What's your favourite controller?

[Cherrim]

Of all the consoles that have ever come out, which one has your favourite controller? Or does a third-party controller take the crown for you?

For me, my controversial favourite might actually be Joycons (if you ignore their drift tendency, of course). I really like that I don't have to hold my hands near each other to use them and my hands are really small so they're a good form factor for me. I also tend to prefer Playstation controllers because they don't have the problem that other controllers have where if you play multiple consoles the ABXY buttons are different. Never have to worry about whether I'm working with Xbox or Nintendo letter buttons if all the buttons are just shapes instead! And the touchpad we've gotten with DS4/DS5 is handy when I'm using it on my computer in case I've gotta click something.

 

[Zeostar]

Normally I would say Playstation, but the switch pro controller feels really comfortable. Only the official ones though.

 

[GameBunnyAdvance]

I think mine is either the Dualsense or the Split Pad Compact. The former I've had a better experience with overall, but the latter I've spent significantly more time with.

After playing with the Dualsense I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to earlier controllers, much as I loved the Dualshock 4. It's the form factor that does it; I don't care for the additional features at all and will automatically disable them as soon as I start a new game. I'm sure some people find rumble and adaptive triggers immersive for some reason, but I just want to play without thinking about what I'm holding, and the Dualsense has given me the best experience for that. Although the control sticks are a little smaller on it, my fondness for the Dualsense has actually made the Playstation Portal my favourite handheld, it's so much more comfortable to use long-term than a Switch or Steam Deck despite how absurd it looks.

The Split Pad Compact is a significant improvement over the Joycons, which are absolute garbage when it comes to build quality. Drift issues aside, the buttons and control sticks are too small and the latter don't have any grip to them, and you have to keep the things in a death grip that hurts your palms over extended play sessions...or at least, that was my experience with them. It's also quite awkward triggering the back buttons. Maybe my hands are just too big for them. The lack of a D-Pad, although understandable, is similarly off-putting, and it makes playing games that require it or would be better with it extremely uncomfortable. The Compact is of a decent size, has a proper D-Pad, control sticks and buttons, and best of all it doesn't support HD rumble so I don't have to keep on going into the settings and disabling it. The Split Pad Pro was nice, but it felt a little TOO big. The compact is just joycons, but of a proper size and with much better grip. Best things I ever bought.

 

[Devalue]

Maybe the Gamecube controller? Remembers the buttons feeling squishy enough and the controller's size being good for everything minus maybe the start button. Placed the C-Stick and D-Pad kind of awkwardly, admittedly. Never really needed quick response times on those, though.

Also liked the Super Nintendo controller. Speaks with too much nostalgia for an unbiased opinion, though. Tapped the buttons without much pressure. Allowed multiple button presses easier than some others between that and spacing (for all those times of jumping, dashing, and charging/firing all at once in Mega Man X2).

 

[CoolKid575]

The official Switch pro controller is really nice. It has a good weighty feel to it and the buttons are large and easy to press. The battery life is also excellent; I often fall asleep to YouTube videos with without turning it off and it still lasts days between charges. Definitely get the real deal though; the cheap knock-offs don't feel 1/5th as good and often drift after just a year or 2.

 

[gimmepie]

Switch controllers are pretty nice but they often feel just a bit too small in my hands - the exception to this being using the Switch as a hand-held. I think my favourites are pretty consistently the Playstation controllers. They're a comfortable size and shape, they function well and the layout makes sense to me.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Do you guys count "mouse & keyboard" as a controller? Because that's my pick. Aiming is so much easier with a mouse and I have so many buttons I can bind to suit my preferences. (That being said, if the game requires precise movement, like most platformers do, I'll usually use a wired Xbox controller instead.)

 

[Setsuna]

Do you guys count "mouse & keyboard" as a controller? Because that's my pick. Aiming is so much easier with a mouse and I have so many buttons I can bind to suit my preferences. (That being said, if the game requires precise movement, like most platformers do, I'll usually use a wired Xbox controller instead.)

I suppose I would count mouse and keyboard, yeah. A lot of what I played growing up was on mouse and keyboard and it's still my preferred way to play games that I even currently own on console.

I've only ever really played one game on a PS4 but I always found the controller really nice when I was using it, I'd probably consider that my favourite. When I play anything using my own controller it'll be an Xbox One controller hooked up to my computer and that's what I've gotten used to, but the fact the buttons aren't the same layout between Switch and XB1 really throws me off. I'll only ever use my joy-cons when I'm playing something on my Switch but over the past couple years I've really grown to dislike the design just because of where the minus button is. I can never comfortably move my hand to press it and it always feels awkward every time.

 

[ReKoil]

As I generally only have handhelds for consoles...

Mouse and keyboard on my laptop I guess? Just feels very familiar whenever I'd play a game on my laptop =P

 

[tigertron]

I would say for me, it's a tie between the Xbox Series, the Switch Pro, the Dualsense and the Gamecube controller. If I had to choose, I would say the Xbox Series.