Aside the fact that the infrared sensor would obviously make it impossible to play in portable mode, it was already half-obsolete when Nintendo released the Wiimote+ that had a gyroscope. The only...
Aside the fact that the infrared sensor would obviously make it impossible to play in portable mode, it was already half-obsolete when Nintendo released the Wiimote+ that had a gyroscope. The only downside of it is that you need to recalibrate it once in a while to set its "neutral" state.
And honestly, if you want good controllers with a gyroscope, look at how Steam did it with the Steam Controller back in 2015, and now on the Steam Deck: the gyroscope can be triggered on demand, e.g. by putting your thumb on the stick or the trackpad, because having it active all the time is pretty terrible.
Aren't current-gen gyroscopes still not achieving the same high precision level as the Wii Remote's combination of motion sensor/gyroscope and IR pointer does? Good luck trying to aim quickly and...
Exemplary
Aren't current-gen gyroscopes still not achieving the same high precision level as the Wii Remote's combination of motion sensor/gyroscope and IR pointer does? Good luck trying to aim quickly and accurately at the onslaught of foes in the challenging rail-shooter Sin & Punishment Star Successor with a Joy-Con!
At least up to the early 2020s, I remember experiencing and hearing among peoples how often the gyroscope's calibration would easily go off-centre, especially when rapidly tilting the device. So in practice, you'd need to recalibrate it every so often, or rely on a joystick to move the reticle quickly and then tilt the controller for fine-tuning the aim like in some of the Wii U and Switch Nintendo-published games.
The Wii/Wii U IR sensor bar not only serves to bring up the cursor on screen exactly to where a Wii Remote pointing at, but some games also use it as a way to automatically recalibrate the motion sensor. It's all done by lighting up one set of LEDs at each side of the screen, to which the IR pointer will rely on.
Embedding that technology above the screen like the Wii U GamePad did while not requiring to have the handheld tethered to an AC adapter can also enable the use of pointer control even in portable play. That, however, still takes more room between the player and the handheld than usual in order to use pointer control more effectively.
I wish that more people (including at Nintendo) understood how big of a difference this makes.
The Wii/Wii U IR sensor bar not only serves to bring up the cursor on screen exactly to where a Wii Remote pointing at, but some games also use it as a way to automatically recalibrate the motion sensor. It's all done by lighting up one set of LEDs at each side of the screen, to which the IR pointer will rely on.
I wish that more people (including at Nintendo) understood how big of a difference this makes.
I mean, frankly, I've found the ability to be pointing anywhere and recentering by just pressing R/+ to be far more ergonomic. So I'm always miffed by people who want the IR pointer back.
I mean, frankly, I've found the ability to be pointing anywhere and recentering by just pressing R/+ to be far more ergonomic. So I'm always miffed by people who want the IR pointer back.
So I just picked up the Retro Shooter Reaper 3 light gun and like others that use the four IR lights around the monitor, it's excellent. I was using a Wiimote with a community software previously,...
So I just picked up the Retro Shooter Reaper 3 light gun and like others that use the four IR lights around the monitor, it's excellent. I was using a Wiimote with a community software previously, but there's no comparison.
For anybody who's kept up with the tech enabling light guns non CRTs, it's not simple. Some use white borders within the screen to help with aiming, others use top and bottom IR - it's a dog's breakfast, and none of them work as well as the OG zapper.
That all said, I really like this unit and am happy to say that with a fisheye lens, they're super responsive. If Nintendo were to bring back the Wiimote, I hope that they'd develop it in this direction.
How’s the accuracy as you head towards the corners of the screen? I’ve got a Gun4IR setup and it’s amazing, but the pointer does get slightly off as I approach the corners. It’s not a huge deal,...
How’s the accuracy as you head towards the corners of the screen?
I’ve got a Gun4IR setup and it’s amazing, but the pointer does get slightly off as I approach the corners.
It’s not a huge deal, as nearly everything I play is in 4:3 and doesn’t even use those parts of the screen, but I’m curious if the Reaper 3 has the same issue.
I think technically the joycon do everything the Wii remote can do. I'm not sure how they'd solve the sensor bar issue. It was the form factor of the Wii remote that was the greatest thing about...
I think technically the joycon do everything the Wii remote can do. I'm not sure how they'd solve the sensor bar issue. It was the form factor of the Wii remote that was the greatest thing about it imho.
I agree. The shape of the Wii Remote was just so ergonomic, especially for point-and-click mechanics. The Joy-Cons are so tiny and unwieldy in comparison.
I agree. The shape of the Wii Remote was just so ergonomic, especially for point-and-click mechanics. The Joy-Cons are so tiny and unwieldy in comparison.
The joycons are honestly the worst part of the switch IMHO. The only controller that I can think of that is more fiddly is the 8bitdo Zero, a controller that was designed to be as small as...
The joycons are honestly the worst part of the switch IMHO. The only controller that I can think of that is more fiddly is the 8bitdo Zero, a controller that was designed to be as small as realistically possible. The switch doesn't really gain anything from removing the joycons from it's docks, so the only real occasion it really makes any sense to detatch it is if you're going to be playing a two-player game on the go and hunch over the relatively tiny screen - something I have literally never witnessed in the wild.
I assume you consider the plastic controller mold thing a “dock”, otherwise I mean anytime you use the switch in docked mode you’d detach the joycons. I often use the joycons separated from each...
I assume you consider the plastic controller mold thing a “dock”, otherwise I mean anytime you use the switch in docked mode you’d detach the joycons.
I often use the joycons separated from each other. Sometimes it’s just more comfortable to be able to let my hands be wherever they want to be instead of forced together. Obviously it’s necessary for some motion control games like the skyward sword remaster.
Also, it is useful for party games. Every switch is two controllers for Mario party or Mario kart or even smash in a pinch. It’s not optimal, but it’s a lot easier to find 2 people with joycons for 4 player Mario kart than 4 controllers.
Nope! If I'm playing the thing with it docked, it's going to be with a different controller. Even with the joycon dock thing I find the experience really uncomfortable, with the placement of the...
Nope! If I'm playing the thing with it docked, it's going to be with a different controller. Even with the joycon dock thing I find the experience really uncomfortable, with the placement of the d-pad particularly egregious.
I dislike party games myself, so I can't speak out of experience, but I can't see anyone wanting to play one of them portably since it's hard to get the screen where everyone can actually see it well enough. And if you're going to play it with a TV is the issue of how portable the controller is really that big of a deal?
I think the point about party games is that a lot of them only need one joycon, so you automatically have at least two controllers. Which I actually wish I knew last time my friends and I tried to...
I think the point about party games is that a lot of them only need one joycon, so you automatically have at least two controllers. Which I actually wish I knew last time my friends and I tried to play Mario Kart 8.
That said, playing with a single joycon definitely feels weird and wrong. I do have fairly small hands so it's not as bad for me as for some people, and I've played a few games with the joycons separated, but to play with just one? Definitely feels too small.
A lot of people only have joycons as the controller for their switch 2, so it’s a bit of a moot point. A lot? I mean, the usual context for a party game is that one person hosts and then other...
A lot of people only have joycons as the controller for their switch 2, so it’s a bit of a moot point.
And if you're going to play it with a TV is the issue of how portable the controller is really that big of a deal?
A lot? I mean, the usual context for a party game is that one person hosts and then other people need to bring controllers. The size and availability of joycons matter. Joycons come with the console, and you automatically get 2 of them. Two pro controllers are far larger in the bag and cost like $140 extra.
Don't worry, they'll bring em back to use with their next console's subscription VC at $120 for each throwback Wiimote-Nunchuck pairing. They'll have a shitty print run, though, because some exec...
Don't worry, they'll bring em back to use with their next console's subscription VC at $120 for each throwback Wiimote-Nunchuck pairing. They'll have a shitty print run, though, because some exec insisted the next console had to be called the Switch 2-II: Switch 2 Da New Console!. When pressed, the exec tells media "a bad name really worked out well for the Switch after the Wii U". They never get around to porting Radiant Dawn, causing used copies to skyrocket to $500.
This is my plan to afford the Switch 2. Thanks, Nintendo.
(Not joking about the VC, hopefully joking about the price. Probably not.)
This was still possible with the first iteration of Joy Cons, as discussed and shown in this article about World of Goo. It even works without a sensor bar! But apparently they removed the IR...
This was still possible with the first iteration of Joy Cons, as discussed and shown in this article about World of Goo. It even works without a sensor bar!
But apparently they removed the IR sensor from the Joy Con 2.
Nintendo are the true leaders of making features and peripherals that are only used a few times in a console's lifetime. The Wii may have had the most of these. One example that comes to mind is Wii Speak, which was mainly used for Animal Crossing (but does have some other supported games).
To be fair, not many Switch games really use the IR sensor for some reason. The main ones I remember using it were Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Galaxy in the All-Stars collection. Actually come...
To be fair, not many Switch games really use the IR sensor for some reason. The main ones I remember using it were Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Galaxy in the All-Stars collection. Actually come to think of it, I found it annoying to play SMG in handheld because you'd have to tap the touchscreen to collect the star things, and the tap does some other functions too. Meanwhile on docked I think you just need to have the cursor pass over them.
I get the motion detection isn't as refined as the Wiimote, but it's still a bit of a waste that so few games took advantage of it. It can add a bit of extra immersion or open new avenues for gameplay a bit. Similarly, barely any games use the speakers in the joycons. The only reason I know joycons can play sound is because of Luigi's Mansion 3.
...though your mention of Wii Speak now makes me disappointed that the Wii didn't get an official port of Seaman. Imagine if we could use the Wiimote to interact with him...
Aside the fact that the infrared sensor would obviously make it impossible to play in portable mode, it was already half-obsolete when Nintendo released the Wiimote+ that had a gyroscope. The only downside of it is that you need to recalibrate it once in a while to set its "neutral" state.
And honestly, if you want good controllers with a gyroscope, look at how Steam did it with the Steam Controller back in 2015, and now on the Steam Deck: the gyroscope can be triggered on demand, e.g. by putting your thumb on the stick or the trackpad, because having it active all the time is pretty terrible.
Aren't current-gen gyroscopes still not achieving the same high precision level as the Wii Remote's combination of motion sensor/gyroscope and IR pointer does? Good luck trying to aim quickly and accurately at the onslaught of foes in the challenging rail-shooter Sin & Punishment Star Successor with a Joy-Con!
At least up to the early 2020s, I remember experiencing and hearing among peoples how often the gyroscope's calibration would easily go off-centre, especially when rapidly tilting the device. So in practice, you'd need to recalibrate it every so often, or rely on a joystick to move the reticle quickly and then tilt the controller for fine-tuning the aim like in some of the Wii U and Switch Nintendo-published games.
The Wii/Wii U IR sensor bar not only serves to bring up the cursor on screen exactly to where a Wii Remote pointing at, but some games also use it as a way to automatically recalibrate the motion sensor. It's all done by lighting up one set of LEDs at each side of the screen, to which the IR pointer will rely on.
Embedding that technology above the screen like the Wii U GamePad did while not requiring to have the handheld tethered to an AC adapter can also enable the use of pointer control even in portable play. That, however, still takes more room between the player and the handheld than usual in order to use pointer control more effectively.
I wish that more people (including at Nintendo) understood how big of a difference this makes.
I mean, frankly, I've found the ability to be pointing anywhere and recentering by just pressing R/+ to be far more ergonomic. So I'm always miffed by people who want the IR pointer back.
So I just picked up the Retro Shooter Reaper 3 light gun and like others that use the four IR lights around the monitor, it's excellent. I was using a Wiimote with a community software previously, but there's no comparison.
https://retroshooter.com/rs3-reaper/#checkout
For anybody who's kept up with the tech enabling light guns non CRTs, it's not simple. Some use white borders within the screen to help with aiming, others use top and bottom IR - it's a dog's breakfast, and none of them work as well as the OG zapper.
That all said, I really like this unit and am happy to say that with a fisheye lens, they're super responsive. If Nintendo were to bring back the Wiimote, I hope that they'd develop it in this direction.
How’s the accuracy as you head towards the corners of the screen?
I’ve got a Gun4IR setup and it’s amazing, but the pointer does get slightly off as I approach the corners.
It’s not a huge deal, as nearly everything I play is in 4:3 and doesn’t even use those parts of the screen, but I’m curious if the Reaper 3 has the same issue.
I think technically the joycon do everything the Wii remote can do. I'm not sure how they'd solve the sensor bar issue. It was the form factor of the Wii remote that was the greatest thing about it imho.
I agree. The shape of the Wii Remote was just so ergonomic, especially for point-and-click mechanics. The Joy-Cons are so tiny and unwieldy in comparison.
Also the wiimote was infinitely better for their golf games
The joycons are honestly the worst part of the switch IMHO. The only controller that I can think of that is more fiddly is the 8bitdo Zero, a controller that was designed to be as small as realistically possible. The switch doesn't really gain anything from removing the joycons from it's docks, so the only real occasion it really makes any sense to detatch it is if you're going to be playing a two-player game on the go and hunch over the relatively tiny screen - something I have literally never witnessed in the wild.
I assume you consider the plastic controller mold thing a “dock”, otherwise I mean anytime you use the switch in docked mode you’d detach the joycons.
I often use the joycons separated from each other. Sometimes it’s just more comfortable to be able to let my hands be wherever they want to be instead of forced together. Obviously it’s necessary for some motion control games like the skyward sword remaster.
Also, it is useful for party games. Every switch is two controllers for Mario party or Mario kart or even smash in a pinch. It’s not optimal, but it’s a lot easier to find 2 people with joycons for 4 player Mario kart than 4 controllers.
Nope! If I'm playing the thing with it docked, it's going to be with a different controller. Even with the joycon dock thing I find the experience really uncomfortable, with the placement of the d-pad particularly egregious.
I dislike party games myself, so I can't speak out of experience, but I can't see anyone wanting to play one of them portably since it's hard to get the screen where everyone can actually see it well enough. And if you're going to play it with a TV is the issue of how portable the controller is really that big of a deal?
I think the point about party games is that a lot of them only need one joycon, so you automatically have at least two controllers. Which I actually wish I knew last time my friends and I tried to play Mario Kart 8.
That said, playing with a single joycon definitely feels weird and wrong. I do have fairly small hands so it's not as bad for me as for some people, and I've played a few games with the joycons separated, but to play with just one? Definitely feels too small.
A lot of people only have joycons as the controller for their switch 2, so it’s a bit of a moot point.
A lot? I mean, the usual context for a party game is that one person hosts and then other people need to bring controllers. The size and availability of joycons matter. Joycons come with the console, and you automatically get 2 of them. Two pro controllers are far larger in the bag and cost like $140 extra.
Don't worry, they'll bring em back to use with their next console's subscription VC at $120 for each throwback Wiimote-Nunchuck pairing. They'll have a shitty print run, though, because some exec insisted the next console had to be called the Switch 2-II: Switch 2 Da New Console!. When pressed, the exec tells media "a bad name really worked out well for the Switch after the Wii U". They never get around to porting Radiant Dawn, causing used copies to skyrocket to $500.
This is my plan to afford the Switch 2. Thanks, Nintendo.
(Not joking about the VC, hopefully joking about the price. Probably not.)
This was still possible with the first iteration of Joy Cons, as discussed and shown in this article about World of Goo. It even works without a sensor bar!
But apparently they removed the IR sensor from the Joy Con 2.
Nintendo are the true leaders of making features and peripherals that are only used a few times in a console's lifetime. The Wii may have had the most of these. One example that comes to mind is Wii Speak, which was mainly used for Animal Crossing (but does have some other supported games).
To be fair, not many Switch games really use the IR sensor for some reason. The main ones I remember using it were Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Galaxy in the All-Stars collection. Actually come to think of it, I found it annoying to play SMG in handheld because you'd have to tap the touchscreen to collect the star things, and the tap does some other functions too. Meanwhile on docked I think you just need to have the cursor pass over them.
I get the motion detection isn't as refined as the Wiimote, but it's still a bit of a waste that so few games took advantage of it. It can add a bit of extra immersion or open new avenues for gameplay a bit. Similarly, barely any games use the speakers in the joycons. The only reason I know joycons can play sound is because of Luigi's Mansion 3.
...though your mention of Wii Speak now makes me disappointed that the Wii didn't get an official port of Seaman. Imagine if we could use the Wiimote to interact with him...