Wii U Pro Controller Battery Lasts 80 Hours, Retailers Claim

The Wii U Pro Controller is obviously aimed at gamers who want a more traditional experience, but it may just be perfect for hardcore gamers in more ways than one. Listings on both Amazon and GameStop are saying that the Pro Controller's rechargeable battery can last a ridiculously long time. Spotted by Nintendo Life, both listings claim that the Pro Controller can keep chugging along for up to 80 hours on a single charge.

If that's true, then it will be a huge leap over the current generation's rechargeable controllers. The batteries in the PS3 and Xbox 360 gamepads can last anywhere between 20 and 30 hours, while the Wii U gamepad will only last around five. Naturally, the Pro Controller doesn't have a touchscreen to sap its power, but still, the fact that it could potentially last 80 hours on a single charge is – in a word – insane.

While that's certainly good news, this revelation comes with a bit of bad news as well. It turns out that the Pro Controller isn't backwards compatible with original Wii games, so if your games call for a more traditional controller instead of the Wii remote, you're going to have to use the Classic Controller. That isn't the most preferable situation, but what can you do? Nintendo has to make that money, after all.

The life of the Pro Controller's battery immediately reminds us of the Gamecube Wavebird, otherwise known as the best controller to ever grace Earth. We'll have to wait a little bit longer to find out if there's any truth to these claims, but for now, things are looking pretty great for the Wii U Pro Controller. What do you think? Is it possible that Nintendo's claims of an 80-hour battery life are legitimate, or is this a bit of pre-release embellishment?