Look. There are only so many times that you can rage quit after yet another 8th-place finish in Mario Kart before your friends stop playing with you. If the phrases “my controller isn’t a Pro” or “there’s drift on my controller” sound familiar, the new BattlerGC Pro controller is giving you one last chance to rise to the occasion.
And in this corner… the BattlerGC
Coming from Retro Fighters, the BattlerGC Pro is, in our opinion, the ultimate GameCube controller. Obviously, we’re way past the Game Cube days — but those controllers remain a zeitgeist staple. And for good reason. Retro Fighters has retained most of what made them so special, like that yellow C-stick that’s become so essential to any round of Smash. Don’t even get us started on that glorious purple hue.
While it holds onto the original GameCube controller’s best features, the BattlerGC Pro brings it up to 2024’s standards. It rocks hall-effect joysticks, a modernised design, and will even wirelessly hook up to your GameCube, Wii, or Wii U using a 2.4GHz controller dongle (and USB-to-GameCube adapter). Switch and PC get involved too, but instead use the controller’s Bluetooth functionality to get acquainted.
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Retro Fighters reckons the rechargeable battery can hold up to 10 hours of charge (topped up via the USB-C port), though we should see that going down if vibration feedback is turned up to max.
Unfortunately, Retro Fighters does not appear to ship to South Africa, according to the company’s FAQ. If you’re serious about upping the levels at your house, however, you’ll need to make a plan to pay the $80 cost (roughly R1,500) when pre-orders open on Wednesday, 1 May, and get it over the border. It might just be enough to get your abysmal Mario Kart placement up.