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Generally speaking, any xbox one or later generation controller. Theyre all relatively the same.
Real shit though, Xbox The Duke is my favorite
i miss the black and white buttons from the mini xbox controller days. still feel like 4 buttons is not enough on the right pad, especially considering how often games use L3/R3 joystick click which i fucking loathe.
Get a controller with underside buttons. I also consider stick-clicks an abomination, but it’s great now that there are under-buttons we can hard-remap to L3 and R3.
8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth controller has some awful ergonomics on several things, but the underbuttons are excellent examples.
yep that’s exactly what I do.
Big handed bastard
The Duke was so good!
It’s been funny seeing the Playstation controller slowly morph into an Xbox controller. Which is great because I definitely preferred the Xbox controller since the 360.
I still prefer the offset sticks on the Xbox controller though.
8bitdo Pro 2 is very versatile, I’m curious about the Ultimate. I love my SteamController for modern games.
When I played games on my PC I ended up spending more time configuring my Steam controller than I did playing the game.
A classic example of perfect being the enemy of good.
SC is more of a brother to grow up with than a controller
Used to be the Logitech F310. Simple, reliable, used my preferred layout, inexpensive, and durable.
Then I got a PS5 and experienced the DualSense’s adaptive triggers and I can’t go back.
I had a Dualsense for my computer just because it has the best D-pad
Then I got Returnal and experienced the haptics and triggers and HOLY SHIT. I tried a keyboard and mouse and the game felt FLAT. It really is incredible! Pacific Drive also takes full advantage of it, the brake trigger feels like and actual car brake and the accelerator trigger rumbles and vibrates with the haptics as you go.
Absolutely fuckin dope.
Do you need to do any config to use the adaptive trigger on PC? And I assume it mainly supported on Sony’s first party title ?
No extra confit, it just works! It has to be plugged in, though, and it only works work certain titles (pretty much only Sony stuff. I can’t remember if pacific drive is Sony?)
I’ve looked at some lists and it actually supported by much more games than I thought, I don’t think Assassin Creeds is Sony title no?
Sony’s rep kinda iffy around repairability though, how long is yours ?
I’m not sure, I haven’t played Assassin’s Creed since the first game :c
I have two controllers and my oldest is two years old or so, and I have had zero issues with them personally! I treat all of my stuff reeeeeeally nice, though, so I don’t usually have issues with things.
Honestly, it’s still the F310 for me. I have mine since the early 2010s and it’s still working perfectly. Those things are built like tanks and between XInput and DirectInput are compatible with just about any PC game of the last forty years, no extra software required. Also, they’re dirt cheap.
Honorable mention to the F710, the wireless version. While Windows 10’s USB stack unfortunately broke compatibility with it (causing randomly dropped inputs), Linux does not have that problem.
I have two and I can’t vouch for the “built like a tank” since one of them once in a while decides to drift around.
Still 110% worth it for the price.
Could just be dirty. The only time I had weird stick issues was because a hair got caught under the right stick and kept making my aim jump around willy nilly. They’re pretty easy to take apart and put back together if you have the right screwdrivers.
I’ll look into it, thanks.
I had an F310 and I disliked it haha. Never found it to be ergonomic.
I’ll controversially say that I really love the Steam controller. Not the steam deck (which is honestly my number 1 if we’re including handhelds) but the original controller intended for use with the steam link device.
It really just needs a right analog stick and it would be great. The lack of one takes it from 10/10 to like a 7/10. It’s so good otherwise, great weight and size, good design. Sensible layout and the big track pads work really well! It was clearly a prototype for how the Deck layout ended up, though I actually like the controller’s big circular pads more than the decks little square ones.
The steam controller is absolutely my favorite shape and feel for the controller.
The one big flaw is the plastic bumper mechanism that has broken on 3 of my units, 1 I was able to send back, 1 replaced with PETG 3D printed part which is less clicky, but more durable, and 1 still intact.
Still, I have exclusively used those for years when not playing on Switch
The steam deck honestly is my favorite controller. If valve releases a controller that’s the steam deck without a screen I’ll be first in line and I’ll take two please.
I’m a steam controller simp. I’ve got 7 of them and will use them until they all crap out or they release a new version
At the moment, my PS5 controller connected to my Linux PC via USB-C. It has perfect support due to official in kernel drivers from Sony and very little lag when used via USB-C.
I’m switching to Linux when I get set up again. Fuck the Recall bull shit. Straw that broke the camels back. I had not considered controller drivers. Is Xbox One over Bluetooth a thing, or will I need to go with Sony?
The XBOX One controller should be fully bluetooth hid compliant and it should work out of the box for at least all the buttons and axis. There are userspace and kernel drivers for the XBOX controller too (xpad and xboxdrv) but I don’t have much experience with them or with bluetooth controller in general.
Good to know, thank you for the info!
Steam deck’s controls hands down if that counts. If not, surprisingly I’d have to say my stadia controller. Got one for $20 and it’s fantastic.
I love how functional the Deck’s controls are, but I do end up with claw hand after playing for a while
I wonder how much the Deck translates to the Steam Controller. I haven’t had enough time with a Deck
deck is mostly more input options (right stick, d-pad, 4 back buttons instead of 2).
the biggest difference is the placement of the touchpads imho, as i cant use both shoulder buttons and the touchpad on a side without adjusting my grip, but that only mattered in shooters for which i use flickstick on the deck and not the right touchpad.
Oh, I like all of those changes except adjusting grip. I’m not familiar with flipstick. I went from tiger claw, to bumper jumper, to all paddles
I have this problem where my thumbs are naturally oily and touchpads arent always super responsive. The best fix I’ve found is gloves with the (conductive?) material. Do you know if the Deck uses the same type of touchpads as the controller? I also had issues with the New 3DSXL nub
the touchpads atleast feel like the ones on the steam controller.
flickstick is a control scheme where your stick only controls the camera horizontaly, so if you push the stick down you’ll spin 180° if you push it to the right you’ll turn until your character faces to the right and so forth.
Oh, that’s interesting, and I don’t like it lol. I play inverted and people hate on me hard. Usually just the Y-Axis, but some older games for the X-Axis as well
Me personally, I like the 360 controller the most
Have you tried the Xbox One controllers? If so, what do you like better about the 360?
I have, I had the day one 2013 controller, it was nice but it developed drift quite fast, and also is harder to repair
Sorry to keep asking questions, but what is harder to repair? Swapping the sticks? I’ve worked on so many JoyCons at this point regular sized controllers don’t bother me much
The trigger on the xbox one controller is loose and easy to take off, and it has a spring on it that flew off and I lost upon disassembling it. The 360’s controllers will remain completely function even without any shell, but are also able to be disassembled.
IIRC swapping sticks is the same on the two
Not op but the 360 controllers a tiny bit smaller, thumbsticks are shorter and wider which makes aiming easier imo
Interesting. I don’t have the biggest hands (fuck the Duke) and I didn’t notice the size difference. I don’t think I could go back to a 360 controller. The XBOne feels like the final form
I’m currently playing with a wired 360 controller, myself. its old and creaky and kinda scratched up but it works gorgeously still!
Me too, it’s aged very well.
X-Box 360. I have an old official one for my PC. I played Dark Souls with it so it is now ingrained into my body. Also all the years of Halo.
I really dislike the X-Box One controller. Feels too big in my hand and just off.
I fear the day my wired one breaks since they stopped making official wired ones for PC.
Aside from Microsoft selling it as one, there’s a reason the 360’s contoller design is basically the de facto basis for most PC controllers. It’s the most comfortable one I’ve used for 3D games by far. Everything you need is easy to access. Nintendo lifted essentially the same design for their Wii U and Switch Pro controllers.
The d-pad on the 360 controller was garbage. It was the only thing holding it back.
I think they’ve found a great place with the One/Series controllers.
I also really appreciate that with the jump to the Series X/S they didn’t change controllers. They had one that worked that people liked, so they kept it. And it works via Xbox’s proprietary wireless protocol, USB, or Bluetooth, so it works on pretty much anything but a Playstation or Nintendo.
I couldn’t care less about the D-pad. All that matters is how it feels in my hand and access to the primary controls like joysticks, triggers, and face buttons.
There is no perfect controller…
…But I do have a list of features I would want my perfect controller to have based off all the controllers that have ever been made :
- TMR joystick modules (successor to Hall effect sticks)
- adjustable tension springs and locking mechanism for varied stick cap types (Xbox Elite series 2 does most of this but uses magnetic caps which would interfere with the TMR sticks so ball bearing connections or other option would be preferable)
- 6 DOF / gyro sensors + infrared camera (Wii Motion Plus)
- Adaptive haptic triggers (PS5) which can be toggled to hair trigger mode via switches (Xbox Elite series 2)
- multi-touchpad on face (PS5)
- analog face buttons (DualShock 2 controller had this but only a few games utilized this… the best example was the PS2 era Metal Gear Solid games)
- customizable “per-button” color assignment / micro OLED or e-ink screens so button graphics can be swapped (PBTails new controller does the per button RGB color assignment)
- USB-C / 4 wired connectivity + charging
- baseplate contact-charging (PS5 controller has these so you can set them on charging docks)
- hot swappable battery pack + AA battery holder pack or ability to not have a battery on at all when connected via USB-C (Xbox 360 controller had this)
- swappable non-magnetic Zinc-alloy faceplates (PBTails new controller has these)
- removable back triggers with dedicated button assignments (like the Steam Deck’s L4/5 and R4/5 buttons; not just cloned face buttons like Sony and XBox do)
- integrated microphone with hardware toggle (PS5)
- proper “separate keys” d-pad… not the mushy type
- touch-sensitive surfaces for every button and stick (Meta / Oculus Quest controllers do this)
- per-finger-joint touch sensitive grips for each finger segment (Valve’s VR controllers did this)
- the ability to separate the halves of the controller so that each hand could hold one half independently and have them track similar to most standard VR controllers (think combining the switch controllers and Quest controllers)
- NFC communication (Amiibo-stuff for example)
If any single controller did even half of this, they’d easily be the GOAT.
That’d be the best controller, but probably like 500 dollars lol
If it had all those features and was made with some real quality parts, I would gladly pay 500 bucks for it.
The last thing it would need would be cross-console compatibility. That might make it worth it.
Xbox 360 was/is peak controller design
What made 360 better than series One (i own this one)?
Better ergonomics? It has such negligible difference design wise, and the d-pad looks awful
I think it’s mostly nostalgia, and the fact that it was kind of the first iteration of the design all controllers use now. The 360 controller was good but it was really only the start. In my opinion each xbox controller has been a massive improvement over the last.
The series x controller is probably the most well refined controller I’ve used, and the only reason it’s not my pick for best controller is because I’m a sucker for all the fancy tricks of the dualsense.
I always forget Xbox has a bigger market in the US.
I’m from SEA and up until the series One console just means Playstation here, I owned the first 3 generation and move to PC.
The series one controller is the first xbox layout I ever owned and the moment I hold it my brain goes “This makes more sense !” D-pads sucks ass though.
Maybe it’s just cause I don’t really play fps and Fighting and racing games ?
Yeah, someone mentioned haptic trigger in another thread and now I kinda want one. If only Sony makes one with an xbox layout lol, it probably looks ugly as hell with PS design.
I used to hate playstation controllers because they always felt really weird to hold. Even the PS4 controller was terrible for me. With the Dualsense PS5 controller though they just made it an xbox controller with playstation gimmicks and that was such a great move! It doesn’t look too ugly either, since it’s just the same basic shape as an xbox controller. It doesn’t have the nice weight that an xbox controller has and I definitely prefer the joystick layout on xbox, but the haptic triggers, the hd rumble, the trackpad, and the gyro sensor are all things I don’t think I can do without anymore!
The slightly more bulbous wings on the 360 controller actually do a lot for ergonomics, but it’s very hand-sized based. For me, the 360 is almost perfect in how the wings tuck into my palms. With the controller about 6 or so inches in front of me, my arms are at a natural angle with wrists straight and the controller is securely held without even a finger on it, and I can press any button without even having to brace it. Take even a little of those wings away, and that gets lost, and edges instead of the smooth roundness get annoying. My partner on the other hand, would need a smaller controller to get that same feel or to cross-thumb the dpad as easily as I do. As much as I originally preferred the symmetry of the playstation layout, I have to give the nod to the xbox layout for being able to dpad with the right thumb.
We desperately need controller makers to stop acting like controllers are one size fits all, when that’s not even close to true.
My favorite layout so far is on the Razer Wolverine V2 Chroma Xbox wired controller. It has x/y up between the shoulder and triggers, back buttons for a/b, so you can keep your right thumb on the thumbstick without moving it to hit face buttons a/b/x/y.
I had one of those. Loved it, but the sticks didn’t last long enough to justify buying another.
That’s true, I’ve had mine 2 years and am seeing some up/down drift on the left stick. Not great on the quality but I have used it often, and I can’t find anyone else with that button layout.
Yes! I love this controller, and I never see people talk about it. The mechanical click of the face buttons is so satisfying and consistent to press. Other controllers feel so cheap to me now.
How big is this controller? I have wide palms but shortish fingers. From palm to tip of middle fingers like 7.5”, which is low side of male hands, but 4” wide palm which is above average. Makes finding ergonomic controllers difficult. I can reach the middle of controllers without too much difficulty, but reaching lengthwise (eg the shoulder buttons) can be problematic (perhaps why I like the ps4 controller — it’s wide but squat; it just lacks usability with no back buttons, and it only pairs to a single device at a time). I guess a smaller Xbox style controller would work okay for me — is Wolverine worth a try you think?
The back buttons are near the middle so I’d assume it’s more comfortable for bigger hands, I think the v3 wireless version has the back buttons closer to the outside where the controller grip connects to the middle of the controller like the elites, I haven’t tried that style yet but I think that may be better for a shorter grip or hands.
V2:
V3:
not a separate controller but the steam deck controller.
if that doesn’t count then it’s the Stadia controller.
8bitdo SN30 pro. Small, lightweight, perfect button placement. SNES controller designers knew their shit, just add two sticks and a pair of triggers and you can play almost anything with it.
I love this little buddy too. So much so I replaced the ABXY silicon contact pad with replacements from their official website. I love that they sell spare parts, I hate that they gouge me on shipping. So I bought 6 ABXY and 6 crosspad and still have 5 each remaining.
great little controller. 8bitdo has a knack for small controllers that feel good in the hand.
For fighting games, my own custom built stick. Put this together last year to replace the Hori RAP4 that had served me well for seven years until a button cap broke off. Super happy with how this turned out. It’s much lighter, I like having a detachable cable. GP2040-CE supports Switch natively so I no longer need an adapter (and I can feel the difference in latency now), and Sanwa silents mean I can practice late at night without keeping anyone awake. And it just looks good, it’s on brand for me.
For everything else that is not fighting games, 8BitDo Pro 2.
I also have a soft spot for the Wii Classic Controller Pro, I miss having gates on the analog sticks. I’d kill for a modern refresh of that with L3/R3, gyro, and USB instead of having to plug it into a Wiimote.
That’s a mighty fine stick you got there. One might even refer to it as lovely.
Oh man, after reading your comment I now have begun reading about the GP2040ce project. I got an empty wooden shell off AliExpress and have been wondering what to do with it for the longest time. They sell sanwa parts along with these generic Chinese encoders that I don’t care to bet on. This pico project looks like just the thing I wanna build
I have been playing videogames since 1992. Went through almost every controller design possible. From the modern ones, I never liked the layout from the playstation so sticked to Xbox. At the moment I’m using a GameSir T4 Kaleid and absolutely loving it. Mechanical buttons and hall effect joystick are very nice. Since I’ve had it only for a year I can’t say anything about reliability. Most reliable Xbox controllers in order are Xbox classic controller S, 360, One. After that every single one is bad IMO. Series controller start to drift pretty fast, same as both elites. So at the moment my most favourite is the Xbox One controller 2nd revision (1708) also known as Xbox one S controller but if the GameSir won’t break for the next couple of years it will be the top one for me.
I hope more first party controllers will get a proper higher tier version with real reliable parts like everything hall effect and mechanical buttons…
