I’ve been using an 8BitDo Pro 2 for awhile now; and I was just curious; what controllers do y’all use? Got any super weird and obscure controllers you like?
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As a die-hard Sony PS fan through the ages, I have to admit that the Stadia controller is surprisingly robust - and Google ‘unlocked’ it so it can just be paired as any Bluetooth controller now.
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One of my friends uses one of them; it’s probably the only good thing to come out of Stadia! Lmao, still remember it coming out and shutting down like it was yesterday
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Other than a pretty generic Logitech USB controller, I use the SF Ryu Anniversary Playstation Controller via USB adapter.
(not my pic, mine’s in worse condition - nothing to read on the buttons anymore).
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Oooh! That looks sick, when the text is worn off you know that’s a damn good controller, well loved for sure.
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I like the PS4 controller, it has great battery life, no perceptible input lag via Bluetooth, it’s Dpad feels good and the analogs are good as well, but it’s the analog L2-R2 triggers that feel great, specially in racing titles.
I’m not fond of the Share and Option buttons, but I guess there’s not much they could have done since it has the touch pad. What I like is that DS and 3DS games are mostly playable using its touch capabilities, surely it won’t serve every touch game ever, but most will do, which is a big plus, I mean, we can enjoy these handheld games from the couch, using touch features, it’s crazy.
I like that the Home button serves to call Retroarch’s interface, also, we can use L3-R3 for save-states or any other function you need. Or even, using the right analog to control volume, fast forward and the such from the Dreamcast and below systems.
Since the SNES days, playing Capcom 6-button fighting games feel natural, and instead of using L for strong punch, I set it to R1 and R2 serves as strong kick, it might seem odd, but you’d be surprised how I got so used to it I rarely miss special moves or combos. It won’t replace a Saturn gamepad in this regard, but it’s still really good.
All in all, it has so many functions and is flexible enough, while also being readily available and with the right price it’s hard not to recommend you to at least respect it for what it does.
All that said, things to keep in mind is that rubber pads, specially for the D-pad isn’t as durable as those from older systems, as I had to replace mine within a few years of use and analog drift can be a thing too.
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Gotta say, the Dualshock 4 is my backup controller, I much prefer it over the Dualsense.
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Sega Megadrive Mini and SNES Mini controller that my brother gave it to me because the systems were bundled with 2. SNES Mini controller works on USB via 8bitdo gamecube/wii adapter. Megadrive Mini has a USB port already, though calibration is totally messed up so I had to remap the buttons. SNES Mini works like a standard xbox 360 controller.
For general purpose I use a Gamesir G7 SE model that is even better than official Xbox One controllers.
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Logitech f310, Very old probably need to replace it, it lasted very long (still working). A very good cheap option.
Hori rap Hayabusa, this is my main way of playing, I only changed original hayabusa lever with a seimitsu (I play a lot of shmup).
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Need to get myself an arcade stick/button setup at some point!
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We need an Xbox controller with an extra Z & C button. Not “Z” & “C” that are just duplicate bumpers. Not move L3/R3 to Z & C. Just straight up. ADD Z & C to an Xbox controller.
People don’t understand how objectively necessary that is for multi-system emulation and it’s frustrating.
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Only issue with Logitech is the horrible dpad
I did my very first 1 All clear of Dodonpachi with it. I guess it was good enough for me 
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I got 2 wired models, the one above and the black model without rumble and dpad turned unresponsive after a while despite hardly using it. For fighting games especially it was awful, making the games unplayable. I’d rather have the Dreamcast dpad to this.
Yes, it is a cheap controller and probably not the best for fighting games since the d-pad does not have a pivot, but I had no problems with responsiveness playing danmaku games that require very precise inputs. I have to say that as of now I use it as a “general purpose” controller especially for ps1/n64 or similar, where analog sticks or shoulders buttons are needed.
As I said I mainly use the arcade stick for 85% of my gaming with retroarch!
I’ve had a Flydigi Apex 4 for a few weeks. Lots of hype on Youtube and forums for it. The sticks are really great on my unit; they return to at most 0.001 on both axis with the deadzone set to 0 in software. I set them to the lowest resistance amount (30 grams of force, supposedly) and they are really comfortable and easy to be precise with like that.
The mouseclick like face buttons are satisfying to press. And they don’t miss presses sometimes like my launch day Xbox Elite 2. Sometimes the Elite 2 would even lose contact with the board when holding down the X button. Causing me to let loose a charge shot in Mega Man X when I didn’t want to occasionally. Haven’t had that problem with the Apex.
The bumpers don’t have double click issues like my left bumper has on my Elite either. I do find they feel a bit higher then the Elite’s though, so they feel like they’re a bit of a stretch to reach. Probably not an issue if you have larger hands.
I’m experimenting using the triggers as LB and RB with the trigger lock setting enabled, since my fingers rest on them naturally. They’re more comfortable to use as my primary shoulder inputs. The trigger lock on the Apex 4 is just the motors pushing back hard instead of a full on plastic stop like the Elite 2. But it does feel surprisingly close to that to me. I have to pull really hard to push through the lock. It’s neat that you can set how much pull you want before you hit the lock in software too. It’s very granular.
My middle fingers rest on the main back buttons pretty naturally. I would say they have just the right amount of actuation force to not accidentally press, nor feel too hard to press. I’m experimenting with using them as the triggers. So with the actual triggers set as bumpers, I have access to all four shoulder buttons at once with individual fingers. I’ve set the bumpers as L3 R3 for extra functionality, since I don’t need those often and the bumpers are slightly uncomfortable for me to reach.
The inner back buttons aren’t too hard to reach, but I wouldn’t want to use them as a primary input. I have them set as Select and Start, since the actual Start and Select are a little high for my thumbs to reach without loosening my grip.
The clicky DPad is satisfying to use and is precise for the platformers, beat em ups and top down action games I’ve tried. I have issues with most DPads where my thumb tendon starts to hurt after awhile, and this one isn’t quite light enough to alleviate that. It’s not as heavy as the Switch Pro’s DPad, but probably a little more than the Elite 2’s disc. I’d rather use the analog stick for character movement for comfort. Though that can be harder to use for quick tap inputs.
So it’s a pretty great pad overall. Some people have issues with the stick modules breaking, so you might want to get it from somewhere that has a good return policy if you want to try one. My unit’s sticks haven’t made any odd clicking, creaking or grinding noises, so hopefully they last.
Here are two in depth video’s about it:
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