3 Reviews

• 3

  Almost Great

  Posted by Eric Edmonds on Sep 9th 2025

  The controller is mostly good, hall effect joysticks, tactile dpad, retaining all the gamecube controls you would need while adding more compatibility with modern devices. But the flaws are too distracting to me.
  
  The most noticeable is the delayed rumble, or even lack of rumble in some situations. In something even as basic as Animal Crossing, the delay in the rumble relative to in-game actions is distracting, as well as the length of the rumble being longer than the game calls for. On any other controller, plucking out a weed in Animal Crossing give you a little, quick vibration. On the BattlerGC Pro, it takes half a second to start the rumble, and half a second to end it fully. A small bandaid to this is the ability to disable rumble via controller combos (hold Start/+, left analog up/down), but this setting isn`t saved between uses, so once the controller is turned off, you have to set it again.
  
  I`ve contacted Retro Fighters over email for information and troubleshooting in March and was told they are ``working on it``, with no follow-up. The newest firmware update they`ve posted addresses Switch 2 compatibility only.
  
  Another distracting feature is the reset button on the back of the controller. It`s *very* easy to press on accident and powers off the controller while I`m using it. Along with the rumble issue and the way it`s reset when powered off, these two make the controller pretty annoying to use.
  
  Lastly, while X-input compatibility is a great feature to have, the buttons are still mapped 1:1 to the gamecube layout. Meaning the gamecube B, found on the left side, is mapped to the X-input B, the right action button, and same for X. This isnt a problem for the A or Y buttons, but having the side buttons flipped is extremely disorienting, with the only solution to rely on a program to remap them, like Steam or purchasing reWASD. This requires all of your games to be running through Steam, and at the time I initially received this controller, it would break reWASD, requiring me to uninstall it completely.
  
  Initially I had hope that at least the rumble problem would be addressed and this could stay my primary controller to use for gamecube, but its been too much of a hassle. Getting a general adapter to use modern controllers, like 8bitdo sells, works just fine for the majority of gamecube games. And if the proprietary GC controller functions are a priority, getting upgrades for an OEM controller, which 8bitdo also sells, could be more worthwhile.

• 5

  Top Tier Controller

  Posted by Jonathan Sypolt on Dec 27th 2024

  I'd like to start off by letting everyone know the included USB Dongle is for 2.4ghz not Bluetooth. I didn't see that distinction mentioned on the official website listing and it's wonderful.
  
  Currently using this controller on my Nintendo Wii for Gamecube games (using the Gamecube Dongle) and using the 2.4ghz USB Dongle on my Nintendo Switch dock.
  
  It feels great in the hands. The latency is low in 2.4ghz mode on both consoles. The buttons feel good and I absolutely love the tactile sounds coming from the D-Pad and triggers.
  
  The 10 hour battery worried me but the controller does power down pretty quickly to conserve power when not in use. If you have to pause games quite often you'll understand how much frustration this can save on waiting for charging.
  
  Pressing the Home button in the middle powers the controller and it connects / reconnects in about 1 second.
  
  I have been daily driving the 8Bitdo Ultimate Controller via the 2.4ghz USB Dongle / charging base for several months. The 2.4ghz dongle that comes with the BattlerGC Pro has better range and zero dropouts compared to the 8Bitdo in the exact same usb port, exact same spot, exact same environment. (I don't have both connected at the same time to ensure no interference.) Could still be an environmental issue on my part so your results may vary.
  
  The clear controller (color) combined with the ergonomics, connection speed, connection options and button / stick feel is a 10/10 for me.

• 4

  Almost Perfect

  Posted by Mark Petocz on Dec 13th 2024

  This is a solid wireless Gamecube controller with only 1 flaw. The rumble effect is significantly delayed when compared to a oem wired controller. Hopefully this can be fixed with a firmware update.
  
  I am a casual user when it comes to gamecube so I cant say how great this would be for smash bros.
  What I do know is it has been difficult finding a wireless GC controller with the original button & stick layout that has STRONG rumble like an oem controller.
  
  Retro Fighters previous Battler & Blade GC offerings were a disappointment to me because of weak rumble.
  I cant remember if those had a delay as well since I sold them soon after I got them.
  
  The NYXI warrior would have been great but it suffers from weak rumble also.
  Maybe it is to be compatible with the switch`s ``HD rumble``?
  At least the Warrior had no delay with its rumble feature but it felt weak like switch joycons.
  
  At this time I feel the BattlerGC Pro is the best modern wireless gamecube controller with good rumble but I really hope it gets an update to fix the latency issue.