Topic: Retrospective opinions on GamePad

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Not me. I sleep with mine.

Star Fox's problem is with the gameplay not the gamepad. If I had my way, there would be a touch screen standard on all controllers! It's as useful as an analogue stick

As a piece of technology I never did and still don't have any issues with the Wii U GamePad. Sure the resolution, library and horsepower of the base system looks pretty average now the Switch is out and does it all better. And yes you can say what you want about specific implementations of software all day if you want. Easy pickings with hindsight having a go at anything on the Wii U.

But as an idea? As a concept? I don't see what the Wii U GamePad did as a bad idea. At its core the Wii U was about bringing home console quality gaming onto a tablet screen. The Switch is pretty much that same concept just refined and done better. Valve is doing the same thing now with the Steam link and now the beta version of their app. I think the GamePad was the one thing they got right with the Wii U.

The WiiU gamepad is without a doubt the worst "standard" controller Nintendo has ever made.
HOWEVER, I'd argue that without the gamepad, there probably wouldn't be a Switch.
But yeah, that's the only positive thing I can say about it.

An excellent, if underutilised, controller. Good stick placement, decent weight, nice screen. My one gripe is the battery life, the gamepad should have shipped with the extended battery.

I love mine and hug it everyday
I’d even say it’s more comfortable to hold then the switch when portable don’t hate me

I really like it! I find it very comfortable in my hands, much more comfortable than Switch in handheld mode. The biggest drawback is that you have to be so close to the console when playing.

I honestly don't understand the sentiment. Surely there have been worse controllers from Nintendo. I'd argue the original NES controller is far less ergonomic even if it was ahead of its time. The N64 controller doesn't really know what it's trying to do as Nintendo themselves wasn't really sure what games would be on the N64. The Virtual Boy Controller is even worse with a second D-Pad for who knows what reason that does nothing but put B/A further out of reach.

Is it bulky? Sure. But as a controller that can never leave the side of your Wii U that's hardly an issue. If anything that extra bulk makes it more comfortable to hold than the Switch and 3DS. The analogue stick placement is another thing people pick on but again, why? So the left analogue stick can be high or low but the right always has to be in the bottom position? Is the issue that the left side of the controller can't be messed with? If do people always rate the Gamecube Controller so highly? Are we forgetting the Wii that threw the rulebook for the right hand out entirely?

I get that it's easy to bash the already dead horse that is the Wii U. I just never understood why people hated the GamePad as much as they do. For me aside from the obnoxiously glossy plastic (also an issue on Wii, 3DS, DS) I thought it did what it was designed to do just fine.

I can confirm that any issues with Star Fox Zero should be contributed to the game itself, and not the controller. It works fine in every other game.

@skywake
For me, the WiiU gamepad is the worst because the second screen doesn't add anything important to video games, the right joystick should be bellow the face buttons, the battery life is atrocious and most importantly: it's too heavy for prolonged game sessions.

@Banjos_Backpack that’s cool. For me personally the weight and added bulk made it more comfortable to play with longer. I can’t do that with the switch when playing handheld only.

Different socks for different folks

@Banjos_Backpack Ye, the battery life was a joke.

@Banjos_Backpack You can edit posts if you want to add more, please try to avoid multiposting.

Ironically, Pikmin 3 is one of the few WiiU games that you can play with a variety of controllers: GamePad, WiiU Pro Controller, WiiMote + Nunchuck, Wii Classic Controller, GameCube Controller. So using that as proof that the GamePad sucks doesn't really works. Using Star Fox Zero works even less because, as Octane pointed out, the faults of the game are within the game itself. Controls-wise the WiiU was probably the most versatile console Nintendo has ever made.

Personally, when the Switch came out and people went bananas because "You can play in tabletop mode!!!" or "You can play on your couch while your family watches the TV!!!" I wondered what the fuss was all about - the WiiU could already do that, although on the smaller scale that technology allowed back then.

To me the Switch is nothing more than a WiiU GamePad with the added bonus of five years of technological advancement - nothing more, nothing less. It is that natural improvement that should always come with the following generation of devices. But to me it didn't feel like we went from horses to sports cars overnight, like some people like to think.

I don't mind it so much, but the biggest problem was Nintendo shoehorning it into everything

@Banjos_Backpack Funny I have the kinda opposite opinion to you. I love the Wii U gamepad. It’s super comfortable and large and feels like an actual controller, unlike the Wiimote and nunchuck. Speaking of Wiimote plus nunchuck , to me that is by and far the worst control setup Nintendo has made. The only control setup that REGRESSED from its predecessor in terms of available control inputs including losing a second analog stick, awkward aiming with the sensor bar that fails to work for me a lot (I have to consciously place myself so that I am in view of the bar), disembodied feeling of holding two controllers separately, etc.

However, once I played BotW I realized that despite how much I like the GamePad, the second screen experience is annoying — it felt great to just look at one screen while playing.

I'd have to agree with this more generally outside of BOTW. Unlike the (3)DS's 2nd screen, switching between a TV and the gamepad never felt necessary or comfortable. Nintendo never really did convince us that a second screen was beneficial for a home console.

Despite this I loved the gamepad during the Wii U's life. It's surprisingly comfortable despite its bulk, the buttons are well laid out, and IMO it's the best way to play games on the Wii U (I'm not a fan of the Wii U Pro controller for some reason). But the best feature of all was off-TV play.

Unfortunately now I'd say the Switch has the gamepad beat in all of this. In addition to the portable functionality, it's slimmer, nicer looking, generally higher quality, and even more comfortable (certainly the most comfortable handheld I've played).

Overall I have very mixed feelings about the gamepad. It did lead the way for the Switch but I don't think it was necessary for that - after all, it probably did more harm to Nintendo's image than good. The console could have done without it, but I was happy to have it as part of the experience. All else the same, the Wii U would have been an extremely forgettable console if not for the gamepad.

I liked the game pad for what it was, it just seemed like Nintendo had no idea what to do with it. I still think a Wii U with dual game pad support would be the perfect madden console.

Also something I think the Wii U did better than the switch was the placement of its sticks. It is so much more comfortable to play games where the sticks are in line with one another if it’s a shooter or when the d-pad and the buttons are in line if it’s a platformer or 2d type game.

The way the switches sides are don’t make it fit as comfortable in my hands as an Xbox controller so the placement of the sticks is even more pronounced when playing a shooter in handheld mode. That is the only reason the Xbox controller gets away with it, because they get the ergonomics of the controller right. And trying to play a shooter on ps4 is even worse in my opinion. The two sticks being at the bottom make it too close together and it feels cramped.