the impression that the battery was dead, but several hours later, I still couldn't get it to connect. After researching online, I read that you may need to press the reset button to get the controller to connect, and that did resolve that issue. Unfortunately, I find that every time I switch between the Wii and Wii U modes on my Wii U, I have to reset the controller, and while it isn't hard to work around, none of my other Wii or Wii U controllers have that problem, and it seems to have led many people to think that their controller simply didn't work.
Once I did get the Pro Controller U working, I appreciated that it indeed works as a Wii remote with the form factor of a traditional controller. While set to Wii remote mode, Y and X function as 1 and 2, while A and B behave normally, and this mapping worked fine for the game I primarily intended to use the controller (Blaster Master Overdrive) and was definitely an improvement over the stock controller. Unfortunately, the d-pad quickly proved to be unusable in this game, as it struggled to differentiate between the basic directions and diagonals. For games that require movement in all directions, that is game breaking, and it was a nuisance in side-scrolling games, as well. Sure, enough, when I replaced the d-pad with the d-pad from a spare NES controller, it correctly detected the directions, albeit that it wasn't a perfect fit, lying a bit too low for comfortable use. The stock d-pad on this controller had no pivot point, and clearly was flawed in its design. I suspect that replacing it with the official classic controller's d-pad would resolve that completely, but you shouldn't have to cannibalize a controller to get this one working correctly. Furthermore, I wasn't able to get the controller working as a classic controller at all. No matter which setting I used, it would only work as a Wii Remote. I was mostly interested in using it instead of the Wii remote, so that's not a deal breaker for me, but it's not as advertised, of course.
Overall, despite being one of the only Wii remote replacements on the market, I really can't recommend the Pro Controller U, because it simply doesn't work as advertised and what features that do work are hampered by using shoddy parts. The pointer features seem to work perfectly, and with a bit of modification it may serve some other purposes, but despite being more or less unique, I can't recommend it, since it's not a good controller out of the box.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2020
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Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014
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Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2014
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Useful as a nightlight but not much else.
By Loren J. Erickson on December 27, 2014
Should have waited for someone to else to experience the bleeding edge with this controller. But maybe you'll be warned off by my sad story. I bought three of these as a less expensive alternative controller for a Wii U. None of them work. Either they won't charge or won't connect. I've plugged them into the USB ports on the Wii U, plugged them into a USB AC adapter, plugged them into an always on USB port on a computer. Nothing will get two of my three controllers to take a charge. The third will charge to the point that it gets a green light, but will not connect to the Wii U. My kids had to resort to playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the Wii U with the legacy Wiimotes, which is not a fun experience. Consider yourself warned. DO NOT BUY! Spend a little more and get an OEM controller that will at least work.
By Loren J. Erickson on December 27, 2014
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Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2017
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Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2019
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Top reviews from other countries
huzaifa
good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2019Verified Purchase
SaL
Not a Wii U Pro controller
Reviewed in Canada on July 31, 2013Verified Purchase
Corey Van Eunen
Perfect for cross-platform use. WiiU to Wii virtcon games.
Reviewed in Canada on September 8, 2013Verified Purchase
Cliente de Amazon
Pésima calidad nunca se cargo y mucho menos funcionó
Reviewed in Mexico on September 3, 2018Verified Purchase
Jose Pablo
Buen control para Wii U
Reviewed in Mexico on August 3, 2015Verified Purchase
