Look, I’ll be honest. When another company reaches out asking if I want to try their “revolutionary” new controller, my expectations are pretty much on the floor. The gaming peripheral space is full of cheap plastic wannabes that promise the world and deliver mushy buttons and dead zones, and of course suckful stick drift

But the NYXI Warrior, well, it actually surprised me. And being a Nintendo and classic emu fan, it felt at home in my collection.

Why This Controller Caught My Attention

What first caught my eye was obviously Nintendo’s button layout and design inspiration! (Instead of using the Xbox’s button layout like most other controllers do). The controller is obviously styled on the Game Cube’s controller, and that’s awesome! The Game Cube’s controller has long been considered one of Nintendo’s best controllers. Which tells you who this gamepad is for, Nintendo heads like myself.

The Nintendo centric button layout is perfect for playing classic Nintendo games on PC, which might sound trivial, but trust me, it’s not. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve messed up a jump in a platformer because some third-party controller decided to flip the A and B buttons around.

Build quality wise,  this thing feels solid and well-made. No flex in the shell, buttons that click instead of squish, and analog sticks that move like they’re supposed to. You can tell someone actually used this thing before they shipped it.  Our own calibration diagnostic tests showed perfect accuracy.

How It Actually Performs

To use Apple’s famous quote, “It just works”. Pairing it with my PC was painless. Same with my phone and my Switch. The Bluetooth connection stayed rock solid even when I was sitting across the room. What’s sad is, I think it’s better than the official nintendo switch’s wireless controller. Not just in terms of performance, but the quirky fun look of the NYXI Warrior is just so much more Nintendo.

The real test came during actual gameplay. I threw everything at this controller over the past few weeks. I spent hours replaying Shovel Knight and Celeste, and even hit up some Rocket League. Every input felt responsive and accurate.

That D-pad some praise, It’s got clean directional inputs, no mushiness, no accidental diagonals when you’re trying to go straight. For someone who plays a lot of 2D games, this is a biggy. I’ve used controllers that cost twice as much with worse D-pads.

Where It Really Shines

Emulation is where the NYXI Warrior becomes a real hero. Having the correct Nintendo button layout makes for a really fun and nostalgic experience. I’ve been working through some classic SNES games lately, and it was nice to glance down and not see an xbox360 controller in my hands, lol. Seeing something that looks nintendo, just sort of enhances the experience, y’know?

RetroArch recognized it immediately without any configuration headaches. Same story with Dolphin when I wanted to revisit some GameCube classics. 

My Final Take

The NYXI Warrior is great, it’s not re-inventing the wheel, but it takes all the good aspects of your fav controllers and brings them together in a cute package.
The tech works as expected, which is the main thing. It’s responsive, solid and the button layout is cool.
For a controller at this price point, it’s rock solid

For retro gaming enthusiasts it’s gonna be a welcome addition to the collection.