A Wii Nunchuk is now a video editing macropad — because it's 'one of the most ergonomic things ever made'

YouTuber John Dingley, of John's Projects, has wired a Nintendo Wii Nunchuk to his PC and turned it into a macropad for video editing. The build was spotted by Hackaday last week, and it's cheaper and weirder than it sounds.

The key hardware is the Anavi Handle, an open-source USB adapter that bridges the Nunchuk to a computer via the Seeed Studio Xiao RP2040 microcontroller — a component that costs just a couple of dollars. The setup does require some coding to map inputs, and Dingley walks through that process in his video. His current button layout is lean but functional: the lower pushbutton splits a clip, the joystick left triggers Ripple Delete, and joystick right fires Undo. The upper pushbutton is still unassigned. He keeps a regular keyboard nearby for typing, but the Nunchuk replaces his macropad entirely for editing work.

The reasoning behind picking a Wii Nunchuk specifically is more practical than nostalgic. The controller was designed for a family console — it's light, rounded, and built to be held upright in one hand for long sessions. That upright grip is the whole point: hovering a wrist flat over a keyboard or macropad for hours puts strain on the joint, while holding the Nunchuk vertically keeps the wrist in a more neutral position. Dingley calls it "super comfortable" and "one of the most ergonomic things ever made." The Nunchuk's limited input count is a genuine trade-off compared to something like the DaVinci Speed Editor, but Dingley found he wasn't using most of his macropad's buttons anyway — so the constraint isn't really a constraint for his workflow.

It's a niche solution, but an elegant one for editors who only need a handful of shortcuts within arm's reach. The low cost and open-source adapter make it easy to replicate, and the full build details are in Dingley's video.