Wii Charge

When I bought my Wii, I kept hearing about what greedy battery-gobbling monsters the remote controllers are, and in fact I had already seen my long-suffering Wii-owning friends wearily breaking out Costco-sized tubs of batteries and changing the AA batteries in their remotes again and again. So I figured that rechargeable batteries were definitely the way to go, and decided to give the much-talked-about Nyko charging station a shot.

Although it looks like the Wii and is cleverly designed to complement its appearance, this product is not made by Nintendo (to my knowledge, an official Wii remote charging station is still not available, though you’d think they would love to sell you even more accessories). It’s made by Nyko, and a closer look at the box reveals that the packaging a little cheesy-looking compared to something Nintendo would actually produce (and probably charge a lot more for). The charging station set is $26.99, and includes the charging base, two battery packs, and two snap-on covers for your remotes.

Here’s what they say on their website: “Easily charge and store your Wii Remotes with Nyko’s Charge Station for Wii. The Charge Station includes 2 NiMH batteries, exclusively designed for the Wii Remote, each providing up to 25 hours of play time. Each battery is easily recharged by placing the Wii Remote in the charging dock. The charging dock conveniently plugs into any standard wall outlet, allowing for rapid recharging of both batteries in 8 hours. The Charge Station includes 2 custom battery covers with contact pass-through points so you can charge the batteries while they are still in the remote. Each battery cover is also rubberized for superior grip during intense gaming sessions. The Charge Station matches the décor and styling of the Wii, and is small enough to fit in any home entertainment center.”

Setup is pretty much foolproof, though it involves a few steps. You plug in the charging base, and a bright blue light comes on to let you know it’s on. You’ll have to remove the silicone Wii jackets from your remote, and it is a bit annoying to strip those off and turn them inside out, then put them aside somewhere for later. Likewise, the battery cover that comes with the remote isn’t needed (because it’s not compatible with the slightly oversized battery packs), so you have some extra parts that you have to decide whether to keep around or toss. This isn’t difficult, just slightly irritating.

Pop off the back cover, place the battery packs in, and replace with the Nyko battery covers. Unlike the original remote, the Nyko backplate is covered in a grey rubber easy-grip material that gives you more traction and less risk of it slipping out of your hand and shooting across the room – something Nintendo probably should’ve done anyway. Between the rubber backing grip and the wrist strap, you may decide (as I did) to forego the silicone skin entirely, to expedite recharging. Or you can choose to take it off and put it on every time. The remotes sit in the cradle, with gold contact points touching the contact points on the base, and a blue light (identical to the remote’s light) turns on, letting you know it’s working. When the battery is charged, it will turn green, and you’re ready to take it out and use. You can also buy additional booster packs with single battery packs and covers ($10), if you have more than 2 remotes.

The packaging warns that it takes 3-5 charges to fully charge the batteries, and can take up to 8 hours to fully charge both battery packs. The initial charges for the battery packs took 1-2 hours, and so far the remotes seem to function perfectly with their new power source. The blue LED light is incredibly bright and can be distracting – it’s intense enough that you wouldn’t want this base stored at eye level while playing, or anywhere that it could distract you, because it really is painfully bright. I solved this problem by tucking the charging base out of sight, since I don’t really want to look at it anyway.

Yes, you probably could go with rechargeable batteries and a charger, which would work equally well and likely cost less. But they wouldn’t be as cute! And as we all know, the Wii is all about cute Japanese cuteness and its swooningly stylish looks. So if you want a charging station that won’t shame your sleek white remotes, the Nyko charging station is as good as it gets until Nintendo releases their own version for twice the price.