Sunflex, a third party manufacturer of gaming accessories and controllers, recently released a new addition to their Snakebyte™ line of Nintendo Wii controllers. The MiniMote features a 25% reduction in size and weight, as well as “Perfect Ergonomics for Better Handling”.
The aforementioned sync button. A little too easy for little hands to press.
The MiniMote is definitely smaller and lighter than a standard WiiMote—in fact, for a person of larger dimensions such as myself, the MiniMote feels a bit too small in the hand. I always felt as though I was going to lose it whenever I took a turn at bowling or baseball with it. The included color-coordinated wrist strap was definitely a necessity for me, where it never was with a standard WiiMote.
Most of the size reduction over a standard WiiMote comes in the MiniMote’s overall length; a full 1″ shorter. The MiniMote is also thinner than a standard WiiMote, but measures exactly the same in width. They were able to reduce the length by such a degree by moving the A button up slightly, shortening the well of the B button (effectively moving it forward a bit), moving up and offsetting the home row (‘-‘, ‘home’, and ‘+’), moving the speaker down near the indicator lights, and shifting the 1 & 2 buttons so that they are side-by-side. To accommodate the smaller overall barrel size and shorter length, Sunflex powers the MiniMote with AAA, rather than AA batteries (this also accounts for quite a bit of the weight reduction).
Overall performance has so far been indistinguishable from a standard WiiMote. Each of the games tested felt no different with the MiniMote. Movement and button responses are exactly as I would have expected out of a standard WiiMote. I did notice that the rumble motor was much more audible in the MiniMote than a standard WiiMote, though not so much that it became a problem. The smaller AAA batteries, unfortunately don’t last as long as the AA batteries in a standard WiiMote.
As mentioned above, the MiniMote feels a bit too small for my large hands. Power-throws in WiiSports Bowling always caused me to check my grip to ensure it wasn’t going to fly out of my hand and get snapped back by the wrist strap. Also, the different shape and placement of the B button doesn’t quite feel right, but it’s not difficult to get used to in the least. The smaller size also makes it difficult to use in accessory situations such as guitars or drum sets. The MiniMote also doesn’t fit in the standard silicone sleeve, or the WiiMotion Plus sleeve (the WiiMotion Plus plugs in just fine, but needs to be removed from the sleeve first).
But the MiniMote wasn’t designed for adults, let alone big adults like myself. The MiniMote is actually designed for kids, and even bills itself as “Kid-friendly”. This is why I enlisted the help of two smaller people who happen to live in my house: My 5′ tall wife, and my 3-year-old son. They spent some time with the Snakebyte and had the following impressions:
The Wife’s Perspective
Overall, she thought it was perfectly serviceable, but doesn’t like the alternate button placement and the fact that it doesn’t fit well within accessories like the guitar, drums, or racing wheel. She would prefer if Sunflex had some sort of adapter that would allow it to fit more appropriately into the accessories. Otherwise, she feels it’s not very useful for a lot of the WiiMote usage scenarios. The alternate button layout also created some issues with driving in games like MarioKart.
The Kid’s Perspective
My 3-year-old tends to prefer the lighter weight and smaller grip of the MiniMote over the standard WiiMote, particularly when the silicone sleeve is involved. A sleeved standard WiiMote is quite a bit too large for his small hands. Playing the SuperHero Squad battle game, he is quite capable, and is able to easily manipulate both the A and B buttons. With my wife helping him navigate around with the control stick on the nunchuck, we can play together without me needing to hold off and let him win in battles.
Overall
The MiniMote is a very capable option for people smaller hands or children. My only complaint so far has been about the external sync button. While it seems exceedingly convenient on the surface, it’s a little too convenient, and has been the source of a number of confusing events when it gets pressed in the middle of a heated battle or race.
The MiniMote is available from Amazon in blue
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