Wii Classic Controller Pro coming to confused, oversized US living rooms in April
By Paul Miller 
posted January 25th 2010 9:19AM
posted January 25th 2010 9:19AM
The Perfect Bundle for Hunting Season: Monster Hunter® Tri and Wii Classic Controller Pro Come Together for the First Time in North America
Bundle Will Bring the Highly-Anticipated New Controller and Popular Franchise Together for the Ultimate Monster Hunting Experience on the Wii System
SAN MATEO, Calif. & REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Capcom® Entertainment, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, and Nintendo of America today announced an exciting new bundle featuring one of the most highly anticipated titles for 2010, Monster Hunter® Tri, and combining it with the new Classic Controller Pro™ for the Wii™ system. The Classic Controller Pro's more traditional control configuration will give gamers the ultimate Monster Hunting experience when the bundle becomes available in North America this April at a suggested retail price of $59.99.
"Monster Hunter Tri has made a huge splash in the Japanese market, and we're confident the bundle with the Classic Controller Pro will give fans in North America plenty to get excited about," said Steve Singer, Nintendo of America's vice president of Licensing. "Gamers of all kinds enjoy playing games on Wii. Monster Hunter Tri delivers an incredible new experience on Wii, while the Classic Controller Pro gives players even more control options for their favorite Wii games."
The new Classic Controller Pro includes a second row of shoulder buttons and ergonomically friendly grips. The Classic Controller Pro plugs directly into the Wii Remote™ controller, and until now, has been available only in the Japanese market.
The Classic Controller Pro will be compatible with more than 450 Wii, WiiWare™ and Virtual Console™ games. The Classic Controller Pro bundled with Monster Hunter Tri will be black, while both black and white versions of the controller will also be available separately at a suggested retail price of $19.99. The game will also be available without a controller at a suggested retail price of $49.99.
Making its North American debut on Wii this spring, Monster Hunter Tri is one of the most strikingly beautiful titles developed for Nintendo's Wii system. Pushing the hardware to the limit, Monster Hunter Tri depicts a living, breathing ecosystem where humans co-exist with majestic monsters that roam both dry land and brand new sub-aqua environments – a first for the series. Offering the player varied control configurations to suit their style of play, players can choose between the Classic Controller Pro, Wii Remote™ and Nunchuck™, or Classic Controller™ to slay the monsters that inhabit the world.
The Monster Hunter series has sold over 11 million units worldwide and has become a social phenomenon in Japan giving rise to training camps, dedicated festivals and numerous licensed products. According to Media Create, Monster Hunter Tri sold 520,000 units in its first week of release in Japan and became the leading title sold across all platforms for the week of its release.
For more information about Monster Hunter Tri, please visit: http://press.capcom.com
ABOUT CAPCOM
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man® and Devil May Cry®. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Tokyo, Korea and Hong Kong, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. More information about Capcom can be found on the company web site, www.capcom.com.
ABOUT NINTENDO
The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™, Nintendo DS™ and Nintendo DSi™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 3.2 billion video games and more than 535 million hardware units globally, including the current generation Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™ and Nintendo GameCube™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at www.Nintendo.com.
Bundle Will Bring the Highly-Anticipated New Controller and Popular Franchise Together for the Ultimate Monster Hunting Experience on the Wii System
SAN MATEO, Calif. & REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Capcom® Entertainment, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, and Nintendo of America today announced an exciting new bundle featuring one of the most highly anticipated titles for 2010, Monster Hunter® Tri, and combining it with the new Classic Controller Pro™ for the Wii™ system. The Classic Controller Pro's more traditional control configuration will give gamers the ultimate Monster Hunting experience when the bundle becomes available in North America this April at a suggested retail price of $59.99.
"Monster Hunter Tri has made a huge splash in the Japanese market, and we're confident the bundle with the Classic Controller Pro will give fans in North America plenty to get excited about," said Steve Singer, Nintendo of America's vice president of Licensing. "Gamers of all kinds enjoy playing games on Wii. Monster Hunter Tri delivers an incredible new experience on Wii, while the Classic Controller Pro gives players even more control options for their favorite Wii games."
The new Classic Controller Pro includes a second row of shoulder buttons and ergonomically friendly grips. The Classic Controller Pro plugs directly into the Wii Remote™ controller, and until now, has been available only in the Japanese market.
The Classic Controller Pro will be compatible with more than 450 Wii, WiiWare™ and Virtual Console™ games. The Classic Controller Pro bundled with Monster Hunter Tri will be black, while both black and white versions of the controller will also be available separately at a suggested retail price of $19.99. The game will also be available without a controller at a suggested retail price of $49.99.
Making its North American debut on Wii this spring, Monster Hunter Tri is one of the most strikingly beautiful titles developed for Nintendo's Wii system. Pushing the hardware to the limit, Monster Hunter Tri depicts a living, breathing ecosystem where humans co-exist with majestic monsters that roam both dry land and brand new sub-aqua environments – a first for the series. Offering the player varied control configurations to suit their style of play, players can choose between the Classic Controller Pro, Wii Remote™ and Nunchuck™, or Classic Controller™ to slay the monsters that inhabit the world.
The Monster Hunter series has sold over 11 million units worldwide and has become a social phenomenon in Japan giving rise to training camps, dedicated festivals and numerous licensed products. According to Media Create, Monster Hunter Tri sold 520,000 units in its first week of release in Japan and became the leading title sold across all platforms for the week of its release.
For more information about Monster Hunter Tri, please visit: http://press.capcom.com
ABOUT CAPCOM
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man® and Devil May Cry®. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Tokyo, Korea and Hong Kong, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. More information about Capcom can be found on the company web site, www.capcom.com.
ABOUT NINTENDO
The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™, Nintendo DS™ and Nintendo DSi™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 3.2 billion video games and more than 535 million hardware units globally, including the current generation Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™ and Nintendo GameCube™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at www.Nintendo.com.
@pizzaman Yeah, it has the same buttons as the 1st classic controller. Why did no one else catch on to that?
I'm gunna need a dedicated room in my house just for controllers and peripherals.......
Back to good old cables! eh!
If only games on the Wii could be updated. I'd love to play certain games with a controller instead of Nunchuck & Wiimote. Like FPS games.
Uh oh, Nintendo is giving into the hardcore crowd. I can almost taste the Wii HD.
Anyone else out there that would rather have a Bluetooth GC controller WITH rumble, the C stick replaced with a normal analogue stick and a NES/SNES D-pad instead of the smallest D-Pad known to man?
The perfect controller? It would be for me!
@Hobsie
This has the snes d-pad..... Have you not used the classic controller? The d-pad is as far as I can see identical to the size of the snes one.
Let me get this straight, can we FINALLY be able to play Nintendo games without the use of the wiimote. Im a huge Nintendo fan but I would much rather sit down with a controller then stand and move around while I play my games.
@jph89
Well it is a good job then that the vast majority of wii games do not need you to stand up and move about then isn't it.....
And no, this is a new version of the classic controller (that has been out for quite a while). It is mainly to play virtual console games, but is enabled in some other games too eg The brilliant Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
In fact the "classic controller" has been available since the launch of the system.
This controller is great. It melts in your hands, it's even more confortable than GC's - the most confortable controller ever made.
You guys don't know what you're missing.
I just wanted that the GC button pattern would become standard. It's the most intuitive so far. It's impossoble to mistake/forget what button do what.
I've been personally waiting for this to come to the states. I already have one Classic Controller, and though I usually use it as my gamepad when I play some games on the PC, I hate the location of the ZL and ZR buttons.
This controller should definitely satisfy my needs, and I'll finally have 2 Classic Controllers.
i think this is pretty cool 0.0 but we can always just plug the classic controllers into the top no?
Screw controllers, get us some more decent games.
@Caprice0083
Or make new ones that will support this control scheme, you could play Modern Warfare 2 with this thing, The graphics would be your problem.
I have one of these and I use it to play F1 2009. It's great, although the shoulder buttons are all buttons, not triggers like on PS3 or Xbox 360.
Also one thing to note - they moved some of the buttons around on this compared to the original Classic Controller. You might find that in some games the config doesn't really feel good because it expects the buttons to be elsewhere.
Oh Great I work at Target and the Wii owners are already confused and now this is going to even confuse them worse great
Let me get this straight, you are shamed because Nintendo is increasing the options you have? It's not like they are requiring you to use this new controller, they are just saying "hey, we have this if you want it..or not...whatever."
Since when is choice a bad thing?
just get a NES, or SNES.
The X and Y axis are still wrong!
Well, idk about you guys, but if Monster Hunter 3 is release in Europe and America without the pointless monthly fee like the JP version I'm so gonna buy the package with the controller.
So...... they made a dualshock controller?
"to ensure us Americans were being properly Nintend'd to."
Should read "...too." Duh. Just sayin'.
I've avoided the CC due to having to plug it into the Wii Remote. Sounds like an awkward set-up. Is the CC's tethered thing as lame as I imagine it to be?
@jastani
No, the set up is fine. The downside is that you have the tether and need somewhere to rest the wiimote (usually on your lap or next to you on the chair) which I have not found to be a particular problem so far. The upside is that the pad is effectively wireless but without the need for batteries or syncing up and also cheaper as a consequence.
Wow these controllers look awsome. I am definitely going to have to pick one of these up.
great articles
"Dignity as a once proud-Wii owner"? You Engadget people are freaking tools. As a matter of fact you morons should NEVER be allowed to run any videogame articles again. Leave that to the pros over at Joystiq.
Anyway, $60 for the controller AND game is a great deal. It's definitely worth the purchase.