What are your favourite controllers?
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:
My design was on the front page a few years ago...
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 are 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.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far for this. To my mind, the modern Xbox controller is the perfect controller for PC. Like you said, this the AA batteries and colorways are great, unique features. On top of this, it's well-laid out, feels good in the hand, and every button, stick, and trigger feels great to use. And most importantly, it has the broadest compatibility. Every game recognizes the Xbox controller, and almost every game has Xbox button prompts built in.
The only thing missing is hall-effect sticks, but I've never experienced stick drift on an Xbox controller so it's not like I would notice a difference.
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?
The steam controller. I love the trackpad!
I hugely regret not buying 10 of them when they were liquidating their stock and selling them for $5. I love mine and am really worried about what I'll do when it inevitably breaks.
That trackpad was a game changer for playing KB+M games with a controller, but to be honest sometimes I really miss the right joystick. The trackpad can fake it, but it's not the same.
If they ever do another standalone controller I'd want it to be like a screen-less Deck. Both joysticks and trackpads and a couple more grips.
If Steam controller also had joysticks, it would be the ultimate controller.
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.
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 have read that early DualSense units had a bug that affected battery life. If you still have yours, it might be worth updating the firmware.
I haven't used mine with PC (I usually just use an X-Box One controller, which was my fav prior to DualSense probably), but it's a shame that more games don't use the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. It's used relatively often and pretty well on PS5, and for me it's a borderline killer feature. If more games utilized it in the way Astro's Playroom did (yes I know it's a tech demo but that's kind of the point), it would be far and away my favorite for any system.
Haven't had issues with battery life, but taht could be because I've updated firmware, or maybe the PS5 is just better at managing the DSs' battery since they're made for eachother. I also got the official brand charging dock, so perhaps that has something to do with prolonging battery life? Couldn't tell you.
Steam Controller is of course an unbeatable classic, almost it's own category with the weird but charming touchpads.
Of the more conventional controllers I'm a big fan of my current Gulikit KK3 Max. I was looking for a controller with Hall-effect joysticks, and this one looked like one of quality, so I decided why not eh. Feels like a good controller when I use it, so I'm content with it.
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
The D-pad on the Switch Pro Controller is hot garbage. Unless they changed it.
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.
I agree
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
PS2
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'm a big fan of the 8bitdo Ultimate C, but my favourite may well be the GameCube controller
Keyboard and mouse... but the Steam Controller is cool too.
Other than that, any PS clone. The long thin horns fit my hands better than others.
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.
Wacebird seems cool
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.
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.
Steam Controller.
It's big enough for my long hands. And it has a ton of features and customizability.
What I don't like is the right track pad when games expect a joystick. Depending on the game controls, it can be suboptimal. (configurable to a degree with center deadzone)
N64 controller. It's insane, but I love it.
Wasn't expecting that
PC game for decades with a recent (5 years?) Switch purchase. I was never a fan of controllers and still aren't for anything to do with aiming, but the Switch Pro Controller impressed me as a real nice piece of hardware. Battery life is phenomenal too.
I really enjoy the Gulikit King Kong Pro 2 (and would assume the 3 is better) because it all runs on firmware. No software to install, it just works as it should. Also works on Linux without fuss.
On its functionality side it has hall effect triggers and joysticks plus nice buttons.
PS5 controller. Bought a broken one to fix and replace my xBox 360 controller I'd been using and it feels so much better. The trackpad is also useful for games with partial controller support like My Summer Car.
I'm using a Thrustmaster Eswap X Pro. The joystick and dpad modules are hot swappable and can be put in any orientation you prefer. They sell replacement joystick modules for $20, which is nice because you don't have to replace the whole controller if one gets stick drift.
Steam Controller is a flawed masterpiece that I wish we had gotten another iteration of.
Also, speaking of the 8bitdo Pro 2 line, the wired Xbox version of the Pro 2 is pretty great. It's similar to the regular Pro 2, but it has analog triggers, uses Xinput, and has Xbox coloring and branding. It's like they took the best parts of Xbox, SNES, and Playstation controllers and mushed them all together.
The normal one has xinput too. I have the general one. My pro2 has analog triggers too
I recently upgraded my XBox 360 Wireless controller and got the Flydigi Vader 3 Pro. Hall Effect Sensors trigger guard. Picked it up for und er 50 bucks on Aliexpress. They are available on Amazon US, but not in Europe.
Really happy with it so far.
I hated the Xbox controller when it first came out, probably because my child-sized hands couldn't reach the buttons comfortably. So it was Playstation style for a long time.
Now as an adult I've switched over to the Xbox style (easier to plug and play for Steam gaming) and I like it a lot. It feels a lot more durable than any other controller I can remember using. Though I feel the size and weight of the controller makes it slightly more difficult to use the bumper and trigger buttons compared to PS controllers, it's not a big deal because I'm not playing FPS these days.
Both styles are cool. Tho I have a slight preference for symmetrical sticks
Also using 8bitdo Pro 2, I like it. Bluetooth connection is somewhat crusty -- for some reason, games think that I'm holding LT, despite me not pressing it. Maybe it's a Linux Mint thing, I dunno. Works perfectly wired, though
Another vote for the steam controller - it's versatile enough to work comfortably with every game I've wanted to play.
Not practical with anything else, but the Gamcube controller was so comfy. Def part of the 8bitdo ultimate gang now.
GameCube ones are nice
But powera can eat shit