Hands on: Official higher capacity Wii U GamePad battery and Wii Remote Quick Charge Set
A couple of months ago, Nintendo announced a slew of new accessories for the Wii U and even some for the Wii.
Among those were an official higher capacity battery for the Wii U GamePad and a Wii Remote Control Quick Charge set. Both of these items were released in Japan last week and we’ve imported them over here to Australia to check them out, trying to play Pikmin 3 attached the wall just wasn’t getting any more fun either.
Let’s take a look, there’s also a video at the bottom with more.
Wii U GamePad Battery (2550mAh) ~$40AU
The Wii U GamePad is beautiful in its simplicity, it’s only a battery after all. However what it does is take the Wii U GamePad’s battery life from around 3 to 5 hours to a massive 5 to 8 hours. It’s capacity is increased to 2550mAh, up from a mere 1500mAh.
Now Nintendo is usually one err on the side of caution when stating the battery life of things but the Wii U GamePad battery is pretty terrible. Since we’ve just got the battery, we haven’t been able to test it for an extreme amount of time yet, but at double the size it is definitely going to last longer than 3 hours.
Installing the battery was a breeze, included in the little box with the battery was a handy tiny little screwdriver and the other battery just is easily pull out and the new one slides snugly in.
Wii Remote Control Quick Charge Set ~$55AU
Can you believe it has taken Nintendo 7 years to release an official Wii Remote charging solution? Sure there has been many others from third parties but Nintendo saw fit to wait until they release their next console to even bother.
The Wii Remote Control Quick Charge Set comes with a charging cradle, Wii Remote battery pack, Wii Remote condom jacket, Wii Remote Strap and even a Nintendo 3DS charger to power it all. So far there’s only black ones available so consider your purchase before you buy one of these.
Installation is simple, grab your Wii Remote and take out those cruddy AA batteries. Throw them at your younger sibling, you won’t need them anymore. Place the new battery pack in the slot – that’s it you’re done.
So what about changing it then? Well now you can just plug that spare 3DS charger into the base and place the Wii Remote onto the base. It snaps and holds into place fairly well. It even holds its spot with the Wii Remote condom jacket on as well.
What’s strange here is that even though Nintendo have included a black cover for the battery, the Wii Remote condom jacket is that hideous translucent. The new jacket also has that extra hole for the battery pack, so don’t even think about swapping it out.
Both items are great additions to the Wii slash Wii U lineup of accessories, the battery fixes a great deficiency in the Wii U and the Wii Remote charger is extremely overdue. If you’re keen to buy, Play-Asia have them for sale, it’s where we got them and buying them through the links above will help out Vooks.
Hands On Video
Does the Quick Charge Station battery pack state how good it is? I mean the mAh and how long it should last for per session? Can the rechargable batteries contained within be replaced?
The 3rd party ones like from Energizer etc. tend to be around 500 to 700mAh and are absolutely abysmal at keeping the wii remote powered for over an hour and you can’t change the batteries!
Are you going to review the new Gamepad battery at a later date? It would be nice to know how long it lasts and if it’s worth the purchase!
Not to be all negative, but I feel like Nintendo planed the Gamepad battery from the beginning: the fact that they left a big hole in the Gamepad, with the smaller battery; then to fill the hole with a better one. It just seems suspicious, a plan to maximize profits.
@99 Lives – I doubt it was about profit but keeping the cost of the console down as much as possible. The Gamepad reportedly costs upwards of $150 to manufacture so they were bound to cut corners wherever they could!
Anyone know where this can be purchased from to ship to the UK?
I’m assuming that’s an Australian Wii u gamepad u put the extended
battery in?
This new WiiU battery can be used in a USA Gamepad?
Yes
How I would LOVE to pickup both the official Wii U extended battery and the Wiimote charger.