What is the best controller ever made?

Thread: What is the best controller ever made?
Generationally, I still think the SNES was the pinnace of controller design for a long time, but the Dual Shock 4 and Dual Sense are probably the best designs. I like the new Xbox controller too.

regawdless said:
It's pretty tacky but I like the Xbox Gold Shadow controller.

I kinda want to buy a new controller. And the Xbox controller is pretty comfy.

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I'm a sucker for gold controllers, don't know why

Amazon has them on sale for $60 right now. I hate the damn D pad though.
 
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I'm really happy with the current gen offerings. I don't personally need much to be happy with a console controller, but I am picky with the few things I care about. I have an old school mentality where the first thing I check on a controller is still the DPad and second the face buttons. I know that the genre I'll play the most is fighting games. The comfort factor with how my thumb rolls the DPad is important.

Any other plus points are just bonus to me.

When I pick up a PS8 controller in 2040 the first thing I'll do is press x square x qcf X2 + triangle. If it feels good on the thumbs I will declare it a good controller 😂
 
HeresJohnny said:
Generationally, I still think the SNES was the pinnace of controller design for a long time, but the Dual Shock 4 and Dual Sense are probably the best designs. I like the new Xbox controller too.



I'm a sucker for gold controllers, don't know why

Amazon has them on sale for $60 right now. I hate the damn D pad though.
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It arrived today, looks great in person. Very good grip because of the rubber on the side and the back. Didn't play anything yet, but visually, I dig it.

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WesternBlood said:
The Six Button Saturn controller is still the best fighting game handheld joypad on the planet. The Ergonomics are unrivaled, not even Jobs-Era Apple could do better.
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Before that, the megadrive one was a revelation. Having learned how to play Street Fighter in the arcade, there were very few things more irritating than trying to play SF2T with the SNES controller.
 
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Uuuuuuuuuuhm. The golden Xbox controller looks great and feels great in hand.

BUT

wtf is wrong with the buttons? Everything is loud. The normal buttons are very audible, the DPad is just loud, as are the R1 and L1 buttons. Playing Tekken is simply annoying because of the sheer noise. My Dualsense is WAY more muted, it's a huge difference.

Is it normal that the thing is that loud?
 
ExpandKong said:
They are quite good but the same company makes a "split pad pro compact" or something like that which I like a little better (the buttons are a little quieter).

Good for if you want something more substantial to hold onto in handheld mode with a real dpad, but they don't have motion or rumble.
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Oi, Kong, do you still endorse the Split Pad Pro Compact over the original? I've looked at both and I thought the Hori Split Pad Pro does have rumble and gyro while the compact does not? The compact looks too similar to JoyCons, the grip on the Split Pad Pro looks great though. Kind of tough to decide, besides the quieter buttons why do you like the compact more? It looks like the Hori Split Pad Pro is the better decision according to this article

www.gamesradar.com

Hori Split Pad Pro vs Compact: which Joy-Con alternative is best?

The battle of the ergonomic gamepads
www.gamesradar.com www.gamesradar.com
 
regawdless said:
Uuuuuuuuuuhm. The golden Xbox controller looks great and feels great in hand.

BUT

wtf is wrong with the buttons? Everything is loud. The normal buttons are very audible, the DPad is just loud, as are the R1 and L1 buttons. Playing Tekken is simply annoying because of the sheer noise. My Dualsense is WAY more muted, it's a huge difference.

Is it normal that the thing is that loud?
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It's the same with my (really bloody expensive) XBox Elite 2 controller. The buttons are just too loud and clicky, I find this a regression from Elite 1.

Also .... bro .... Tekken on a controller? Get a proper fight stick. And yes, I know, you beat me when we sparred at T8 some months ago, but it was my first week and my first Tekken game. You'd prob beat me again now, but I haven't played for a while. Whatever. XBox controller loud, it sucks indeed.
 
Dreamlord said:
It's the same with my (really bloody expensive) XBox Elite 2 controller. The buttons are just too loud and clicky, I find this a regression from Elite 1.

Also .... bro .... Tekken on a controller? Get a proper fight stick. And yes, I know, you beat me when we sparred at T8 some months ago, but it was my first week and my first Tekken game. You'd prob beat me again now, but I haven't played for a while. Whatever. XBox controller loud, it sucks indeed.
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You missed that I bought this here especially for Tekken 8, put in the good Gateron switches, went serious with learning the long ass combos and climbed the ranks.

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Franky Family said:
Oi, Kong, do you still endorse the Split Pad Pro Compact over the original? I've looked at both and I thought the Hori Split Pad Pro does have rumble and gyro while the compact does not? The compact looks too similar to JoyCons, the grip on the Split Pad Pro looks great though. Kind of tough to decide, besides the quieter buttons why do you like the compact more? It looks like the Hori Split Pad Pro is the better decision according to this article

www.gamesradar.com

Hori Split Pad Pro vs Compact: which Joy-Con alternative is best?

The battle of the ergonomic gamepads
www.gamesradar.com www.gamesradar.com
Click to expand...

To be clear, neither Hori Split Pad has gyro or rumble (or NFC if i remember correctly) unless there's some secret third split pad variety I don't know about. I think there might be some other third party options that have that stuff

Didn't realize i didn't finish typing lol. The compact just feels nicer overall to me. The Pro has the big handles, and my hands aren't small or anything, but it feels like a bit too much to me when attached to the switch. The compact is a nice middle ground between the joycons and the Pro.

Fewer color options sucks a bit I guess but I don't look at the things when I'm playing.
 
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ExpandKong said:
To be clear, neither Hori Split Pad has gyro or rumble (or NFC if i remember correctly) unless there's some secret third split pad variety I don't know about. I think there might be some other third party options that have that stuff

Didn't realize i didn't finish typing lol. The compact just feels nicer overall to me. The Pro has the big handles, and my hands aren't small or anything, but it feels like a bit too much to me when attached to the switch. The compact is a nice middle ground between the joycons and the Pro.

Fewer color options sucks a bit I guess but I don't look at the things when I'm playing.
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It's a tough choice to make. I think the Hori Split Pad Pro would feel better because the Compact looks like it had almost identical grip to a pair of JoyCons, which never feels all that secure and like one could accidentally drop it (even though that never happens) whereas the Pro has those pronounced handles

The better form factor comes with the Compact, as it looks better for not being extremely bulky like the Pro. How is the dpad on both, Kong? I think that may influence my decision on which one I buy because the controller with the best dpad is the one that will be more fun to play retro games with. That should count for a lot because I plan to play a bunch of Nintendo Switch Online games from the regular library and the expansion pack
 
regawdless said:
Dualsense Edge 30th Anniversary Edition. Thing feels awesome, looks awesome, just perfect. The metal back paddles are so premium. And so many little details.

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For $230 it better have a built in flesh light.

Seriously though, you know I like luxury watches and have no trouble paying for quality, so what does this controller do better than the vanilla one? I get you can map shit out and whatnot, but is the latency improved? Are the batteries bigger and last longer? Are the buttons more durable and the sticks made of higher quality materials and aren't going to have drift issues ever? What are you getting for 3x the cost of a conventional controller (which is already overpriced imo)?
 
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HeresJohnny said:
For $230 it better have a built in flesh light.

Seriously though, you know I like luxury watches and have no trouble paying for quality, so what does this controller do better than the vanilla one? I get you can map shit out and whatnot, but is the latency improved? Are the batteries bigger and last longer? Are the buttons more durable and the sticks made of higher quality materials and aren't going to have drift issues ever? What are you getting for 3x the cost of a conventional controller (which is already overpriced imo)?
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- Overall higher material quality, like the L2 and R2 buttons are more rubber like with the small PlayStation symbols for extra grip which feels great, also high quality rubber on the handles with sexy super tiny PS symbols :D
- you can instantly switch between 3 profiles with completely customizable button bindings
- you can quickly adjust the travel of the L2 and R2 buttons, for example making them having super short travel for shooters or long travel for racing games
- you can easily switch the sticks, they offer different heights and shapes. Having a longer right stick makes aiming easier and more precise
- easily switchable back paddles, two very high quality ones are provides, they are very good. I'm using the short ones at the moment

Yeah. There's a reason I didn't buy the Edge and went with a custom Dualsense first. I only bought this version because it's the limited super sexy one, and because the back paddles are extremely good (a weakness from my custom Dualsense, feels muddy). It's definitely the best controller I ever used but the price is too high.
 
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I used to think the Xbox pad was superior, but then I bought a Steam Deck. I'm not fond of symmetrical sticks, but those track pads, and those 4 back buttons...

I am very interested in what the new Steam Controller 2 looks like.
 
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I think the dual shock with analog was probably the best controller ever made overall, particularly the PS4 one. When I go back and use PS3 controllers now the analog feels too loose.

No controller is perfect though. I think the SNES had maybe the best dpad. Xbox controllers have always been pretty good for shooters and some people swear by the Saturn six button controller for fighters.

I have never had any major issues playing any type of game with a Playstation controller except for the odd placement of buttons when playing fighting games. I can't do those joystick controllers for fighters for whatever reason, so that's never been a good alternative. I'm a dpad guy.
 
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In my opinion, the Sega Saturn is the best controller for 2d games, and the Xbox Series is the best for 3d games. Just my opinion since I do emulate games on my pc. It is a tie because one is perfection for 2d games, the other for 3d. It boggles my mind that no other company has done Sega Saturn style controller, especially for fighters. I did get the new Pro edition but it is only for PC or Switch. Not PS4/5, nor Xbox. The 6 button controller with shoulder buttons is just peak for nearly any 2d games. As for the Series, I like the Dpad, thumbstick placements. PS5 buttons are too pushed in. PS4 is not comfortable for me. I used to prefer Playstation over Xbox regarding controllers but this has changed since the last generation. Xbox now has controllers ideal with those with smaller hands.
 
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regawdless said:
Dualsense Edge 30th Anniversary Edition. Thing feels awesome, looks awesome, just perfect. The metal back paddles are so premium. And so many little details.

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GdBjqK8WAAAwNoj

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Click to expand...

To me the Dualsense is by far the best controller I've used, particularly ergonomically, which as we get older is important due to potential finger/wrist pain from longer play sessions. The haptics are obviously great as well.

I have no doubt that the Edge, which is the best version of the DualSense, is incredible.
 
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Boss Mog said:
To me the Dualsense is by far the best controller I've used, particularly ergonomically, which as we get older is important due to potential finger/wrist pain from longer play sessions. The haptics are obviously great as well.

I have no doubt that the Edge, which is the best version of the DualSense, is incredible.
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I love the Dualsense design as well. With the Edge, obviously the back paddles are great, but I also use the L2/R2 limiters. For example, sliding in Death Sprint 66 is on L2 and I made the travel on that trigger very short, so it's basically like a button press, making it way more responsive and a bit quicker, it's now behaving like L1. And you can immediately change it at any time.

Obviously the Edge is just a nice to have, none of that is really necessary, the standard Dualsense is already an amazing controller.
 
Bought this controller for retro gaming. It's the 8Bitdo Pro 2 controller with HALL joysticks. Teezzy recommended it to me a while back and I'm glad to have finally purchased it. Haven't given it a try yet but in the hands it felt as premium as it gets. I doubt it will measure up to the SNES dpad just going by feel but maybe it does. My initial impression of the dpad (just by feel not by gaming just yet) is that it will end up being an A- while the SNES version is A+

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It takes me back to the oldschool consoles and all the retro games. The controller is an impressive blend of the SNES, the PS1, and Pro Controller. I like the weight to it, the feel of everything is great, and it looks amazing once you see it new straight out of the packaging
 
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I got one of those 8bitdo ultimate controllers. The more modern xbox looking one. I use it for my Switch as a Pro controller. I have liked it quite a bit. They make good stuff. I see there's new colors for it now too and I'm kinda pissed because the purple looks sweet.
 
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