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

  • JCPhoenix@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    14 hours ago

    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.

  • uymai@lemmy.caEnglish
    4·
    20 hours ago

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

  • Thelsim@beehaw.org
    3·
    1 day ago

    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.

    • Grimpen@lemmy.ca
      2·
      19 hours ago

      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.

  • coffinwood@discuss.tchncs.de
    38·
    2 days ago

    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.

    • _Lory98_@discuss.tchncs.de
      2·
      1 day ago

      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.

    • brsrklf@jlai.lu
      5·
      1 day ago

      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.

    • JillyB@beehaw.org
      14·
      2 days ago

      On the other hand, you can play with your hands in completely different locations which is nice for being lazy on a couch.

      • coffinwood@discuss.tchncs.de
        5·
        2 days ago

        My reasonably sized, more ergonomic, multi-system wireless controller with hall effect sticks does that for a little more than half the price.

          • coffinwood@discuss.tchncs.de
            1·
            2 days ago

            It’s a conventional GameSir controller that has a Switch mode among others. The split design of the Joycons rarely plays out, most of the time it makes the controllers unnecessarily complex and thus expensive IMHO.

              • coffinwood@discuss.tchncs.de
                1·
                15 hours ago

                You mean both hands have to grip one controller opposed to having a Joycon in each hand? That split-design can be an advantage, but IMHO doesn’t cancel out the shortcomings of the Joycons. I find them still too small and not grippy at all.

                • algorithmae@lemmy.sdf.org
                  1·
                  42 minutes ago

                  Here’s the comment chain as a reminder.

                  OP:

                  On the other hand, you can play with your hands in completely different locations which is nice for being lazy on a couch.

                  You literally replied:

                  My reasonably sized, more ergonomic, multi-system wireless controller with hall effect sticks does that for a little more than half the price.

                  So can you play with your hands in completely different locations with your “conventional GameSir controller” or not?

                  If not, why did you say that you could?

      • cRazi_man@lemm.ee
        1·
        2 days ago

        All the cool kids hate Joycons.

        Seriously though, I replaced them immediately and never took them out of the drawer again.

  • kralk@lemm.ee
    1·
    1 day ago

    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.

  • UKFilmNerd@feddit.ukEnglish
    13·
    2 days ago

    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.

    • GrindingGears@lemmy.ca
      3·
      2 days ago

      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.

  • soulsource@discuss.tchncs.de
    3·
    2 days ago

    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…

    • sleepybisexual@beehaw.orgOP
      3·
      1 day ago

      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

      • hobbsc@lemmy.sdf.org
        1·
        1 day ago

        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.

    • shapesandstuff@feddit.de
      11·
      2 days ago

      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

      • coyotino [he/him]@beehaw.orgEnglish
        9·
        2 days ago

        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?

  • megopie@beehaw.org
    5·
    2 days ago

    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.

  • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
    7·
    2 days ago

    The original Xbox controller for the North American release. I swear it was made for Paul Bunyan it was fucking massive.

    • GrindingGears@lemmy.ca
      1·
      2 days ago

      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.