Best controller for a poorfag?

[Two Dollars]

Good to see the F310 getting the praise it deserves. Unfortunately, my setup strongly discourages wired controllers so I can’t really use mine anymore, but I definitely recommend it if you can go wired. It has arguably the best D-pad I’ve ever used, and the wireless F710 version is terrible in comparison; not only is the D-pad not as good, but the massive rumble motor ruins the grip to the point where I can barely hold it for 10 minutes before my fingers cramp up. I really wish there was a good wireless version.

 

[Dr. Geronimo]

I just want to bitch about the fact that Dualshock 4s are still expensive as hell. It's my favorite controller for 2D and fighting games but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay so much for an old controller.

 

[Death of an Ego]

I dunno, for PC gaming, I always just use xbox series controllers, even though I prefer the layout of PS controllers. They work pretty well on both windows and linux, and even though you run the risk of getting one where the guy doing QC was high or whatever, they seem to just tend to work well as long as you don't rage out at games. They're a bit overpriced for what they are, but you don't have to fuck with much to just get them to work, in my experience. Switch controllers made by Hori are also pretty nice and not that expensive, but they take a bit of driver setup to work right. The logitech controllers are decent too, but I wouldn't bother with their wireless ones.

 

[ZMOT]

I just want to bitch about the fact that Dualshock 4s are still expensive as hell. It's my favorite controller for 2D and fighting games but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay so much for an old controller.

all the search results giving me shit, so I can't say for sure if sony stopped producing ps4s (and thus ds4s).
I did a quick check on a local price comparison side and it's 60€ right now, which given all the inflation seems ok (price was hardly lower than 45€ over the years).

tbh, the dualshock while great was always overpriced. the best time to buy is during black friday or "days of play" or whatever (think they happen around june/july) which is the sony version of black friday where lot of their stuff gets discounted. otherwise it's lurking discount sites. I bought mine years ago for like 33€ for example - which would now be around 40 I assume.

I dunno, for PC gaming, I always just use xbox series controllers, even though I prefer the layout of PS controllers. They work pretty well on both windows and linux, and even though you run the risk of getting one where the guy doing QC was high or whatever, they seem to just tend to work well as long as you don't rage out at games. They're a bit overpriced for what they are, but you don't have to fuck with much to just get them to work, in my experience. Switch controllers made by Hori are also pretty nice and not that expensive, but they take a bit of driver setup to work right. The logitech controllers are decent too, but I wouldn't bother with their wireless ones.

dualshock 4 works fine, since it now properly works on pc. ds3 was the real pain in the ass to get working due to it's bluetooth bullshit.
software-wise steam does the job and it's not different to an xbox pad, if you don't wanna be tied to steam there's ds4windows. linux should support it natively.

the only issue is some games like to be really retarded in the way they both enable xinput and native support at the same time, while still showing xbox button prompts for some reason. an xbox pad would "fix" that, sure, but it's still devs being retarded and not support shit as properly as they should, not gonna by a new pad and getting used to a new layout due to their incompetence.

that there isn't a properly designed basic bitch dualshock clone will hall-effect sensors and the same build quality, you possibly can service yourself, is a fucking shame.

 

[Cum Elemental]

Depending on your budget I'd recommend a Dual Shock 4 or a used Xbox 360 controller. Haven't ever used a F310, so i can't speak for its level of quality/chinkyness. Every third party/generic controller I've ever used has been a piece of shit, but that might just be Mad Catz distorting my memory. If you're playing the old NFS: Underground then i have no fucking clue what controllers are supported. Probably nothing modern and you'd be better off using a mouse+keyboard than fucking around with it.

PS4:
Good: better Steam support, better modern game support, inbuilt touchpad, nice build quality. Good if you want to emulate any PSX/2 games as well. Good linux support.
Bad: it's fucking PRICEY and comes with features you might not want/use. Joysticks are pretty fragile in my experience. I've broken a couple of controllers by moving them around in backpacks.

X360:
Good: Benefit of the X360 controller is that they're fucking CHEAP these days, you can probably pick on up at your local pawn/thrift store for the same or less money than the logitech pad. You'll also have good support for games (assuming you're running Windows). Good steam support too
Bad: You'd need the proprietary receiver to connect it to your PC (IIRC). These controllers are getting old might need to replace the battery if it's a lithium pack. Support for new games is going to be hit and miss.

Turbo poorfag edition:
Go down to your local thrift/pawn store and get a dual shock 1/2 controller for $5 and order a USB adapter off of eBay. Even today these controllers are still pretty nice, assuming you can find one that hasn't got fucked sticks from some nerd playing Def Jam: Fight for NY on it for the last 15 years. You can get PS1/2 controller extension cables off ebay for cheap as fuck too if you want to sit way the fuck away from your computer and not use wirless. This was my setup for fucking forever when i was a broke as shit.

Don't go for a Dual Shock 5 or a XBONE/whatever the fuck the new xbox is called. They're not "that" much better than 8th gen controllers and cost substantially more money.

 

[Pee Cola]

Depending on your budget I'd recommend a Dual Shock 4 or a used Xbox 360 controller.

I'd steer more towards a used Xbox 360 controller due to price, robustness and compatibility.

That being said, the PS4 Dual Shock is probably my favorite controller of all time, but as you point out they're both fragile and relatively expensive.

I'll have to try the PS1/PS2 controller, though. I had no idea there were USB adaptors for them. What's the compatibility like?

 

[Cum Elemental]

I'd steer more towards a used Xbox 360 controller due to price, robustness and compatibility.

That's a good point actually. First party controllers in general up until about the 8th gen were quite robust. The conspiratorial part of my brain makes me think this is a result of planned obsolescence, but i think it's more likely a result of manufacturers trying to cram more hardware into the same amount of space. It's funny to me that there are Atari 2600 and NES controllers floating about in the world that work as well as they did 40 odd years ago. Then again they're mechanically very simple, OG NES controller is basically super-cut-down membrane keyboard wedged between a particularly child resistant piece of plastic. Atari 2600 controllers are simple enough that a person with rudimentary electronics can build their own. Hell, people have built their own 2600 console from scratch with off the shelf parts (with the exception of the TIA, CPU and Ram/IO timer).

What's the compatibility like?

There are ways to use (to the best of my knowledge) almost every popular video game controller on a PC. There are a couple of generic Dualshock adapters which the Chinese manufacture. I used the "single port" adapter. There also exists a "Multitap" version made out of transparent blue plastic which i never needed, as I am a friendless loser.

OS compatability is for the most part is "plug and play". I'm a Linuxfag, so i never used these things extensively on Windows. The adapter seems to identify itself as a generic gamepad - on Linux this is handled by kernel out of the box, so it maps the pad to /dev/input/joyX or whatever - I assume that similar things would happen on Windows 10. IIRC Windows should pull the driver automatically, if it's not already supported in the kernel directly. No idea if this shit works on Mac, but i'd doubt it. Apple has limited hardware support for configurations that don't involve taking cock in your ass.

Game compatibility is decent. I bought the adapter for emulation, and every emulator that i remember using detected it without me needing to do any special configuration. I would expect the Windows experience to be the same. You're testing my memory here, but i vaguely recall using it on steam with some success. I believe steam emulates generic pads as an Xbox 360 controller, so any game on steam with Xbox 360 controller support "should" work. Given that the adapter is the same price as a fancy cup of coffee I'd say just take the plunge if you already have a DS2. You don't really have much to lose except time.

The PC Gaming Wiki, to my pleasant surprise, has rather comprehensive documentation on connecting various console controllers to a PC. If you want to go down this route further I'd suggest checking it out.