Brawler 64 Wireless for Raspberry Pi review. Good but not perfect

hawkes_84

Finally a decent wireless n64 controller has been released for the Switch/PC and will work on the Pi. The Brawler 64 by Retro Fighters. I've been waiting a while for this and finally got myself one (apologies if there's already a review on here for this but i couldn't find one). It's very smooth when playing and has some extra buttons such as "Turbo" and "Clear" which come in very handy when wanting to map something as your hot key/select etc.

Here is the button mapping ( for Mupen64 emulator)

RetroPie Input --- Press on Brawler
D-pad inputs Up, Down, Left, Right --- Up, Down, Left ,Right on D-Pad
Start --- Start
Select --- I use Turbo since you wont need that on the Pi
A --- C-Down
B --- A
X --- C-Up
Y --- B
Left Shoulder --- Left Shoulder
Right Shoulder --- Right Shoulder
Right Trigger --- n/a
Left Trigger --- Right Z (set this to Left Z if you want. Most games have the fire button the right)
Left Thumb --- n/a
Right Thumb --- n/a
Left Analogue Up, Down Left, Right --- Map this to the only analogue stick accordingly same as D-Pad
Right Analogue Up --- n/a
Right Analogue Down --- n/a
Right Analogue Left --- C-Left
Right Analogue Right --- C-Right
Hotkey --- Turbo

These controls should work for the majority of games when using Mupen64plus emulator and also Parallel for Goldeneye

Despite the omission of rumble capabilities I believe this controller to be the best purchase for those who want a wireless n64 one. It uses a 2.4ghz dongle instead of Bluetooth so there's that but I found no issue with connectivity with it. Ideally I'd prefer a clean Bluetooth connection but nit-picking here.

Stick it on your Christmas list peeps!

sirhenrythe5th

@hawkes_84 i bought two of wired ones two years ago, it was in fact on my hanukka-list :D
Never used them with the Pi (AFAIR the wired ones dont work anyway with Raspberrys) but i can highly recommend these pads for owners of real N64s.
Great input devices and much much cheaper than genuine Nintendo-ones in our days ;)

hawkes_84

@sirhenrythe5th it felt like they were releasing everything BUT a wireless n64 controller for the Pi so had to double check when I saw this. I believe 8bitdo did one about 4 years back but the product was discontinued for some reason

George Spiggott

Thanks for the heads up on this. I've been on the lookout for a good wireless N64 pad. There was one on Nintendo Online recently but it was only available to NMS members.

Once you accept that the design doesn't need the middle 'trigger' section the pad isn't too different to an Xbox Duke. This is another controller that is sadly difficult to source something that is wireless, which is odd given Microsoft's back compatibility programme for the newer Xbox models. Maybe the emerging Xbox emulation scene (on X86) will help push that market.

I have a PowerA wireless Gamecube controller. I've never used it with my Pi, even to test Gamecube, but hopefully I will one day. I do find on my PC that Retoarch is not easy to set up with different controllers for different cores. This is my goal, to have dedicated wireless controllers for systems with more esoteric controller designs.

hawkes_84

@george-spiggott yeah they've just released some official ones for the Nintendo Switch but they're going for around £100 now so eff that noise! I was doing fine with the 8bitdo Pro 2 but using an analogue stick for the C buttons can test your patience. Hope they bring out these wireless ones in different colours as I can only find grey for now

akr8080

hello,

I just bought the Brawler64 and can't figure out how to map the turbo buttons I press it but noting happens, is there something you need before maping the button?

thank you

mitu

@akr8080 Some controllers don't expose the turbo button, but internally activate the turbo feature when you press it along with the other button where the turbo function is applied. Maybe the Brawler64 is similar, but can't find a manual for the controller to confirm.