>>4704
>Switch
Did you hear about Kissu Kart World?

I got myself a Dualshock 4 controller a long time ago even though I don't even own a PS4, but I need the PS-style layout of the analog sticks and wanted a controller with analog triggers so that I won't be limited if I do ever need that functionality. It also can be used wired or via Bluetooth.
I don't think it's as comfortable to hold as PS1/2 controllers are, but functionally it's been perfect! Works with absolutely anything. The only thing I didn't like was that I believe I had to use the DS4Windows software to get it work back on Windows 7. I'm now on 11 and haven't tried it yet because I don't really play a lot of games.
Fun thing: The DS4 I think works natively from at least Windows 98 to XP without any additional drivers or anything, haven't tested it with other OS yet. I played Touhou games with it and the only issue was that I had to use a very stupid JoyToKey configuration to map the analog sticks to the D-Pad so that I can use that one instead.

8bitdo Ultimate 2C. It works well enough for 30 bux.

sega saturn ds4 steam controller

>>4705
Yeah, I once configured one of those programs to read some VNs in bed, but somehow it's not working with this new windows installation. I'm sure there's some conflict somewhere, but it's a massive headache. It might have been JoyToKey since the name is familiar, but it might have been that JoyToKey didn't work before I tried something else. XInput.exe or something? I can't remember.

Here is what I use/my favorites. They cover all types of games I play modern and older emulated stuff.

¥ DS4
Like anon said this is a really decent controller if you want something wireless and don't mind it using bluetooth. On Windows I use DS4Windows applications to configure/drive it. It integrates fine with steam and anything else I've used it for like Switch emulation. I mostly play stuff like 2hu Spell Bubble with it or 3D stuff that needs two analog sticks and is made for more modern consoles that benefit from the four shoulder buttons.

This controller also works fine under most any Linux distro because the drivers are built-in to the kernel. The only issue is configuration but that's a pain with all controllers on Linux IME. But once you figure that out the first time it generally works fine including with steam.

¥ OG Xbox original controller (v2)
By that I mean the second smaller one not the "big duke" or whatever they were called. It's really easy to make one of these work with any PC. Grab any USB cable you have laying around. Cut it as long as you can and strip the cable to expose the wires and copper ends. Do the same with the end of the controller's cable. Splice them together (soldering iron helps but works just fine if you twist them like speaker wire) then cover with tape/cable jacket.

Plug it in and it'll just work with every OS I've tried. Everything has support for it out of the box don't need to hunt down drivers. It's great for 2D platformers and most everything that doesn't require 6 face buttons. Analog sticks are also very good. Only downside is instead of the two shoulder buttons they're all off the bottom due to the OG Xbox odd design. Really good in racing games because the analog triggers are great (better than DS4 and Xbox 360 controllers imo).

I have a really loooooooong usb able on mine and I did a crappy solder job on it 20 years ago now. Still holds up fine. My preferred controller for NES/SNES games like Mega Man and modern games that want a similar controller scheme. Pretty decent fighting pad too.

>>4709
(cont.)
¥ Arcade stick(s)
I built two arcade sticks to play fighting games and SHUMPs with. I built two because one has Sanwa parts and the other Seimitsu parts. Sanwa is my preferred stick+button for fightan and Seimitsu for SHUMPs because the buttons are a bit stiffer and they made a joystick called an LS-56 (I think) aimed just at playing SHUMPs (it returns to neutral faster and takes more force to move around. Also different type of switches). I can play either type of game fine with both but at the time I had cash to burn and I enjoy building arcade sticks...

Anyway, they both use a custom PCB called the "Brook Universal Fighting Board". It has support for Xbox 360/One, PS3/4, Switch, PC and a couple of other consoles. It can auto detect what console/PC it's plugged up to and go into the correct mode. Or you can force it into any mode you want by holding down one of the buttons while plugging it in. I bought the PCB so I could use the same stick on my friend's consoles (that I don't own) and my PC.

Its been awhile since I built them but generally building one is pretty cheap. The PCB is the main expense. Joysticks are only $20 each and buttons are like $2 (unless you get the expensive exclusive limited edition ones). Its been a great investment. I can play all the old arcade stuff through emulation with it (love playing on Fightcade) but they also work great for things like 2D platformers. I can even play games that are analog-only (even dual analog) because you can program macros to access the special features of controllers like the DS4. For example, I can use the touchscreen by holding down the start button+moving the joystick. Joystick can switch between left/right analog or d-pad. Even has ability to do turbo and a bunch of other stuff.

You can build a wooden case to mount this stuff cheap. Or you can buy a plastic case for really cheap. Some even come with clear plexiglass tops so you can print any art work you want for like $10 and customize your sticks with whatever you want.

Got long again sorry. I have a few other things hanging around like old Microsoft sidewinder controllers (d-pads are awful btw lol). I can also use my old Wiimotes with all the stuff like classic controllers if I want. But in general I never hook them up to PC because the OG Xbox controller works so well for D-pad games and the DS4+Stick cover me for everything else.

One last tip concerning DS4/Wireless. You should probably get a bluetooth dongle to plug into the front USB port on your case and use it exclusively for your DS4. Helps extend the range and knock down the latency a bit compared to bluetooth built into the motherboard (or inside the PC case). The range on the DS4 controller isn't that great and the latency can add up fast.

I remembered something else. If you have any old Xbox 360 controllers laying around I used to use those too and sometimes hook one up because my friend prefers them to DS4. They make a little cheap usb 2.0 -> Wireless base station for those. I've had my a long time and I'm not sure they're still for sale. But those work really well in any OS I've used them with and they have a big better range/latency compared to the DS3/DS4 controllers. Plugging in Xbox 360 controllers via the usb cable doesn't work like you'd expect. You need the wireless base station IIRC. All the cables do is charge the controller on PCs I think.

Oh something else and sorry this has gotten a bit long I know. If you're going to do long USB runs like I've done (40+ feet) make sure you have a powered hub on the controller's side. If you do a direct run it'll try to pull power directly off the PC's USB port. Going 30+ feet really taxes it and eventually it'll die on you mid-game. You'll have to reboot the PC to get it working again because the port will be dead until reboot. It shuts down to prevent harming the chipset I think. This might not be a concern for you. My runs are so long because I
¥ PC -> USB to CAT5 adapter -> Long CAT6 cable -> CAT5 -> USB adapter -> Powered USB Hub -> Gaming controller
Runs. This way my friend and I can play on a TV in my living room using the PC located in my home office. We tried playing without the powered hub one night because I wanted to see how long the direct runs would work and if the set-up I had could support it without the hub. It worked for about 5 minutes until both our controller died from those two direct runs of what I estimate to be about 40-50 feet of CAT6 cable plus the 10 inches or so the adapters add on each end of the run.

>>4704
>What controller do you use and are you happy with it?
bought a USB nintendo 64 controller which I use for plying N64 games occasionally with mupen64plus. works OK but it's so small in my hands wish I was a loli

>>4704
DS4.
I posted before here how the way DualShock form-factor subtype done is good for casual play but kinda sucks for intense playing where you want immediate access to all the buttons that doesn't involve micro-reshifting the grip or finger posture. Unless you re-invent the control binding for every game separately, and this isn't very smooth holistically when many games play similarly. That's why we have double claw grip. It gets old for my tendons and joints fast, and that's me usually taking collagen and wearing wristbands at work to minimize any strain.
All Logitech analogs and other copies just take after this.

Other controller types look awkward to me. I tried the Xbox360 one a few times but it was just difficult to get used to it. Maybe I'll prototype a custom controller sometime, but I just hate how the consumer 3D printed materials feel.

>>4712
(rambling more) The ideal controller should be adjustable, modular, and it'd be possible to easily find use in it if you turn it/its finger interface components horizontally and vertically (see: DualShock's "Armored Core" reverse grip).
I'm flabbergasted the closest to it coming from gaming console vendors are joy-cons.

I'm surprised such stuff does exist though, but the prices seem like overkill, as if they're compensating for over-engineering the basics. Actually no, they just offer overcustomization.
Yeah, the perfect modular controller would be open source in schematics, firmware.
Fuck this is fun to plan out and think about.

>>4713
(rambling more) Actually, no, some are okay-priced, but none really offer a certain customization system where you could just adjust the length of the grip-horns, easily swap just their ergonomic casing, etc.

I use an Xbox One controller with cable. I have been thinking about getting one those USB bluetooth thingies but I can never be arsed to head into town and buy one.

>>4704
I use a DS4 controller with a cable.
It just works.

I use an 8bitdo controller and I hate it. Sometimes I press left or right on the dpad and UP is triggered. I want to get a really long usb cable so I can use my vita as a controller.

I use an xbox elite controller since my knockoff xbox one controller decided not to work anymore. I considered the ps5 hotswapable pro controller but I heard it would eventually have stick drift and sony cut support for it.

I have gone through several phases. 360 wired controller, Dual Shock 4, arcade sticks, xbox series controllers, 8bitdo stuff... Nowadays it's more or less:

- Dual Sense (wired): The jack of all trades. It replaced the Dual Shock 4 for me, as the d-pad is easier on the thumb.
- 8bitdo M30 2.4ghz: 6 button gamepad. Used mostly for emulation.

I do have a switch pro controller, but it's more of a dedicated Splatoon 3 gamepad. If it wasn't for the gyro, I would still be playing switch games with a DS4 and an adapter.

>>4717
The 8bitdo pro 2 was my main controller for one or two years, but I did not realise how bad the d-pad was until I attempted to play Hard Edge and Resident Evil 1 with it. It was impossible to simply press up and get the character to move in a straight line without turning.

I switch between Xbox 360 and Switch Pro controllers sometimes for PC gaming, idk if OP is using anything different to get it working on PC but I found the Switch was plug and play with most of my games...on Linux. If you're on Windows though then it makes more sense to get an Xbox controller since it's less headache to set it up.
Otherwise I kinda hate all controllers, they're all wonky and hard to hold imo. If I had enough silly money I'd pick up a leverless arcade controller.

Seems like the Dualshock 4 was a popular answer so I went with that one! I do remember liking the original PSX controller, although it was a bit less comfortable once they added analogs. Hopefully they've addressed the shape since then, but I guess I can always return if it it's awful. I doubt my hands would object to it, though.
Looking forward to being able to play pirated games with a controller again!

>>4724
>idk if OP is using anything different to get it working on PC but I found the Switch was plug and play with most of my games...on Linux

Windows here, and yeah I had major issues getting the Switch Pro controller to work. For a while non-Steam games would work when launched from Steam, but I never got it to work with a new Windows installation. Messing with software solutions for programs that stopped being updated a decade ago just didn't cut it.

>>4724
>Otherwise I kinda hate all controllers, they're all wonky and hard to hold imo. If I had enough silly money I'd pick up a leverless arcade controller.
Setting up controllers on any OS is frustrating. Linux is really bad. It gets even worse when you need to set-up 2+ controllers for playing with a friend. If you want a hitbox they're really cheap to build yourself. Don't get scammed into buying one already put together. The buttons are only $2 each and the box+PCB can be had for well under $50 all-in.

I don't understand why no one has made an easy-to-use application for universal controller support. Even if it only worked with the mainstream console controllers it would be a vast improvement to what we have now.

The main issue on PC is the fact that you can't do hot swapping of controllers mid-game. I hosted game nights for fighting games using PC for a few months. It was such a pain. Everyone brought their own controller and you couldn't simply swap controllers mid-game. No matter what game we were playing we had to unplug a controller, close the game, then restart the game. That was after we spent almost an hour making sure everyone's controller was working and set-up correctly with the OS. I tried using Linux and Windows 7 hoping one would be better in this respect. But both of them were the same and a pain in the ass.

All we need is a simple background application that would make 4 virtual controllers and serve those to the game. Then on the other end it could manage linking a controller that was plugged in to virtual controller 1-4.

This is one of the reasons people like Steam because it sometimes makes this easier. But I've found out it often fails for many games. I have to disable steam's controller settings and pass through a controller raw to get them working in a lot of games. Even stuff released just a few years ago.

There are also a lot of devices that claim to be xinput or dinput that aren't really what they claim to be. Huge headache when dealing with those. It's so bad I bought a bunch of the Xbox 360/PS3 -> Xbox One adapters. If you use one of those it actually looks like an xinput device to the OS and works most of the time.

Linux is probably the worse of everything I've used when it comes to setting up controllers. Have to do terminal dance every time you want to use a new one. At least Windows sometimes provides a GUI as long as you aren't attempting to use something really exotic/old.

>>4758
Yesterday I have a One Step from Eden 5 hours binge sesh and my fingers hurt. I'd really recommend anything better than the DS4 I use, but I'd actually need to touch and test possibly dozens of gamepads. I only really know, by experience, that Logitech analogues handle like ass.

I use a dualsense for 3D games and a sega saturn one for 2D games.

I use a dualsense for everything aside from fighting games where I stick to my cheatbox. I like it because it's quite convenient compared to older tech that doesn't have bluetooth capability and it's mostly supported by Steam. What I don't like about the DualSense though is that being on Linux I run into issues sometimes where it's a real bitch and a half to diagnose what the issue is and so I have my Hollow Knight controls all fucked up because the game was made before the controller came out and for some reason because of that it just decides to freak the fuck out at the sight of it and start assigning buttons at random, or in a consistently wrong pattern. It really irks me and if I could figure that out I'd be so much happier because the controller really is just better than the other PS controllers that always happened to be too small for my hands (and xbox ones were too bulky)

>>4767
>a sega saturn one for 2D games.
Oh I love the Saturn's controller. The most comfortable one I've ever used. You managed to connect it to a PC? How?

>>4769
I use this, it's a Mayflash adapter. Does PS2 and N64 as well

>>4766
Nevermind, it's much better with shuffle on L1 and shooting on R1. 9 hour binge got my brain tired before the fingers. I guess 95% of ergonomics issues boil down to remapping as the solution. The remaining 5% can really be frustrating, but those are only double claw grip-tier sweaty try hard sessions not all games require.

>>4770
Hmmmm... this is really tempting, although I'd also need to buy some Saturn controllers since I'm not sure how long they last. I still have some laying around here somewhere, but I need to leave him as part of that system.
I guess I'll see how the Dualshock 4 works.

>>4772
>I guess 95% of ergonomics issues boil down to remapping as the solution
True, which is why it's so lame when games don't support it out of the box. They should know better these days.