My 1st impression of the Hori Battle Pad (Also, Hori Battle Pad vs. PDP Wired Fight Pad)

Finally got my Luigi themed Hori Battle Pad in the mail, today! I've been eagerly awaiting its arrival, and put it to work as soon as I arrived. Here's what I tested it with (the times are approximations, not exact times).

• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U- 1 hour
• Super Smash Bros: Project M 3.5- 10 minutes
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Wii VC)- 2 minutes
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Wii VC)- 5 minutes

After ~1 hour and 20 minutes playtime, I have no real issues with this controller. It feels pretty much identical to a real GameCube controller, albeit with somewhat cheaper plastic, especially on the face buttons, where you can sort of feel the rough edges of the letters and mold overflow (or whatever it's called). But it didn't affect my performance or comfort noticeably. It should also be noted that the placement of L/R and zL/zR are swapped, compared to a Wii Classic Controller Pro or Wii U Pro Controller. This means that zL/zR are the top bumpers, and L/R are the bottom triggers, making the layout essentially identical to a GameCube controller (albeit with an extra Z bumper). This also means that Wii games and Wii Virtual Console games are much more comfy to play. The button mapping for the classic controller in those games often favors the L/R buttons as the "trigger buttons," which is awkward on the classic controller pro, but very natural on the Hori battle pad. This is especially crucial in games like Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Here are the differences between the Hori Battle Pad and an actual 1st party GameCube controller. Things that are essentially identical are ignored, here.

• Quality- Battle pad uses mildly cheaper plastic
• Weight- the battle pad is a bit lighter than a GCN controller, likely due to the lack of a rumble motor
• Number of buttons- Battle pad has a few extra buttons like a Wii classic controller/pro does, namely a second Z button and select and home buttons. It also features a turbo button along with a turbo frequency switch that can be set to 5, 10, or 20 (no idea what this measures: Milliseconds? inputs per second? I don't know). There's also a light that turns on when Turbo is active. The turbo-specific buttons feel like a few too many, making the center of the controller look a bit cluttered. But it's not a big deal.
• zL/zR bumpers- The zL/zR bumpers feel MUCH nicer than the too-sticky-feeling Z button on the GameCube. Imagine the top L/R bumpers on the Wii Classic Controller Pro, but even more responsive. These seriously may be my favorite top bumpers of all time. As stated before, the position of zL/zR and L/R is swapped compared to the Wii Classic Controller Pro and Wii U Pro controller, meaning the Z buttons are up top.
• L/R Triggers- This is perhaps the biggest difference from a real GameCube controller. The triggers are digital, rather than analog. They're also almost flat, removing travel time... almost. They have a kind of "paddle" feel to them where only the bottom part pushes down. This is really nice, and eliminates my main issue with the PDP fight pad, which I'll get to later. I actually like how these triggers feel better than even the Wii U pro controller's triggers.
• Start button- The start button is made of a soft, silicone-type material, rather than the harder plastic material of the GameCube controller. The same is true of the select, home, and turbo buttons.
• Left stick- Near identical, but the top of the stick is more flat than rounded. This didn't noticeably affect my comfort or performance.
• Dpad- The battle pad definitely improves over the original GameCube dpad, as it's rather larger and more accurate. It's good for a third party dpad, but the official classic controller and pro controller dpads are better, so I wouldn't consider this a reason to buy the battle pad.
• Rumble- The battle pad lacks rumble, but still has the bulge on the back of the controller where the rumble motor would've gone. Sounds like Hori just used whatever GameCube controller mold they already had instead of spending time developing an all-new one.

Now that that's done, here are the differences between the Hori battle pad and the PDP wired fight pad. Things that are essentially identical are ignored, here.

• Quality- It's a toss-up, and depends on how you define quality. I think that the PDP controller has marginally better build quality, but the Hori controller is MUCH closer to the GameCube controller that it's trying to imitate.
• Size/weight- The PDP controller is overall a bit bigger, and feels a tad bit heavier as a result. The PDP controller also uses its own mold whereas the Hori controller seems to use a copy of the actual GameCube mold, so the Hori controller has the bulge where a GameCube rumble motor would be, whereas the PDP controller doesn't.
• Cord- The PDP controller's cord is annoyingly stiff and thick, meaning it pulls around the wiimote when moved (even if not fully extended) and it has a hard time straightening out after being wrapped. The Hori controller is thinner (more like a Wii classic controller cord), and lacks this issue. It's also interesting to note that the PDP cord's connector has the "snag" for a wiimote's wrist strap, whereas the hori cord's connector doesn't.
• Face buttons- The PDP controller uses all its own molds and looks for the face buttons, whereas the Hori controller essentially uses clone modes of the original GameCube controller, and look identical. The PDP buttons feel smoother though, whereas the hori controller has somewhat sharp grooves where the letter names are etched in.
• Middle buttons- The PDP middle buttons for Start/Select/Home are hard plastic, and have generous space. The Hor controller uses mushy rubber/silicone-like material. Furthermore, the PDP controller's buttons feel like they have room to breathe, whereas the hori buttons feel like they're cramped in. The PDP controller also has no turbo function, whereas the Hori controller does.
• Bumper/trigger mapping- The PDP controller's bumper/trigger mapping is identical to the Wii Classic Controller Pro and the Wii U Pro Controller. L/R are the top bumpers, and zL/zR are the bottom triggers. Meanwhile, the Hori controller swaps them, making it more similar in layout to an actual GameCube controller, with zL/zR as the top bumpers and L/R as the bottom triggers.
• Top bumpers- The PDP controllers top bumpers feel like carbon copies of the GameCube Z button, and annoyingly so. They're bigger at least, but they're made of an even harder plastic with a harder click, making them less comfy than even the GameCube Z button. Hori's controller, on the other hand, uses really responsive, springy bumpers that look and feel more like the Wii Classic Controller Pro's top bumpers.
• Bottom triggers- This is going to be the biggest draw for a lot of people (including myself). The PDP controller features pressure sensitive triggers, much like the GameCube L/R buttons. Here's the problem though: They're not actually analog. They're digital triggers that don't register a press until you press all the way down. This is such an annoyance, especially for Super Smash Bros., where you often need to shield, roll, or dodge instantly. The Hori controller, on the other hand, uses a near-flat digital paddle, which has nonexistent travel. It's quite comfortable, albeit nothing like the GameCube, and may actually be my favorite digital trigger I've used on a Nintendo controller.
• Dpad- The PDP controller, once again, copies the GameCube where it shouldn't have. The dpad is a tiny little thing like on the GameCube, and somehow is even MORE inaccurate (so many times I've done the wrong taunt in Smash). The Hori controller uses a noticeably larger dpad. It's not my go-to controller for dpad-centric games (the Wii U pro controller and classic controller still have better dpads), but it's nice, and at least you can input taunts more easily.
• Left stick- The PDP controller uses a taller, fuller control stick that's reminiscent of the Wii Classic Controller Pro's control stick. The material used is somehow a grime magnet though, and even when I wash my hands immediately prior to handling, playing for not too long gets tons of gross black gunk on the stick. It's really annoying. The control stick also feels a tad too tall compared to the GameCube control stick. The Hori controller uses a more GameCube-like control stick, albeit with a slightly flatter top, and it feels more accurate overall.
• Right stick- The PDP controller's right stick is identical to the left, albeit set lower/shorter than the left stick. The Hori controller's right stick is a spitting image of the GameCube C-stick. I imagine both have their pros and cons depending on the game, but both have been quite functional in Smash, to me.

Phew! Well, that's about it. Both controllers are pretty nice, but the Hori Battle pad is definitely my preferred of the two, for the reasons listed above. The bottom trigger design, trigger/bumper mapping and feel, control stick, dpad, and overall greater similarity to a real GameCube controller really make the deal, whereas PDP dropped the ball in those areas, in my opinion. It's a damn shame too, because PDP seems to be getting better themed controller (Samus and Link especially), whereas Hori only has Mario and Luigi, and apparently Pikachu (but that's not coming to the US, as far as I know).

I know this impression was pretty long and kind of messy, but I hope it helps someone!