Humble is shutting down. Yes, it's concerning.

Affiliate links: ❯ Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball: store.steampowered.com/bundle/41202/Dudelings_Arca… ❯ Dudelings on itch.io/: heavy-element.itch.io/dudelings ❯ iFixit Kit: amzn.to/3zZDVwa ❯ Gulikit KK3 Max controller amzn.to/493jB9g ❯ Steam Deck accessories: amzn.to/4c2XKkM ❯ SanDisk 1 TB card: amzn.to/3z8mMfH ❯ Steam Deck Dock: amzn.to/3PDjgkt ❯ Email Newsletter: heavyelement.io/newsletter ❯ Merchandise: shop.heavyelement.io/ ❯ 🐘 Mastodon: mastodon.online/@gardiner_bryant

Bazzite is amazing! Imo, the DualSense is by far the best Controller for the Deck, it's so close in terms of features of the Deck, just lacking the Backbuttons and the Sensor in the Thumbsticks. Hot Take: I'd prefer the Switch Pro Controler over the Xbone, just because I love Gyro now!

Personally my favorite controller is the 8bitdo Pro 2. Crazy cheap, and with all the bells and whistles of much more expensive controllers, I also just find it has crazy good build quality.

For me the DS4 is the best controller to use on a pc overall, the track pad on it really comes handy when you need a M&K, and with the Steam input, I can play even Star Trek Online with only a DS4 and my custom control scheme, so no M&K required. Who ever plays STO, knows how it's almost impossible to play it without a mouse and keyboard

It's likely that many chose the xbox controller because on PC, it's pretty much guaranteed to work with whatever game you are playing. Compatibility is one of the major reasons I went with the 8bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller. It has a switch on the back that switches it between 2.4GHz mode that makes it act like an xbox controller, and a bluetooth mode that makes it work like a Switch controller (on PC, this behaves like a dinput controller). I'd say 99% of the time it is in the 2.4GHz mode. The other reasons I went with it is 1.) Hall Effect sticks. I've dealt with stick drift with most controllers in some form or another. Switch, Playstation, xbox, and even my older 8bitdo controller that didn't have hall effect sticks. 8Bitdo controllers do come with software that can mitigate drift by increasing the deadzone, but nothing beats not having drift in the first place. This is the main deal breaker for most controllers imo. The Ultimate controller costs as much as a first party controller, and not even the more expensive console controllers put out by Sony or MS include hall effect sticks. To make things wose imo, Sony decided to monetize the problem rather than fix it. Their elite controllers feature easily removable sticks, but the stick modules are like 50 dollars or so on Amazon. Typically a stick module for most controllers cost around 5-20 dollars. 2.) Back buttons are hard to give up after getting used to them for so long. You can program them to be any button you want with the software, but I typically program them to be L3 and R3. My reasoning is that a lot of games have you press those buttons quite a bit and some of my previous controllers would develop sensitivity issues from the sticks. They'd require harder and harder presses to pick up a stick press. 3. Gyro is nice when I want it. Most games on PC don't have any way to utilize it unfortunately, but I have used it when emulating certain Nintendo games. it mainly only gets used when playing on the switch though. 4. It's got a good D-Pad. Which makes it a good controller for games that work with d-pads better. The downsides of the controller are that you can't use gyro in xinput mode at all. And if you use the Bluetooth mode, the triggers are not analog. This is because Switch controlllers don't have analog triggers at all (Nintendo haven't used them since the gamecube controller). The Gullikit King Kong 2 Controller (I think that is the name) would be a better choice here if that matters to you because you can use the gyro in xinput mode with that (it behaves as a right stick afaik). But the 8bitdo controller has a better d-pad so I chose that over the Gullikit one. Both have Hall effect sticks too.

I bet the lawyers ate up al ltheir money.

That is a surprising result on the controller survey. Dualsense for me is hard to beat because of the touchpad. I game 100% on my steamdeck and its the only controller that can duplicate pretty much everything you can do on the deck controls and that touchpad (mouse) comes in really handy in menus for games that are wonky with controller support. Recently I picked up the 8bit Ultimate controller. My "gaming knowledge" is somewhat limited so I was shocked to find out the button layout (A,X,Y,B) was completely different - my son said "Duh dad, it uses the switch layout" lol, well I don't have a switch either, I just assumed they were all the same! After so long with the deck/dual sense controls I am having a horrible time with muscle memory. Great vid as always, good job!

xbox layout is pretty standard for PC and alligns nicely with the steam deck. Just shows how much we need a kitbash between the old steamdeck controller, the new Steam Input controller, and xbox series controller. Give me a a xbox series style layout, hall effects stick like my 8bitdo/guli ultimate, analog Z triggers, good gyro, and it would be pretty good. Bonus points with a micro keyboard optional attachment for the bottom (ala xbox) for text input entry as a bonus and it would be really close to perfect. I still like my steam controller, but its really showing its age.

Consolidation MUST be made illegal. Straight up ill-fucken-legal.

Imo, best controller for Steam Deck so far seems to be the DualSense. The track pad keeps things similar and you can get a bluetooth keyboard (unlike the dongle version for xbox) that mates with the controller.

My fave controller for the deck are 8BitDo Lite 2s - They're tiny dual-stick controllers and great for travelling. Just wish they didn't use Nintendo button layouts :/

Frankly, my Gamesir T4cp controller had been my favorite. I started with xbox controllers, which are good, until stick drift inevitably starts. Then I moved to gulikit's original hall effect controller which was very solid until Minecraft Dungeons and Crosscode wore it down over several months. The two problems that occurs was ironically that stick drift was occurring, which could instantly be fixed for a while with a quick calibration unlike regular sticks. The other issue was the right trigger getting stuck because it was piercing the internal rubber pad that would stop and cushion it's movement. For the price of the controller, it was nicer to play on and lasted longer than any xbox controller I've used. I believe they've since sorted out the issues in the newer controllers. The Gamesir T4 also has hall effect sticks, but has not had any calibration/trigger issues. I find the feel and grip of the sticks my favorite of all controllers so far, my thumbs don't get sore or slip during longs sessions.

When it comes to controllers, I'm still in love with the 8bit NES controller's d-pad... I'm thinking the only improvement is to add magnets.

i mean microsoft nailed the controller design with the 360 controller. they improved it with the one/ series. but i will admit it is getting dated and could use new features like gyro. while i like the dual sense on pc, i use it wired as it's the only way to get full feature support and i don't like the lack of removable battery in a device i'll most likely never use wirelessly. so i have a lithium time bomb in my controller. also my hands are getting arthritic as the years go by and the triggers on the dual sense are starting to make my fingers hurt/ stiffen up.

I've been using the 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth controller between my Switch and Steam Deck, and it's been pretty good. I'm someone who uses gyro in certain situations, so unfortunately that rules out Xbox controllers for me. My wife uses an Xbox Series Elite 2 controller, and I really like that controller, but no gyro. But if the rumors are true, we're not far off from an official Xbox controller with gyro and haptic feedback.

To me, with the exception of the Steam controller, I feel the poll was spot on. I love my Xbox series controller. I'd use 8bitdo controller instead of the steam controller. Could never get used to the track pads.

8 bit do ultimate is best I've tried.

The Flydigi Vader 3 Pro is the best Hall Effect controller I've found. Pity there is apparently no Hall Effect controller in a PS layout, as I prefer a PS layout for 2D games.

I'm probably the only weirdo out there using a Wii U Pro controller with Steam on Linux 😁

Personally I use a 8BitDo Pro 2 XBox Controller now because I got tired of not every game that had controller support not recognizing my Dualsense controller & the 8BitDo Pro 2 XBox Controller basically has a PlayStation controller layout so since it is recognized by all my games for gaming docked on the Deck at least I now like using it the most. The 8BitDo Pro 2 XBox Controller I got also has Hall Effect Joysticks as well now so thats another plus over the Dualsense.