6mo ago

I asked what your fave controllers are, now. What is the worst controller you have used?

So. I have 2 I hate.

I had this old gamesube one for the switch. It was a wired one by powerA. Buttons would get jammed, accidentally broke the stick by leaving it in a bad position overnight (my bad) the cover of the cstick randomly slid off (had to glue it) and the while thing was hollow.

Also, I have a keapster explorer and the dpad is awful. Sometimes it jams to the left but its just a plain bad dpad, no physical feedback at all

96 comments

Hot take: Nintendo Switch Joycons. They're a nice and clever concept but in reality they're bad.
Too small even for casual games. The Wiimote was much better at it.
Very expensive at 80 € per set. Yes, you get two of them but in most games outside of Mario Kart you also need both. And even then they're fine at best.
4 out of 4 of my controllers got stick drift. Nintendo had to be sued into repairing them.
- On the other hand, you can play with your hands in completely different locations which is nice for being lazy on a couch.
  
  My reasonably sized, more ergonomic, multi-system wireless controller with hall effect sticks does that for a little more than half the price.
- Fuck joycons
  
  All the cool kids hate Joycons.
  Seriously though, I replaced them immediately and never took them out of the drawer again.
- I think they are actually really good at very specific things, the clicky buttons are great for ace attorney and tetris
- Single joycon is barely usable, but the Wiimote was terrible for sideways holding.
  Its shape was clearly never intended for it, and the d-pad was absolutely awful, one of the worst I've used.
  The d-pad worked as buttons (which was how most games used it, in vertical mode), but for movement it was very stiff and almost impossible to get diagonals. For a console that featured virtual console heavily and needed a lot of classic controls, that was very bad design.
- I hate the Joycons so much. The clicky buttons are terrible, the split dpad sucks for games that use it for movement, the sticks aren't great either for precision (ignoring the drift issues), and I find them painful to hold.

Probably that first NES controller.. Those corners were hell on the palms.
- Those were terrible!
  Nowadays for me it's anything that doesnt have "horns" to grip or not enough space between them.
  I stil main 360 controllers though i find them a tad too small/cramped
  
  This drives me nuts on the Switch on handheld. The Joycons have no natural "grip", so it's hand cramp city unless you invest in a grip case. Was it so hard to give the Joycons an ergonomic shape?
- Ouch

Back in the early 90s, here in the UK, a company called Cheetah produced licensed joysticks based on Batman, Terminator, Alien³ and The Simpsons. They looked great but they were terrible to use, especially the Alien³ model which I really liked but was incredibly uncomfortable. I never bought one, just tried then on the shops, awful things.
- There were some cheap ass weird ones in North America too. I remember for Christmas we'd ask for a Joycon or something like that, and we'd get "the Joycron," which looked nothing like a controller, had a weird shape, felt like shit and was cheap as hell. The old man would be like, arrrr we saw it at the BiWay and it was 99 cents, why do you need the one thats $60? Then he would play it, and sure enough, by February you had the real one.

Official Microsoft controllers were absolute peak with the Xbox 360...
...but modern Microsoft Xbox controllers have absolute dogshit build quality. Just the worst, constantly breaking for no reason. I'm just done with Xbox controllers because old DualShock 4's are cheap and quality.
- Back in the day, I bought the official Xbox360 steering wheel. It made me laugh because it was called wireless. It was only wireless between itself and the Xbox. It still needed a power brick to drive the motor and another wire to connect it to the pedals.
  When I sold it, I almost made my money back because it was in high demand. MS had replaced it with that awful U shaped steering wheel that you held in the air like a Wii controller. It used sensors to tell when it was tilted. I never used one but the reviews weren't favourable as I remember.
- Oh, I never used one but they looked good :c

The original Xbox controller for the North American release. I swear it was made for Paul Bunyan it was fucking massive.
- I agree. That thing was HUGE. I have tiny hands too, and always struggled with it.
  I also didn't really like the N64 controller, it was kind of a weird size too, and it just had a weird layout.

Any gamepad without vibration feels lifeless to me. This was one of the first gamepads I bought for PC, the Thrustmaster Dual Analog 4. No vibration, L3/R3 require a lot of force to press, no analog movement on the triggers. I guess what you get is what you pay for but man I don't wanna go back to cheapo controllers...
- Yea, a lack of good motors sucks.
  Now I've felt analog, digital input sucks

Aside from broken controllers, which I don't think can reasonably count, the Atari 2600 joystick.

One button, a lot of resistance to push on the stick.
After that, an elderly Logitech gamepad from the 1990s that had a D-pad that rolled diagonal way too easily. IIRC it had a screw-in mini-joystick that could attach to the center of the D-pad. Don't remember the model. White case, attached directly to a joystick/MIDI port.
After that, I think the NES controller. I have no idea why people like those or actually buy recreations. Yes, nostalgia, but the ergonomics on it were terrible. Hard buttons, sharper corners on the D-pad than is the norm today, and a squared-off controller made the thing downright uncomfortable to use for long periods of time.
- The Atari 2600 joysticks were a blight. The base was so small and the stick so unresponsive I remember having to hold the base steady with my feet to use that accursed controller. The breakout dial controller was pretty sweet tho.
- Ironically, the Atari -like joystick from the 2000's from Walmart for $15 that plugs directly into your TV with games stored in the joystick is a better joysticks than the original 2600 joysticks.
  However, I would contend that the Intellivision controller was worse.
  I had a Colecovision (and Vic 20), and although I will say that was better than the 2600 and Intellivision joystick, I have to emphasize to all these youngsters complaining about the original NES controllers that those were still an improvement over previous default joysticks.

N64, and this is the one I actually grew up with. They took a chance, they fucked up by making an alien spaceship three-pronged dildoesque monstrosity, that wore out at mach speed - especially by normal gameplay in certain (coughMarioParty1cough) games. While I have tons of love and nostalgia for N64 and several games on it, it can't excuse the controller itself.
- Yea, the Trident is stupid

N64
I got no beef with the three prongs like you see so many fuss about but those analog sticks were extremely fragile and would inevitably go completely limp over time and wind up 99% deadzone.
- Super Mario 64 - a launch title, iirc? - murdered my control stick. Spinning that around to swing Bowser was a great game design idea, but yeah they didn’t build those controllers to withstand it for long.
  
  1080 Snowboarding forced me to get an Interact Superpad 64. It had a metal joystick.
- People always give shit to MadCatz but they had the sturdiest 64 controllers. All the first party ones would last maybe 2 or 3 games of Mario Party or WWF Smackdown. The MadCatz we had was the GOAT for games that required spinning the stick a lot. But I hated how extra THICC they were. Made them a removed to hold.

Any controller that has asymmetrical joysticks. I get they’re all copying Xbox, Xbox was wrong.
If you’re using one to look around and one to move, having them require your hands be in two different positions is dumb.
- I disagree about it being the worst but after trying symmetrical its better

Those roll-up dance mats from the old ps2 dance dance revolution style games. They were unreliable as all hell.
- We ended up nailing them down to plywood. They registered waaaaay better but wore out 3x as fast.
  
  Not a bad idea if you have the space tbh
- Roll up controller. Sounds like an inevitable mess
  
  These guys (derogatory)

Joycons. I actually enjoy using them but the fact that their failure rate is basically guaranteed makes them little more than paper weights. I have 4 sets all with drift. I have a friend who's really into Nintendo and he has a huge collection of joycons because they keep developing drift. At $100 a pop in Canada, I know my friend has spent over $1000 on these things. Myself, I would never buy another pair of joycons from Nintendo.
My experience with joycons has actually made me much more discerning when it comes to buying new controllers, for example why would I buy the xbox elite controller when everyone reports they develop drift? Before joycons I probably would have just bought the xbox elite controller and ended up with a disappointing product.
- Agree, joyshits suck

The very worst controller I've ever used was this no-name joystick in the 90s. You had to grip like a claw, which looked kind of cool and futuristic but was awful in use. The base was tiny and it had these suction cups that didn't work at all.
But the very very worst thing about it, was that the input was binary! It was either on or off, no gradual movements or anything. Basically it was an oversized d-pad.
I borrowed it from a friend so I could try Rebel Assault, which looked so awesome what with CD-ROMs being a new thing. But that joystick ruined the experience so much! Try flying a ship through a canyon when all you can do is hard turns in 8 different directions. I constantly crashed within the first 10 seconds of the game and kept thinking it was my fault for being a crap player.
I still hate that monstrosity with every fiber of my being.
- Flashbacks! This reminds me of my first Gravis Gamepad (IIRC). Was a disappointing joystick, even compared to old Intellivision controllers.
  It was okay with fighting games, and I do recall a nineties PC giant robot fighting game (One Must Fall maybe?)
  Still, my first joystick that I actually loved and made a game much better was an old CH Products flightstick. Early flightstick, so it only added a throttle to the base, so no rudder control.
  I remember playing Comanche Maximum Overkill with that stick and just popping in and out of canyons. Also Earthsiege and Strike Force Centauri. I ended up with a Saitek Flightstick, and it was even better (Independence War is a fond memory) but the difference was not as revolutionary as going from a regular joystick to that first CH Products flightstick.

Switch controller hands down— the drift is annoying, but the worst is when half your controller just disconnects

The 'Steam Controller' I think it was called? That thing was so awful I only used it like twice.
- My favorite controller hahhaha

Xbox Series X/S.
It isn't even particularly bad by itself, but compared to its predesessors (Xbox One and Xbox 360) the Xbox Series X/S gamepad is a clear step back when it comest to build quality (just try pressing the D-Pad buttons without thinking "this is cheaply made"), and that comparison is what makes me hate it.
And what adds insult to injury is that the quite expensive Elite version of the controller is just as cheaply built as the regular model...
- Oh lol. For the price of an elite you could get several 8bitdos or a used switch lol. 179 for a non custom controller is insane
  
  I think the elite offers a lot for that price. Swappable sticks and back paddles, trigger stops, multiple profiles, adjustable tension, etc. It's basically an OEM "custom" controller.
  That being said, I like other controllers better than my elite.

Man this thread is making me mad so I'mma head out

The U-Force
Got one for $10 at a yardsale as a kid and that $10 was 200% too much, they should have given me $10 to take it off their hands and I still would have dumped it in a dumpster afterwards.
- To kid you:
  My condolences

I remember trying a Terminator joystick at a friend's house on his C64. That was a very bad controller.

The Ouya
- Oh, that mess existed lmao
- Ahh the squeaky triggers and shitty sticks...

If we factor in failure rates, definitely the Valve Index Controllers.
I fucking love them when they work, but this is the second or third time that I had to get one replaced by Valve in the 7 months of having them. Please, Valve, Index users are already paying premium money. We'd like controllers that don't just stop working properly despite NOT having hit them against walls repeatedly or anything of that sort. It also can't be super lucrative for you if for every sold pair you create and ship out 5 replacements.
- Yeah, I'm also on my third controller RMA. First the stick on the left controller started drifting, then the right controller's plastic started peeling off and finally the right controller stopped working altogether.
  At least they did the third RMA for free way out of warranty.
  Had to buy a new headset cable on my own though when the display started flickering after 2 years. They also sent me a new plastic clip for the cable on the back when the old one broke and a new left speaker when it started crackling instead of requiring me to send in the full headset so that's pretty cool.

I had a knockoff wavebird for the GameCube. Guzzled batteries, introduced lag, and sometimes your character just slowly rotated in a circle. It was cool to have a wireless controller though!
- Knockoff controllers can get very had very fast

The N64 Controller is not one I miss, the stick was just... trash

Anything by Logitech.
- I was pretty happy with my most-recent Logitech gamepad -- I think an F310 -- but I had another from the 1990s that was terrible, had a D-pad that rolled to diagonal movement far too easily.
  
  Oh dang, the F310 was the same one I was complaining about lol. Maybe it waos because I was using it on a linux machine or something.
- Makes sense, there Is one old, dodge Logitech tontroller in one of the local tech stores.
  What's so bad about them tho?
  
  Well, both of the ones I used (one was second hand) had a very small range for the analog stick. Like it would take a few seconds to turn the character around in a game even if I put the sensitivity up to max. Though if you had good experiences, maybe it wasn't the controllers fault. ¯(ツ)_/¯
- Had a Logitech sidewinder joystick that was pretty dope back in the day

Any controller that's thin and rectangular: NES, Turbografx-16, sega master system, or more recently the switch in handheld mode
- Handheld switch is pai

I haven't used much controllers but I don't like the xbox controller. It doesn't get too comfortable to grip after a while and it doesn't react well to sweat.

I've played an Atari Jaguar before. Those controllers were fucking awful.
The 64 controller is a close contender, although it's hard to give it shit when it was from when 3D first started being a thing and nobody really figured shit out. But I mean, it should have been a no brainer to not design it so you'd need 3 hands to comfortably use all the inputs.
If you mean specific brands and what not; I can't even remember all the garbage 3rd party things I've used throughout my life. Not good enough or terrible enough to even remember.

Every madcatz controller I've used has been terrible. Xbox, Dreamcast, and PSone. Just terrible.
- Classic madcatz

I switched from Xbox 360 controllers to PS5 controllers (on pc). They weigh at least twice as much and the battery maybe lasts 4 hours if you're lucky.
- Oh.
  Do they feel good at least?

Worst controller? Eh, I have controllers I don't like. N64 controller. Original Xbox controller. Dreamcast controller. But are they the worst? Idk. Maybe I just didn't have a whole lot of experience with any of those (didn't own any of those consoles).
Maybe the Wiimote. Like I get the idea, but as a dedicated controller, meh. Same with the Switch Joycon; maybe even more so. I have a Pro controller because the Joycons just don't cut it. When they're attached to the Switch, they're OK, but not as individual controllers.

Any controller using Bluetooth.
- I like wired too but that's a pretty big range lol
  
  I never seem to get over 6 feet. 😆

96 comments