Nintendo Wii Reviews

The Shaft Arcade Joystick for Nintendo Wii White

Designed by gamers, for the ultimate gameplay experience, The Shaft for Nintendo Wii is the ONLY Arcade Style Joystick that works with both digital and analog games.

The Shaft, our classic arcade-style joystick brings a new dimension of game play to the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console. The Shaft will work with all of the Virtual Console games for NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, and TurboGrafix16. Test your arcade fighting skills in digital controlled games like Super Street Fighter 2, or test your racing skills in analog controlled games like Super Mario Kart.

The Shaft is also compatible with GameCube and Wii titles that support the classic controller, giving you the arcade advantage in these games including the recent hit: Super Smash Bros Brawl.

Turbo Mode is available to give players a unique advantage in those classic hard-to-beat games! Each button can be individually programmed to turbo for the most customized gameplay experience available.

The Shaft is extremely durable with a high-impact Polycarbonate Case and a Steel Joystick Core. The Shaft has a classic arcade feel and measures 11 inches x 6 inches.

The Nintendo Wii supports attaching up to 4 Shaft Joysticks.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Pathetic excuse for an arcade stick
It’s light, it’s small and it’s cheaply made. This doesn’t look, feel or sound like a real arcade stick at all. The only pro of this is that it supports analog…but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s an inferior product…and analog games aren’t remotely enhanced by using an arcade stick, in my opinion, as they were NEVER designed to use them. Even at $30 I think it’s overpriced. Check out some professional reviews on this thing, IGN especially. I have played Wii games with this and the hori stick so i do have something to compare it to. So, if you want a classic controller in arcade stick clothing, go ahead and buy it.

4 Stars Works excellent on the GameCube!
I tested this item on my Nintendo GameCube and it’s great for playing Arcade-style games as well as Game Boy Games with the Game Boy Player attachment. I was able to [finally] play Super Mario Land with a Joystick!

Overall, I am pleased with this controller. My only slight complaints are: (1) The buttons are all exactly the same size & feel, so it’s easy to have your hand resting over the wrong ones while playing. (2) The unit goes smaller around the Joystick and is a bit lightweight, making it easy for it to move around (gluing it to a heavy object underneath will solve this problem).

However, all of the negative reviews, saying that it’s cheap-feeling, are bogus. The stick & buttons are comparable to the NES Advantage for the original Nintendo.

1 Star Cheap tat, not worth the money.
If you are serious about games and/or don’t want to buy a substandard product then buy the Wii Hori stick instead of this cheap piece of rubbish.

It cost $3 more but you WILL NOT REGRET IT.

I’m posting the as people from this company have obviously been making fake posts against rival products which are blatantly untrue.

5 Stars It’s so hard and smoothe
The controller was cooler than I thought it would be. Reminds me of the good ol’ days when I would play Street Fighter at the Circle K. Can I have change for a dollar? Seriously, this remote is tight. Only downside is that I wish it had some like block to mount on or something so it really felt like an arcade. The size is perfect, but too big to use like a traditional hand remote IMO. Just my opinion. I’ve never seen a mounting block, but it’s just an idea I had. I should probably just make one for myself and use those double-sided adhesive strips to mount it.

5 Stars I was skeptical but it works perfectly
This is a new product by a new company and there weren’t any reviews out anywhere on gaming sites. I preordered the shaft from the manufacturers website and just received it a couple of days ago. I have to say that it works awesome. It runs all the old VC games and works great with the N64 games as well. It is awesome playing Brawl with this thing too and I’m excited to use it with the new Mario Kart game.

The joystick fits perfectly in my hand and I like the feel of it. The buttons are the right size and the stick feels great as well. At first I thought it would have been nice if it were wireless but to be honest I think I like it better this way. It always seems that my wiimote batteries are dead and the response time with the classic controller has noticable lag. The joystick looks really good too. There is another joystick out there, the Hori, but it is an ugly box and it won’t control analog games (N64 games, wii games, gamecube games).

I like some games with the wiimote but I still feel most games should use a controller. I hated playing Brawl with the wiimote and if this controller only worked with that game it would have been worth it. Great product from a new company. I’ll be picking up a second one for my wife.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Sega Superstars Tennis

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Not as good as the free tennis!
I am very disappointed with this game. I was not expecting greatness, but this is bad. I would much rather play the free tennis that came with the Wii.

5 Stars A Must Have every Sonic Fan
Sonic has been hanging around Mario a lot lately, and it seems he brought a few tricks back with him. Sega Super Star Tennis involves familiar locations, characters and powers from a variety of Sega games (similar to Super Smash Bros.) and puts it all together into wacky tournaments and missions based on Tennis (like many of the Mario sports titles). The controls are nice because there are a number of different schemes. You can play it one handed like the Wii Sports tennis or use the nunchuck to control your character. You can also hold the wii-mote on its side like a traditional video game.

This game has a lot of fun missions based on classic and new age SEGA games. My personal favorite is the levels based on virtual squad where you must hit tennis balls at card board cut outs of terrorists.

Any Sonic fan will love seeing their Hedgehog hero in a number of wacky new situations, Like battling the aliens from space harrier to taking zombies from House of the dead. Overall its good fun for SEGA fans of any age.

5 Stars This game is fun!
This game is fun anyway but especially if you remember the Sega heroes from a few years ago.

1 Star Boring
Don’t waste your money/time in this game, I was looking for a game as fun as Wii Sports, but it lack of playability and can’t be configured for left handed people like me.

5 Stars A great game
Excelent product, even a versatile because it have different modes of play.

Higly recommended

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Popularity: 5% [?]

Wii Gamecube Classic Wireless Controller

Cut loose from controller cables with this cutting edge wireless controller. Just plug the antenna directly into your GameCube or Wii and play from anywhere in the room. This 2.4GHz wireless controller features rubberized grips to reduce fatigue and improve handling. Two analog joysticks and fully analog action buttons let you get into the action with the added bonus of wireless flexibility.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Super Smash Bros. Control Review
Well I bet most people who want wireless Wii controls just want it for Smash Bros. So here’s what I got out of it.

It works out for the most part. It takes a while to get used to the feel of the wider grip handle and the buttons do in fact feel abit clunky and computer like, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it softens up after repeated use. The one thing that I cant stand is that shielding if near impossible. How can I describe this… you have to press the L and R buttons as hard as you can to get a very off and delayed shield up. So rolling (a must in Smash strategy) is basically non existing and will most likely not happen when you want to do it. That really hurts this control if you really want it for Smash.

I’ll edit this in the future if indeed the L and R buttons soften up after a while and sheilding becomes possible, but for now I must say that this control gets a 3 out 5.

1 Star BAD PRODUCT, BAD SERVICE
We purchased 2 of these as Xmas gifts, neither work! One unit…..the wireless transmitter does not come on, the other unit the controller does not communicate with the console.

Sent a report back, received a message from Amazon saying 30 days was up. Received no message from supplier with a possible solution to the problem.

BE CAREFUL !

Would not even give 1 star, but it seems i HAVE to give at least 1.

5 Stars wireless remotes
My boys received these for gifts this past Christmas. What a great find. No more wires hooked up to the Wii.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Tony Hawks Downhill Jam

In Tony Hawk Downhill Jam, you’ll make the sparks, gravel and dust fly as you shred downhill and feel the adrenaline rush. Do whatever it takes to get ahead: Speed down crowded, interactive streets as you pull off high-velocity tricks and fight opponents in living, populated environments. The online gameplay for up to 4 people makes it even more challenging. It’s the wildest Tony Hawk game yet! With the revolutionary Wii Remote Controller, you can balance your grinds and fire off speed boosts like a real skater Challenge friends in split screen competitions and compete in Race, Trick Attack and Slalom modes

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars This is my boys all time favorite game
This is my oldest 2 sons favorite game. They are 5 and 8. We have over 20 games, but they play this one everyday. (This and Super Smash Bros Brawl).

5 Stars Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam
My 11th year old son received the Wii version for his birthday. He is totally hooked on it. Money well spent.

4 Stars My 4 & 6 year old love it!
We did research on this game, and found many “professional” gamers dislike for the simplicity. Let me tell you that for $[...] this game is a steal. My two boys play it all the time, and jump around while steering their skateboard, and trying tricks that no human could ever pull off or survive from. Some of the background music choices aren’t my favorites by any stretch of the imagination, but if you can get over that then this game is great for young gamers. Toys R Us was selling this game for $[...] this past fall.

5 Stars well worth the price
Granted I got this during a gold deal…but it is a great game even at regular price. Good graphics. It was a little tricky to master at first, as there are a number of special moves you have to do to get lots of points. However once you learn them it is fantastic. Highly recommended!

5 Stars Electrifying
I bought this game for my grandson’s birthday. He is crazy about it. My grandson is 4 yrs old.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Nintendo Wii ShockWave Wireless 2 4GHZ Controller Silver

High Quality Wireless Controller for Nintendo Wii / Gamecube. 2.4GHZ Wireless Technology. Batteries – 100 Hours of Gameplay. Stock Virbration with Standard Analog & Trigger Buttons. 4 Players Compatible Games – 4 Channels at the Same time.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars It’s a controller not a game.
The controller works just fine. It’d be nice if amazon could figure out that this isn’t a game so I don’t have to give a rating on how fun it the game is.

5 Stars Shockwave by Phantiq – a real alternative to Wavebird
I am a Wii owner and I have two Wiimotes and two Classis Controllers. Since most Wii games are only for 1 or 2 players I never saw the need to get more than two Wiimotes. However, since the Wii is able to play Gamecube games, I had been looking at getting Gamecube controllers for some time. Super Smash Bros Brawl made me take the plunge, since getting Gamecube controllers would allow 4 person play and also allow me to play Gamecube games.

My first Gamecube controller was a used Wavebird wireless controller by Nintendo, and my second was the Shockwave wireless controller by Phantiq. I got both from a popular online auction site. Before I bought the Shockwave I was surprised how little information (i.e. reviews) there was on it. I first considered the Thrustmaster T-wireless by Hercules but was turned off by the small size and lack of analog shoulder buttons. Besides, since I already had Classic Controllers, I wanted a more authentic Gamecube button layout. The Shockwave fits the bill.

In many ways the Shockwave is a very good Wavebird copy. Overall quality is not quite up to Wavebird standards; however, it is priced very aggresively. It uses good quality plastic but unfortunately, the silver finish is painted on, so this will eventually show scratches. Phantiq should have molded the color in rather than paint it on. Initially my Z button was stiff and would not always spring back after being pressed, so I carefully removed the 7 phillips head screws to see if the button needed lubrication. While inside I noted the analog shoulder buttons mechanisms and the rumble motor, all powered by the three internal AAA batteries. It turned out the Z button was stiff because the clamshell halves were screwed together too tightly. Reassembly using less torque on the screws cured the sticky Z button problem.

The Phantiq button layout is identical to the Wavebird. Subjective button feel is pretty good. My kids and I notice no difference between the two controllers except for the rumble feature which is absent from the Wavebird. Both controllers have almost identical handle spacing, button size, and button spacing. The Phantiq D-pad is a disk instead of the Wavebird’s cross but feels and acts very similar. My older son did notice that the Phantiq’s joystick detents use the flats of the octagon cutout, whereas the Wavebird uses the points. The Phantiq joysticks are thus a bit “sloppy” and lack the precise detents of the Wavebird. This may make a difference to some. My older son prefers the Wavebird over the Phantiq for this reason. The Phantiq is less bulky than the Wavebird, because of the smaller batteries and because it lacks the “Wavebird bulge” below the D-pad and right joystick. Battery life so far is pretty good, in part because the Shockwave goes into “sleep” mode after 10 minutes of inactivity. The Wavebird has a physical on/off switch.

On the Wavebird, you select a wireless channel on both the controller and receiver. The Phantiq uses Auto-scan to eliminate this but you stil have to synch the controller and receiver. While this is easy to do, you have to do it with every power cycle (even with the Wii in Standby mode), which is somewhat of an annoyance. With the Wavebird you just turn it on and you’re ready to go.

The Phantiq wireless receiver is bigger than the Wavebird’s and offset to the side. Thus I’m required to plug the Wavebird receiver into port #1 and the Phantiq receiver into port #2 (it’s impossible to do the reverse). I’m assuming you can plug multiple Phantiq receivers into the Wii but have not tried it.

I found that leaving the Wii in standby mode also powers the Gamecube controller ports. Thus both the Wavebird and Phantiq receivers get warm while the Wii is in standby. I don’t like that and so now I have the Wii off (not in standby) when not in use, which is an annoyance especially if you use the Wii’s news or weather channels.

In summary: the Wavebird has better build quality and a solid reputation, but the Phantiq is new, has rumble and a cheaper price. Despite the minor annoyances I mention above, I feel the Shockwave is a real alternative to the venerable Wavebird, especially for the price.

Buy/More Info

Popularity: 7% [?]

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