Want to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or Mario Kart 8 with a Gamecube controller? How about going back to the old days by playing retro games with a SNES controller? Maybe connect up a NES or Wii attachment? The Numskull Nintendo Switch Wireless Retro Controller Converter can do this for you.
What Does It Do?
It does more than the title implies! You can attach a Gamecube controller or the controllers that can be attached to a Wii Remote, such as the controllers for the SNES and NES Classic consoles. This allows you to play with them ‘wirelessly’ on the Nintendo Switch.
I say wirelessly, but the controller cable remains in place. You just don’t have to connect it to the Switch dock. This is great if you want to use it in handheld mode with a controller.
Beyond what it says in the title, you can actually use this on PC too, albeit only when connected by a wire. It comes with a USB cable that isn’t only for charging the converter, but can be used to play with these controllers on a PC.
The Converter
The converter itself is a small unit with four buttons, some of which have been taken from the Switch controller to help navigation. When comparing to accessories such as the official wired Gamecube controller converter, this makes life a lot more convenient. Before I had to pull the Switch out of the dock to change the game, but with this, I can go to the home screen, take a screenshot or use the ‘-’ key. As a bonus, there’s a turbo button included too.
Three ports are included; a Gamecube controller port, a Wii remote attachment port, and a USB-C port. This should cover most people’s requirements.
Wireless with Switch
Using the Numskull Nintendo Switch Wireless Retro Controller Converter with the Nintendo Switch was a smooth experience. The initial pairing was fairly easy. It’s just a case of charging it up, navigating to the appropriate menu on the Switch, then holding the appropriate buttons (Home and C ) for a few seconds. After the initial pairing, reconnecting was quick too. I held the Home button for what felt like half a second and it was on. This is faster than some third-party controllers.
I primarily tested with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. While I’m not great at fighting games, I didn’t notice any input delay and it seemed to be an equal experience to using my official wired converter in those terms. Of course, this comes with the benefit of being ‘wireless’ and having the extra buttons on the converter as mentioned.
The converter does need to be charged up before use, but it never ran out during any of my gaming sessions.
Wired with PC
Using the Numskull Nintendo Switch Wireless Retro Controller Converter with a Windows PC is a bit more nuanced.
Setup is easy. You can connect the converter to a PC via the included USB cable. No need to charge first. Then you just insert the controller into the converter. It detects right away as an XBox 360 controller on the PC, so after connecting, it’s compatible with most games without any setup or issues – in theory.
Realistically though, it’s not compatible with quite a few games, as the connected controller itself won’t be. As an example, if you’ve got a Gamecube controller attached you can’t set the Z-Axis; That’s the amount the triggers are pressed down.
Due to the way certain controllers work including the Gamecube ones, the triggers are either on or off as buttons, not set at a variable level like modern controllers. Other games may just need buttons that the connected controller doesn’t have.
In practice, this rules out several games including almost any modern game with driving; It’s not a fault of the converter, but the limitation of the controllers that you may want to connect to the PC. With that said, I think most people buying this for PC will have older games that would suit these controllers in mind. For those purposes, it should be perfect.
The only downside here is there’s no option to connect wirelessly to PC via bluetooth. I can’t really complain though, as the website and packaging don’t even mention it being PC-compatible.
Verdict
The Numskull Nintendo Switch Wireless Retro Controller Converter is convenient and works without issue. For a similar price as other third-party converters that are both wired and only convert one type of controller, it’s great value too.
NUMSKULL NINTENDO SWITCH WIRELESS RETRO CONTROLLER CONVERTER IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Looking for more hardware? Maybe a headset? How about our review of the Gioteck TX70 Wireless Headset or the Logitech G432 Headset?
Many thanks go to Numskull Designs for providing a review unit for this title.
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
