Mobile World Congress is among us, and a new iOS7 game controller has been announced! This time, Mad Catz – longtime maker of third party controllers and gaming accessories – is trying their hand at the iPhone.
This new controller, called C.T.R.L.i, is an iOS version of their C.T.R.L. android controller, and will be one of the first full-size iOS controllers hitting the market. Heres what we know, about it:
It’s similar to the Xbox layout, like the Moga controller, and unlike the RP One controller
It connects over bluetooth, and should work on every device with a lightning port
An iPhone clip will be included, enabling you to attach your iPhone to the top of the controller. This clip will not be large enough to connect an iPad Mini, but should work with every iPhone model
It will be available in black, white, blue, orange, and red
Suggested retail price should be $80
Battery life is rated at approximately 40 hours, and runs on 2 AAA batteries
Expected release date is between April and May
For iPad gamers looking for a full-size controller option, this might just fit the bill.
Hands on with the C.T.R.L.i by Mad Catz (Source: CNet) Mad Catz C.T.R.L.i Bluetooth iOS 7 Controller First Look (source: Gear Diary) Madcatz CTRL I & R Hands On (source: nDevil) MWC 2014: Mad Catz shows off its C.T.R.L.i controller for iOS devices and talks about future unconsole plans (source: PocketGamer)
The Metal Slug Series – Metal Slug 3, specifically, so far – has finally received it’s long-awaited update for MFi controller support!
These games have been on my shortlist since the day the program was announced. And with good reason – these are fast-paced, high tension shooters that require quick reflexes and delicate movements. If you don’t think any of this lends itself to touchscreen gaming, you’re right – The Metal Slug games are frustrating to play with touch.
Shoot swarms of enemies, rescue hostages, and try (hard!) not to die
Enter the game controllers. Developers SNK Playmore and porter Dotemu have partnered on several other App Store releases – Blazing Star, R-Type, R-Type II, the Double Dragon series, two different King of Fighters games – with that record, it was only a matter of time until Metal Slug got the update
Fans of arcade games and side-scrolling shooters, just trust me on this one. I dumped way more quarters than they’re asking for now into this game at various points in my life. This is a true classic of the genre, one of the best arcade games in the App Store, and an easy recommendation.
Install the latest firmware update to fix button input issues
SteelSeries has today released a firmware update for the SteelSeries Stratus MFi controller.
This update was released to fix the previously reported issues regarding button lag. Iâve been running an earlier version of this firmware for a few days now, and Iâm happy to report that the problems seem completely solved.
Tired of Flappy Bird yet? No? Really? Are you SURE?
Well fine, if you say so… Flappy Bird inspired side-scroller Die in a Fire was just released, and marks the first Flappy Bird clone with MFi controller support.
Behold, the flapping
For the less than 1% of you who are unfamiliar with how these games are played, you tap the button to make your character flap slightly higher in the air, and you try to dodge the obstacles for as long as you can until you inevitably crash into one of them and restart the level. It’s extremely simple, but strangely addicting. And now you can play with a controller.
Diversion, a side-scrolling 2.5D platformer by Ezone, was just updated for MFi controller support. It joins their other recently updated games Crazy Snowboard and Snow Spin in supporting game controllers.
Diversion is a side-scrolling platformer with a similar graphical presentation and level design to the classic Pandemonium series. In practice, it plays more like one of the iOS Rayman games or Pitfall – your character automatically runs from the beginning of the course to the end, and your control consists of telling the character when to jump and when to use special abilities. It actually plays really well in practice – despite the simplification in control, the levels can get challenging. Collecting all 3 stars in each level isn’t always easy, and requires technique and timing.
Diversion is free to play with ads, combined with somewhat unnecessary “Extra life” tokens right out of an arcade machine, and supplemented with “Gem” currency that can be used to unlock alternate costumes. Any purchase of anything disables the ads. In practice, this is one of the least offensive examples of the “freemium” model that i’ve seen. You can play everything without paying a dime, you’ll probably want to replay a level rather than use a continue token anyways if you’re going for score, and you get plenty of gems just by playing.
In addition to MFi controller support, Diversion features iCloud saves, Game Center achievements, video sharing, universal iPhone and iPad compatibility, over 200 levels across 7 worlds, and over 700 characters – certainly an impressive list of features.
This game is an easy recommendation to fans of auto-runners and side-scrolling platformers. It’s free to play, and If you like the game, you can purchase something to remove the ads – thanks to a fair payment model, that’ll probably be the last purchase you have to make.
Classic iOS platformer Mikey Hooks now supports MFi game controllers. With this update, Mikey Hooks joins the previously released (and excellent) Mikey Shorts in having controller support.
Swing over traps, collect coins, and dodge enemies
Both Mikey Hooks and Mikey Shorts are excellent games, even without controller support. I’ve been working on a full review of Mikey Shorts which I’ll be posting soon, but for fans of classic side-scrolling platforming games, I can absolutely recommend downloading both of these games.
Police-chase action game Smash Cops Heat has been updated to support MFi game controllers.
Smash Cops has a really cool premise – the game tasks you with driving a police car on a mission to take down criminals and navigate crime scenes, and presents it in the form of a live news broadcast about the events you’re experiencing. Aside from looking and feeling really cool, this allows the current mission objectives to be laid out cleverly, with a cinematic presentation.
Beautiful and fun, with a cinematic presentation
Controls work reasonably well, in-game and in menus, with one exception: driving forward is handled by holding forward on the DPad or analog stick. While this works great with the analog sticks of the Extended layout controllers, holding forward and turning at the same time with the D-Pad feels a little more difficult than it should. It is not a deal-killer, but the game does play better with the Extended pads.
No matter which controller you have, this is still absolutely worth a download. It’s polished, fun, and free to play.
The original, classic Lego action-adventure game LEGO Star Wars was just updated to support game controllers.
Originally developed by Traveller’s Tales, this game was the first of the modern “Lego Game” series, and has been ported to countless consoles. This particular version is based on the full-featured console version, as opposed to other iOS Lego games, which are generally ported from mobile DS versions.
Lego and Star Wars, together at last
There isn’t much to say about this game that hasn’t already been said. It’s a modern classic in the action-adventure genre, ridiculously fun, and appropriate for all ages. This Complete edition includes both the Original Trilogy and Prequel Trilogy games, which were originally released separately.
This iOS port of the game had a rocky start, with low resolution graphics and poor framerate. Subsequent updates have polished it into one of the best versions ever. Retina graphics, universal compatibility, Game Center, and now controller support round out all the features you’d want in an iOS app. The first episode is completely free to play, with subsequent episodes unlockable via in-app purchase. The entire game can be purchased for $9.99 – a more than fair price for the massive amount of content included here.
If you’ve never played this game, download it now – you’re in for a treat.
Classic Gameboy Advance emulator GBA4iOS has been updated for MFi controller support, and can be installed without jailbreaking.
This site generally doesn’t cover jailbreak information, emulators, or anything like that, but this particular app is kind of a big deal. It can be installed over-the-air on any iOS7 device, no jailbreak required. It appears to have been signed by a Chinese website of questionable origin – proceed with caution. I can confirm it seems to work well enough, but I have no idea what is happening behind the scenes.
The GBA lends itself particularly well to emulation on iOS. The games run fast, don’t require too many buttons, were mobile-focused, had great graphics – lots to love about that system. Many games that originally debuted on the GBA have subsequently received enhanced iOS ports, but many others have never been rereleased outside of this system. Now, they can be played on the iPhone – the best portable console ever made – and they feel better than ever.
I’m torn on how to recommend this. Emulation is a controversial subject, even today. The ability to preserve old consoles is important, not just to players, but to historians. But some people view emulation as a slippery slope towards piracy. Before you press install on this app, ask yourself where you fall on this topic.
Ninja Hero Cats, a top-down adventure game where you control a swarm of cats in an effort to traverse levels and take down bosses, now supports game controllers. Even before controller support, this was already a fun game with a really nice art style, almost reminiscent of Bastion – a classic iOS game, also with support for game controllers.
The biggest issue with this game is the aggressiveness of the ads: the entire top of the screen is covered in a banner, the game starts with a giant ad splash screen for the developerâs other apps, there are ârate this appâ dialog boxes, âwatch this video for currencyâ – all that stuff. Some of this can be removed with an in-app purchase, and doing so improves the game greatly. The splash-screen ad at the beginning doesnât go away, though, even after purchase. All of this is unfortunate – the ads leave a bad impression of an otherwise beautifully presented game, and ads after paying to disable ads are inexcusable.
Otherwise, there would be a lot to recommend here. Itâs still worth downloading and trying – no harm in that – but itâs hard to recommend paying to get an ad-free experience when that isnât what you get.
