Wii Classic Controller Hacked - Plus Full Virtual Console List

Want to fix up your cabling? Read on

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Wii Classic Controller Hacked - Plus Full Virtual Console List
Many Wii owners have been grumbling, griping and generally moaning about one particular aspect of Nintendo’s Classic Controller for the console – the fact that the controller’s lead emerges from the bottom of the thing, instead of the top like, you know, normal.

No sooner does a bunch of Nintendo fanboys begin a-grumbling than there follows a quick fix in the shape of an easy to follow hardware hack, courtesy of the enterprising bloggers over at Nintendo Gal who inform us:

If you're one of those people who have whined about the position of the cord on the Classic Controller for the Wii and just can't stand having it dangle down, you can change that in approximately 5 minutes (assuming you have the correct tools).

The controller is completely functional, including the release clip for the Wiimote that is rumored to be released sometime in the future.

Here's what you're going to need for this quick project:
- Wii Classic Controller
- Dremel (trans: a power-tool brand) with cutting disc (or some attachment that'll allow you to make a cut in a small area)
- Triwing screwdriver (to open it up)
- (OPTIONAL) A lid or some small container to hold the 5 screws (so they don't go missing)

*Disclaimer* I take no responsibility if you screw up doing this and mess up your Classic Controller. Opening it will void your warranty, so do this at your own risk!!


If you fancy mucking about with your newly acquired hardware this Christmas to enable you to get full enjoyment from your Virtual Console games, then head over to Nintendo Gal for the full run-down.

Plus don't forget that the following Virtual Console titles are either already up, or imminent:

15th December releases:
* Alien Crush (TurboGrafx-16)
* Columns (Megadrive)
* Dr. Robotonik's Mean Bean Machine (Megadrive)
* Gunstar Heroes (Megadrive)
* Pinball (NES)
* Ristar (Megadrive)
* Solomon's Key (NES)
* Urban Champion (NES)

22nd December:
* Donkey Kong Jr. (NES)
* Military Madness (TurboGrafx-16)
* Soccer and Tennis (NES)
* Space Harrier II (Megadrive)
* Toe Jam & Earl (Megadrive)

29th December:
* Baseball (NES)
* Ice Hockey (NES)
* R-TYPE (TurboGrafx-16)
* SimCity (Super Nintendo)
* Super Castlevania IV (Super Nintendo)
* Super Probotector (Super Nintendo)
Companies:

Comments

Showing the 20 most recent comments. Read all 23.
LUPOS 21 Dec 2006 22:40
4/23
The whole idea behind this is retarded. The thing has a cord on the bottom cause it plugs into a remote which will most likely sit on ur lap or very near to you. Other controlers have the cord on top cause the console where it plugs in is in front of you. Dreamcast was bottom with a clip to hold it up so you could go either way. This "hack" is dumb.
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majin dboy 22 Dec 2006 02:46
5/23
im using my wii2rite this.thank u nintendo.
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vault 13 27 Dec 2006 17:22
6/23
Cords underneath has no benefit whatsoever. It's bad pre-design. Someone messed up and there was no room to send the cord out the top. I liked the DC clip and I see why the had to with the memory cards, but it did slip out sometimes.
LUPOS 27 Dec 2006 22:35
7/23
vault 13 wrote:
Cords underneath has no benefit whatsoever.


I'm convinced you just start arguments for fun. Anyway...


Thats why bottom cord makes sense. Stop fearing change people. It's not like they are asking you to use motion sensitive wands to play zelda!

EDIT:Damned image looks even s**ttier when squished :/
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vault 13 28 Dec 2006 05:35
8/23
What I mean is, just make the controller wireless as it is. I'm sure it has room inside for an infrared or bluetooth chip or whatever. I understand the not wanting to invoke the motion sensor capabilities, but I'm sure they could of left that out.
tyrion 28 Dec 2006 11:42
9/23
LUPOS wrote:
EDIT:Damned image looks even s**ttier when squished :/

But it's still a striking likeness of Lara on the back wall!
LUPOS 28 Dec 2006 14:57
10/23
vault 13 wrote:
What I mean is, just make the controller wireless as it is.


But i already paid 40 dollars for a wireless contoller and 20 for each nunchuck. Now you tell me if i want to play 4 player goldeneye on VC that im gonan have to go buy 4 more 40 dollar wireless classic controllers? I think not. I'll personaly be using standard wired GC controllers for the time being but when i do decide to start building out that collection im certainyl happier spending 20 on one that plugs into my already wireless remote than spenidng 40 or more for no good reason.

Its not a design flaw, its not some sort of last minute addition as you say, its well concieved. Its a relatively inexpensive way to give people a functional wireless control without charging to much. The whoel point of wii is to be more affordable and fun.
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Ditto 28 Dec 2006 15:27
11/23
LUPOS wrote:
Its not a design flaw, its not some sort of last minute addition as you say, its well concieved. Its a relatively inexpensive way to give people a functional wireless control without charging to much. The whoel point of wii is to be more affordable and fun.
____________


I think you may be being a little kind to Nintendo there. I haven't used one, therefore I guess my opinion counts for nothing :p, but having the chord come out of the bottom and then into a wireless remote seems a bit pointless when you could have a normal fully-wired or -wireless controller.
LUPOS 29 Dec 2006 05:06
12/23
Adam M wrote:
I think you may be being a little kind to Nintendo there.[ /quote]

But it's an accesory! I know there where plenty of times when the wire was left hanging from the bottom of my DC controllers and no one ever minde or cared. Even if it was comming out the bottom it still went away from me twords the tv. It never got in the way. And besides that the point of the "HACK" in question is to make it go out the top... not go out the top and into the console. It still conects to the remote. Admitedly i can understand the desire for a controller that just plugs in or is wireless on its own... but if im not mistaken those are called game cube controllers and wavebirds, its got port for them and they do the same thing.

I personaly dont own any as i dont care to spend the money on it so im certainly not prasing the thing needlesly. Im just saying cutting one up to make a wire come out the top and then go into your lap is retarded. Especially on a system with such a different control scheme to begin with.

Oy, my head hurts.
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tyrion 29 Dec 2006 23:40
13/23
LUPOS wrote:
Its not a design flaw, its not some sort of last minute addition as you say, its well concieved. Its a relatively inexpensive way to give people a functional wireless control without charging to much. The whoel point of wii is to be more affordable and fun.

The whole idea of the Wii was to be simpler to draw in the non-gaming crowd, so the Wii Remote was slimmed down to almost no buttons.

Then the Wii Remote had to have an add-on to allow Metroid to be played on the Wii. Fair enough, it also allowed Wii Sports Boxing and Zelda to be played.

Then Nintendo decided it would be a good idea to have the virtual console and re-sell their old games again, after re-selling them on GBA and DS.

Now we have the classic controller add-on to the Wii Remote since you can only play NES games with a d-pad and two buttons and not everybody has a Wavebird to use.

What about that lot was well conceived apart from the initial "make it simpler" approach?
LUPOS 31 Dec 2006 06:23
14/23
tyrion wrote:
What about that lot was well conceived apart from the initial "make it simpler" approach?


unless I'm crazy the Nunchuk and the accesories where both show last december at TGS when the whole control scheme was revealed meaning it was planned at least a year before it was released.

Just because a design starts with an idea and ends with a sligthly defferent finished product doesnt imply it was poorly concieved or hastly done. It's a procces.
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tyrion 31 Dec 2006 12:19
15/23
LUPOS wrote:
unless I'm crazy the Nunchuk and the accesories where both show last december at TGS when the whole control scheme was revealed meaning it was planned at least a year before it was released.

Of course, but th fact that the Nunchuck was nor originally included in the Wii controller scheme and had to be suggested by the software side of Nintendo points to a dilution of the original "pure" and "simple" approach to the controller.

Now we have the classic controller add-on and the possible zapper controller shell. We also have the wheel shell and I'm sure there will be more in the future.

It's not exactly a simple set up is it? Not when you may have to make reference to controller compatibility charts to see what you should pick up depending on what game you want to play. And that chart only covers the three basic controllers, ignoring the Nunchuck add-on and any controller shells that may come along later.

LUPOS wrote:
Just because a design starts with an idea and ends with a sligthly defferent finished product doesnt imply it was poorly concieved or hastly done. It's a procces.

Yeah, but you can also see when an idea has strayed from the original "pure" course and has had to resort to additional controllers and the like. When you see that you can see changing requirements during the design phase, never a good idea, or you can see a poorly thought out initial idea, also a bad thing.

Given that the Wii is meant to be inclusive and easy to pick up and that the in-box game has a sub-game that requires the Nunchuck and that the others can't be played with it, don't you think that the out of the box setup has some complications to it?

Please note: I'm not saying that the Wii is hugely complicated to use, far from it, but there is an element in the use of the console that can cause some confusion.

However, the original point was about the classic controller, which is an obvious late addition to the whole design process that was mandated by the inclusion of the virtual console, which is a direct response to Live Arcade.

Think about it, a piece of functionality, delivered with the console, requires an add-on controller that isn't included with the console. That add-on controller uses the original controller for nothing other than communicating with the console, the Wii Remote is an appendix when you are playing virtual console games other than NES ones. It's not that well thought out if you ask me.
LUPOS 2 Jan 2007 14:51
16/23
tyrion wrote:
Of course, but th fact that the Nunchuck was nor originally included in the Wii controller scheme and had to be suggested by the software side of Nintendo points to a dilution of the original "pure" and "simple" approach to the controller.


I believe the point of the Wii was to be "New Generation", to "reach the largest possible demographic" to "win back all the lost gamers, intice the non games, and please the hardcore all at once". I think the final Remore/Nunchuck Design does that beautifully, and so do the 3 million people who have bought them already.

tyrion wrote:
Now we have the classic controller add-on and the possible zapper controller shell. We also have the wheel shell and I'm sure there will be more in the future.


Can i make my 360 pad feel liek a gun? Can i make it feel liek a steering wheel? can i make it feel like what is supposed to feel liek with the addition of a simple inexpensive little chuck of plastic? No. The simple shape and small size of it alows it to take on many forms. Sure it feel like a sword handle or a fishing pole on its own, but with just a littl ebit fo addition and can help to add even more emerision to a game. Good design idea.

tyrion wrote:
It's not exactly a simple set up is it? Not when you may have to make reference to controller compatibility charts to see what you should pick up depending on what game you want to play. And that chart only covers the three basic controllers, ignoring the Nunchuck add-on and any controller shells that may come along later.


The system comes with a nunchuck and a remote, that is all you need to paly any game. Sure they coudl bundle them together and refer to it as a siongle unit... but then when i break a 20 dollar nunchuck ill have to buy a 60 dolalr "Wii controller", no thanks. The game cube controller plays all the games the classic controller does plus gamecube games, so if you have a gamecube you have them already and if not then you can get a cheap 20 dolalr controller to play extra games.


Tyrion wrote:
Yeah, but you can also see when an idea has strayed from the original "pure" course and has had to resort to additional controllers and the like. When you see that you can see changing requirements during the design phase, never a good idea, or you can see a poorly thought out initial idea, also a bad thing.


You keep on this "pure" thing but i was always under the impresion that it was supposed to be revolutionary and intuitive, not overly simplified. The concept of the remote is a great one but there are certain things it just owuldnt work for. So they started with an idea and built on it. Besides, if your one of those "non gamers" that ends up gettign the system cause wii sports was fun when your nephew brought it over.. your probably not going to want to try and beat super moario world. So it doesnt affect you.

Tyrion wrote:
Given that the Wii is meant to be inclusive and easy to pick up and that the in-box game has a sub-game that requires the Nunchuck and that the others can't be played with it, don't you think that the out of the box setup has some complications to it?


No, it comes with a nunchuck. Would you prefer it being permanatly wired to the thing? Its an adaptable system that allows for more intuitive gameplay no matter the gametype. What if someone decided to make one player use two remotes at once, will that be more design flaws from nintendo then for not making the remote able to point in two directiosn at once?

Tyrion wrote:
However, the original point was about the classic controller, which is an obvious late addition to the whole design process that was mandated by the inclusion of the virtual console, which is a direct response to Live Arcade.


Completley agreee on the arcade thing, but again your definition of late addition doesnt necesarily agree with my own. Like i said previously, I believe they showed the classic control over a year before the systems launch. It was a way to fill a need. Would you prefer to not be able to super mario world just to keep your consoel experience pure? Shoudl i assume youve never bought a racing wheel or light gun in all your years of gaming?

Tyrion wrote:
Think about it, a piece of functionality, delivered with the console, requires an add-on controller that isn't included with the console. That add-on controller uses the original controller for nothing other than communicating with the console, the Wii Remote is an appendix when you are playing virtual console games other than NES ones. It's not that well thought out if you ask me.


I don't recal anyone asking you ;)

a platform is called a platform because it is a base to build on. Slighting anyoen for comeing up with creative means to play games hardly seems productive. I cant even begin to image the kidn of crazy accesories that controller will recieve over its life time and think its chamelon like power is one of its greatest assets.
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tyrion 2 Jan 2007 16:28
17/23
LUPOS wrote:
Like i said previously, I believe they showed the classic control over a year before the systems launch.

And the motion-sensing abilities of the sixaxis were shown six months before launch, but we all agree that they were a late addition. Do we assume that the break point for "not a late addition" is somewhere between six and 12 months?

LUPOS wrote:
It was a way to fill a need. Would you prefer to not be able to super mario world just to keep your consoel experience pure?

I've managed this long without playing SMB/W, I don't see why I should need to start playing it now.

LUPOS wrote:
Shoudl i assume youve never bought a racing wheel or light gun in all your years of gaming?

You can assume and you'd be right. The only controller I have ever bought that was not an additional copy of the controller supplied with the console was a dual shock for my PS1 so I could play Gran Turismo with an analogue controller.

LUPOS wrote:
a platform is called a platform because it is a base to build on. Slighting anyoen for comeing up with creative means to play games hardly seems productive. I cant even begin to image the kidn of crazy accesories that controller will recieve over its life time and think its chamelon like power is one of its greatest assets.

The simple fact is that add-ons don't sell. That is a taken, given, assumed and respected point of the console business. However, now we have the classic controller that is an add-on, but is required to make use of functionality that ships with the console. Or you could put up with "old gen" wires.

But none of that addresses the basic point that the classic controller needs to be plugged in to a Wii Remote. This is silly. Just put a Bluetooth system in the classic and it won't need to be connected to a remote. And we won't have to put up with silly "hacks" to change where the cable comes out of the controller!
LUPOS 2 Jan 2007 17:51
18/23
tyrion wrote:
And the motion-sensing abilities of the sixaxis were shown six months before launch, but we all agree that they were a late addition. Do we assume that the break point for "not a late addition" is somewhere between six and 12 months?


ironically enough i peg it at exactly 364 days :-D
Sixaxis was a direct reaction to the Wii remote. VC was a direct Reaction to XBLA. The classic controller was a necesary extention of that however that by default does not make its implimentation rushed. I personly feel it is a well concieved design that suites its purpose well.


tyrion wrote:
I've managed this long without playing SMB/W, I don't see why I should need to start playing it now.


You shouldnt, and you also shouldnt be concerned about the direction of the wire on the controller that is designed for that express purpose. Yet here we are.

tyrion wrote:
You can assume and you'd be right. The only controller I have ever bought that was not an additional copy of the controller supplied with the console was a dual shock for my PS1 so I could play Gran Turismo with an analogue controller.


So you never buy accesories and have no interest in playign old nintendo games on the Wii, hmmm.

tyrion wrote:
The simple fact is that add-ons don't sell. That is a taken, given, assumed and respected point of the console business. However, now we have the classic controller that is an add-on, but is required to make use of functionality that ships with the console. Or you could put up with "old gen" wires.


I seem to recal you counter pointing me in a previous discussion about how succesfully the eye toy is as its sold some ten million units. The times they do change and your simple taken, given, rewrapped and regifted fact does not hold water. As you have previously pointed out when defending sony :)

tyrion wrote:
But none of that addresses the basic point that the classic controller needs to be plugged in to a Wii Remote. This is silly. Just put a Bluetooth system in the classic and it won't need to be connected to a remote. And we won't have to put up with silly "hacks" to change where the cable comes out of the controller!


So you dont want to pay for old games over again, you dont spend money on accesories (unless they are from sony j/k), and you think the wii is all about pure simple fun... yet you want to make an even more expensive accesory instead of the simple cheap one they have now so that people can buy even more recharagable batteries and spend another $160 minimum in order to play 4 player golden eye.

Confusing your logic is.
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tyrion 2 Jan 2007 18:58
19/23
LUPOS wrote:
I seem to recal you counter pointing me in a previous discussion about how succesfully the eye toy is as its sold some ten million units. The times they do change and your simple taken, given, rewrapped and regifted fact does not hold water. As you have previously pointed out when defending sony :)

The eye toy is the most successful add-on I know about and it's sold to a maximum of 10% of it's potential audience and included a game along with the hardware, that's useless and proves my point above. I can't remember the other discussion, so I can't really comment on that.

LUPOS wrote:
So you dont want to pay for old games over again, you dont spend money on accesories (unless they are from sony j/k), and you think the wii is all about pure simple fun... yet you want to make an even more expensive accesory instead of the simple cheap one they have now so that people can buy even more recharagable batteries and spend another $160 minimum in order to play 4 player golden eye.

The Wii CC is $30 or there about, isn't it, the Wii remote is about $75 and a wavebird is around $35, about $25 higher than the basic GameCube controller - I'm taking these prices from Amazon so shoot me if I have them wrong. Based on that lot, I can't see a wireless Classic costing much above $60. It won't be as expensive as the Remote since it won't need the motion sensing equipment of the CCD to pick up the IR LEDs in the sensor bar. In fact a sixaxis is under $43 on Amazon, so a wireless CC should be closer to $40.

That is a lot if you want to play four-player games, true, but as it stands you have to buy 4 CCs and 3 Remotes. That's $345 by the prices above. If you only want to play VC games four-player and a wireless CC was available four player, you'd shell out 4 x $40 or $160 by my estimated costs above. That's a $185 saving. Even if its $60 each, you're still saving $105 over the current costs.

Of course, that's assuming you don't have any extra Wii remotes, but the $185 saving will more than pay for 2 of them.

And again, you have to buy hardware to make use of a feature of the console that is available out of the box. But at least you don't have a wire running to a wireless controller that you aren't using to play the game you want to play at the time.
LUPOS 2 Jan 2007 21:01
20/23
tyrion wrote:
The eye toy is the most successful add-on I know about and it's sold to a maximum of 10% of it's potential audience and included a game along with the hardware, that's useless and proves my point above. I can't remember the other discussion, so I can't really comment on that.


If im not crazy i think it started off from talk of xbox live and how it only had like a 10% attach rate. But thats nto terriebly important. What is important is what measures succes for a peripheral. I'd persoanly liek to know how many zapperes to NES's there are. Also you keep talkign about VC like its a system sellign feature. Xboxlive is freee now to use the arcade and MS is still just barely cracking the 50% line with pay gold and silver combined. Those are the more hardcore onlien gaming types. You really think with nintendo sellign to femalses and the elderly that they are even going ot hit that number anytime soon?


Tyrion wrote:
A whol elot of numbers that confuse me greatly


If i'm the sort of person who likes multiplayer games (one of the biggest reasons to own a nintendo system honestly) then i dont think the number of remots is a factor. Im sure i would have enough remotes to play 4 player tennis long before i worry about 4 player vc games. but for the sake of simplicity: if i want to play an n64 game on my wii right now it cost me $20 MSRP for a CC to sit comfortably on my coach, any distance form the wii, and play those games. Your idea is to make it wireless on its own, freeing completley of teather which if we use the sixaxis for comparison minus the motion sensing, woudl be at least 30 bucks, plus the cost of batteries. A 50% increase in price to not have a wire that attaches to your imediate surounidngs. Not to mention that it woudl increase the things wait by almost double and kind of tuin the snes pad like feel that it has. Not a terribel cost but not one i think is worth while.

And again, you have to buy hardware to make use of a feature of the console that is available out of the box. But at least you don't have a wire running to a wireless controller that you aren't using to play the game you want to play at the time.


I think your inventing a problem, i have to pay for internet before i can use VC, i have to have a wiresless router or a USB adapter before i can use vc, are these rushed and poorly designed? Hell, i had to download an update for my wii befor ei coudl use my SD memormy card as a freakign memomry card. There are certainly things worth complaining about, i just dont see this as one of them.

you have a wireless controller capable of accepting many kinds of accesories, why would i pay a high price for an accesory on a system whose maine purpose is to be inexpensive and fun. You know, simple.

Would you prefer this?

If someone is going to hack something they shoudl at least make something cool like this.
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Ditto 2 Jan 2007 21:39
21/23
LUPOS wrote:
Also you keep talkign about VC like its a system sellign feature


It *is* a system-selling feature, especially as there are just a couple of Wii games of note at the moment, and probably won't be more than that for the next six months or so.

Most of the people I know who have purchased Wiis knew about the VC ability and took it into consideration when purchasing, have downloaded something from VC.

Should Nintendo decide to release, say, Mario RPG and the Earthbound series on VC, this would be a big boost for Wii for people like me who really want to play those games.
LUPOS 2 Jan 2007 23:06
22/23
Adam M wrote:
It *is* a system-selling feature, especially as there are just a couple of Wii games of note at the moment, and probably won't be more than that for the next six months or so.


Don't get me wrong, i love the idea and fully intend to use it... once im over my zelda addiction. But if it didnt exist, i still would have bought a Wii, and i think most others woudl have too. But i coudl be wrong.
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jacqueline 27 Aug 2008 13:02
23/23
hi. i have bough sonic on gamecube and also bought the classic controller so i can play it but its not working. why is this??? when it says press start, i do and nothing happend. do i need an old gamecube controller?
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