Bootleg Wii U Pro Controllers that Will Fool You!

I've never seen a bootleg with such balls!

I recently bought a black Wii U Pro controller off of amazon.com from one of the sub-sellers. The controller was selling for around $35. I thought this was simply someone reselling the controllers from a previous $30ish sale that Best Buy had. From the moment I took it out of the box and put it in my hand, I knew something wasn't feeling right. Something was different. I thought it was just me.
Similar to how GameCube controller bootlegs that are available today, the buttons on this "Pro controller" were very TIGHT. At first I thought it was an update to the controller that Nintendo made.... until I played Call of Duty. I noticed right away that there was a problem.... the control sticks weren't working right.
The left stick wasn't working at a certain angle, and the right stick wasn't working when you clicked it in!

At this point it was clear that there was definitely a problem.... I went to BEST BUY to buy a REAL black controller, and compared the two, and sure enough, when looked at both up close, we definitely have a problem with the one I bought off of amazon.......

Can you spot the differences?

Above, the legit controller is the top one. From the front view, you can see the A,B,Y,X button and the D-Pad color difference between the two. The shine one the bootleg one (above/bottom) looks a little bit cheaper then the legit one (above/top). And if you look closely, the bootleg is even slightly shaped different!

At the time when I opened the bootleg black controller, I had already owned a White Pro controller. I knew something felt and looked a little different when I put this amazon bought controller in my hand. Since the controller was a different color, I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, and that the color was throwing me off on the different feel. But as I said, I immediately noticed the difference between the tightness of the buttons and sticks. I did feel a slight difference in shape, but again, thought the different color had my eyes playing tricks on me.

 Looking at the boxes, you would never know!

Can you tell which box is the fake?

(Legit box on left, bootleg on right)

Above, the fake box is on the right in both pics. The bootleg does have SLIGHTLY less shine to the box, but the difference is so minimal, it was be almost impossible to tell unless you have a reference box to put right next to it! 

Can you tell the difference from this view? They BOTH have the Nintendo logo!

(legit on top, bootleg on bottom)

We've went over some maybe not so obvious differences, at first glance, but now lets take a closer look at some pretty clear differences!

Here, the bootleg (on the right) clearly has higher sticks! (too bad they don't work right!)

 Below, on the charging cables, we can see the lack of the Nintendo logo on the bootleg wires! And slightly different design!

These are not OFFICIALLY confirmed as fakes, and both even have the Nintendo logo on the back of the controllers! But it is obvious that these are not official Nintendo products. They don't work correctly, and there are clear differences. I've never seen a bootleg with such balls to have the box match, and to actually have a Nintendo logo on the controller. Is this a new breed of bootleg? Either way.....

The lesson learned here is that when it comes to controllers, we obviously need them to work right. So even if the controllers look legit, and the internet even shows a candid photo of the product instead of a generic jpeg, its better to just pay full price or wait for a sale at an official store that is legit like Best Buy, or Gamestop.

Could this be simply a factory defect? Well, considering that I ordered it from a sub seller on amazon, for a MUCH cheaper price, some parts didn't work, and some Nintendo logos are missing.... I would say "I don't think so Tim" to this being officially made!

- Joey JcM

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