Favorite LOOKING controller?

[trickybus]

 

[Isegrim]

Just to be sure, we're talking about our fave best LOOKING controller but not necessarily the best one in general.

Yes, I actually have this in near mint condition and still boxed. Chun-Li is my favorite Street Fighter of all time. The middle portion is an animated hologram sticker.

But seriously, I'd rather play on my old 10B Hori Fighting commander but it sure looks nice.

 

[MagmaRam]

I grew up in the 2000s. I never owned an N64 and I only ever played on one once and I thought this thing felt awful. I have no nostalgia for this thing whatsoever. And yet, because so many cartoons and children's TV shows would base their hyper advanced fictional video game controllers on the N64 one, this thing holds a special place in my heart due to the looks (also I didn't know what an N64 was when I saw those cartoons so it really added to the mystique with the whack ass three hand layout)

I had the translucent atomic purple version of it, I've got insane nostalgia for it. It and my GBA in the same color did start a lifelong obsession with translucent plastic electronics, but I can't say it's my favorite. My real favorite is the Wavebird. If only it had a second damn Z-button, it'd be a perfect controller.

 

[fmsynthetic]

When it comes to pure looks, my favorite controller is Dreamcast’s pad.
View attachment 68677
It’s so colorful, even in a basic formation, with these beautiful curves, lines, and all that. It’s like the controller variant of the iMac’s from the time. It’s unique and beautiful to look at. I may not love playing on it because of how it cramps my hands with the back, but WOW is it pretty to look at.

As a runner up, and I’ve mentioned it many times, but the NEO GEO.
View attachment 68678
The AES pad… it’s not a pad. It’s a stick. That’s your default controller. And with the gold text and everything?! What a flex this this. Just the utter decadence of a system to say “no, you’re getting the arcade experience at home, so you’re getting an arcade stick! Get over here, twerp!” And the way the buttons CURVE to fit the curve of your hand?! It’s actually so crazy to see, because this is what this kind of controller SHOULD look like.

This hipster obsession with the Dreamcast must end. It's been going on for most of my adult life and it's pretty degenerate. It was a middling console that deserved its fate.

For my part, the SuFami and PS1-2 controllers are absolutely beautiful. The Playstation controller form factor is still my favorite, and they weight them to give them a very nice 'hand feel'.

Post automatically merged: Jun 30, 2025

View attachment 68693
No need to say more :)

See, this just looks like video games

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Y’all are talking about ergonomics, and how hefty the duke controller is.
Meanwhile, ever since I saw this image from a hoax video when I was 10, it to this day appears in my head like an eldritch horror that has the form of a non-euclidian shape I can not fathom.
View attachment 85547
Like someone made this image and wanted it to look real enough to fool people, but like… How could this work?
This is a piece of technology that was not designed to interface with humans, but for the hands of something else.
Game Clam lookin ass

Reminds me of that meme PS4 controller before the PS4 got released

Post automatically merged: Jun 30, 2025

This hipster obsession with the Dreamcast must end. It's been going on for most of my adult life and it's pretty degenerate. It was a middling console that deserved its fate.

Could you... like... let people enjoy things?

I mean you have the right to not like the controller not the console but saying that "the hipster obsession must end" and calling it "pretty degenerate" really sounds like a guy telling people to "stop having fun" instead of just accepting that people have preferences regardless of the intrinsic quality of said hardware.


I mean I don't really complaint about the huge nostalgia-induced praise of the PS2 (or the Xbox 360 in a lesser extent) by people that are either casual gamers that have only played 2-3 games in total or people that haven't turned it on (nor played the games on an emulators) since 2008 because I don't really care about the popularity nor "hipster-factor" of a hardware, I just happen to like the games on it.

 

[fmsynthetic]

Reminds me of that meme PS4 controller before the PS4 got released
View attachment 85659

Post automatically merged: Jun 30, 2025

Could you... like... let people enjoy things?

I mean you have the right to not like the controller not the console but saying that "the hipster obsession must end" and calling it "pretty degenerate" really sounds like a guy telling people to "stop having fun" instead of just accepting that people have preferences regardless of the intrinsic quality of said hardware.


I mean I don't really complaint about the huge nostalgia-induced praise of the PS2 (or the Xbox 360 in a lesser extent) by people that are either casual gamers that have only played 2-3 games in total or people that haven't turned it on (nor played the games on an emulators) since 2008 because I don't really care about the popularity nor "hipster-factor" of a hardware, I just happen to like the games on it.

I agree that a console is only as good as its games, although I do like the design of the SuFami, PS1 and PS2. This is because no console has ever been as good as a PC, so only software can really make them stand out. I'm not sure what great games the Dreamcast has. Crazy Taxi maybe?

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I agree that a console is only as good as its games, although I do like the design of the SuFami, PS1 and PS2. This is because no console has ever been as good as a PC, so only software can really make them stand out. I'm not sure what great games the Dreamcast has. Crazy Taxi maybe?

A small selection of my personal favorites from my own, small library.

This isn’t a thread about console quality though. Or even about controller quality, as I’m an outspoken hater of using the Dreamcast pad. This thread is just about cool looking controllers, regardless of their functionality.

Post automatically merged: Jul 1, 2025

A perfect example is this beast. The Intellivision controller is a truly nasty thing to use, but it looks incredible. I’m a big fan of gold when it’s used as an accent and not a main color, and this gets it perfectly, as the main controller is a dark brown color and the controls are all gold. While the disc is a tortured control method, it looks very cool.

 

[solnK!]

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

One thing I’ve always loved about the original Switch pro controller was the translucent plastic on the main controller body, but then the textured grips. I love how they brought translucent plastic back, but did it in a way that didn’t compromise their “sleek and clean” art direction.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Come to think of it why gamepads don't have a third row of shoulder buttons and 6 face buttons?

One thing I’ve always loved about the original Switch pro controller was the translucent plastic on the main controller body, but then the textured grips. I love how they brought translucent plastic back, but did it in a way that didn’t compromise their “sleek and clean” art direction.

I love translucent tech but I also like metallic ones.

 

[Speed3]

Many many great mentions in this thread, these are my top three that I actually own.

 

[Netra]

I love Sega controllers but my favorite is the Stadia controller, simple, clean.
I don't know why but I love it design.

 

[Shihainin]

Im still a freak. Dreamcast will get an honorable mention though; especially if you have a backlit VMU.

 

[JPZ]

The original PSX controller:

 

[Ephemera1_]

Ive always been fond of the super famicom and ps3 controllers

call me a square but i really like the xbox series controller


View attachment 68682

When it comes down to feel, this and the Xbox one controller are the greatest ever made IMO

 

[Dr.Kisaragi]

Well my favorite looking controller is ps1 (with analogue) GameCube, Dreamcast, and Xbox 360 (even though I don't have a Xbox but I use a controller on PC games)