At the moment I use my 8bitdo pro2. It was kinda expensive but its a huge upgrade from my no name switch controllers and awful gamesube one from powera.
Also, the 3ds had really good controls (we don’t talk about the c stick)
My favourite controllers are still the official Xbox controllers because of Xbox Design Labs. I like to have my controller look the way I want. And also they seem to be the only controllers that can still be powered by 2 plain rechargable AA batteries.
Edit: Here is my design for anyone curious:
I don’t care about colours or AA batteries, I’d rather have a cable personally, I do agree on the choice though.
Anything from the 360 onwards and my preferred controllers. A permanently wired 360 controller that does away with the massive battery compartment it my favourite but these days I use an “Xbox one” version with the USB C cable.
Nice
Xbox ones are cool but I can’t wrap my head around the buttons being inverted compared to Nintendo. Also how’s the dpad?
For me it’s the other way around 😅
The D-pad is really nice. It’s very clicky.
Nice, clicky dpad good
My design was on the front page a few years ago…
Is there no option to design a wired one? =/
Steam controller obviously (for everything other than retro gaming which often requires a dpad).
Not familiar with that, is it the trackpad one?
That thing confuses me
Why are the buttons below, why is there a stick if there are pads
The stick is better for movement, while the pads are better for aiming. And the buttons work fine where they are.
Arguably the left side pad is a bit useless for gaming itself, but its nice to have two pads for desktop navigation and using the on screen keyboard that is build into steam.
Oh ok
I always thought the GameCube controller was ridiculously comfortable and ergonomic, so that’s my choice. The C stick might not be for everyone though.
Any Dreamcast fans here? Those controllers had similar ergonomics in the hand, although the lack of a second analog stick was a pretty big drawback in hindsight.
Honestly the 2nd analog stick I didn’t mind too much because the face-buttons made a decent D-pad for the tiny handful of shooters on the DC. The bigger flaw was the lack of 2nd shoulder-buttons.
Also that putting a screen into a controller has always been a solution looking for a problem. It was on the DC, it was on the Wii-U, and there’s a good reason they abandoned the idea to put a screen on the PS4 touchpad controller.
I quite like a good ps4 controller
Have you tried the ps5 controller? Genuinely my favourite thing about the ps5. The adaptive triggers and the haptics are so good. The battery life feels better too. That was my biggest complaint about the 4s especially compared to the ps3s, those lasted for weeks.
Yeah if they like the PS4 controller, then they’ll 100% love the DualSense.
Just play Astro’s Playroom and you’ll get it.
I agree
The 8Bitdo Pro+ has been great - works really well with my Steam Deck and Switch. Sounds like the Pro 2 is the superior version with hall effect sticks.
The Switch Pro controller has always been good too. And the DualSense is really neat with the haptics and adaptive triggers - expensive, but not that much more than a Pro controller surprisingly.
Yea, the Nintendo pro controller is way overpriced, before u got my 8bitdo I used these cheapo switch ones that were 7 euro a pop and they were good
To be fair I’ve had the pro controller for several years and it has held up really well. Really ergonomic and the vibration’s good, plus it has gyro. Perfect for my needs on Switch. I think it was worth what I paid.
Oki :3
Which question but does it have hall sticks?
No the pro controller doesn’t have hall effect sticks, but I’ve not experienced any drift. I did take it apart once to clean the insides however.
I had no end of problems with the joy cons, and have replaced those sticks with hall effect ones. Since doing that I’ve not had any problems, touch wood!
Oh ok
The D-pad on the Switch Pro Controller is hot garbage. Unless they changed it.
Admittedly I don’t use the D-pad all that much - does it not register inputs well? I guess it’s pretty important if you’re playing a fighting or retro game that require precise inputs. For the games I’ve played, it hasn’t been an issue.
Given that the only console games I play are old Nintendo platformers, I’m gonna have to go with the NES Controller.
Trying to play Megaman 2 with analog sticks is an exercise in anger management. XD
Also, I think you might like the 8bitdo sn30
Its a SNES shaped one with small analogs.
Dpads are cool
Retro games with analogs are pain, I love dpads
DualSense is the best right now IMO due to the features. If you don’t believe me, actually play Astro’s Playroom.
But I love the Steam Deck’s layout (so I guess I’d probably like the Steam Controller as well). A lot of that has to do with Steam Input being fucking awesome, but it’s also possible to get relatively good at using the touchpads as mouse, and the “touch right stick to enable gyro” is an awesome feature that has made FPS games playable on console for me.
I had a dualsense before, bought it thinking of those features. Turns out that a few games had support for it on PC, and most were shooters so I wouldn’t play using a controller.
The battery was abysmal too, it would barely last 4 hours. I’ve heard on some places that it was due to the touchpad being polled for input all the time, draining the battery.
Moved over to a 8bitdo ultimate Bluetooth with Hall sticks and couldn’t be happier
I’m a big fan of the 8bitdo Ultimate C, but my favourite may well be the GameCube controller
Smash bros player?
GameCube layout is pretty nice
Not really, I just think it’s the best controller. Ergonomic shape, octagonal stick gate (which is a criminally underused feature), good button layout… the only thing wrong with it is that the analogue triggers have a bit too much travel on them.
People like the GameCube buttons? I hate the layout
The sticks are good tho. Would love a hall effect GameCube controller. Mine was good but I accidentally made it drift and its now unusable
I’m still using an old PS4 Dual Shock, as I prefer its ergonomics to the Microsoft one… But I have to say the rechargeable AA’s of Microsoft are a big plus.
I tried a ps4 one. Those are damn good controllers.
8bitdo ultimate. Already lasted more than a couple of months, as opposed to the last two Xbox controllers I had. I just wanted hall effect joysticks and Xbox layout.
Nice
Yea, 8 bitdo have good controllers.
How much was the ultimate? My pro2 was about 50 euro
I do not know what the industry wide obsession is with connected D-pads, but my chunky thumbs do not appreciate it.
And with that in mind, the Playstation style of controllers are the closest thing to my ideal controller currently on the market.
Also, I prefer thumbstick under D-pad just in case I need to hit one of those buttons regularly I have a few options.
Yea, the pro2 is PlayStation shaped. I actuslyl prefer it.
Yeah, I just wish they’d split the directionals.
What do you mean “split the directionals” you mean staggered sticks?
The directional pad is four separate buttons. Up down left right. I want them to be like the c buttons on the Nintendo 64 controller. Separate.
What ends up happening with me is that I’ll press down but not squarely down. There is a good chance I’ll press partially to the left or right while using smaller d pads. This causes extra inputs I didn’t intend to do happen. The ds made playing tetris much harder on me than it should have for me.
Why?
The point of a dpad is that you can roll it
Edited to clarify. And you can roll separated buttons just as easily… I know because I’d do it a lot on the psp with dj max.
Oh, yes, Sony have a good split pad, joycons have it but bad
- 8bitdo SN30 Pro
- GameCube controller
- Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
- Super Famicom controller (mainly the face button colors and layout)
What’s so good about the switch pro?
I agree with the rest :3
Ergonomics, NFC support and gyro. Of course the rumble could be stronger but I have gotten used to it.
My aliexoress ones have super strong rumble. NFC is cool. But don’t most switch stuff have gyro?
Most Switch games support gyro functionality, and of course the Joy-Cons also have gyro.
Everything has gryo unless its really cheap
I really liked the wavebird for the gamecube, unfortunately mine went into the aether on my last move, got bluetooth adapters to pair modern controllers with it but the wavebird was really cool at the time, was really amazing to not have to be tethered to the console and it being first party, though at the time the madcatz stuff was decent.
For recent controllers, I’ve been using a knockoff 360 controller for moonlight recently and after a lot of back and forth I really think MS nailed the controller setup back then (OG Xbox being decent but not a preference, I hated the duke, s controller was solid though), I like the xbone controllers as well, but IMO they’re just iterations on the 360 controller, easily my preference as an all rounder controller layout.
I have a steam controller, used it for a while but it’s been some time now, had some really great ideas, I’d totally go for an updated steamdeck style layout on that, probably a second for me.
I’ve had so much drift issues with ds4s that I personally don’t reach for a ds4 or dualsense for non playstation games, I like being able to swap batteries and the Xbox/Steam controllers all seem to have way better battery life in general, I keep a stock of rechargeables around so not generating piles of waste.
PS2
- best d-pad ever made
- comfortable to my big hands without being uncomfortable to friends’ regular-sized hands
- pressure sensitivity all over the place, even if that did get underutilized
- versatile design that’s equally comfortable to use for 2D and 3D games and doesn’t specifically favor a small number of genres
- smooth, strong, and yet quiet rumble
- good heft
- uses a cord so no fucking around with batteries
- sensibly named and located Start and Select buttons (Everyone‘s been dropping the ball on that front, lately. Sony most of all.)
The steam controller. I love the trackpad!
