
For retroheads shopping to turn their love for outdated consoles, there are many retro-styled controllers to be had for Transfer. In most cases they’re restricted to a livery and an old-school color scheme at the buttons, although.
They are frequently lacking trendy options, too. With the Warrior Bluetooth Controller, NYXI hopes to attraction to GameCube aficionados in addition to folks on the lookout for an absolutely purposeful Transfer pad alongside the strains of Nintendo’s Professional Controller.
With respectable customisation choices and a few spectacular options, this pad is a love letter to the GameCube pad and does an terrible lot proper. However does it tick sufficient bins for sufficient gamers? And is it a real Professional Controller selection?
Let’s examine what it has got.
NYXI Warrior Bluetooth Controller: Design
Earlier than NYXI kindly despatched over a overview pattern, we had been requested which variant we might favor. We went for the vintage Indigo Red, however the pad additionally is available in Black or Orange variations — no Silver, sadly. As you’ll see from the pictures, it is a beautiful excellent fit for the unique console.
Feel and look-wise, NYXI has performed a tight process of taking pictures the spirit of the GameCube controller with out handing over a complete clone. It is a mite wider than a GC pad, and heavier, weighing in at 241g. It is a quality-feeling bit of equipment, as smartly it must be given the $69 ticket, however making an allowance for the options right here, you are getting a tight bang:dollar ratio.
The pad comes with Corridor Impact sticks, analogue triggers (which could have their distance shortened independently the use of the switches at the again, successfully turning them into instantly on/off buttons if you happen to like), six-axis gyro, HD rumble, and programmable again buttons and turbo purposes. In comparison to a Transfer Professional Controller, the one factor lacking is an NFC reader in your amiibo. No longer a nasty bundle.
Within the field, you get two USB-A to USB-C cables (one extraordinarily brief, used for connecting the GC receiver to a PC — extra on that later), a wi-fi receiver to plug into your ‘Dice’s controller port (styled a lot similar to the only you were given with a WaveBird), plus some elements to modify in/out as according to your desire, together with any other C-stick that duplicates the type of the left stick, and substitute round surrounds for the sticks if the octagonal selection isn’t to you liking. Swapping the sticks and surrounds comes to twisting them anticlockwise, which takes some doing, however there is not any likelihood of them coming out on their very own.
Along with all that, you get a backplate to switch in if the programmable buttons at the rear hassle you – not going to be a subject for normal gamers, however helpful for match environments, most likely. The ones again paddles/buttons are effectively, naturally located underneath your center hands. In case you are the kind to forget about those further doohickeys, they are unobtrusive, however it is great to have them.
In a different way, the whole thing is provide and right kind the place you would be expecting it to be. In case you are coming from a GC pad, the face buttons instantly really feel very other, as ABXY and the D-pad right here use ‘clicky’ microswitches. They are now not in particular loud, however swapping from the OG controller to this contemporary facsimile, it is some of the placing distinction.
The Warrior’s rolling D-pad makes clean adjustments between instructions easy — tremendous for combating video games — even supposing some might favor the old-school ‘go’ selection. Both method, it is an development at the unique GC D-pad which was once apparently undersized; on the other hand, we do not be mindful the use of it a lot again within the day.
NYXI Warrior Bluetooth Controller: Efficiency
Earlier than digging out our GameCube, we fired up the Transfer. The Warrior briefly paired with it and with the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons, plus screengrab and ‘House’, it purposes virtually precisely like a Professional Controller (and is recognised as such). You do not get Professional Controller ranges of battery lifestyles, sadly, however NYXI’s 10-hour estimate from a unmarried price was once in keeping with our enjoy. In comparison to Nintendo’s Transfer pad, it is simply the structure of ABXY that is other, and that is this pad’s Achille’s heal.
You notice, on firing up Tears of the Kingdom to offer it a excellent exercise, loads of hours of Hylian muscle reminiscence kicked in and we many times forgot that right here ‘Y’ is the highest button, with ‘X’ moving 90 levels clockwise. Now, this is not an insurmountable hurdle — and it’s essential remap the buttons by the use of the Transfer’s device menu if you happen to truly sought after — however in our time checking out the pad, shall we by no means get used to the use of this face button association whilst taking part in our library of Transfer video games.
Which was once a disgrace given how the sticks, shoulder buttons, and gyro functioned completely with each recreation we examined. For some video games it would possibly not be a subject — and it’s possible you’ll adapt faster to the GC face button structure — however now not with the ability to execute Hyperlink’s acrobatic strikes in an instant felt extraordinary. Mileage might range, and all that.
Firing up Mario Sunshine in 3-D All-Stars to peer the way it felt to play a real GC recreation on Transfer, alas, the analogue triggers do not serve as because the reliable GameCube ones do when hooked up with an adaptor – the Transfer registers the NYXI Warrior as a Professional Controller, be mindful.
Shifting on, it was once time to check with unique {hardware}, and the Warrior carried out as marketed. Plugging the dongle into one of the crucial GC ports, the pad paired simple sufficient after we’d discovered the web video and were given each units blinking quickly (versus blinking not-quite-so-rapidly). As soon as hooked up, we had been in trade.
We performed on an LG OLED TV with our GameCube connected by the use of HMDI (the use of certainly one of EON’s GCHD Mk IIs). Switching between a stressed out unique GC controller and the fashionable wi-fi pad, we struggled to understand a distinction with regards to responsiveness. Diehard Melee gamers would definitely understand, however for anyone satisfied to take the ease of a wi-fi WaveBird over cables, the Warrior seems like a rather chunkier model of that within the fingers. Naturally, it really works on first-gen Wiis with GameCube ports too. Long past are the times when a third-party controller put you at an obstacle. The Warrior is a top quality bit of equipment.
A flexible one, too; you’ll additionally attach it on your PC, both stressed out by the use of the longer USB cable or wirelessly by means of the use of the quick result in attach the dongle on your PC and your pad to that, and Bluetooth could also be an choice. Steam recognised it as a Professional Controller over Bluetooth, and it really works precisely as you would be expecting, with respectable wi-fi reaction that improves while you plug it in. We additionally hooked up to an iPhone with RetroArch and it carried out as anticipated.
And that’s the tale with the Warrior. It does what’s says at the tin, and smartly. Its most effective actual problem comes from its faithfulness to a pad we adore, however one that feels much less related than ever nowadays. For professional Melee gamers, or for when Nintendo places GameCube video games on NSO, this generally is a godsend. In a different way it’s a very good pad with one large quirk.

NYXI Warrior Bluetooth Controller – The Verdict
For somebody on the lookout for a feature-laden Professional Controller selection with a unfashionable really feel, the NYXI Warrior delivers on its promise. It is a strong, great-looking controller which pairs smartly with Transfer and PC, but additionally brings the products for GameCube enthusiasts on the lookout for a wi-fi pad however baulking at secondhand WaveBird costs.
The one actual mark towards it’s the GC-style ABXY association which is amazingly onerous to evolve to after such a lot of years. In some way, it is not the Warrior’s fault — it is utterly true to the GameCube structure — however given the customisation in other places at the pad, the facility to modify out the face buttons for a extra same old, trendy configuration will have made this very important.
As it’s, it is a superb pad with a quirk which may be a dealbreaker if you happen to plan to make use of it together with your Transfer.
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