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For general purpose, I'd say 8bitdo Ultimate C.
I am a huge fan of the GameCube pad and would use it for everything if I could.
For 2D games, particularly fighting games, I'm very fond of the Saturn pad.
However, if I had to pick a best controller ever, it's got to be the SNES pad. No question.
Phob gcc. The best stick box ever constructed with Hal effect sensors. Genius button layout with a larger primary button surrounded by secondaries. Swap to spicy sticks and bald buttons for added grip and fluidity. Add mouse click z and paracord cable for the perfect, best feeling, most responsive controller. The best part is that it is all open source and can be built for around $50 worth of parts
For 3D games:
For PC games:
Most of the time I use the Dualsense Edge though, because I rarely use controller on pc and almost never turn on my Xbox.
I play most of my 2d games on purpose built retro handhelds, so there’s no real separate controller to speak of, but I do love pretty much all of them in different ways.
I really wanted to like the OG steam controller but the touchpad-joystick-analogue makes it basically impossible to play any of the games I'd want a controller for. It's a great controller for using on things that aren't really intended for controller. Want to play an FPS leaning back in your chair? It's great for that. Want to play Hades? I'm gonna pass and plug in my dualshock instead.
I actually revisited it recently and gave it a second shot after getting used to the steam deck pads, but unfortunately it's still not really doing it for me personally.
I like both switch pro and Xbox controller. But I hate how the A/B/X/Y are inverted between the Nintendo and Microsoft controllers…
My favorite controller currently is: "Gulikit Kingkong 2 Pro"
It has hall effect sensors for the sticks and triggers so pretty much drift proof.
The layout is similar to a switch controller but the buttons can be swapped for a more Xbox-ish layout.
You can look it up on amazon. I bought it back in Nov 2022 and it still hasn't failed me.
I've had 2 "Xbox elite" controllers, both of them have had problems with sticky buttons. Annoying beyond belief. The regular Xbox s controller works better than either of the elites did.
That said my steam deck is my favorite controller when I need a controller.
Do you use the steam deck as a controller for your PC using steam link?
The PS3 controller was basically perfect for me. Comfortable, sensible configuration, and not ridiculously large for my not-man-sized hands.
Definitely my least favourite PS controller. Those convex shoulder buttons were terrible, and there was genuinely no comfortable way to use them.
The motion controls were used in a handful of early games (and I can only assume Sony forced them to implement them) and swiftly abandoned.
Meanwhile, I find even the "smaller" XBox controllers to be utterly unusable and have/had no troubles at all with the PS3 controller. Would be nice if there were more options for each console so that both you and I could be satisfied, but sadly that is not how it's done.
Yeah, that would be nice. I know people who lament the loss of the original Xbox Duke controller, and that the only thing closer was the similarly jumbo Dreamcast controller.
Could even unbundle them from the consoles, and just pick the size when you buy them. If they can make them in Hello Kitty pink, or endless CoD camouflage colours, then I'm not convinced it's uneconomical to provide different size grips.
Playstation controllers got it right, or at least, their kind of configuration. Doesn't have to specifically be a controller from PlayStation.
Anything with offset analogue sticks is cancerous to use.
Offset analog sticks was a mistake
8BitDo Pro 2. It's like a Playstation 2/3 and SNES controller did the fusion dance. I use it on my Switch and PC, response is great, tactile feel is amazing.
Just got this thing last week, I love it so far. Still haven't figured out how to make good use of the back paddles on PC, but even without those it's a great controller.
Gamesir T4 Kaleid. I love the hall effect joysticks, and it feels like it's the right size. The one negative is that it's wired-only.
OTOH, the GameSir Nova (not lite) is hot garbage. I hate almost everything about it, and its wireless PC connection (without the dongle that it does not come with) is trash. It's basically only good as a Switch controller... And I haven't even actually tried it for that.
The GameSir Nova Lite is much better, but still too small and you need to use the slightly-older 4200 firmware (from the official app) instead of the latest, because they got stupid about things.
I somewhat like the Xbox Elite V2 controller, but you have to get a good one. A bad one will have really crappy triggers that sometimes won't work. I think I've even heard that the sticks are sometimes wonky. And it's not hall effect.
I went for the GameSir G7 SE, one black and one white, so me and the missus have our own controllers. The black one has a click to the face button which is quite nice.
I thought I would miss wireless, but the batteries draining on my wireless pad (official) and the slight delay means I prefer the G7 instead. The cable is long enough that we can sit comfortably back on the sofa from our 55" screen. Oh, and the pads came with a month of Game Pass Ultimate so really helped justify them (just over $30 each?). Never thought I'd live to see a third-party controller this good, sold my official one for more than I paid for these.
I don’t see it mentioned often, but basically my favorite has been the GameCube controller. Massive primary button with the secondary button the same shape but smaller and next to it, with the alternate (X/Y) buttons a different shape that flow around the primary, all in easy reach but all different to the touch. Especially when I’m playing the Xbox or Switch for a while and then switch to playing the other I’m messed up on the controllers for a little while since Nintendo and Microsoft swap the A and B buttons but both keep A as the primary button (I think a legacy of the original NES/Famicom putting the A button closer to the right hand and the B button farther in, to the left of the A).
I’d prefer the right thumb stick to be the same shape as the left, and it needs a left shoulder button, but beyond that I’d pretty much keep the layout as-is, maybe a slightly different size/shape to better fit in hands. I’ve seen a few third-party controllers like that for the Switch but haven’t looked into them enough to buy one.
This might be a controversial take, but this was one of my favorite controllers:
It had the size of a Duke, so comfortable to hold with my large hands, and also felt really nice when the airflow feature was turned on. It had the really bad D-Pads though.
I miss the OG massive Xbox controllers! I wish they had kept the bkack/white buttons
As strange as it may sound, my favorite controller so far has been my Google Stadia controller. It feels very sturdy and has a nice finish - and I can hold it for hours without my hands cramping up.
Also a big fan of the fact that it charges over USB-C, and that it works perfectly for me over both Bluetooth and wired.
However, I haven't had too many controllers in the past (Nintendo's controllers - GameCube, Wii, Switch Joycon/Pro, the Xbox 360/One, and the DualShock 3), so that could be part of it. I don't know, I just haven't had any complaints with it as of yet.
I really like the DualSense, Xbox Duke and Wii U gamepad. Two oddballs. The Wii U gamepad is nice and large, and the Duke is.. nice and large.
LOVE the Duke even though it feels like I’m holding an XL pizza
ah, a fellow Duke connoisseur!
Finally someone else gets it
N64 is my favorite console of all time, but yeah, the controller is truly batshit insane. I even had a game that intended you to hold the left and right... prongs instead of center right. In a shocking twist, it was... still pretty awkward.
I do like PS5 controllers - mostly play N64 games on them, never even owned a PS. Used a PS4 controller before that.
Tough call between the Dualsense and the Dualshocks 1-3.
The Dualsense has great features, but is large enough and bulbous enough that I'm forced to use a full palm grip. That's good some of the time, but sometimes I like a lighter finger grip that the earlier Dualshocks allowed for. I think of it similarly to claw vs palm grips on mice. A full palm grip on either can get too sweaty over time. The Dualshock 4 is a bulbous mess that fatigues my hands. On all of them, the plastic feels premium and sturdy and really fits well together. Plastic molding is an art, and they are good at it.
I have a few 8BitDo's and they are all good too. The Pro-2, SN30 Pro, and Ultimate C (their naming conventions are flour of control). A bit cheaper feeling than the Sony offerings, but still pretty good.
The Xbox Series controller is... Fine. The plastic feels cheap, the face buttons feel cheap, it's too big and requires a palm grip, the R1/L1 buttons feel cheap, the d-pad is one of the worst in history. The analog sticks almost feel great except they're too tall.
Shout-out to the Steam Deck for feeling phenomenal. Also shout-out to the RetroBit Genesis controllers- they feel really good, but the lack of sticks and fewer buttons than most modern controllers makes it hard to use for modern games.
The JoyCons are awful. Most 3rd party options are better but I still haven't found one that I really like.
The GameCube and N64 both feel kind of cheap. I think the plastic is a bit thin, and the sticks and buttons rattle around slightly.
My description of the perfect controller:
Not sure if there's one out there that meets all of those. But I have a certain fondness for the GameCube controller. Always felt comfortable, and I actually liked the asymmetric button layout.
For widely available layouts, I prefer XBox. However, I feel like the Wii U pro controller layout was on to something if it could add ABXY paddles but unfortunately it seems like patents have stifled a lot of innovation controllers could be seeing.
The Wii U Pro controller in general was great. Best battery life I have ever seen on a controller. Great dpad thats clicky but still uses membranes so it's still a bit softer than the one in the DSi or New 3DS systems. The sticks were incredibly smooth too for some reason. I would use it more today if it wasn't for the lack of gyro, which is a dealbreaker for many games for me.
I really like the ps5 controller. It's comfortable, and the haptic feedback on the shoulder buttons is a really cool feature imo. The resistance is variable on the shoulder buttons so depending on what you're doing in game, it can be harder or easier to depress the button. I thought that was cool.
I'm still not 100% sold on the shoulder force feedback. Sometimes it works well, but many games do this odd thing where you hold it down and it clicks repeatedly and uncomfortably like you're breaking it and I've no idea what they're really trying to convey.
Sounds detective to me. But I've only played FF7 Rebirth on it so far
I'd think that too, but it does it on both of mine, and it doesn't get worse over time indicating any kind of damage.
It's only certain games that trigger it.
The dualsense controller is pretty good.
My issue with it is that the trigger buttons quickly got a bit mushy and loose. Didn't help to play a ton of Rocket League on it but still it's not a very durable controller.
Also, the battery was completely fucked up by the fact that I was playing it wired on PC. It was all the time charging when I was playing and then apparently discharging when the computer was off. Support is also pretty poor on PC and you often get games that are not compatible.
I'm interested in replacing it eventually by a good hall effect third party controller. Probably the Gamesir T4 Kaleid or something similar.
I mean, I gotta mention Steel Battalion for the OG Xbox. The experience of playing with that controller is truly saddening when game developers these days won't do anything similar. Yes, it was expensive back then, and would probably be expensive now. But you know what? It was totally worth that cost. Any person that has played the game will agree.
But for more normal controllers, I like the layout of the WiiU Pro controller, with both sticks at the top. I never owned a WiiU, but I did get a third party Xbox One USB controller that had this configuration. While it was obviously a very cheap controller, I really liked the ergonomics of it.
I have enjoyed my Xbox Elite V2 controller, it has served me well the last few years. The dish shaped Dpad is a nice feature, even though I don't play games that use it too much I can see where it could be extra beneficial for fighting game players to make circular movements easier.
And a special mention for the Samba de Amigo controllers which I only got to use once because... I thought I would be able to pick a set up after seeing two in GAME (for maybe £99.99 inc. the game?), then ended up selling out and never coming back into stock.
xbox is my top controller design (360 onwards), however the touchpad on ps4/ps5 comes in handy for RTS games (or any mouse required game). it's a missed opportunity for microsoft, considering they're bringing Age of Empires to the console
I like xbox controllers for first person shooters and playstation controllers for just about everything. Some games more intensely than others.
I really liked the Steam Controller, but the lack of a right stick was sometimes an issue. Being able to switch between mouse-like and joystick-like input in certain games on the fly was important and not always easy to set up. No issues with the stick itself going bad, but the rubber cap on the stick for both the ones I bought was worn smooth pretty fast. In shooters, I generally had a harder time tracking targets with the touch pad, but an easier time snapping to targets. Quick headshots were easier than with a stick, but sustained full auto fire was oddly tricky. Touch pad makes it shockingly good for N64 emulation since you can put A and B on the ABXY buttons and then the C buttons on the pad without the weirdness of having 'buttons' on a stick that you have to resort to with other controllers. The touch pad is also useful for DS emulation. Dual stage triggers also came in handy way more than I expected them to. Really neat, and I'll definitely try a v2 if they ever make one, but it's a pretty divisive device and there's a steep learning curve to using the pad to aim.
Tried a Razer Wolverine ~~Pro~~ Ultimate, and I loved the extra buttons, but stick drift was a serious problem. Four back buttons and two extra shoulder buttons meant my thumbs almost never left the sticks. The controller was basically unusable after a point, though, and I really didn't feel like spending that much on another one. Steam also wouldn't recognize the extra buttons, so I had to use Razer's proprietary app to configure it, which wasn't great.
Was gifted a Dualsense Edge and it's so far been really nice. Haven't had much use for the touchpad yet, but that's mostly because of the games I've been playing. Sticks are pretty cheaply replaceable, but I haven't had any issues with them after about a year of heavy use. Steam also recognizes all the extra buttons and lets me map them all I want, unlike the Wolverine. Battery life is much worse than a standard Dualsense, though. Apparently they cut into the battery area to make room for the removable stick units. That battery life issue is my only problem so far, however. Well, that, and I doubt I would have paid $200 for it. Again, it was a gift.
What I would really like to see is a controller with six face buttons, similar to how the original Xbox controllers or even the N64 controller have them. I wouldn't always use the extra buttons, but there are times when they'd really come in handy.
The dual stage triggers made the Steam controller the dream controller for Rocket League IMO. Mapping boost to the second stage freed up my right thumb to control other things
It was old Assassin's Creed games that made me appreciate the triggers. The A button on right trigger second stage made parkour much better.
Never liked XBox controllers. They feel fat and clunky, especially trying to use the bumpers, I feel like I have to strain my fingers. I also hate the way the sticks feel in general, theres something about the friction curves that's just... off. Idk how to describe it. Also, no gyroscope. I will praise the triggers on the XBox one controllers though. I like the shape and the amount of travel they have, I think they rock for racing games.
My favourite controller is the Dualshock 4. Haven't had a chance to try the Dualsense but even that looks a little bloated. The DS4 is lean, has all the features I want, and those thumbsticks are the best I've used on a stock controller. You can practically use them like a trackpoint on a laptop, they're very precise and great for use with a linear response curve in shooters with zero deadzone.