NYXI Warrior Incoming!

[LightyKD]

Review Time

I should preface this review by stating the follwoing...

* My Warrior is being used purely for PC gaming on my Steam Deck
* The main OS on my Deck is Windows 10
* Im that crazy dude that installs all of my games to separate SD cards
* I do NOT believe that GameCube controllers are solely for Smash
* I DO believe nearly every game works well with a GameCube styled controller
* I own 30 plus GameCube styled controllers of various types

As you can already see, I'm not your standard use case and that should give you some perspective on where my mindset is with this controller.

When this controller was announced I was happy to see a GameCube styled controller with nearly every modern feature

* All expected buttons are here along with clickable sticks
* Analog Triggers
* Gyroscopic motion control
* USB-C cable, 2.4 Ghz Wireless AND Bluetooth support
* Dual rumble motors

At face value I can see why the controller is 70 USD. Personally I still believe it's worth the 70. The unboxing experience is pretty good. The box has a slip cover with cover art and some information on the back. You take the slip off and a blue box with the NIXY logo is waiting for you. The moment you open that box you see the controller wrapped in a thin foam bag and a compartment for all of the accessories. In the box you receive the following

* NIXY Warrior GameCube styled controller
* manual
* paper insert about NIXY customer service
* replacement standard sized right stick (for those of you that hate the C-Stick nub
* a pair of circulat stick gates (the octagonal gates are default on the controller)
* 6.5 foot USB-C to A braided cable
* 5.5 inch USB-C to A cable for use with the GameCube adapter for 2.4 Wireless mode (PC gaming)
* GameCube Controller port adapter

Upon holding the controller you can feel a nice bit of heft. It's a bit heavier than the Switch GameCube styled offerings from PowerA and PDP. Compared to the NIXY Wizard, its a bit smaller but feels perfect. The Wizard has a bit of "chonk" vs the Warrior's more "streamlined" design. Button wise there are some changes. Most GameCube controllers, including the NIXY Wizard, have this for lack of better phrase, "hollow click" to their buttons. I fucking enjoy the sound! I really do feel at "gaming home" while mashing GameCube layout buttons. The NIXY warrior.... well, the buttons click but they feel like you're pressing your mouse buttons with your thumbs. They are a bit more clicky than your standard mouse but that hollow feel you expect from most GameCube styled controllers, simply not here. It will mentally take someone a bit to get used to. Also throwing this out there, the D-Pad is AMAZING! As a fighting game fan I can see myself being awesome at those quarter-circle maneuvers!

As for connecting the Wizard to your PC. I'll just list the options
* Holding the sync button and using Bluetooth results in the controller being seen as a Switch Pro Controller
* Sync + X (Bluetooth) = X Input mode (XBox One to be exact)
* USB cable = X Input mode
* GameCube adapter to USB for radio wireless mode = X Input mode

Unfortunately in Steam if you're in Switch Pro mode Steam will see the gyro support and rumble but not the analog Triggers. In X-Input mode, Steam will see the analog Triggers and rumble but not the gyro. this means that you will need to switch modes depending what features you want to use per game. I can try shooting Valve an email to see if there's a way around this but that the moment rumble, gyro and analog triggers together, the "Pro dream" of GameCube styled controllers isn't quite there yet. Maybe if Nintendo gets off they ass about analog triggers or if Microsoft decideds to join the 2020's with gyro support, this will change. Oh and before I forget, the analog triggers do NOT feature the secondary click expected from older GC controllers. Lastly those programmable buttons on the back can not be seen by Steam. Instead, they are used as shortcuts for your face buttons and the DPad

So, would I do it all again? As you can see from one of my pictures I "own" (technically the other two belong to the Mrs and kid) three NIXY Wizards and the original plan was to slowly add more Warriors to the colection. My answer, "yes" with caveats. It would be nice if NIXY could include some sort of PC software to add gyro as mouse mode and make the back padals editable all while using the controller as X-Input. That would solve the major issue of being able to use all features. For now, Warrior owners will be completely at the mercy of Valve. Hell even a Warrior to Dual Sense mode might work but then you'd have to deal with all the button glyphs reflecting PlayStation and that would be a bit of a mind fuck. A major plus, While the controller will not wake up your PC (as far as I can see), you wont have to worry about Windows forgetting your damn controller and needing to sync every time. My PowerA GC style pad had that issue and I was like"fuck it, I'm going wired!"

The Warrior has been a fun controller to use. It does have all the features advertised. Software wise, it needs just a tad bit to get over the hump. Overall, definitely worth the 70. Now that the Wizard and Warrior are on the market I would LOVE to see NIXY tackle the follwing...

* A less bulky version of the Wizard that's more motion gaming friendly. Something similar to those old GameCube styled joycins from China but not as small and add some NFC support. That would be nice!

* A high end 90-100 dollar upgrade to the Warrior with lovey rubber grips, 4 back padals, a return to the backlit face buttons. controller software for the PC, click buttons within the triggers and NF-freggin C support. NIXY, if you're seeing this, I would seriously toss money at you for this!!!

 

[1stmoon]

Appreciate the very thorough review. Can you confirm if the latency has been reduced in the Warrior? The Wizard had pretty bad latency, enough for me to ditch it.

Can you also confirm if the dpad is using a microswitch for each direction (should be 8 in total)? Or is it using just 4?

 

[Youngsie]

Appreciate the very thorough review. Can you confirm if the latency has been reduced in the Warrior? The Wizard had pretty bad latency, enough for me to ditch it.

Can you also confirm if the dpad is using a microswitch for each direction (should be 8 in total)? Or is it using just 4?

I have the purple Nyxi Wizard and now the Spice Orange warrior, so far I have been playing on a GameCube and computer using both Windows and Linux and have to say the latency results have been incredible for me and far better than the wizard and other Bluetooth controllers. I Ironically haven't tested it on a switch yet as it wanted to update to fw 18 to play any games online on Sysnand and I didn't want to mess with my EmuNand to ensure compatibility so cant speak to bluetooth experience just yet other than to say it connected to my switch phone and my nvidia shield fine but I didnt do any gaming to test it.

To answer your second question about dpad. I'm not 100% sure how to test for sure outside of taking the controller apart but I went into steam input and I believe it is using 4 buttons on each axis and then pressing on the bottom left corner for example would trigger both the left and bottom buttons. This is my speculation in the meantime. Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable can post a better response.

Hopefully this helps.

My only complaints about this controller is not having some of the options of the wizard for example the ability to adjust and disable rumble is absent and the buttons are not backlit but those are both minor functions and I will say the rumble feels much better on the warrior however the rumble is rather loud on occasion and I can hear it over the top of game audio if I'm wearing open back headphones or indeed no headphones at all.

 

[LightyKD]

I have the purple Nyxi Wizard and now the Spice Orange warrior, so far I have been playing on a GameCube and computer using both Windows and Linux and have to say the latency results have been incredible for me and far better than the wizard and other Bluetooth controllers. I Ironically haven't tested it on a switch yet as it wanted to update to fw 18 to play any games online on Sysnand and I didn't want to mess with my EmuNand to ensure compatibility so cant speak to bluetooth experience just yet other than to say it connected to my switch phone and my nvidia shield fine but I didnt do any gaming to test it.

To answer your second question about dpad. I'm not 100% sure how to test for sure outside of taking the controller apart but I went into steam input and I believe it is using 4 buttons on each axis and then pressing on the bottom left corner for example would trigger both the left and bottom buttons. This is my speculation in the meantime. Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable can post a better response.

Hopefully this helps.

My only complaints about this controller is not having some of the options of the wizzard for example disabling rumble and the buttons are backlit but those are both minor functions and I will say the rumble feels much better on the warrior however the rumble is rather loud on occasion and I can hear it over the top of game audio if im wearing open back headphones or indeed no headphones at all.

Thanks for chiming in. I was away for most of the day. The Warrior is definitely a good pickup! Feels really good in the hands! If NIXY could just make a companion PC application for this controller all would be well. I just don't see how Retro Fighters can compete. I still wish them the best. The more GameCube options, the better! As you can see from the pictures attached, I LOVE this controller layout and will continue to support GameCube styled controllers.

 

[1stmoon]

That's a nice GC controller collection, LightyKD. I noticed you don't have a Hori Wireless Battle Pad. I've been using that as my go-to GC controller for modern systems. It's excellent and imo much better than the Wizard.

I have the purple Nyxi Wizard and now the Spice Orange warrior, so far I have been playing on a GameCube and computer using both Windows and Linux and have to say the latency results have been incredible for me and far better than the wizard and other Bluetooth controllers. I Ironically haven't tested it on a switch yet as it wanted to update to fw 18 to play any games online on Sysnand and I didn't want to mess with my EmuNand to ensure compatibility so cant speak to bluetooth experience just yet other than to say it connected to my switch phone and my nvidia shield fine but I didnt do any gaming to test it.

To answer your second question about dpad. I'm not 100% sure how to test for sure outside of taking the controller apart but I went into steam input and I believe it is using 4 buttons on each axis and then pressing on the bottom left corner for example would trigger both the left and bottom buttons. This is my speculation in the meantime. Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable can post a better response.

Hopefully this helps.

My only complaints about this controller is not having some of the options of the wizard for example the ability to adjust and disable rumble is absent and the buttons are not backlit but those are both minor functions and I will say the rumble feels much better on the warrior however the rumble is rather loud on occasion and I can hear it over the top of game audio if I'm wearing open back headphones or indeed no headphones at all.

Glad they fixed the biggest issue with their previous GC controller. I should be getting a Warrior in the next week or two. I'm eager to thoroughly test the dpad with fighting games and 2D games in general. It's long been my dream to have a GC controller with an exceptional dpad.

 

[LightyKD]

That's a nice GC controller collection, LightyKD. I noticed you don't have a Hori Wireless Battle Pad. I've been using that as my go-to GC controller for modern systems. It's excellent and imo much better than the Wizard.



Glad they fixed the biggest issue with their previous GC controller. I should be getting a Warrior in the next week or two. I'm eager to thoroughly test the dpad with fighting games and 2D games in general. It's long been my dream to have a GC controller with an exceptional dpad.

I wasn't fast enough to grab the Hori Wireless Battle Pad. It just came out at an awkward time. Also, I don't really like their use of rubber "menu" buttons. Unless that was changed for the wireless version. It just feels off on the wired one. It's the 2020's I haven't seen rubber buttons on a controller since Start and Select on the SNES.

 

[1stmoon]

I wasn't fast enough to grab the Hori Wireless Battle Pad. It just came out at an awkward time. Also, I don't really like their use of rubber "menu" buttons. Unless that was changed for the wireless version. It just feels off on the wired one. It's the 2020's I haven't seen rubber buttons on a controller since Start and Select on the SNES.

Yup, the center buttons are rubber. Can't say it ever bothered me.