[Review] Brook Wingman P5 Converter
Over the course of the PS5/Xbox Series era, the gaming industry has taken great strides in regards to accessibility. There’s been comprehensive accessibility options in games, and Xbox and PlayStation have both released their own accessible controllers – the Xbox Adaptive Controller, and the PlayStation Access, respectively. In addition, 8BitDo has its own options in 2 variations of its Lite SE gamepad: Bluetooth, and 2.4G wireless, the latter I use daily. That said, the industry still has a way to go to reach great accessibility. Until then, I have to use additional workarounds, namely a specific input remapper and controller converters, which make it so a controller from one system can work on another.
The input remapper that I use is called reWASD. On top of all the features you’d expect from an input remapper such as toggle and turbo, there are several features that set reWASD apart: first is that it can mask one controller as another, e.g.: Xbox as PS4; second is you can group up to 4 devices as 1, so for example, you can have “one controller” with 68 separate buttons; third, you can set up unlimited layouts, meaning you can have one or more layout for every game, and; finally, reWASD can connect to other computers and consoles via Bluetooth. I use reWASD for all of my games.
The only caveat that I have found is PS5. You have to use the RemotePlay PC app, or its arguably better alternative, Chiaki to use reWASD with PS5. Not the end of the world but that method does generate some input delay. Plus, both the RemotePlay PC app and Chiaki have their own issues, like the RemotePlay PC app can’t emulate certain touchpad inputs, and while Chiaki can, the actual RemotePlay feature on the actual PS5 console is prone to crashing while using Chiaki, requiring the PS5 to be restarted.
As a result, I’ve been looking for a better way to play PS5 games than RemotePlay/Chiaki.
Over the years, I’ve used a number of controller converters, several of which are by Brook, including the Wingman PS2 Converter, the Wingman XE, and most recently, the Wingman FGC 2. While the FGC 2 does work on PS5, it only supports wired connections, meaning reWASD cannot connect to it. As a result, the FGC 2 became the dedicated converter for my MadCatz Street Fighter 5 FightPad Pro for Tekken 8. It wasn’t until several months after that decision that I discovered the Wingman P5, a converter that supports wired and wireless connections!
Initial setup is pretty painless. You just need to make sure your PS5’s communication method is set to use USB cable and plug in the P5. That’s it.
For wired controllers, all you have to do is plug in your controller to the converter and it should work. For wireless controllers, you have to put the converter into Pairing mode by holding the middle button/LED for 2 seconds, and put your controller into Pairing. From there, the converter and your controller will pair together. To make sure everything works, I like to press the correlated Home button on the controller.
Using a computer, you can adjust various settings such as remappings and turbo settings in the Brook Converter Center software but be aware, the changes are saved to the converter itself, meaning it will affect everything, Home screen as well as every game, whereas you can have multiple layouts and change them on the fly, using reWASD.
The fact that it supports wireless connections made me incredibly excited to test the P5. After extensive testing, I am extremely happy to report that yes, reWASD connects directly to the Wingman P5 via Bluetooth! Not only that but Brook converters have built-in button combinations for touchpad inputs and I can set them as macros within reWASD. What this means is I can finally play PlayStation Classics like Wild Arms 3 wherein Start and Select are the right and left sides of the touchpad, respectively.
However, while they are easily rectified, I have run into a couple of quirks using the Wingman P5 with reWASD. Firstly, because I’m unable to reach the back USB ports on my PS5, I’ve been using a wired hub for the FGC 2. That works without issue but when I plug the P5 into the hub, the converter and reWASD don’t like to play nice together. That said, if I use a USB-C-to-USB-A converter in one of the front USB ports and plug the P5 into that, everything works as it should.
The other quirk is... weird: My PS4 and PS5 layouts set my controller as DualShock 4. You’d think that would be perfect, right? Nope! The mappings are all jumbled. The fix is simply to set the controller as an Xbox One controller, which has the right mappings. Like I said, they’re easily rectified but those are certainly some quirks.
The only other thing I’m not exactly over the moon about is the price of the Wingman P5. You can purchase it from multiple sellers, including Amazon, Focus Attack, and of course, off the Brook Gaming official website. That said, depending on where you buy it from, the P5 will cost $69.95 (Focus Attack), $69.99 (the Brook Gaming official website) or $74.99 USD (Amazon). On one hand, that’s about the cost of a new controller but on the other hand, if you have a controller that has Hall Effect sticks, like a Gamesir or an 8BitDo, I say it’s definitely worth it. Especially when you take into account how often the DualSense, and DualSense Edge develop stick drift.
On my end, I’m just ecstatic to finally have a way to use reWASD on PS5 without RemotePlay! I remember when PlayStation Now (which has since been incorporated into the PlayStation Plus Premium tier) games blocked RemotePlay. Almost makes me consider getting PlayStation Plus Premium. Almost. I refuse to pay $159.99 USD/year.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Accessibility Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars
Brook Gaming is a company that produces game controllers and adapters for various platforms, such as PS5, PS4, PS3, Xbox, Switch, and Retro. The Taiwanese gaming accessories brand has more than 20 years of experience in designing and manufacturing gaming hardware, with super converters for gaming consoles released in 2015, allowing your older gamepads, joysticks, and steering wheels to adapt seamlessly to new consoles. Brook Gaming sent me a Wingman P5 for review, and I would like to sincerely thank them for doing so!
