Your ideal controller?

[Lancelotk]

Well, I can't say it's the ideal, but my favorite is Wii mote + nunchuck.

 

[HydraSavior]

I would like something like the Mad Catz RetroCon PS2, but with:

-6 Face Buttons
-Wireless Functionality
-Uh, actual controller functionality (it was by Mad Catz, yo')

I don't know why I love the design so much. But I do. I bought one, but it, uh, wasn't great. I *do* remember that my friend's seemed more functional, but that could have just been excitement since I used his first before I bought one.

I have been Chasing This Dragon for a while. Not the same aesthetics, and it's wired, and it doesn't have six face buttons, but in the PS4 era I could use the Hori Pad Mini and be "happy enough" with it.

I also have a CRKD Neo S "Rocket League Edition" Wireless Controller. No six face buttons, not the same aesthetic, but wireless and having pretty good function. It's a good wireless controller if you're like me and have never had luck with any kind of battery with the Xbox One / Series S / Series X controller.

And then I have an 8BitDo M30 Wireless Pad, which is basically a Saturn pad but wireless. Very good, some extra buttons in addition to the six face buttons to help with emulation, but no sticks. Not The Daddy.

Also I have a Hori FC4 PS4 wired controller. Technically, six face buttons (two are repeats of either the shoulder bumpers or the stick clicks), looks nice, feels very good, but no analog sticks. So close.

Oh yeah, and even a 8BITDo M30 Wired Xbox pad, which is different from the Saturn M30 up above. It's got six shoulder buttons (repeats again), no analog sticks, and is wired, but is again Not Perfect.

Someone just...make an Xbox Series pad that's wireless by it's nature and has six face buttons that are different than readable buttons than the buttons already on an Xbox Series pad. I'll buy it, if I can afford it then. It could be PC only because of the "different readable buttons," I'll still try to buy that.

Oh. And I miss not getting a Dreamcast fishing controller and a NeGcon controller when they were going for like 15 bucks. The former is obvious what it does. The NeGcon, however, is a controller you Twist and Turn to Act Like a Wheel, Kinda that only worked with a few games. Would have bought it (seeing some, uh, "art" of a tall girls in thighhighs wrapped in a NeGcon's wire might have helped a bit) but I don't actually own any physical games compatible with it.


EDIT: Just wanna put out there, without making Implications, that True Gentleman and Ladies of Culture should know that the PS1 Ascii Grip one-handed controller with a PS adapter, and the Microsoft Xbox one-handed controller work well on PC for, you know, those games. The cultured ones. Like...I dunno. You could play a Puzzle Game while Eating A Giant Burger.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Well, I can't say it's the ideal, but my favorite is Wii mote + nunchuck.
View attachment 211545

The Wiimote always gave me vibes of these air conditioner controls

 

[Amphineura]

Can I count the Switch as a whole as a controller?

Change the d-pad and analog sticks on the left, add stylus support, and a few tweaks like better analog sticks and I'd be set. Also make it more comfortable to hold ofc but the basic idea is there.

 

[Tenshishi]

Can I count the Switch as a whole as a controller?

Change the d-pad and analog sticks on the left, add stylus support, and a few tweaks like better analog sticks and I'd be set. Also make it more comfortable to hold ofc but the basic idea is there.

View attachment 211568

Did you mean: PlayStation Vita?

 

[Amphineura]

Did you mean: PlayStation Vita?

+ stylus and R2 and L2 buttons, sure

 

[Retro_Willows]

Classic gamecube with wired and bluetooth connectivity and replace the z button with 2 shoulder butons, I want full L1R1 L2R2 and L3R3 buttons on it. Also a perfected version of the retrobit saturn style controller with L2R2 and analog sticks with wired and bluetooth connectivity.

 

[Dick Whip]

What would your ideal vidya gaem controller be like?
Personally, I would love to see a controller with six face buttons, a shield style d-pad (harkening back to a Japanese/Model 2 SEGA Saturn controller), 2 shoulder buttons, adjustable dual TMR analog sticks with octagonal rings, analog triggers that can double as an extra pair of shoulder buttons, gryoscopic motion controls, rumble, mechanical switches for the face and shoulder buttons, similar ergonomics to a Gamecube controller, a 8K polling rate, a fan for sweaty hands (reminscent of Nyko's Air Flo and Air Glo lines of controllers), and USB-C wired, 2.4ghz wireless, and Bluetooth wireless modes.
so basically it would look like this:

Spoiler: Disclaimer: the following image was generated using AI via Google's Gemini chatbot

View attachment 211471

Funny you mention it, but that's almost exactly how my dream controller would have been, but instead it would be shaped like a slightly larger Xbox Series Core controller with symmetrical sticks at the bottom and two shoulder buttons shaped like the Game Boy Advance (The AGB-001 model to be exact)
Something more akin to InterAct's HammerHead FX controller but with the triggers on the back being more like those PS3 controllers from GameStop.

As for fightsticks, basically that Super Stick 9000 from Sigma but for every system I have on hand.

 

[Ken190d]

The Dualsense (besides its battery) is perfect imo. Especially if the controller gets hall effect sticks.

 

[Arden]

A mix of the Xbox 360 and the Ps4 controller. The X360 controller was very good, but i always hated the place that holds the batteries inside, it annoyed me a lot. While the ps4 to me is more complete, i can see it the better option than the first, almost like they perfected the formula for the perfect controller.

 

[naka_michi]

SNES Face Buttons
Xbox 360 Shoulder Buttons
Master System D-Pad
Gamecube analog
Xbox 360 positioning

If I could have this frankingstein as my main modern gaming controller I'd be happy

 

[tht009]

My ideal controller is just the original controller for any given system. I've never used a controller I couldn't adapt to and part of the challenge of the game for me is adapting to the controls. I generally use the default control scheme too, to play the way the developers intended. (I'll sometimes make an exception for something extremely disorienting like an inverted X axis. It really bothers me when the camera rotates horizontally the opposite direction of what I expect it to, although I can adapt to an inverted Y axis.) I don't like having extra buttons that do nothing because I press them out of habit expecting them to do something then remember that button isn't actually mapped to anything. For instance, it would bother me to play an NES game with an Xbox controller because of all the useless extra buttons, even though the Xbox controller is admittedly more ergonomic.

If we're talking no-limits sci-fi controllers here, I would like one that maps the electrical signals in my brain to in-game functions. That kind of already exists but the functionality is limited because the technology isn't far enough along. I think it would be cool to control a game entirely with your thoughts though, just by looking at the game and thinking about what you want to do. "You have to use your hands? Aw, it's like a baby's toy!"