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The original Steam Controller is undoubtedly one of the coolest pieces of gear I own—and one of the most innovative, too.

I got mine right when it launched in 2015. I wanted to solve a very real problem: I was trying to turn my PC into a console.

You see, Valve had Big Picture Mode, which truly turned your PC into a console-like experience. The problem was that some of my favorite PC games didn’t support controllers. They were keyboard-and-mouse only.

But then—here comes the Steam Controller. Suddenly, I was able to reprogram all the inputs. I could take basic keys, like the spacebar, and map them to a button on the controller—like the A button. And once you did that, you could share your controller configuration with the Steam community, or reuse a config someone else already made. It was pretty awesome.

And those dual trackpads? They were swank. Incredible for first-person shooters and real-time strategy games. They were the next best thing to a mouse. And because of the angle of the handles, it all felt very comfortable in the hand—probably the most comfortable controller experience I’ve ever had.

It’s funny—just a little over five years ago, gamers hated it. Not because they ever used one, but because it was a failure. And as we all know about gamers, there’s nothing they hate more than a failure. It was dismissed as a novelty—something no one would ever use again.

Well, Valve had the last laugh. A few years ago, they released the Steam Deck. And what do you know? It’s a direct evolution of the Steam Controller. And now everyone loves the Steam Deck.

Just take a look at it—it’s got so many of the same things the Steam Controller had: dual trackpads, back paddles, the ability to remap buttons and customize layouts. Having owned a Steam Deck since launch, I can say this confidently: the most killer features on the Deck originated with the Steam Controller.

That said, it wasn’t perfect. There were a few quirks I wish they had fixed. For one, it would’ve been nice if it had dual analog sticks instead of just one. Using a trackpad in place of a right stick is fine in theory, but let’s be real: a trackpad does not replace an analog stick.

Also, unlike most modern controllers, this one didn’t have a rechargeable battery. You needed AA batteries. Now, to be fair, those batteries lasted a long time—but it still would’ve been nicer to just recharge it and forget about replacements.

Then there’s the back paddles. Only two of them. In hindsight, yeah, Valve knew they needed to evolve. I’ve grown so used to having four back paddles on the Steam Deck. They’re incredibly useful—especially in games with lots of inputs. Just good to have.

Still, this was one of the first mainstream controllers to even have back paddles. So hats off to Valve for that.

Honestly, I really wish there was another Steam Controller on the market. I know Hori makes a licensed controller for the Steam Deck in Japan, but it’s missing a core feature the original had: the dual trackpads.

To me, the dual trackpads make the Steam Deck experience. It’s something almost no other handheld has. My wife has a Legion Go, and it does have a trackpad—but only one. And honestly? That makes all the difference. It’s fine. But man… it would’ve been a better handheld with two.

Definitely one of the most innovative controllers ever made.

And yeah, I still use mine. I use it when I dock my handheld. Or when I’m on my living room PC.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

The difference is that the Steam Deck actually uses fairly traditional controls. Two joysticks, face buttons, d-pad (not that anyone uses the d-pad), multiple back triggers.

This thing was been really weird with its three analogue inputs (how am I supposed to use three analogue inputs) and every other button was limited. It also existed in a world where I can just get an Xbox controller and plug it into my PC, and it just works, so what's the point anyway?

This thing isn't even particularly good at controlling the steam deck, which kind of proves the point that it never really made sense as a product.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Ive never been a fan of joysticks, so when they announced this I was super excited for the track pads. I wanted to love them, but I could never get used to them. They feel super unnatural, even for FPS, to the point where I was longing for joysticks.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I really liked it, especially for FPS/TPS

One thing I think it was missing is some kind of native API. It emulated keyboard/mouse or gamepad, or both. And it kind of worked, but sometimes a bit clunky. Like if you tried to use it as mouse for aiming and as gamepad stick game would be confused and switch control hints from gamepad to keyboard/mouse and back.

With native API developers could've directly implement it as another type of controller and add things like hints saying "use right trackpad to aim", tweek controls mapping for it's layout, sensitivity, etc

Not sure how many developers would've supported that though

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Prey was great in that department actually having a config that mapped mouse to the right touchpad instead of emulating a joystick like so many games did, and then had different action sets that automatically switched depending on if it was gameplay or you were in the menu. And showed proper icons like the touchpad click to reflect Steam Input mappings people set it to.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I got a $50 GameStop gift card in 2015 as part of some hackathon I went to— which was cool since as a kid didn’t have a credit card or anything; and bought the steam controller with it, would play CS:GO with it between class. Still my favorite controller and one of the only ones that lets you change the turn on sound too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

I was confused when I saw that it was discontinued. I bought several in 2015 and still have them.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

I spent more time fucking with that thing’s settings than actually playing games. Give me a normal controller every day of the week. Just cause it was niche doesn’t meant it was good.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I don't think the idea was mature enough. Yes it did try to innovate and do new things but it also was trying very hard to be familiar to an audience that was never going to embrace change while not changing enough for a new audience to develop around it. I would compare it to the Dvorak keyboard, a device that offered only marginal improved efficiency and use while requiring the user to completely relearn from the ground up and have to fight muscle memory for those who used the popular medium it meant to replace. And in the end, most people said it wasn't worth it.

I was initially intrigued by having buttons on the bottom of the controller, where your fingers naturally would be thus freeing your thumbs to stay on the pad/sticks. And imagine my frustration to realize those rear buttons are just extensions of triggers already on top. Huge missed opportunity imo that a redesign could have given dedicated buttons on the back of the controller to each finger and expand the possibilities for input combos a player can perform.

TL;DR I think the controller was a valiant effort to innovate but didn't go far enough or do anything sell enough to stick.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I was initially intrigued by having buttons on the bottom of the controller, where your fingers naturally would be thus freeing your thumbs to stay on the pad/sticks. And imagine my frustration to realize those rear buttons are just extensions of triggers already on top.

My set up approach to having both my thumbs stay on the pads a majority of the time has been to set up a dpad modeshift with an inverted outer ring bind so clicking up, down, left, right, center output different inputs. And depending on the game I'd set up a chord so holding the left grip and clicking the right pad would output a different set of 5 inputs. And my right grip is set to jump so with the left grip chord function for 5 additional inputs on a right pad click if needed for a total of 10 that's been my way of doing that.

So for like Doom Eternal I swap between weapons every shot to bypass reloading through the right touchpad. I like that approach better than using stuff like weapon wheels, which in some games actually slows down the actual gameplay and interrupts the flow.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Actually, those rear buttons are unique. They are not the same triggers and buttons. They are highly useful in FPS games for functions like crouch.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

On the steamdeck maybe, on the steam controller they are only r1/l1 buttons, I tried many times to change them and the software can't different them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

No they weren't. I used to play Elite Dangerous and the paddles were used as modifiers, so for example the left paddle held down would change all the face button inputs to distributing energy while the right pad would swap them to common cockpit functions (landing gear, fsd, lights..) Meanwhile both bumpers and triggers remained as a single function: yaw and weapon groups

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

This isn't true, the back buttons on the steam controller can be mapped independently.

You are most likely misremembering, there are many controllers that do similar things to what you describe, but the steam controller isn't one of them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I wanted to like this thing so bad. I tried it so many times I just cannot get used to the trackpad for anything beyond top down environment or platformers. Once I need a second joystick as an input it was game over.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

How did you use the touchpad. My approach has been to adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad until an edge to edge swipe does a 180, and for gyro having a 90 degree rotation of the controller do 675 degree rotation in game for first person and 450 degrees for third person. Made it a consistent aim experience no matter what game I played as long as the mouse input in the game was good and didn't do things like emulate a joystick causing negative acceleration.

And for the right touchpad I set a dpad modeshift with an inverted outer ring bind so clicking up, down, left, right, center output different inputs so I didn't have to reach down to the facebuttons as often. And depending on the game I'd set up a chord so holding the left grip and clicking would output a different set of 5 inputs.

And I just saved the template so I didn't need to set it up all the time.

Liked it for Doom Eternal, since I could activate gyro, swipe the camera to quickly turn, and click to swap between weapons every shot to bypass reloading all on the right touchpad.

And pvp games like The Finals clicking the right pad to switch through gadgets and using the touchpad to quickly turn and activate gyro, and not feeling like my inputs were too slow versus mouse users. And not having to bother with aim assist.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I had a setup for fromsoft games that activated the gyro when I touched the track pad. So I could swipe the pad for fast camera turns and use the gyro for fine aim. My steam controllers battery terminals were both damaged by cell bursts though. I miss the camera agility now.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Typing on this thing was a dream.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Which version? The daisy wheel or the dual thumb keyboard?

I kinda miss the older circular mode, it was hard to get used to, but it was really quick and precise

[–] [email protected] 1 points 19 hours ago

I think I remember the dual thumb, but I just remember being amazed at how responsive it was

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Really hoping the rumors of a new steam controller are true!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

It was a neat idea, but just didn’t work as well as a traditional set up. Seemed more like a prototype than a full retail product.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I have mine, I used it a few times, I did not care for it. I can't stand using a touchpad in place of physical sticks. I found it to be worse than a mouse for mouse needs and worse than a standard controller for controller needs. All just felt a bit gimmicky.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I didn’t like it. I got it on sale and tried it. I just have muscle memory for Xbox style controllers and that didn’t give me any advantages that made it worth retraining.

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