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Wii U GamePad High Capacity Battery returns later this month or in August

T

The12thGripper

Member
I emailed NoA about this because I really wanted to get one of these but forgot when they first introduced them to their store and they got back to me today.

Hello Ken,

Please forgive the delay in our response, for we have been especially busy lately. I'm glad you contacted us with your questions. In answer, we expect the Wii U GamePad High Capacity Battery to return to stock sometime this month or in August. We aren't able to notify you directly when we receive more stock, so I recommend you keep checking back periodically.

Sincerely,
Ben Weekly

Nintendo of America, Inc.
Click to expand...
 
A

Agent Gibbs

Member
I've got one of these and honestly i've not even got to low battery since having it in!
I played black flag for about 7 hours one day and it was perfect, admittedly when i went for a drink/the bathroom i left it on the charging cradle but that wouldn't charge much

previously i drained the batter on games very easily
 
Hip Hop

Hip Hop

Member
I really, really need one of these

especially when my Wii U doubles as a tablet and use it a lot for web browsing.

Should be only $20, right?
 
Teletraan1

Teletraan1

Banned
They should send them out for free to existing WiiU owners as an ambassador program or as a club Nintendo reward. I shouldn't have to shell out more money for something that should have been in there from the start, I already had to do that to upgrade the pitiful storage capacity that the WiiU ships with. My Gamepad runs out of juice in a few hours. Who the hell felt that is acceptable other than the bean counters. They can't even keep these things in stock since it is a necessity unless you sit there with the gamepad plugged in. Sorry Nintendo, I am playing your console too much.
 
blu

blu

Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Castcoder said:
Never knew this existed. What's the difference?
Click to expand...
A much longer discharge duration (~2x in my experience), at the expense of a slightly increased controller weight.

Seriously, at 2550mAh vs 1500mAh it's the proper battery for the gamepad. Gets my highest recommendations.
 
K

Krejlooc

Banned
I have one of these. The longer life is great. You notice the increased controller weight immediately but you soon get used to it.
 
S

SatoAilDarko

Member
Castcoder said:
Never knew this existed. What's the difference?
Click to expand...

Gooster said:
2,550 mAh battery versus the stock 1,500.
Click to expand...

In reported hours on highest to lowest brightness it's 3-5 hours for the standard vs. 5-8 hours for the high capacity.

I'm definitely interested but the idea of just tossing away the standard battery seems wasteful to me. I've started using the charge dock (ironically this slightly wastes electricity by always being plugged in) only recently despite owning a Wii U since launch. Now my battery never goes low (I don't ever play my Wii U over three hours) and if it kills it faster I can get the new high-capacity battery.
 
S

Skyzard

Banned
Bought one on amazon uk a week back, much happier with the battery life. Shocker, it actually fills the space in the battery compartment that the small battery leaves empty.

It came with mini-screwdriver
 
B

big_z

Member
CambriaRising said:
Would have been swell for them to just include it in the damn thing in the first place >_>'
Click to expand...

Nintendo didn't want the controller to snap children's arms when trying to lift it. I mean they could have reduced bezel size by half to make up for the larger battery but you know...

It's kinda like how they used low end chips then under clocked them further to let people save $5/year on their electricity bill.

Nintendo knows what gamers want.

Might have to buy one of these batteries myself. $30 seems kinda steep though.


Edit: does the gamepad battery magically drain when not being used like wiimotes? I recently got the system so I'm not sure if they fixed that issue or not.
 
S

SlaughterX

Banned
Man, this thing is still OOS? My gamepad has been useless for months now, I am getting pretty irate. Anyone who's upgraded want to give/sell me their old battery and screw driver? Fucking Energizer dock killed mine.
 
The Lamonster

The Lamonster

Member
I had been checking the site daily after seeing this thread, but I'm starting to think they lied to you, OP.

I ended up just importing one from Play Asia. It's on sale right now for $32. Shipping was super fast too. It arrived today and I've already installed the battery. Excited to use it!
 
T

tronic307

Member
SlaughterX said:
Man, this thing is still OOS? My gamepad has been useless for months now, I am getting pretty irate. Anyone who's upgraded want to give/sell me their old battery and screw driver? Fucking Energizer dock killed mine.
Click to expand...
Keeping it docked even weakened my extended battery too. It now gets only 3-4 hrs.
 
J

jblank83

Member
I bought mine way back in December.

I wasn't happy paying $40 for what I felt should have been in the box, but I was happy with the performance. It makes a big difference.
 
K

Koren

Member
mgs2master2 said:
so I am getting a WiiU this week. This seems like a sound investment.
Click to expand...
Not sure... At least, give the original battery a try.

The pad charges in a couple hours, and has an autonomy of 3-5h. Depends whether you play more than 3h really often (and with the pad, maybe you'll want to use a controller pro or another input sometimes). With the craddle, you'll probably not see often the battery life.

And even when I play more than 3h (such as great Mario Kart sessions with GAF), using the charging cable is not such a big issue*, even if the pad is heating a little bit.


* it may not be great for the battery, it's still not clear. But the point still stands, if one day the battery doesn't work well anymore, it'll be a good time to upgrade it.
 
M

mgs2master2

Banned
Koren said:
Not sure... At least, give the original battery a try.

The pad charges in a couple hours, and has an autonomy of 3-5h. Depends whether you play more than 3h really often (and with the pad, maybe you'll want to use a controller pro or another input sometimes). With the craddle, you'll probably not see often the battery life.

And even when I play more than 3h (such as great Mario Kart sessions with GAF), using the charging cable is not such a big issue*, even if the pad is heating a little bit.


* it may not be great for the battery, it's still not clear. But the point still stands, if one day the battery doesn't work well anymore, it'll be a good time to upgrade it.
Click to expand...

gotcha. I will play around with the original battery first when I get it. I was thinking of either getting this or the Uboost, but to be determined after I play for a bit. Thank you.
 
B

Brofield

Member
It certainly doesn't feel like 3 hours, but a couple of times if I'm getting really intense gaming in it I will notice the battery low light flash more often than not. I'm starting to think I might need to upgrade to the high capacity out of necessity.
 
I

impact

Banned
Would be nice, but no chance for that price. I don't use the system enough, and for Bayo 2 I'll just keep it plugged in. Really shady of Nintendo to not just use this battery in the gamepad to begin with.
 
R

Roo

Member
Koren said:
And even when I play more than 3h (such as great Mario Kart sessions with GAF), using the charging cable is not such a big issue*, even if the pad is heating a little bit.


* it may not be great for the battery, it's still not clear. But the point still stands, if one day the battery doesn't work well anymore, it'll be a good time to upgrade it.
Click to expand...

I always leave the gamepad tethered to the charging cable and every week or so I do some random tests without it and I haven't seen any change in the battery autonomy.
I should mention rumble is always on with max brightness.
It lasts between 3:45-4:10 hours. Launch unit, btw.
 
A

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
Eh it has never been an issue for me. I play with Rumble on and brightness setting at 2.

I've never had a play session last long enough to run down the battery. I've trained all my kids to always return it to the charging station when they're done playing. So I've never had an issue of a gaming session cut short because of battery life.

Plus every game that have for Wii U can be played on the Pro Controller, and we all know that thing NEVER dies. I've only charged it once since its inital charge since I bought the thing in August.
 
Z

Zee-Row

Banned
$32 is way too much. I'll just stick to 4 hours with the regular battery. I don't have really long play bursts anyway.
 
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