Controller Opinions

[Pyrometheous]

So I've been doing my best to collect USB adapters (typically Mayflash) and original controllers. Often times original controllers require a LOT of maintenance to workout just right.I think that getting the "original" experience is what drives me the most for this. I mean, I've played through a lot of SNES classics with an XBOX 360 controller, but it never feels right. So I've been getting USB adapters and original controllers. But I wanted to know if the USB controller "knock offs" were any good. By knock off, I mean non-nintendo/sega branded controllers that look like the original SNES/Genesis/whatever controllers, but use USB to directly plug into your PC. I see them all over Amazon, and some are reasonably priced, but I know some cheaper electronics are as sturdy as cardboard (plastic can break from moderate use). But is it worth while to hunt down original parts and restore them? Or do these USB controllers work alright? My collection currently lacks NES, SNES, and Genesis. I already have adapters and original controllers for everything else from my childhood.

[SentaiBrad]

I have a Retro USB N64 controller and it's complete garbage. To be fair, the 360 pad is also very bad too when we're talking D-Pad. For everything, I use my PS4 controller and it works great. The Xbox One controller is also much better than the 360. For N64 specifically, I would love the N64 Hori Pad, but it's crazy expensive. It's also common to see N64 controllers with the control stick replaced with a GameCube styled one, as the control stick on the N64 is very bad and wears out easily.

[Pyrometheous]

2 minutes ago, SentaiBrad said:

I have a Retro USB N64 controller and it's complete garbage. To be fair, the 360 pad is also very bad too when we're talking D-Pad. For everything, I use my PS4 controller and it works great. The Xbox One controller is also much better than the 360. For N64 specifically, I would love the N64 Hori Pad, but it's crazy expensive. It's also common to see N64 controllers with the control stick replaced with a GameCube styled one, as the control stick on the N64 is very bad and wears out easily.

I already have N64 controllers, and they work great (after a few hours of fixing), I also replaced the joysticks with GameCube ones because the original stick isn't great, it's an easy replacement to do. I'm just really looking for good quality, relatively decent prices for NES, SNES, and Genesis controllers.

[SentaiBrad]

Ah, I see. If you must go with the original, then I would go for good quality or easy to fix up originals and an adapter that can translate them in to Xinput. I recall there being an adapter that handles multiple types of controllers. That's if you're ok spending a bit more. The 8bitdo controllers are pretty good from what I read, and they have various styles. They have NES and SNES styles, with the Famicom and S. Famicom variants. They can range from the basic 2 button, start and select, to 6 face buttons, shoulder buttons and even control sticks. They look and feel pretty great, and work well. It would cover you for quite a lot and make it feel much better, and save money. I would say, if you're not worried about the look and feel to go with a PS4 or Xbox One controller as they're both really damn good; but I already know the answer to that one.

[Lordmonkus]

I would just say what I have said in the past.

Use a Hori Fight Commander for anything that is D-Pad only and then whatever analog controller you like best for games that require an analog stick. Whether that's a 360 controller or a Playstation controller (or something else) it's up to personal preference.

I understand people have that nostalgia for authentic controllers but personally I cannot be bothered to track down a collection of good working original controllers plus a usb converter. The Hori FC is basically perfect for anything that does not require an analog stick. It has all the buttons you could need plus a few more and the d-pad is perfection. I have also used so many different controllers over my 35+ years of gaming that I have no "allegiance" to any one controller.

[SentaiBrad]

Yea, if you really want to spend the extra money and the time, have a project to do, it can be fun for a lot of people.

[Lordmonkus]

And if you don't mind the messing around with digging out controllers to hook up when needed or having an absolute mess laying around.

[Zombeaver]

As far as SNES, I use one of these and have been very happy with it. It feels right (immediately switching between this and an original SNES controller doesn't feel all that noticeably different - buttons are good, it's the right dimensions, and the d-pad is good) and works great with Retroarch.

Outside of that, I've got several different controllers that I use, depending on what I'm playing.

A wireless 360 controller is my normal catchall/daily-driver that I use for most things. I've got a PS4 controller, but I prefer the layout of the 360 controller. The d-pad is obviously better on the PS4 controller though.

I use a Mayflash F300 for pretty much all my arcade stuff.

I use a Mayflash Mega Drive/Genesis USB adapter to use my Tac-2 joysticks for C64 and Atari stuff (they share the same port as a Genesis and Master System). I've not actually used it with a Genesis controller, but it works fine for the Tac-2 so I wouldn't anticipate any problems if I did.

I also have a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro for... well... Elite: Dangerous basically

[Pyrometheous]

I think I'm just going to track them down and do the best I can at finding reputable USB to w/e adapters. Right now I'm using a PS1 (original not dual shock), for Genesis/NES/SNES games, and that works ok for now (for some reason retroarch maps it weirdly for NES titles though), and I use PS1, DualShock 1, DualShock 2, N64, and GameCube controllers for their respective consoles. I use the XBOX 360 controller for PC games (when I can), I use the GameCube controllers for the 2 Wii games I play, and the XBOX 360 controller for the Wii-U games that I can (some games look better emulated, but some games work best with the actual Wii U, so it's still hooked up for now).

EDIT this took me a while to type and a few more comments came in while I was typing, so my post may no longer be relevant to the conversation, reading over the other posts now.

Edited May 22, 2017 by Pyrometheous

[Zombeaver]

P.S. as a protip: Don't dump packets of soy sauce onto your N64 controller.

jkjkjkjk

[mothergoose729]

I collect original controllers as well. If you are after authenticity, there is really no where else to go. The controller remakes range from bad to acceptable, but they never feel quite right because they just aren't built exactly the same. For the mainstream consoles of the past I highly recommend doing what you are doing. 

[Pyrometheous]

Just now, mothergoose729 said:

I collect original controllers as well. If you are after authenticity, there is really no where else to go. The controller remakes range from bad to acceptable, but they never feel quite right because they just aren't built exactly the same. For the mainstream consoles of the past I highly recommend doing what you are doing. 

Which controller to USB adapters do you use? I've been using Mayflash so far. They seem to work fine, except the GameCube one changes which controller is which in dolphin everytime I use it. But if I have it set to the "Wii U" setting, it works perfectly for some reason, so it's an unusual fix, but since it works, I'm not complaining too much.

[Pyrometheous]

3 minutes ago, Zombeaver said:

P.S. as a protip: Don't dump packets of soy sauce onto your N64 controller.

jkjkjkjk

Yeah, that was a mess, it came with an N64 that had soda damage, it turned on sometimes, sometimes it didn't, sound intermittently worked, I tried fixing it but the damage was too bad. I was able to recover the controllers though. 2 directions on the D-Pad doesn't work, but most N64 titles never use the D-Pad so no big loss. They work great otherwise :-) 

[mothergoose729]

atari 2600 - http://www.2600-daptor.com/

NES - https://www.amazon.com/Tomee-NES-Retro-Controller-Adapter-Converter/dp/B00HM3QCN2 

SNES - https://www.amazon.com/SNES-Controller-Adapter-USB-Super-NES/dp/B002IXZ5DE

Saturn - https://www.amazon.com/Mayflash-Sega-Saturn-Controller-Adapter/dp/B0089O10BC (does not have proper support for 3d pad  )

N64 - https://www.amazon.com/MAYFLASH-N64-Controller-Adapter-Pc/dp/B002B9FIUU

PS1/PS2 - https://www.amazon.com/Black-Controller-Adapter-Converter-Cable/dp/B00CZ7NCAQ (these are amazing, highly recommend)

Gamecube - I have a mayflash adapter, but I want to switch to the Wii U adapter for better compatibility with dolphin

Wii Motes - https://www.amazon.com/Mayflash-W010-Wireless-Sensor-DolphinBar/dp/B00HZWEB74

 

[Pyrometheous]

1 minute ago, mothergoose729 said:

atari 2600 - http://www.2600-daptor.com/

NES - https://www.amazon.com/Tomee-NES-Retro-Controller-Adapter-Converter/dp/B00HM3QCN2 

SNES - https://www.amazon.com/SNES-Controller-Adapter-USB-Super-NES/dp/B002IXZ5DE

Saturn - https://www.amazon.com/Mayflash-Sega-Saturn-Controller-Adapter/dp/B0089O10BC (does not have proper support for 3d pad  )

N64 - https://www.amazon.com/MAYFLASH-N64-Controller-Adapter-Pc/dp/B002B9FIUU

PS1/PS2 - https://www.amazon.com/Black-Controller-Adapter-Converter-Cable/dp/B00CZ7NCAQ (these are amazing, highly recommend)

Gamecube - I have a mayflash adapter, but I want to switch to the Wii U adapter for better compatibility with dolphin

Wii Motes - https://www.amazon.com/Mayflash-W010-Wireless-Sensor-DolphinBar/dp/B00HZWEB74

 

Thank you so so much. Atari 2600 was before my time, so I'm probably not gonna dive into that, and I never had a Sega Saturn (or a friend with one), so it's compatibility isn't too terrible. The mayflash GameCube adapter that I have has a physical switch that makes it a Wii U version, what compatibility issues does it have? I mainly use it for mario kart, so I might not be experiencing any issues with it.

Also, do you use retroarch for your 8-bit/16-bit consoles? Or something different? If you are using retroarch, does it automatically configure itself correctly?

Basically, what I'm doing so far, using @shro2016's NESiCAxLive theme I'm having it indicate which controller I need for each game, for example it shows a picture of a keyboard and mouse for Half-Life, or currently, I have a graphic of a Sega Genesis controller over a PS1 controller indicating which buttons are which on the PS1 controller when starting the game.

This way it let's me know that I need to use the PS1 controller for that game, and that A, B, and C are Square, Cross, Circle instead. Ultimately I'd like to just have it setup so that anyone can just look at the picture and plug in the appropriate controller before they play the game. I have a coffee table that lifts up to reveal my stash of controllers.

I'm probably gonna cut it down to 2 controllers per console so that everything fits properly. But for now, I think it looks cooler to have everything there like that.

[mothergoose729]

Retroarch works great with Xinput devices. Of the ones I linked, only the PS1/PS2 adapter is Xinput, and the rest are Dinput.

To set them up in retroarch, just go to the controls menu, configure the buttons, and then save to auto config. It will work the next time you load the game with that controller connected. 

[Pyrometheous]

11 minutes ago, mothergoose729 said:

To set them up in retroarch, just go to the controls menu, configure the buttons, and then save to auto config. It will work the next time you load the game with that controller connected. 

Good to know, I'm one of those newbs that doesn't quite understand the difference between Dinput and Xinput. I speculate that Xinput has something to do with windows compatibility with the XBOX 360 controller. But that's about all I think I know :-P

[SentaiBrad]

Xinput eventually became the standard because that's what the 360 controller was using, and that caught on like wildfire for PC's, so now anything that can be called Xinput is automatically grabbed. When I use my PS4 controller and InputMapper, games think I am using a 360 pad. RetroArch auto configs for it too, and it calls ot (or did?) a 360 controller.

[Pyrometheous]

On 5/22/2017 at 1:49 PM, mothergoose729 said:

Retroarch works great with Xinput devices. Of the ones I linked, only the PS1/PS2 adapter is Xinput, and the rest are Dinput.

To set them up in retroarch, just go to the controls menu, configure the buttons, and then save to auto config. It will work the next time you load the game with that controller connected. 

So, I found this on amazon, it looks like it's basically a bluetooth emitter adapter for SNES controllers, but it sends it out as Xinput. I wanted to know if you had any experience with this brand or knew anything about it. I kinda feel that it's probably going to have latency issues, but at the same time, the wireless factor is a bit tempting.

[Zombeaver]

8bitdo's a well known brand. I'm not familiar with that specific device though. Wireless doesn't necessarily equate to a (significant amount of) latency. The user reviews all seem pretty good.