Nunchuk

The Nunchuk, also named the Nunchuk Controller, is a controller attachment for the Wii's Wii Remote, and is one of the things prepackaged with every Wii unit. At the bottom of a Wii Remote is an input where the Nunchuk is connected, and the signal is sent from the bottom of the Nunchuk to the Wii Remote. A majority of Wii games make use of the Nunchuk, including the Metroid titles for the system, and some require it to be connected while playing.

Whenever attached to a Wii Remote, a Nuchuk resembles the, hence its name. The Nunchuk also features an analog stick similar to the one found on the Nintendo GameCube Controller and two trigger buttons: and. It works in tandem with the main controller in many games. Like the Wii Remote, the Nunchuk also provides accelerometer for three axis motion-sensing and tilting, but without a speaker, a rumble function, or a pointer function.

As a standalone accessory, Nunchuks retail in Japan for JP¥1,800, in the United States for US$19.99, in Canada for CA$24.99, in Australia for AU$29.99, in Europe for €19, and in the United Kingdom for £14.

The cord connecting the Nunchuk to the Wii Remote measures approximately 3.5 to 4 feet (1 ~ 1.2 m) long. The body of the Nunchuk measures 113 mm (4.45 in) long, 38 mm (1.5 in) wide, and 37 mm (1.48 in) thick.

Relevance to Metroid
The first Metroid game to make use of the Nunchuk is Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, in which Samus's movement is controlled via the, and the allows her to morph in and out of Morph Ball mode. The Z button locks Samus' point of vision, or locks onto an enemy target if one is in Samus' view. The Nunchuk is also used to fire the Grapple Lasso, by casting the Nuchuk forward to Grapple a target, and by flicking the Nunchuk backwards to remove the target. This is used to remove a variety of obstacles, including shields, debris and other things.

The same controls for the Nunchuk were also used in the Metroid Prime: Trilogy, now introduced into Wii versions of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

In one conference, it was stated that Retro Studios helped design the Nunchuk because the Remote on its own would not be able to play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.