Topic: Mayflash to make Wii U Pro controller to USB adapter.

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I spotted a brand new black Wii U Pro controller in its box at Goodwill for $29, about $20 lower than retail (official stuff, not a bootleg clone). I have to say that I'm just not sure if I like it all that much... I mean the buttons all feel pretty mushy, except for the Dpad, which is pretty backwards from the usual for me when it comes to Wii controllers (the old Pro for the old Wii had a loose, shaky Dpad and the sticks were equally loose and shakey). While it's a good Dpad, it doesn't feel anything near the quality of the Dpad on the Wii U Gamepad (tablet).

The analogs on this thing haven't got a 3rd of the resistance as what my old flatties have. There's no "spring back." When I go to move the sticks on the old flat CCs, I feel it push back against my thumb, and when I let go, they snap back into position with an audible "sproing" (think Scrooge in NES Ducktales when he tries to swing at a wall). Very few controller's sticks have that kind of resistance, Xbox and PS3 included, imo....

I like that they replaced the Start and Select with rubber contact buttons and ditched the 'mouse clickers,' too bad they didn't do that for the old flat style and use the same rubber internals for the zL and zR buttons, would've made the old flatties perfect. The L and R shoulder buttons feel limp, like I'm not even pressing a button, whereas the shoulders on the non "U" Pro controller felt pretty awesome. Like there was a good, solid rubber button in there.

The zL and zR buttons have those angled nubs jutting out, giving the illusion that they're analog, but they're digital... which begs the question, why didn't they just keep them flat like the old Pro or the old PS2 controllers did? It feels like you never hit the button the same twice, like the rubber depressor gets jostled around so you're rarely hitting its "sweet spot."

The YXBA face buttons are even smaller than they were on the old Pro (you can tell that between the old flatties and the old Pro controller, the face buttons are smaller, the stick tops have been made wider). These don't feel like sturdy buttons for a controller, they feel like squishy little bumps like on a 3DS.

The stick placement isn't too terrible of a thing, but the way the Dpad and face buttons are down where the sticks oughta be, you feel like you kinda have to position your hand slightly more down on the controller to get a good angle. If you're playing Super Mario World and attempting the tried and true method of holding Y with your thumb tip and jutting the butt of your thumb out to hit B to jump, you're going to notice the placement change.

Same goes for if you're playing any Mega Man X type games where you're trying to do a Dash Jump by hitting R and then B. Your thumb and index finger wind up in a kind of crampy position. Not so bad if you're using X and A instead of Y and B (thank goodness for remapping, eh?).

I feel kind of let down by this controller. I was hoping for what I had felt on the Wii U Gamepad, that thing actually feels like they put all their chips into it... so to speak, and they kinda did, just like the Wiimote, they're billing that as the main peripheral, so this "Pro" controller feels more like an afterthought.

I'm still going to try the controller out with Mayflash's adapter when I get it... but I'm probably going to complain the whole way, lol.

I saw that Pelican (now calling themselves PDP) is coming out with a third party Wii U Pro controller that'll still be Bluetooth, here's to hoping that will still sync up with the Mayflash adapter. Back when I still used a PS2 controller to USB adapter, I had one of their Afterglow controllers, the L2 and R were placed under and closer to the center of the controller, which was pretty nice.

The official Wii U Pro controller feels bad enough that if I was seriously considering the "true wireless" route, I'd get that 4 player PS3 controller adapter and get PS3 controllers instead, but like I said before... $50 is crazy for a controller, at least in my book. It's not like I really -mind- having to have my old flatties connected to the old wireless "block" adapter, nor the months between having to replace its 3 AAA batteries. Plus I have like, 7 flatties (5 of which are still in their boxes sitting in my closet), and I can take those apart and tweak them up nice and good fairly easily.

(Tri-wing screwdriver, double sided tape, colored "price" sticker dots, hole punch for making holes in paper for binders- take apart the controller, use the holepunch to cut out circles from doubled up pieces of the two sided tape, place under the dpad directions in the indent holes where the rubber bits touch, do the same for YXBA. Stack 4 "price sticker" dots on top of each other, use the hole punch to cut two of these out and place over the rubber bit for L and R using tweezers, put controller back together and screw the proprietary screws in gently, so as not to strip the threading).