[Review] Nintendo Wii U Pro Controller with RetroPie

Since I have been dabbling in the whole RaspberryPi / RetroPie / EmulationStation world, I wanted to have the best wireless controller.  Why?  because it’s not the 90’s any more and people aren’t sitting on the floor in front of their televisions.  My TV is mounted above the fire place on the wall so to have a silly USB cable coming down while my two kids are running around isn’t practical.

I also wanted a bluetooth wireless controller that was just going to work and always work even if I had to spend $30-40 bucks.  I’ve tried over 10 different controllers from 8bitdo, to Dualshock PS3, and the OEM Xbox 360 controller.  Out of every single controller I tried I always went back to the Nintendo Wii U PRO.  It just felt right in my hands, the controls and buttons are perfect there is no delay.  I even left the system running for 8 hours I came back and the controller was still powered on and responsive.

I’m a huge fan of Nintendo 64 emulation so I’ve been looking for a system that could handle the ROMs and emulators on the big screen.  I’ve tried the Raspberry Pi2 which was still laggy but after testing the RaspberryPi3 it seems the lag has gone down tremendously.  One of my favorite games is Mario Kart 64 and the controller feels perfect.  It’s not the same as an official 64 controller with the Z trigger on the bottom or shape.  Instead the controls are your RB/LB buttons and gas utilizes the B button.

So out of all the controllers I demoed I will have to this is by far the best for use with the RetroPie/EmulationStation.  Be sure to make sure you by the official OEM version as there are several knock-offs.

You can purchase here: Nintendo Wii U PRO

If you know of something that works better that you can recommend please leave a comment below.