Nerd Mentality

REVIEW: Wing and Kama Wireless Controllers for Wii

Posted May 4th 2009 by Derrick Lutz.

If you're a third-party accessory manufacturer, there are about three types of products you can make for the Wii: battery charging stations, big dumb pieces of white plastic shaped like swords and steering wheels, or wireless secondary controllers. None of these seem all that necessary or useful to me, but cutting down on the number of wires getting in the way is probably the most respectable idea in the bunch. I've recently tried out two such products from Nyko: the Wing and Kama, which replace the Classic Controller and Nunchuk respectively.

The wireless aspect is the main feature of these two products, which is a problem for me because the wires never really bothered me much with the Wii controllers. Okay, I admit, it's slightly more convenient to not have to sit the Wii Remote in my lap while using the Classic Controller. But that slight convenience is offset by the slight inconvenience of the additional batteries required and dealing with the receiver dongles that plug into the end of the Wii remote. Having no wire to tether the devices together makes an issue out of keeping track of the receiver dongles and remembering to check that you've got the right dongle attached for the right controller. It's a battle of minor quibbles.

Fortunately, the Wing has one significant advantage: the shape. The original Nintendo Classic Controller is such a poorly designed product, it's not hard to come up with something better. Nyko has achieved as much simply by making the controller fit comfortably in adult hands. If nothing else, that alone makes it worth buying over the Classic Controller. This is good news for Nyko because otherwise the Wing is equal at best and in some aspects worse than the Classic Controller. The R and L buttons still have that useless bit of push to them before you're actually pressing a button, the D-Pad feels squishy and imprecise, and the analog sticks have a smooth round wall instead of the guiding octagonal wall found on Nintendo's sticks. The face buttons have a standard cross-shaped layout and a decent feel to them; they're defintely softer than Nintendo's but I prefer that softness most of the time.

With the Kama, the negatives outweigh the positives. For all intents and purposes, it is a wireless clone of the Nintendo Nunchuk. The buttons and overall shape are just a tiny bit different, but it has no effect on usability. One notable difference is the analog stick which, once again, has a smooth round wall. With a controller that is split into two different hands, it's easy to lose your internal sense of the stick's orientation and it helps to have that octagonal wall to more easily feel which direction is straight.  Evidently the smooth housing was part of Nyko's redesign after Nintendo sued them over infringing on the Nunchuck; the original Kama had the familiar octagonal wall.

Another gripe I have with the Kama is that pressing any button turns the controller on, and it's easy to do that accidentally. Then the "Sync" LED blinks for, no exaggeration here, 30 minutes or until you turn the controller off manually.  I have no idea why it does this; the Wing can only be turned on by hitting the "Sync" button and if it doesn't find a signal within 15 seconds it turns off.

Both controllers require two AAA batteries and their battery life seemed good, though I didn't bother taking specific measurements. My feeling is if you're a console gamer in 2009, you likely have a rechargeable battery solution in place already, making the issue mostly irrelevant. Having said that, dealing with batteries and syncing dongles just seems like inconvenience with no payoff in this case. Maybe it's because I do my best to avoid games where you have to flail the controllers around wildly, but I really don't see the need for a wireless Nunchuk. Certainly not with a ten dollar premium over the regular Nunchuk plus battery expenses.

Once again, this is really a matter of balancing minor inconveniences. You can play just fine with the standard Nintendo wired accessories, but I concede that sometimes the wires can cause a slight annoyance. And I don't think anyone would disagree with the statement that the Classic Controller doesn't have the most ideal shape. On the other hand, wireless controllers come with their own minor issues which I've tried to outline here, and it's difficult to make a universal judgment on the value of wirelessness in this circumstance.  For me, the Wing has value because it is comfortable in my hands, while the Kama holds no advantage over the original Nunchuk.

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