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:
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? =/
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.
The Xbox controllers are too big for my small hands. For people like me the dualshock 4 is more adapted + it has better build quality and feels sturdier all around
DS4? As in the one for the PS4? It’s a bit of an unfair comparison bc they are different gens, but i would definitely argue that the current Xbox Series controllers are higher build-quality than the DS4. My Xbox One controller had creaky, rattly shoulders and an okay but not great d-pad. The newer ones fix that, fortunately.
All that said, I will not dispute that it’s probably less ideal for smaller hands. Sony has always gotten that part right.
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.
You can use a typc-c to usb cable with the controller if using the controller with windows not sure about other platforms
Yeah, as I said, I use an Xbox one controller with a USB C cable. My PC has a USB C port so I just use C to C. I just wish there was a permanently wired official version of the controller that did away with the huge battery compartment on the back :)
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
Retro games with analogs are pain, I love dpads
Also, I think you might like the 8bitdo sn30
Its a SNES shaped one with small analogs.
Dpads are cool
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.)
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)
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.
Another vote for the steam controller - it’s versatile enough to work comfortably with every game I’ve wanted to play.
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
Never had any issues
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’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 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.
Nice :3
The 8bitdo also had good firmware but an optional app for macros
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
Totally was, it didn’t have rumble for battery life reasons, but didn’t miss it much at the time, barely used the rumble pack on the n64, think I got mine at EB games to try out the OOT secret hint feature (it’d buzz the pack if you were near a hidden secret), feedback has come a LONG way since then in terms of immersion.
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
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.
I would love to see a Steam deck like version. It really needed a right analog stick and a touchpad.
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’ve been enjoying the GameSir G7 for a while. It’s wired but I kind of prefer that. My first G7 had a faulty left stick in the first two months. I think it was faulty from the beginning but I just didn’t notice it. I sent them a video of the issue and they replaced it outright.
It’s a bit smaller than my Xbox elite controller and it feels pretty great. I like the clicky dpad and the two back buttons. Stick tension is nice as well.
I’d like to see trigger stops but they haven’t done that yet. I’d also like to have clicky face buttons so I’m considering one of their khaleid controllers. Those are minor nitpicks, though. This controller has been terrific.
