Any opinions/recommendations on various USB SNES controllers?

[Zombeaver]

I'm currently on the hunt for a good USB SNES controller and there are a lot of options available to that end so I thought I'd get some opinions beforehand. Does anyone have any experience with any of these? I suppose another option is to get an adapter for use with my OEM SNES controllers, although I've read that those can introduce some amount of input lag, so that's probably not going to be my first choice. The two main options I'm currently debating between are the Buffalo Classic USB Gamepad and the 8bitdo SNES30 Wireless Bluetooth Controller. Both of these are pretty highly recommended on neogaf. If anyone has any other specific recommendations though, I'm all ears. The main issues I'm concerned with is build quality and getting something that feels authentic or at least very close to the original - those are the primary issues that seem to plague a whole lot of these. The d-pad needs to be very good, and not have issues with pressing down equaling "kinda down, kinda down-right, kinda down-left...whatever I feel like at the moment". The buttons need to have a good tactile feel and not be mushy garbage. The Buffalo is supposed to be very good on all these points, my only issue (and this is going to sound nit-picky/dumb) is that it doesn't have the 2 concave / 2 convex buttons from the North American controller. That's just a personal preference for me. The 8bitdo has the benefit of being wireless, having the North American buttons, and the bonus of being Android compatible. From what I've read, it doesn't suffer from any input lag issues despite being bluetooth, though bluetooth in and of itself can sometimes introduce additional complications (not always, of course). Granted, it is three times the price of the Buffalo but that's not a huge deal. A lot of the options look fine but it's hard to make a real determination without having it in my hand. Mushy buttons, an inaccurate d-pad, noticeably wrong weight, wonky contour... these are things you can't really tell from a photo so that's why I'm hoping to get some feedback from people that have actually used one.

[Lordmonkus]

I think the 2 options you listed are probably the best choice for actual SNES look and feel controllers. I have no experience with the Buffalo controllers but I have a buddy who has the 8bitdo and it is very good. Another option, though they are not the SNES look and feel is the Hori Fight Commander controllers. I have one of these (link) and it is fantastic. The build quality and feel of it is great and works perfectly for SNES and Genesis games. The shape looks odd but is actually really good. There is this (https://www.amazon.com/PS4-PS3-compatible-Fighting-commander-14210671/dp/B017QORK8W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1465403530&sr=8-2&keywords=hori+fight+commander) one with a more traditional shape though if you prefer. The d-pad and buttons on the Hori pads are as good as you are going to get, near perfection.

[Zombeaver]

@lordmonkus Yeah, I was really looking for a SNES pad specifically. I'm glad to hear the 8bitdo pad is good - I'm kindof leaning towards that at this point anyway. It's funny you mentioned the Hori Fight Commander because I'd looked into that pad recently - I just ordered one of these a couple days ago and the Fight Commander got mentioned quite a bit when the discussion of "Fight Stick or Fight Pad?" came up - it seemed to be the definitive option for the pad route. I ended up going with the Mayflash because I want to have an arcade stick that I can use for other arcade games, not just fighting games, and because it has a very wide range of platform support, plus it's comparatively very affordable when comes to arcade sticks. I may still end up getting a Fight Commander down the line, just to have more options - I've heard nothing but good things about it. Based on the button layout, it looks like it'd be a good fit for a genesis controller too! Hmm... Thanks! EDIT: You know, the more I look into the Fight Commander, the more I like the idea of going that route. It's not what I had in mind, but it would probably make a better all-around solution than a SNES pad, which would be great for SNES but a little odd for other purposes. It looks like you can get these for $30 from Gamestop too...

[DOS76]

I have two Mayflash controllers like that but more plain with all black. They are nice as can be.

[Zombeaver]

DOS76 said I have two Mayflash controllers like that but more plain with all black. They are nice as can be.

Yeah, I looked at those as well. The F300 is the newer model - drops the PS2 compatibility but adds PS4 and Xbox One compatibility, and the quality of the stick and buttons are supposedly better. It's apparently easier to mod as well (for those that care about such things) as the buttons are apparently immediately swapable with Sanwa buttons; apparently the older ones are slightly smaller. It's also twice the price at $60 though - still a good deal below the $200 tag that's pretty common for a lot of arcade sticks though. It would appear that the Fighting Commander (the symetrical one) has native xinput support whereas the Fighting Commander 4 is dinput only (I was under the impression that the FC4 was the newer model, but apparently not). Xinput support is kindof a boon for me because that means I could use it on my Steam Link as well (In Home Streaming needs Xinput compatible controllers).

[Lordmonkus]

The Qanba (link) looked pretty interesting and from what I could find about it is supposed to be decent build quality for the price. I have an X-Arcade Tank stick and love it, not sure why it gets the hate that it does in some circles (maybe the older ones were bad). If I didn't have the tank stick I think I would get the Qanba. For d-pad controllers though I cannot recommend the Hori FC enough. I absolutely love it for anything that does not require an analog stick. The d-pad itself feels right and the buttons are very short throw, fairly big around and flat. I use it for emulation and on my PS3 to playing Street Fighter, Mega Man, Raiden and PacMan DX.

[Zombeaver]

Yep, I looked at that one too! haha The deciding factor for me was that Qanba is PS3 and PC only, whereas the Mayflash is PS3, PS4, 360, Xbox One, and PC compatible (and was $20 cheaper, to boot). It's supposed to be showing up Friday so I'll report back on it after some testing. Regarding the FC, have you had any problems with the d-pad sticking or failing in some way? I've been doing a lot of reading on it and a lot of people like it, but I've noticed a recurring theme of people saying their d-pads either started sticking for certain positions or crapped out on them entirely after a few months. That said, I've seen how some people treat their controllers/joysticks (i.e. like garbage) so maybe that's what's happening.

[Lordmonkus]

I have not had any issues with mine at all.

[SentaiBrad]

I actually heard the 8bitdo controller wasn't all that great from a friend who has one, and he's super in to the NES / SNES, but I haven't used it myself. If you are willing to spend a little extra money, if you can find a clean and less beaten SNES controller you can also get SNES to USB adapter's and go that route as well.

[Zombeaver]

SentaiBrad said I actually heard the 8bitdo controller wasn't all that great from a friend who has one, and he's super in to the NES / SNES, but I haven't used it myself.

Hmm... did he have any specific complaints that you can recall? D-pad accuracy, button responsiveness, weight, shape, etc.?

SentaiBrad said If you are willing to spend a little extra money, if you can find a clean and less beaten SNES controller you can also get SNES to USB adapter's and go that route as well.

Yeah, I mentioned that as an option in my opening post - I still have my two OEM controllers from when I was a kid. The problem with that is I've heard from multiple sources that those adapters can introduce input lag - not a huge deal for RPGs but a killer for Contra 3 and the like. Definitely wouldn't have to worry about getting that authentic feel though! haha If anyone has any first hand experience with these adapters, I'd be interested to hear about it.

[SentaiBrad]

Ah, I'm sorry, I missed you posting that! I have to read a lot so sometimes I miss things. :P That said, he didn't specify why the controller wasn't great, he just said it kind of sucked, so I think he means all around. He could have potentially been talking about when it's plugged in to his NES though. In terms of the adapters, I heard some of the older ones can give input lag, but if you get a newer model (probably more expensive?) that the nicer ones can have no input lag or it's not noticable. This might also be in part due to the drivers that the adapter uses. If it adapts to Xinput drivers or the like (Something the PS3, PS4, 360 and One controllers use), then I don't know if you'd get that much. Returning on Amazon is super easy though if you got a printer. If you don't mind spending a bit of extra time, order one solution and play around with it. You can request a refund, they'll either let you choose to print out or have them send you a label, I just put it over the label they sent me on the packages, put tape all across the label (if printed), so no paper shows and then put the item back in and drop it off at a UPS center. It's not an ideal situation granted, but they've tried to make the return process as painless as possible. If you have Prime too you won't be out the shipping you paid to get the item.

[Zombeaver]

SentaiBrad said I heard some of the older ones can give input lag, but if you get a newer model (probably more expensive?) that the nicer ones can have no input lag or it's not noticable.

Yeah, you could be right. It looks like this one is the most consistently high rated one on Amazon. I did a review search for "lag" and out of 27 reviews that contained that word, 2 said there was input lag and 25 said there was none.

SentaiBrad said This might also be in part due to the drivers that the adapter uses. If it adapts to Xinput drivers or the like (Something the PS3, PS4, 360 and One controllers use), then I don't know if you'd get that much.

As far as I know, none of them actually use Xinput - I wish they did! All the ones I've seen just convert it to a generic HID device.

everfang said I have 2 of the buffalo ones and they are pretty close to the original ones, they are decent quality and I would recommend them. I like them a lot.

Good to hear! Both the adapter and the Buffalo are about $12 so I guess it's kindof a toss up. My arcade stick showed up early yesterday so I was messing around with that last night. I like it a lot and was having a ton of fun with it. It's a new experience for me as I've never owned an arcade stick. Shmups felt awesome on it but I was struggling with it on fighters. It's not the stick's fault (it's actually very accurate and responsive), it's just not what I'm used to at all. Things like quarter and half circles were fine, but I was having a hard time with double quarter circles for supers. I tried a number of different grips and ended up settling on eagle style (partially upturned palm, manipulating it primarily between the index, middle finger, and thumb, with the index and middle fingers resting on opposite sides of the stick) as that felt the most comfortable to me. I actually wish someone would make a reversed Hit Box controller, so the direction inputs are done with the right-hand and the attack buttons are done with the left (like a computer keyboard). I've always thought it odd that these devices are designed for players that, statistically, will be primarily right-handed, yet it puts the input device that requires greater fine motor control on the left-side. I actually briefly tried "cross-hand" style last night and, beyond looking pretty retarded, it just wasn't really working for me

[Taracove198]

Nowadays everybody is playing games on their smartphone but I love to play with  best usb snes controller. I don't like to play games on smartphones.

[Charco]

I have two of the iBuffalo SNES controllers and they work great for anything up to Neo Geo/MAME 2D games. Good build quality and a good d-pad. I got USB extension cables last week so I can sit at the other side of the room now. No lag that I can notice, the benefits of a wired connection.

I have a Mayflash 4-way adapter to use my original Gamecube pad, a PS2 to USB adapter to use my original pad for PSX and PS2, a Dolphin bar for original Wii remotes and classic controllers, and a 360 pad for anything else! I guess I've got it covered ?

But yeah, delighted with the iBuffalo SNES pads, recommended.

[FistyDollars]

I just use an original SNES pad with an adapter from RetroUSB. I'm enough of a nitpicker that anything third-party or recreated, no matter how "authentic feeling", just doesn't cut it for me.

[Zombeaver]

I still haven't gotten around to picking up anything on the SNES pad front. I'm still kinda leaning towards the Fighting Commander just so I could use it for more than just SNES games, but I haven't bit the bullet yet.

I did pick up one of these so that I can hook up my Tac-2 joystick for C64 emulation (and 2600, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, and Amiga... I got it mostly for C64 though). It works great! It actually allows for two joysticks to be connected at once, and I do have 2 Tac-2's, but I haven't tested them out simultaneously yet. It's the same port as the Genesis and SMS so it'd work for those too but I haven't tested it with those yet (can't imagine I'll be hooking up a SMS pad anytime soon but I've got a Genesis one around here somewhere that I still need to test out with it).