Nyko Perfect Shot, Wii Gun Peripheral Review

There is no doubt that the Wii is starting to see a healthy amount of peripherals.  Nyko, a 3^rd party production company that is always producing innovative hardware alternatives, has recently released the Perfect Shot, a pistol controller that houses your Wii-mote, simulating a gun.

While Nintendo recently launched their 1^st party Wii-Zapper complete with Link’s Crossbow training, Nyko’s Perfect Shot is quite a different piece of hardware.  Nintendo’s first party peripheral is a two handed affair that also holds the Nunchuk whereas the Perfect Shot is solely a single handed unit.  

Sporting a white and blue casing, the Perfect Shot resembles the Wii’s color scheme accurately.  With a pass through port located at the bottom of the unit, the user has the option to attach a Nunchuk, classic controller, or anything else that may attach to the Wii-mote.  The top section of the gun needs to be filled with a Wii-mote before the user can begin.  The user must slide the Wii-mote into the top slot, and then strap it down by flipping up a lock located at the end of the gun.  Once inserted, the pistol is quite sturdy and the user should have no worries about anything popping loose.  

Through the design of the gun, the trigger button actually taps the “B” button on the bottom of the Wii-mote.   This means that the pistol merely acts as a casing to hold your Wii-mote and does not actually replace any buttons with its own.  But when held to the eye, the user can clearly see down the barrel of the Wii-mote, increasing accuracy. 

The Perfect Shot is one solidly built piece of equipment.  In fact, it might be too solidly built as physically inserting your Wii-mote requires a bit of strength.  Removing the Wii-mote isn’t as easy as one would like either.  But unlike Nintendo’s Zapper, the user is free to use the motion controls of the Nunchuk.  Some games require that the Nunchuk be flicked or twisted.  This motion would be practically impossible with Nintendo’s device.  Because the Perfect Shot is held with only one hand, the user is free to use the Nunchuk as they see fit.  And just as a side note, when the Wii-mote is plugged in, the unit becomes a little top heavy, making twirling the gun around Revolver Ocelot style an improbability.  This is a shame because when you actually hold the Perfect Shot in your hand, you feel like it could be an actual gun. 

The last biggest downfall of the unit is that is reaching other buttons on the Wii-mote is basically an impossible task.  The only way to use this product would be to play a game that only uses the motion control of the Wii-mote and the “B” button.  If the D-pad, “A” button or the “-“ and “+” buttons are needed, the user will have an uncomfortable time reaching for these buttons when the Wii-mote is housed in the Perfect Shot.  

If you take your gun games seriously, then the Perfect Shot should be a great purchase.  Staying competitive to Nintendo’s Wii Zapper, the Perfect Shot sells for around $15 dollars.  The purchase price is warranted by how much use you will get out of this product. 
 

Positives:

-Solid Casing

-Great grip

-Feels like a real gun

-White and blue theme match that of the Wii’s

-Great way to improve accuracy

-Pass through port allows additional accessories to be plugged in

-Singled handed play allows user to use the motion controls of the Nunchuk
 

Negatives:

-Can only be used on “gallery-shooter” gun style games (think Wii Play’s Shoot)

-Inserting and removing the Wii-mote requires a bit of elbow grease

-Does not come with an extra game

-As of right now, there really isn’t a need for this peripheral as there isn’t a killer light-gun style Wii game yet.