Provided to me from CastleMania Games: bit.ly/2MsQuFG Become a Madlittlepixel member, it helps out a lot. Thanks!: bit.ly/3m1H8R0 Buy Genesis Mini 2: amzn.to/3Ruenvw Recommended Amazon Products: amzn.to/2yUs8MX Follow me on Twitter bit.ly/33uce9Y Shop Play-Asia: bit.ly/2m4xq5c Shop Castle Mania Games: bit.ly/2MsQuFG Shop Stone Age Gamer: bit.ly/33dGaY6
@@Unholy_Louie dont be stupid, first off the link is just to castlemania games and not to a particular item. Regardless if i have a good or bad experience its up to you to decide to buy something. Get off your high horse and learn to think for yourself and actually properly, as like I said there isnt even a link to this particular product ..
Thanks for letting us know! This is disheartening to see as we only want to deliver the best possible products. Our software /development team is on it and looking into why two of three of your samples ended up like this.
Hi Retro Fighters - bought 4 bladegc from Castlemania and 2 are exhibiting these issues - the other 2 I havent bothered opening the box. I think for me, I wonder if the dongle to the gamecube is the root cause, because when I use the usb dongle on my pc, I dont see any issues.
Hey Retro Fighters these are great controllers but can you update the triggers please, Archades Games did a great review where he showed the trigger issues that effected games like Need For Speed at the 5:28 mark
Quite frankly we need a company bold enough to give us an elite GameCube styled experience. Analog triggers, gyro, rumble, programmable back paddles and maybe NFC. Make it 80 - 100 USD and call it a day!
Really like how you actually use the controllers and aren't afraid to tell people what's wrong with them. I remember you finding the bumper/analog stick issue with the (I believe) Dreamcast 3rd party controller and got them to change subsequent revisions.
It was the n64 controller by the same company and yeah the left would bump it to the analog stick when it is pushed forward and the shoulder button pressed down. It was the first model of the brawler64.
That's genuinely a shame to me since wireless gamecube controllers that are from a reputable company are not something you really see. While I personally wasn't a fan of the design of either model I was super glad to see that I could buy a controller that would just work with my stock gamecube and not have to do any mods to my console. I hope they're able to take care of this and give these controllers the same kind of support that they gave their N64 model after reviews had come out.
This is why I love your channel, you get free shit and you keep it real no matter what. Your not one of these UA-camrs that say oh yea it’s great go get it you tell it like it is. Keep up the great work I was gonna get these but now I’m gonna wait until version 2 comes out and you say there good now. Thank you.
I got the Bluetooth adapter from Castlmania games. It replaces the controller ports on the GameCube. Connect to all kinds of modern controllers. I'm pretty impressed.
I got mine in a box. I'll have to crack it open tonight and try it on my PC and switch. I've had this on pre-order for 18 months. Hope castlemania's support is good. That's where I bought them from.
I got similar problems. I reached out to Retro Fighters addressing the stick drift problem and all they told me is about a "reset" hole. Eventually my controller went back to normal shortly after. The only design flaws on the GameCube receivers are the lack of a USB-C port for firmware updates and the inability to reset the controller's stick and trigger values to neutral position (done by holding X, Y and Start/Pause simultaneously for 3 seconds).
Hey @maddlittlepixel its very interesting that you made this video. I brought the battler gc (not the blade gc) for my older brother recently because it was the closest to the wave bird layout, I wanna be clear though we modded the gamecube with the gc loader idk how that affects the situation at all but I felt its worth mentioning. Anyway when he played Tony Hawk 3 he said when held the A button to skate eventually the skater ollied as if he let go of th A button but all the while he had it held down, very wierd. Anyway I hope this reaches you because I see retrofighters already addressed this video in the comments. I know you got a family and a work schedule but if you find yourself playing Tony Hawk on a modded gamecube with the battler gc and you see the same defect maybe they'll listen to you over me.
I got a black Blade GC controller from Castlemania. I didn't see anything wrong with it initially but I really didn't test it out. When I get home I'll check it out just to make sure. I did notice the analog sticks were off center a little bit like you said. There seems to be less traction going up versus going down so slightly.
Same here. Just unpacked mine (black from Dragonbox here in Germany). The left analog stick is slightly tilted and "points downwards". I wonder if that misalignment shows up somehow and hope it does not drift. Shitty quality control, imho.
Castlemania Games ROCKS. I ordered some Evercade carts from them because they don't do the price hike bullshit that Amazon does. If a cart retails for $20, it's $20 on Castlemania Games. They also ship ridiculously fast and the games were at my doorstep in 3 days. They will be the first place I look when I need Gaming stuff from now on. And no, I'm not a bot.
This is just another example of why I'm so proud to be a subscriber to your channel. You're very honest and always look out for all the gamers. You've probably helped a whole lot of people who would have spent their hard earned cash and been very disappointed if not for you. There is really no excuse for this. Did they not test these? Hopefully Retro Fighters addresses this immediately. They are well known for their high quality controllers, so this could certainly be very damaging to their reputation.
I ordered a bladegc 24hrs before this was uploaded and was interested to see how mine was going to perform and i'm glad to say mine is all good so far . I tried it on a Wii and along with all the emulators and it worked flawlessly . Also tried it on pc a few days later with winuae and again flawless ..
Thank you for the honest review, most reviews don't go into this kind of depth. I hope they can fix this because I would really like to have one for the gameboy player.
I go both the Battler and Blade last week and been using them every day and haven’t noticed any issues. I’ve been playing Super Mario Strikers with the Battler and Pokemon Silver & Emerald though GBI via Swiss with the Blade. I agree with the Blade dpad, it doesn’t stick out much and wished it was like an SNES controller. I still like it though.
This is *exactly* why I've kept away from Retro Fighters. They have pretty solid design as a whole but whatever factory they have building these pads, has terrible QA issues. Their Sega Genesis/USB pad, it broke on me after a few weeks of use, took apart to attempt to fix it, find that the membrane pads are lacking quality and oddly, they used rumble motors instead of actual weights..and didn't solder the motors up despite pinouts to solder them on the board.
I have the BladeGC and so far I haven't noticed any problems with the analog sticks but I hate the d-pad. It sucks since I really only wanted it for the d-pad for playing GBA games.
I was also having the same false input issues with the left analog stick, with my BladeGC when I got it. It was doing the same thing, constantly inputting the down direction. They were going to send me a new one, but I was able to fix it. If you take the controller apart and remove the ribbon cable from BOTH boards, then put the ribbon cable back in the issue will go away.
I got the retro fighters PS2 controller and it had drifting issues too. Developed after two weeks, they did replace the controller no questions asked and they didn't have me send back the defective one.
I've got their DC controller and liked it quite a bit...until I noticed that the analog stick on it doesn't seem to register fully to the left as it should. It made playing Gauntlet Legends a right chore because my characters would never sprint when going left. I also have their combo Genesis/Saturn controller and had similar issues with it as well. I'm afraid I'm not much of a fan of these retro fighter controllers given the two I've purchased and tried to use.
I have just purchased the ps1/2 retro fighters pad and within 24 hours one of the buttons has gone bad already! I’m not a fan either of this company at all! There products are piss poor..
Get a blueRetro adapter for 20 bux and use power A wireless GameCube controllers for switch. Best controller setup ever used on my GameCube/Wii and Wii u. blueRetro is sold exclusively on AliExpress, but you can build your own. Best alt. To wave birds and they are new! Can also use ANY Bluetooth and xinput controller
I paused the video to download that test program then checked my black Blade controller which I received a few days ago. Both sticks gave a consistent reading of 127/128 for up, down, left, right. The right stick appeared to be ever so slightly forward, but I had to look real close, and it's not affecting performance. I'll keep checking after I've given it more play time. Hopefully it doesn't become a big issue.
I really like their ideas but have been continually disappointed with the Retro Fighters product. On a positive note, pretty cool that Castlemania games hooked you up for the review. That store has always delivered great service when I've shopped there.
I stopped buying 3rd party pads years ago, because there is almost always something wrong with them. In the end it's cheaper to stick with official ones. I wonder why people keep buying "Power A" branded ones as they have bad reputation due to the poor quality.
Interesting, I have not had any issues with the sticks on mine. I can't test on gamecube as I only play on PC, but gamepad tester shows the up down left and right directions to be fine when hitting the gates, with a slight variance on the diagonals but it's not uncommon for pads to have a tiny bit difference from the left and right stick when it comes to diagonal directions. I will say the dpad is not what I have hope for though it's still probably fine for platformers and such, fighting games not likely though.
Bought four bladegc from Castlemania games and Im seeing similar issues - posted up a thread on the r/gamecube subreddit. I was playing Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2 and often Id just see the controller freeze when moving in a certain direction. At first, I thought it was drift on the controller. Connected it to my pc using the usb dongle and tried gamepad tester and didnt encounter any issues. Is it possible that the wireless dongle for the gamecube is at fault? I've tested 2 of the 4 controllers and they exhibit this issue.
The range being different is something I noticed right away and was immediately disappointed, consistent 0 to 127 for me on the BattlerGC, I received the controller, immediately ran Auto Modellista and noticed it was off, used the gamepad tester tool to test the values and found those consistent 0 to 127 ranges which are a deal breaker for me :(
I've had these on pre-order for roughly 1.5 years. I finally got mine in the mail and it flat out doesn't work because of the weird connection issue. It's really frustrating. I decided to just return it and buy some good quality Wavebirds instead.
Keeping it real against a company with a name in the retro community, who was generous to give 3 free controllers, is a honest dude - looking out for the community. Props.. Btw, the dual shock style ALWAYS sucked for a GameCube experience.... Glad you swap the sticks to the Xbox style.
Looks similar to the 8bitdo Switch PS4 adapter. It'll suddenly and without warning scroll up and to the left with a PS3 controller, but it'll be fine with a PS4 controller except with a PS4 controller it just stops working and whatever button that was pressed last presses over and over again until the controller is turned off or otherwise disconnected.
I had ordered battler from castlemania that came in the other day (orange of course). At first, I was regretting getting two of them to pair with my two wavebirds, instead of one of each, now I'm thinking I dodged a bullet. Thanks
I got stick drift from both joysticks from brand new on mine too which was worrying... Weirdly, this issue went away after unplugging the USB receiver on my N-Switch console a few times. Hoping this doesn't happen again. GameCube up next!
Loved my Saturn controller I got from them, but the Dreamcast and PS2 ones were UNUSABLE... The triggers are hyper sensitive and register even if the controller slightly wiggles... NEVER AGAIN...
well, guess im gonna be picking up the battleGC. i actually prefer the bigger sticks and smaller D-pad anyway. i just wanna use it on my homebrew wii and play gamecube and gameboy games
Dang, I should have waited longer before ordering. I should have listened to the voice in my head that was incredulous about them only sending out the BattlerGC controllers to reviewers. Well I guess it might be a roll of the dice when my controllers come in.
Unrelated to the controller but I noticed your Swiss version is really old. Rev 1400 is the current one and GC Loader itself has the 2.0 update to apply. If you update the GC Loader first then Swiss second then you can now save configs right to the GC Loader SD card without needing an SD2SP2 or SDGecko adapter.
Damn man. I bought a black battler and a blade. I havent actually used them yet but now im scared too. I have been using those cheap off branded wireless gamecube wavebird clones for years, and I was so looking forward to these because I hate how stiff those clone wavebirds are. Hopefully they still work out for me.
Just ordered them after your initial video… fingers crossed Mine are working.. The duelist from retrofofighters works like a charm.. Are they know for good return service?
Wow, I came so close to getting the RF blade but instead decided to mod my GC with the BlueRetro mod. I can use the DualShock PS4 controller and it is perfect.
So I’ve been testing the Battler out for review the last week or so and on a few different occasions I got the weird left stick scroll that you had going on with the Blade at the beginning, but only on Smash Bros on Wii U have I had it happen. Nowhere else. Very odd.
Okay, so I'm not the only one. I had an issue with the controller endlessly moving right with I touched the right analog stick and they told me just to unplug and plug the adapter back in. I was playing Mario Sunshine and it was making me nauseous.
Thankfully mine is working fine 127 left and 128 right on both sticks the. 128 up and down on both , the left stick looks very offset still but working fine
Mine works great . The analog stick works with the Gameboy games . Great for super Mario lark gba . I will say my one complaint is that the R1,L1-R2,L2 buttons are not swap-able . What I mean is that only the R2-L2 buttons are assigned to the Gameboy advance games . It would be the perfect Hori Gameboy player replacement if it was L1,R1 instead . In my opinion . Not a deal breaker for me
It's a design fault for the screws that hold the board in, so it should be redesigned a lil for it to be center. It's a shame for a company not to test this kind of thing before it went out. Its going to be a costly fix if they do it but it will save them guff.
I had this issue with my BladeGC (using with Dolphin emulator), weirdly the fix for me was to press the pair button and everything went back to normal again with the analogue sticks
Is this repeatable on PC as well? There's a gamepad test website that also shows your controllers inputs and the position of the sticks and triggers, if its not then maybe this is could be a gamecube dongle issue? Will be interesting to see what RetroFighters finds as I see theyre looking into it now.
Controller developer here-- a real GameCube controller exhibits a real range of -100 to +100. The controllers that read -127 to +127 are an issue as this exceeds the normal stick range and this would result in too much sensitivity in normal gameplay.
Dude ty, was totally going to buy two and will hold off until this is corrected (hopefully) with a firmware update. Shame on the controls though. Did you reach out to Ryan to see if he can pass the feedback on?
I bought the battler and haven't had issues with it, but I'm currently on my 3rd blade one because they keep getting drift. It also feels like the R button sometimes doesn't work.
aww man passed up bidding on a bluetooth retrobit controller on ebay so i could pick these up instead, but now im a little scared is there a firmware update for these controllers??
This looks like poorly fitting casement. Have you tried running the sticks outside of the case? Do they center properly when not inside the controllers shell but free standing
I can't get the BattlerGC to go into xinput mode on PC. Holding down Home button does NOT work even though they say it should. Can't map the analog triggers in Dolphin without xinput. Luckily they work with gamecube usb adapter on my PC so I'm going that route instead of sending them back.
I’m kinda on the fence about these, I played some games last night and it’s not bad, but I really wish they were better.. sticks don’t feel right and the dpad is kinda low/mushy, I wonder if these can be modded to improve the dpad especially
i got the orange and purple blade gc ive played just about all the way through eternal darkness with the orange one and it seems ok i did have it lock up once and needed to unplug the receiver ill have to test the purple one what app is that for joystick testing?
Well this is disheartening. Two of these are arriving in the mail today, as I got my wife and daughter set up with the gamecube last weekend. Guess I will see if they notice.
this is a very important questions for shiny hunters. can u control multiple gamecubes with 1 controller using multiple receivers like u can with the wavebird controller?
Maybe the company that made the controller got some new defective analog stick. There might be a whole box of defective sticks that they put in controllers and the only to know if the company puts out a notice to customers after everyone complains about defective analog sticks.
I've bought 2 of their previous controllers, and am not very happy with either of them. Especially the PS2 Defender. Sad to say, I'm probably just not going to buy this brand again. It seems like they're _trying,_ but the quality just isn't there.
FYI this is a bad implementation. Real GameCube controllers do not have any sort of complicated calibration process. When you plug in the controller, whatever value is read becomes the new "center". On top of that, you will never get the full range of analog output with a real GameCube controller as the stick gate stops the stick from moving the full range. The result is precisely calculated as -100 to +100 and this is intentional design from Nintendo. Developers, in error, see that the GameCube uses an 8 bit value for the analog stick and think they should use the entire range of values, but this only results in controls that are way too sensitive as you're hitting the maximum value way earlier in the tilt movement. You're essentially adding 25% more unnecessary values :(
You should also test the new controllers with an OEM Gamecube and OEM game disc. Your modified GC may be causing issues. (Its doubtful, but ya never know) If the OEM gamecube exhibits the same behavior then the argument is stronger.
Provided to me from CastleMania Games: bit.ly/2MsQuFG
Become a Madlittlepixel member, it helps out a lot. Thanks!: bit.ly/3m1H8R0
Buy Genesis Mini 2: amzn.to/3Ruenvw
Recommended Amazon Products: amzn.to/2yUs8MX
Follow me on Twitter bit.ly/33uce9Y
Shop Play-Asia: bit.ly/2m4xq5c
Shop Castle Mania Games: bit.ly/2MsQuFG
Shop Stone Age Gamer: bit.ly/33dGaY6
@@Unholy_Louie dont be stupid, first off the link is just to castlemania games and not to a particular item. Regardless if i have a good or bad experience its up to you to decide to buy something. Get off your high horse and learn to think for yourself and actually properly, as like I said there isnt even a link to this particular product ..
Thanks for letting us know! This is disheartening to see as we only want to deliver the best possible products. Our software /development team is on it and looking into why two of three of your samples ended up like this.
Please make a updated version of these controllers with gyro support. Would be great to use on the Steam Deck
Hi Retro Fighters - bought 4 bladegc from Castlemania and 2 are exhibiting these issues - the other 2 I havent bothered opening the box. I think for me, I wonder if the dongle to the gamecube is the root cause, because when I use the usb dongle on my pc, I dont see any issues.
I hope you go back to the drawing board and give us a ver 2 with better sticks and triggers too…
Hey Retro Fighters these are great controllers but can you update the triggers please, Archades Games did a great review where he showed the trigger issues that effected games like Need For Speed at the 5:28 mark
Quite frankly we need a company bold enough to give us an elite GameCube styled experience. Analog triggers, gyro, rumble, programmable back paddles and maybe NFC. Make it 80 - 100 USD and call it a day!
Really like how you actually use the controllers and aren't afraid to tell people what's wrong with them. I remember you finding the bumper/analog stick issue with the (I believe) Dreamcast 3rd party controller and got them to change subsequent revisions.
It was the n64 controller by the same company and yeah the left would bump it to the analog stick when it is pushed forward and the shoulder button pressed down. It was the first model of the brawler64.
That's genuinely a shame to me since wireless gamecube controllers that are from a reputable company are not something you really see. While I personally wasn't a fan of the design of either model I was super glad to see that I could buy a controller that would just work with my stock gamecube and not have to do any mods to my console. I hope they're able to take care of this and give these controllers the same kind of support that they gave their N64 model after reviews had come out.
This is why I love your channel, you get free shit and you keep it real no matter what. Your not one of these UA-camrs that say oh yea it’s great go get it you tell it like it is. Keep up the great work I was gonna get these but now I’m gonna wait until version 2 comes out and you say there good now. Thank you.
I got the Bluetooth adapter from Castlmania games. It replaces the controller ports on the GameCube. Connect to all kinds of modern controllers. I'm pretty impressed.
I got mine in a box. I'll have to crack it open tonight and try it on my PC and switch. I've had this on pre-order for 18 months. Hope castlemania's support is good. That's where I bought them from.
I got similar problems. I reached out to Retro Fighters addressing the stick drift problem and all they told me is about a "reset" hole. Eventually my controller went back to normal shortly after. The only design flaws on the GameCube receivers are the lack of a USB-C port for firmware updates and the inability to reset the controller's stick and trigger values to neutral position (done by holding X, Y and Start/Pause simultaneously for 3 seconds).
Hey @maddlittlepixel its very interesting that you made this video. I brought the battler gc (not the blade gc) for my older brother recently because it was the closest to the wave bird layout, I wanna be clear though we modded the gamecube with the gc loader idk how that affects the situation at all but I felt its worth mentioning. Anyway when he played Tony Hawk 3 he said when held the A button to skate eventually the skater ollied as if he let go of th A button but all the while he had it held down, very wierd. Anyway I hope this reaches you because I see retrofighters already addressed this video in the comments. I know you got a family and a work schedule but if you find yourself playing Tony Hawk on a modded gamecube with the battler gc and you see the same defect maybe they'll listen to you over me.
Thank you for the honest review. I had a lot of issues with their wireless N64 controllers and switched over to the retro-bit and love them
Thank you for always being honest in your reviews! This is why I tell everyone about you , and before I buy something
I got a black Blade GC controller from Castlemania. I didn't see anything wrong with it initially but I really didn't test it out. When I get home I'll check it out just to make sure. I did notice the analog sticks were off center a little bit like you said. There seems to be less traction going up versus going down so slightly.
Same here. Just unpacked mine (black from Dragonbox here in Germany). The left analog stick is slightly tilted and "points downwards". I wonder if that misalignment shows up somehow and hope it does not drift. Shitty quality control, imho.
Castlemania Games ROCKS. I ordered some Evercade carts from them because they don't do the price hike bullshit that Amazon does. If a cart retails for $20, it's $20 on Castlemania Games. They also ship ridiculously fast and the games were at my doorstep in 3 days. They will be the first place I look when I need Gaming stuff from now on. And no, I'm not a bot.
This is just another example of why I'm so proud to be a subscriber to your channel. You're very honest and always look out for all the gamers. You've probably helped a whole lot of people who would have spent their hard earned cash and been very disappointed if not for you.
There is really no excuse for this. Did they not test these? Hopefully Retro Fighters addresses this immediately. They are well known for their high quality controllers, so this could certainly be very damaging to their reputation.
I ordered a bladegc 24hrs before this was uploaded and was interested to see how mine was going to perform and i'm glad to say mine is all good so far . I tried it on a Wii and along with all the emulators and it worked flawlessly . Also tried it on pc a few days later with winuae and again flawless ..
Thank you for the honest review, most reviews don't go into this kind of depth. I hope they can fix this because I would really like to have one for the gameboy player.
I’m wondering if the holes for the analog sticks on the front shell is misaligned, and preventing the sticks’s travel in all directions
I go both the Battler and Blade last week and been using them every day and haven’t noticed any issues. I’ve been playing Super Mario Strikers with the Battler and Pokemon Silver & Emerald though GBI via Swiss with the Blade. I agree with the Blade dpad, it doesn’t stick out much and wished it was like an SNES controller. I still like it though.
This is *exactly* why I've kept away from Retro Fighters. They have pretty solid design as a whole but whatever factory they have building these pads, has terrible QA issues.
Their Sega Genesis/USB pad, it broke on me after a few weeks of use, took apart to attempt to fix it, find that the membrane pads are lacking quality and oddly, they used rumble motors instead of actual weights..and didn't solder the motors up despite pinouts to solder them on the board.
I have the BladeGC and so far I haven't noticed any problems with the analog sticks but I hate the d-pad. It sucks since I really only wanted it for the d-pad for playing GBA games.
What other dpad would you compare it to? I hate buying controllers with good reviews and hating them in person.
I was also having the same false input issues with the left analog stick, with my BladeGC when I got it. It was doing the same thing, constantly inputting the down direction. They were going to send me a new one, but I was able to fix it. If you take the controller apart and remove the ribbon cable from BOTH boards, then put the ribbon cable back in the issue will go away.
I got the retro fighters PS2 controller and it had drifting issues too. Developed after two weeks, they did replace the controller no questions asked and they didn't have me send back the defective one.
I've got their DC controller and liked it quite a bit...until I noticed that the analog stick on it doesn't seem to register fully to the left as it should. It made playing Gauntlet Legends a right chore because my characters would never sprint when going left. I also have their combo Genesis/Saturn controller and had similar issues with it as well. I'm afraid I'm not much of a fan of these retro fighter controllers given the two I've purchased and tried to use.
I have just purchased the ps1/2 retro fighters pad and within 24 hours one of the buttons has gone bad already! I’m not a fan either of this company at all! There products are piss poor..
Get a blueRetro adapter for 20 bux and use power A wireless GameCube controllers for switch. Best controller setup ever used on my GameCube/Wii and Wii u.
blueRetro is sold exclusively on AliExpress, but you can build your own.
Best alt. To wave birds and they are new! Can also use ANY Bluetooth and xinput controller
I paused the video to download that test program then checked my black Blade controller which I received a few days ago. Both sticks gave a consistent reading of 127/128 for up, down, left, right. The right stick appeared to be ever so slightly forward, but I had to look real close, and it's not affecting performance. I'll keep checking after I've given it more play time. Hopefully it doesn't become a big issue.
I really like their ideas but have been continually disappointed with the Retro Fighters product. On a positive note, pretty cool that Castlemania games hooked you up for the review. That store has always delivered great service when I've shopped there.
I stopped buying 3rd party pads years ago, because there is almost always something wrong with them.
In the end it's cheaper to stick with official ones. I wonder why people keep buying "Power A" branded ones as they have bad reputation due to the poor quality.
Interesting, I have not had any issues with the sticks on mine. I can't test on gamecube as I only play on PC, but gamepad tester shows the up down left and right directions to be fine when hitting the gates, with a slight variance on the diagonals but it's not uncommon for pads to have a tiny bit difference from the left and right stick when it comes to diagonal directions. I will say the dpad is not what I have hope for though it's still probably fine for platformers and such, fighting games not likely though.
My biggest disappointment was I could not pair with my Switch in handheld
Bought four bladegc from Castlemania games and Im seeing similar issues - posted up a thread on the r/gamecube subreddit.
I was playing Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2 and often Id just see the controller freeze when moving in a certain direction. At first, I thought it was drift on the controller. Connected it to my pc using the usb dongle and tried gamepad tester and didnt encounter any issues. Is it possible that the wireless dongle for the gamecube is at fault?
I've tested 2 of the 4 controllers and they exhibit this issue.
thanks for the review! hope they fix, been waiting for these.
The range being different is something I noticed right away and was immediately disappointed, consistent 0 to 127 for me on the BattlerGC, I received the controller, immediately ran Auto Modellista and noticed it was off, used the gamepad tester tool to test the values and found those consistent 0 to 127 ranges which are a deal breaker for me :(
I've had these on pre-order for roughly 1.5 years. I finally got mine in the mail and it flat out doesn't work because of the weird connection issue. It's really frustrating. I decided to just return it and buy some good quality Wavebirds instead.
The review I was waiting for.
Great video dude 😊 thanks for the review. Great info bro
Keeping it real against a company with a name in the retro community, who was generous to give 3 free controllers, is a honest dude - looking out for the community. Props..
Btw, the dual shock style ALWAYS sucked for a GameCube experience.... Glad you swap the sticks to the Xbox style.
It's hard to believe this video is 1.5 years old almost
Looks similar to the 8bitdo Switch PS4 adapter. It'll suddenly and without warning scroll up and to the left with a PS3 controller, but it'll be fine with a PS4 controller except with a PS4 controller it just stops working and whatever button that was pressed last presses over and over again until the controller is turned off or otherwise disconnected.
Someone had walleye vision when they were assembled 😂
I had ordered battler from castlemania that came in the other day (orange of course). At first, I was regretting getting two of them to pair with my two wavebirds, instead of one of each, now I'm thinking I dodged a bullet. Thanks
I tried both the Battler and Blade and no problem with either. Even checked the analog sticks height.
I got stick drift from both joysticks from brand new on mine too which was worrying...
Weirdly, this issue went away after unplugging the USB receiver on my N-Switch console a few times.
Hoping this doesn't happen again. GameCube up next!
While you were out playing on the Dualsense Edge and Xbox Elite, I studied the BladeGC...
I like that MLP isn't afraid to rant about something instead of just kissing up to companies.
Loved my Saturn controller I got from them, but the Dreamcast and PS2 ones were UNUSABLE... The triggers are hyper sensitive and register even if the controller slightly wiggles...
NEVER AGAIN...
I’ll hold out for the next version 😎
Interesting. My purple Battler's sticks are perfect - just like your purple Blade.
well, guess im gonna be picking up the battleGC. i actually prefer the bigger sticks and smaller D-pad anyway. i just wanna use it on my homebrew wii and play gamecube and gameboy games
I getting a purple one tomorrow but I will let ya know after extensive benching of my own.
I have the purple BattlerGC and when I was getting random disconnects while playing Star Wars Rogue Leader
Dang, I should have waited longer before ordering. I should have listened to the voice in my head that was incredulous about them only sending out the BattlerGC controllers to reviewers. Well I guess it might be a roll of the dice when my controllers come in.
I pre-ordered a BattlerGC over 1 year ago and Catlemania hasn't shipped yet.
Unrelated to the controller but I noticed your Swiss version is really old. Rev 1400 is the current one and GC Loader itself has the 2.0 update to apply.
If you update the GC Loader first then Swiss second then you can now save configs right to the GC Loader SD card without needing an SD2SP2 or SDGecko adapter.
Damn man. I bought a black battler and a blade. I havent actually used them yet but now im scared too. I have been using those cheap off branded wireless gamecube wavebird clones for years, and I was so looking forward to these because I hate how stiff those clone wavebirds are.
Hopefully they still work out for me.
I've been playing smash on gamecube and wii with the battlergc. I like it 👍
Just ordered them after your initial video… fingers crossed
Mine are working..
The duelist from retrofofighters works like a charm..
Are they know for good return service?
Wow, I came so close to getting the RF blade but instead decided to mod my GC with the BlueRetro mod. I can use the DualShock PS4 controller and it is perfect.
So I’ve been testing the Battler out for review the last week or so and on a few different occasions I got the weird left stick scroll that you had going on with the Blade at the beginning, but only on Smash Bros on Wii U have I had it happen. Nowhere else. Very odd.
Got a similar issue sorts itself out when disconnecting and reconnecting the reciever
I had the controller drift as well on my Blade unit but reset the controller and it went away. I thought it was a one time thing but apparently not.
Glad I have a few black 2018 smash ultimate gamecube controllers. OEM and fresh
Okay, so I'm not the only one. I had an issue with the controller endlessly moving right with I touched the right analog stick and they told me just to unplug and plug the adapter back in. I was playing Mario Sunshine and it was making me nauseous.
the scrolling thing used to happen me on some wireless controllers when the batteries were dying? maybe that was going on
Maybe film opening the ones with the bad stick to investigate what is wrong with them?
Thankfully mine is working fine 127 left and 128 right on both sticks the. 128 up and down on both , the left stick looks very offset still but working fine
were the analogs held in a direction when they got power? maybe 0 was set to where it was
Wavebirds are expensive, but I want more of those. I was considering trying these but they looked cheap to me.
Mine works great . The analog stick works with the Gameboy games . Great for super Mario lark gba .
I will say my one complaint is that the R1,L1-R2,L2 buttons are not swap-able . What I mean is that only the R2-L2 buttons are assigned to the Gameboy advance games . It would be the perfect Hori Gameboy player replacement if it was L1,R1 instead . In my opinion . Not a deal breaker for me
It's a design fault for the screws that hold the board in, so it should be redesigned a lil for it to be center. It's a shame for a company not to test this kind of thing before it went out. Its going to be a costly fix if they do it but it will save them guff.
I had this issue with my BladeGC (using with Dolphin emulator), weirdly the fix for me was to press the pair button and everything went back to normal again with the analogue sticks
Sorry if you got a dud, got the same orange blade gc and it works without issue
Did you try it with the usb adapter on anything?
Is this repeatable on PC as well? There's a gamepad test website that also shows your controllers inputs and the position of the sticks and triggers, if its not then maybe this is could be a gamecube dongle issue? Will be interesting to see what RetroFighters finds as I see theyre looking into it now.
Controller developer here-- a real GameCube controller exhibits a real range of -100 to +100. The controllers that read -127 to +127 are an issue as this exceeds the normal stick range and this would result in too much sensitivity in normal gameplay.
Dude ty, was totally going to buy two and will hold off until this is corrected (hopefully) with a firmware update. Shame on the controls though. Did you reach out to Ryan to see if he can pass the feedback on?
I bought the battler and haven't had issues with it, but I'm currently on my 3rd blade one because they keep getting drift. It also feels like the R button sometimes doesn't work.
Also the range on a Gameboy player I don’t think it matters. Now for actual gamecube games it would matter . I hope the follow up with quality control
aww man passed up bidding on a bluetooth retrobit controller on ebay so i could pick these up instead, but now im a little scared
is there a firmware update for these controllers??
This looks like poorly fitting casement. Have you tried running the sticks outside of the case? Do they center properly when not inside the controllers shell but free standing
I was pretty unsatisfied with the retro fighters defender controller for PS2/PS3 as well, especially with the joysticks
I can't get the BattlerGC to go into xinput mode on PC. Holding down Home button does NOT work even though they say it should. Can't map the analog triggers in Dolphin without xinput. Luckily they work with gamecube usb adapter on my PC so I'm going that route instead of sending them back.
I’m kinda on the fence about these, I played some games last night and it’s not bad, but I really wish they were better.. sticks don’t feel right and the dpad is kinda low/mushy, I wonder if these can be modded to improve the dpad especially
i got the orange and purple blade gc
ive played just about all the way through eternal darkness with the orange one and it seems ok
i did have it lock up once and needed to unplug the receiver
ill have to test the purple one
what app is that for joystick testing?
Have you tried it with with a stock unit without the GCLoader or Swiss?
Well this is disheartening. Two of these are arriving in the mail today, as I got my wife and daughter set up with the gamecube last weekend. Guess I will see if they notice.
Just a heads up, this issue makes the game Batalion Wars unplayable due to unable to select units with the C stick
this is a very important questions for shiny hunters. can u control multiple gamecubes with 1 controller using multiple receivers like u can with the wavebird controller?
No. The dongle only syncs to 1 controller at a time
I just ordered the blade 😬 for the Gameboy player. Dang I’m hoping
They even look cheap. Thank you for the review.
Maybe the company that made the controller got some new defective analog stick. There might be a whole box of defective sticks that they put in controllers and the only to know if the company puts out a notice to customers after everyone complains about defective analog sticks.
I wonder if it can be fixed with a firmware update or if it's just a physical design flaw...
I've bought 2 of their previous controllers, and am not very happy with either of them. Especially the PS2 Defender.
Sad to say, I'm probably just not going to buy this brand again. It seems like they're _trying,_ but the quality just isn't there.
i just tested my battlergc and bladegc and they both tested fine, 127-128 in each direction
FYI this is a bad implementation. Real GameCube controllers do not have any sort of complicated calibration process. When you plug in the controller, whatever value is read becomes the new "center". On top of that, you will never get the full range of analog output with a real GameCube controller as the stick gate stops the stick from moving the full range. The result is precisely calculated as -100 to +100 and this is intentional design from Nintendo. Developers, in error, see that the GameCube uses an 8 bit value for the analog stick and think they should use the entire range of values, but this only results in controls that are way too sensitive as you're hitting the maximum value way earlier in the tilt movement. You're essentially adding 25% more unnecessary values :(
You should also test the new controllers with an OEM Gamecube and OEM game disc.
Your modified GC may be causing issues. (Its doubtful, but ya never know)
If the OEM gamecube exhibits the same behavior then the argument is stronger.
i had a lot of issues with the ps1/ps2 defender controller, idk whats going on over there.
I ordered this controller since 2021 and they have two years to fix it and they gave me this issue. Huge disappointment
Hopefully this will be solvable through a software update. Otherwise i will have to recall the warranty and i really wouldn't want that :(
My controller works on gamecube but refuses to pair on switch. My reason for getting it was I could use on both 😢
Have there been any updates to fix this?
Anyone just not have theirs working in port one unless a regular controller is in port 2 controlling swiss?
Thanks for being honest.
Authentic drift 😂