Right now, again keeping this thing viable we could have gone out and created a brand new controller. Ive talked to a lot of developers and its important to them to have the dual analog sticks for twin-stick shooters and a variety of things. The reason weve kept those is even though they arent really that retro, there are some great advantages to those sticks in retro games. We wanted to leave those on at the request of the majority of the developers were talking with. And then I also wanted to have your classic D-pad in there. One of the issues I dont know, issue 3 or 4 of Retro magazine, we do a swag-bag spread, a feature on retro video game merchandise. We had a short blurb on Interworks Unlimiteds controller for the Wii. Now, I looked at that and I thought, in my head, thats exactly what I have envisioned for this thing. It has the dual analog sticks mated up with a classic SNES-style controller.
This one.
[picture of Wii U SNES-style Pro controller]
We went to Interworks and talked to them, and at least at this point, it appears that were going to be working with them. Theyll be creating a new USB controller for us thats going to look like that one, but branded for our console. That controller is classic. There are some concerns with it. Theyve given me some. The quality of it feels great. It doesnt feel like Im not going to name other manufacturers, but it feels like a really nice, sturdy controller. People have had issues with the connectivity to the Wii on that particular controller at times, but were not wireless, so that shouldnt affect us. I dont mind. I think its going to be a great controller for developers to exploit. It has everything theyre going to want. It has everything the younger modern-day gamers will like and it has everything the classic gamers will like. It has the D-pad. The buttons are all oriented properly. I just think its going to be a really good controller.
The plan is to pack in two controllers in each box. Were also going to, I think again, this is a little tentative because it hasnt happened yet, but were planning on putting two nine-pin connectors in front as well, so that people can plug in old Ataris or any other classic nine-pin old-school controller.