A Better Mouse Trap?

The Wiimote, many people were taken a back when Nintendo announced this redesign of a peripheral that has been around since before the company was making video games. That’s right kids Nintendo used to be a card game company, but outside of the history lesson here, they “revolutionized” the design of the video game controller when they announced the Wii.

In fact so revolutionary that Sony decided to add Wii style game play with the PS Move, but the system did need an upgrade recently when Nintendo added Motion Plus to the system, but by adding Motion Plus they also added more body to the remote and made some of the accessories that people use utterly useless.

  And that’s where Snake Byte comes to the rescue, with their Premium Remote XL+. Now to be honest I have one complaint about it that I have to point out to everyone, the name; XL+ makes it sound like a larger controller that I have been begging for since the release of Super Mario Bros Wii that forces you to play the game with the controller held sideways. Now if you are like me the controller for the Wii are too small and when I saw the name of the remote I assumed that it was larger and that maybe someone herd my cries for help in that department, but sadly I am yet to find someone who has listened to that.

Outside out of that fact this controller has some very sweet details to it that place Nintendo to some shame in their manufacturing. Let’s start with one of the more obvious features the size, even with Wii Motion Plus built in the remote stays at the same dimensions that the original Wiimote was designed to have and that means that you can still use the Steering Wheel for Mario Kart and other racing games and of course the sports toys that you can slip the remote into to enhance the game play.

Another obvious feature that you can see when you examine the remote, is that it has an outside sync button to make it easier to take your controller to other peoples systems and join in on a game and not having to remove a protective skin or the back plate of the remote in order to do so is a godsend. Trust me it just makes life a little easier in the Wii system life span.

To add more into the premium part of the controller, it comes with Energizer rechargeable batteries and a USB cable to help you keep the device charged. And on top of this you also get two lanyards with the remote, now this may not be a big deal but since the original lanyards have a tendency to break in the original release of the system, it seems that once again Snake Byte has thought ahead and made sure that if you somehow manage to break this sturdy lanyard you do have a replacement.

Now when it comes to the button layout, well like I mentioned before I do not like the Wiimote due to its small button layout, Snake Byte does use the same button layout and if only someone would make a larger remote with larger buttons. But of course I do not hold this against Snake Byte, I simply ask this: Please Make a Larger One for Me! 

That is all and with what little dignity I have left I highly recommend this controller as a replacement Wiimote and especially if you want to get a Wii Motion Plus controller and not lose the ability to use all the accessories designed for your favorite games. The price is set just right and the rechargeable batteries will save you some money in the long run and the USB cable will make it easy to charge it anywhere.

Snake Byte

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