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What kind of controller do people use ?


Lordmonkus

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As the subject says, what kind of controller do people use for their emulation needs ? Personally I have a few controllers and one is obviously the mandatory Xbox 360 controller which is really nice except for the god awful d-pad. I think this is the controller the vast majority of people use. I also got a Logitech F710 wireless controller for gaming from the couch. This is a not bad controller, the d-pad is much better than the 360 even if it is a little sloppy. The buttons and shoulder triggers are all very good but the analog sticks aren't as good as the 360s. The other nice little bonus of this controller is that it doubles as an extra controller for the PS3. My third controller is the Hori Fighting Commander, this thing is downright spectacular for anything that doesn't require an analog stick. The d-pad is perfect and the buttons are equally good, nice and big and flat, very comfortable. This thing has the perfect layout for Genesis 6 button games and Saturn. Last, I got an X-Arcade TankStick for MAME. I know some people prefer to build their own arcade sticks and I would like to build one some time in the future but for a no hassle pre build arcade stick this thing is solid and works great. I also have to give X-Arcade full credit as a stand up company, when I ordered my stick from them I just wanted the normal 2 player one without the trackball but they didn't have any in stock and after a week or so of delay the owner sent out a full tankstick completely free of charge including shipping at no cost. They really didn't have to do that, the most I would have expected was the tank stick at the same cost as the normal 2 player. So full marks and then some to them as a company.
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SentaiBrad said I bought a ps4 controller months before we got our ps4 just for PC.
Hehe, same here. I think it's the best d-pad ever (with PSVita) and for emulation, it's a godsend. The One controller is also very good. I've played for years with the 360 controller and one year with the DS3. But d-pads are just crappy.
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I had only marginal success with the DS4. All kinds of issues on windows 10 using the Ds4windows method, including conflicts with my other controllers. But it did work.... somehwhat. However, I bought a 20 dollar insignia bluetooth dongle for the PC, and my DS4 continually disconnected from just a few feet away on my couch. Plus its one more thing you have to run in the background compared to the 360 which is plug and play. I got fed up with the DS4 and gave up by the end of it. I also wouldn't say the DS4 is vastly superior to the 360 controller. The only thing it does better is the D-Pad, and even that benefit is marginal compared to a Wii Classic controller. DS4 analogs lose considerably to the 360. 360 Dpad is unusable. Wii Classic analogs are just awful. ... Maybe I'm just bitter... haha. I thought the DS4 would be the one so I never had to switch between 360 and Wii Classics again. If it had worked better for me, it very well could have been. But even then I wouldn't have said it was the best at anything.
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I think the PS4 controller is better over the 360 easily. On PC I primarily use a controller for retro games, and unless they're N64 and PS1 onward, that usually means D-Pad. I also like the shoulder buttons way better on the PS4 as well. The sticks are irrelevant, but I do prefer the PS4 over the 360 there too, so the PS4 controller for me wins very easily. Also yea, I use InputMapper for my controller and it works great. Emulators, PC Games, Kodi.
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  • 2 weeks later...
I want to put in a good word for the Hori Fighting Commander. I just picked one of these up at Gamestop (on clearance $30, you might check your local store if interested) and this controller has really impressed me. It's got a comfortable d-pad with angle rotation so that you can skew the d-pad to make it more natural to your hand (I was skeptical but I love it), 6 button "genesis style" so you can use it for nintendo or sega systems, turbo that you can apply to any button on the fly, 4 shoulder buttons that you can use as the shoulder 1-2 or remap (with the flick of a switch) the L3-R3 to one set of shoulder buttons if you are using the L1-R1 as the 3rd and 6th (sega) buttons, angle sensitivity switch on the d-pad (in case your diagonal shots make you crouch too much in a game you can adjust the diagonal "dead zone" on the d-pad), and Windows 8 recognized it immediately. It's worked on every emulator I have tried so far perfectly. I can see this becoming my go-to controller for all the old systems that don't need analog sticks.
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I guess it would be to much to hope that it is wireless. I have two sabrent six button controllers with are great for playing MAME fighting games as all the buttons in a row is more natural than setting the shoulders as a punch and a kick (its not horrible but prefer the 6 button layout). I just want to have wireless controllers unless I'm playing at my desktop but since I have 4 HTPC's I usually don't do much gaming at my desktop computer.
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It's wired... which is my personal preference, although I know some people like wireless. I have these 2 old Hori Dreamcast fighting joysticks that I want to get a Mayflash adapter for so I can use them for MAME. Not sure if you have seen these, they are a weird green color and pretty nicely made... heavy duty. I don't think I have used them since the Dreamcast days.
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@Drybonz Yeah, it's a really sweet controller for anything that doesn't require an analog stick. The d-pad an buttons just feel so right, quick and responsive. @DOS76 I don't think they have a wireless version. It is targeted towards the fighting game community so going wireless would mean some potential input lag which is a huge no-no. But on the plus side the cord on it is quite long @ approx 10 feet.
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lordmonkus said @Drybonz Yeah, it's a really sweet controller for anything that doesn't require an analog stick. The d-pad an buttons just feel so right, quick and responsive.
Yeah, I had seen them on Amazon but didn't want to pick one up without seeing the d-pad up close. When I saw it on sale I snagged it. After using it, I can't believe they aren't more well-known in the emulation circles. They have a weird shape, but it's really comfortable in the hands. I also saw that they have a newer model that has the classic Genesis kidney bean shape.
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