The Ultimate Gamepad Review & Guide

<marquee>[SIZE=+1]Last Updated July 15 2010...[/SIZE]</marquee>

The Gamepad Review & Guide
-by ViciousXUSMC



What is the best controller? What Controller should I buy?

Well there is no answer to this question directly. Instead the answer is going to depend on your preferences, what you expect from the gamepad, your budget and more. So what you need to do is read each gamepads overview and learn about it and then once you have read them all determine the one that best fits you and then you will have your answer.

In an attempt to help summarize a few major areas here are my personal picks for best controller in a category, however by no means should you make your decision on this overview alone.

[SIZE=+1]Best Controller For...[/SIZE]
Category	Controller	My Reason
Small Hands	Wii Classic	It has a small form factor making it perfect for small hands, noting is too far away for the fingers and its easy to hold
Big Hands	XBOX 360 Wired/Wiress	Its not huge but its big enough for a large hand to hold comfortably and its overall a great gamepad
Portability	Wiimote	By far the smallest and easiest to pack, if you had a little mini bag with a netbook and just a little pocket for storage this is the one that fits.
Laptop Companion	PS3 Sixaxis Dualshock 3	A different category than portability, true the wiimote is smaller but if you had to pick one gamepad to pack in your laptop bag and just leave it there as a dedicated laptop gaming controller the PS3 controller wins because it has all the buttons and analog sticks you will need to make it work across all of your games, its wireless just like the wiimote so no cable issues, also unlike the wiimote you can charge it directly from your laptop via USB. If you do not have bluetooth you can also opt to use a usb cable to connect the controller instead. Unlike say the XBOX 360 controller with the 9ft cable you can purchase a usb cable that is only the length you need. Maybe 1ft or less if you only use it to charge or maybe only 3ft if you use it to play making this controller the best overall for laptop companion
Compatibility	Wii Classic	While the XBOX 360 may be the best "plug & play" the Wii Classic by far has the highest compatibility, once you install the drivers from Mayflash it works on every windows operating system since 95 and up, both 64bit and 32bit versions, and it even works on PS3. Whats more not only is it a OS compatibility thing its a game thing. Unlike the 360 drivers that give you no options at all for tweaking the gamepad, the Wii Classic can have the analog sticks set to 3 different modes, the dpad can be set to different modes, the shoulder buttons can have different modes and the axis can be changed on any of the analog inputs making it much more versatile in configuration and maximum game compatibility. If your ever stuck with a rare game that will not accept 3rd party controllers just use a program like Xpadder or the XBOX 360 Controller Emulator both found in the extras section at the bottom.
Budget	Wii Classic	Classic gets another win under best budget controller. Its only $20 for the gamepad itself and $10 for the adapter needed to use it. So thats $30 overall making it the cheapest. Best yet if you want 2 players, you only need to spend another $20 for a total of $50 for 2 players as the adapter takes 2 controller inputs. This is way below the cost of 2 players for any other controller setup. Nice Nintendo quality controllers too not cheap stuff so dont buy a cheap 3rd party controller just because your on a budget.

[SIZE=+2]Gamepad Overview/Review[/SIZE]


The Rating System

About the rating system: The ratings are just my personal view of each gamepads “statistics” in different major categories put into a numerical value between 0 and 5 stars, with 0 being the worst and 5 being the best.


Price – A direct measure of how expensive it is to purchase the gamepad.

Compatibility – A two fold measure of how compatible the gamepad is with different operating systems and also different games.

Ergonomics – A measure of how comfortable the gamepad is to hold and how usable it is.

Quality – A measure of the construction quality of the gamepad and its components (both internal and external)











The XBOX 360 Gamepad (Wired)

Price 3.5/5 – With a price between about $30-$40 it is not the cheapest gamepad of the bunch, but its pretty much the defacto standard for a pc gamepad these days so you get what you pay for.

Compatibility 4.5/5 – The wired 360 pad works with all modern version of Windows this includes XP, Vista, and 7 including both the 32bit and 64bit variations. With Vista and 7 it will probably detect and install the drivers for you. While with XP you may have to manually download the drivers via windows update or from Microsofts site. Also without official support this controller can work with Mac using these custom drivers found here - Tattiebogle.net - Mac OS X driver .

A important compatibility aspect of this controller is that it has native support for Xinput titles more commonly known as Games For Windows Live. These games will detect your controller and automatically assign the best button configuration for you and often have HUD items display the correct button on the controller rather than generic “button 1” type of things you may get with a non XBOX 360 controller.

Ergonomics 4.5/5 – The overall ergonomics of this controller are great. It’s a medium fit that should work with with both big and small hands. It has a semi traditional layout of the buttons and analog sticks and a nice long cord. The cord may be a bit long for laptop users though (9ft). You can push the analog sticks downward to use them as buttons this is nice as an added feature but is sometimes hard to do on the fly when you need it.

Quality 4/5 – The construction quality of this pad is top notch, the buttons are responsive with a good feedback, the analog sticks are great, the casing of the pad is nearly indestructible, the points lost here are with the horrible d-pad. We grew up with d-pads just because many games have moved to analog controls you cant forget how important it is. It does not have a distinctive push for each of the directions, instead it just floats and you have to try to push it the right way. Its like a gimpy wanna be analog stick. It will get you by for menu navigation and other simple d-pad tasks like older games but don’t even think about trying to use this for a fighting game or anything else that requires quick and accurate input on the d-pad. So stay away from this controller if this is a concern for you.

Conclusion – This is generally the most highly recommended controller that you will see and hear about. It really is the best all around performer. Its both highly compatible, well built, and has adequate button count and control axis. It also has the native support in GFWL (Games For Windows Live) but there are other offerings out there that may fit your scenario better despite being overall best and don’t forget about the horrible d-pad.






The XBOX 360 Controller (Wireless)

Price 1/5 – The price is very steep for a wireless version of the XBOX 360 controller. Starting at about $50.00 just for the controller, and then you will also need a $20 wireless adapter to go along with it so that it can work with your PC. That is atleast $70 out of your pocket just for a gamepad.

Compatibility 4.5/5 – Exactly the same as the wired version of this controller.

Ergonomics 4.5/5 – Exactly the same as the wired version of this controller.

Quality 4/5 – Exactly the same as the wired version of this controller.

Conclusion – As you may gather this gamepad is virtually identical to the wired version except with no wire, and if you wish to use it on a computer instead of a XBOX 360 you will need to purchase the usb wireless adapter for it as well. Here are the important things to note though. You only need one wireless adapter even for multiple controllers.

You can have up to 4 controllers and 4 headsets connected to just one wireless adapter at one time (yes it works for the headsets, and other XBOX 360 wireless devices like the guitar and racing wheel)

I find it easier to pack a wireless controller with the adapter in a laptop bag than deal with that 9ft cable on the wired version and its nice to not have that cord in the way. For a single player this may be overkill for what you need considering the raised cost, but if your into multiplayer the wireless controllers start to pay off in spades by not dealing with cable tangles and other cable related problems.

Special Note For XBOX 360 Controllers: Do not be fooled by the “For Windows PC” versions of these controllers, they are identical to the regular 360 versions, just the packaging will include a drivers disk. Its not worth the extra $10 or $20 when you can just download the drivers. For the wireless version of the controller it will include the wireless adapter in the package, so depending on the price it may be worth it so just look around first before buying and explore your options.






The XBOX 360 Madcatz Street Fighter IV Fightpad

Price 3.5/5 – These pads run about $35 to $40 in the same range as the standard wired 360 controller.

Compatibility 3.5/5 – The fightpad works with XP, Vista, 7 both 32bit and 64bit variations. Drivers can be gotten from here - Drivers .

It is important to note this is a 3rd party controller not a official Microsoft controller, they do not share the same drivers nor will this gamepad be detected inside the games for windows live titles. Cut compatibility score some due to not having analog sticks as they are needed for many PC titles.

Ergonomics 3.5/5 – The point of this product is a dedicated fighting pad, it was launched with Street Fighter 4 as the must have gamepad for playing a fighting game. The things to note are that it has 6 face buttons instead of the standard 4 and they are a larger size than normal also (perhaps so you can use them more like arcade buttons with your fingers instead of your thumb). They moved two of the shoulder buttons to the face so it only has two shoulder buttons. The overall size and shape of the gamepad are similar to the regular 360.

The problem with the ergonomics is you sacrificed your analog sticks and the d-pad still sucks just like the standard 360 pad. They added a mostly useless turbo feature, slapped some nice artwork on it and called it a day.

Quality 3.5/5 – This gamepad feels well built and offers a unique setup compared to the others with the big face buttons, but unfortunately as a 3rd party controller it does not have the same long lasting quality as the others. Its not dollar store trash but it definitely wont hold up as well as the official licensed controllers featured directly from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

Conclusion – I cant recommend this gamepad for any reason, even if you wanted it for fighting games exclusively the gimpy d-pad ruins that for you, so your left with a cut down version of the official 360 pad for about the same price.






Hori 360 Pad EX 2

Price 4/5 – About $30 to $35 to purchase this gamepad.

Compatibility 4/5 – Another 3rd party 360 gamepad, its confirmed working under Vista & 7 but I have not confirmed it working in XP though I do not see why it will not. Also there is a Mac driver made for this gamepad by the modding community see this forum thread - Updated 360 controller mac driver, Hori EX2, Mad Catz SFIV Sticks

Ergonomics 4.5/5 – Things are a bit different here its like the happy merging of a official 360 pad and the Madcatz Fightpad. Infact this is what the fightpad should have been like! It has the 6 face buttons, but also still has all 4 of the shoulder buttons so you can choose the way you prefer to press those 2 buttons. It has turbo, it has a sensitivity change for the analog sticks (make them more or less sensitive for say a FPS game) and most important of all, it has a real d-pad instead of a floating one, a first out of all the 360 pads so far. If your in need of a good d-pad this by far is the best gamepad choice out of the 360 lot. The controller itself seems a bit larger than the standard 360 pad, so large hands will be at home, but small hands may have to get used to it.

Quality 4/5 – Another well built product, there have been no major complaints about the quality of the case or buttons. I have seen an opinion that the analog sticks are not as good as the official 360 gamepads for how they respond in game, on the other hands I have seen people say they are great and feel better, so its safe to assume they are different than the official 360 pad and depending on how you take that difference it could be better/worse with the analog sticks.

Conclusion – This is the only fighting game worthy XBOX 360 gamepad with its non floating d-pad its more like a traditional controller that only lets it press in 4 directions rather than 360 degrees. It seems pretty feature packed and of good quality so a worthy gamepad. The only thing to look out for is the fact its not a official Microsoft product so it wont use those drivers and therefore wont be auto detected in the games that support only Microsoft’s controllers.






Nintendo Wiimote

Price 3.5/5 – About $35 to $40 depending where you look.

Compatibility 2/5 – I had to give low marks for compatibility here because this gamepad is not plug & play with a computer. It uses Bluetooth so you need a Bluetooth adapter or built in Bluetooth to even connect it. Once connected you need to know how to use a few community based programs to tell the computer how to use the wiimote. When I used to use it I used Glovepie and some simple scripts, since this gamepad is so popular many software’s were in development to give the wiimote plug & play compatibility and I am not sure how far they have come. Pinnacle Game Profiler is one of such programs that was working on custom libraries to allow any connected wiimote to work as a standard windows gamepad without the hacker trickery.

Ergonomics 5/5 – Lets face it the Wiimote is top of its class with ergonomics, it can be held in multiple orientations, its wireless so you don’t have a wire in the way and its extremely portable. It does not have a lot of buttons on hand to use, but it can be used in a manor so you can use things like tilt and the accelerometer to perform actions, also you can plug in a nunchuck or a classic controller to add more functionality.

Quality 4.5/5 – I consider the wiimote to be one of the best built gamepads, its solid and has so much functionality and technology packed into one little device. It has a good size and weight and all the buttons and the d-pad feel great.

Conclusion – Winner of most portable and most unique gamepad but to obtain it as your gaming companion you will be required to put forth some time and research in how to connect it and use it. I keep one in my laptop bag sometimes to use as a presentation remote, a multimedia remote, or simply to play some old emulation games. Many updates to glovepie have come out since I last checked, looks like they have greatly improved it and made it more simple.

Important Resources:

Glovepie the input emulation software that tells the computer what the wiimote is doing and what actions should be performed - GlovePIE - Programmable Input Emulator

Bluesoleil the best Bluetooth software/drivers I know of, always 100% working with wiimote while others may or may not work - BlueSoleil, the most easy-to-use, innovative and interoperable Bluetooth software, Bluetooth driver

PPjoy a virtual joystick emulator, if you use a nunchuck with the wiimote allows you to have analog controls instead of digital - PPJoy






Wii Classic Controller

Price 4/5 – The controller is only $20 on its own but you will need an additional adapter made from mayflash for about $10 on ebay to make it work with the PC. For a total cost of about $30

Compatibility 5/5 – The mayflash adapter is absolutely great for this product. The drivers work with 98, ME, 2000, Vista, 7, both 32bit and 64bit, and it even allows the classic controller to work on a PS3!

The drivers for the adapter give you a full assortment of options like turbo, changing the shoulder buttons between analog/digtital/both. It even lets you change the d-pad behavior between analog/hat/digital, and reverse the axis of the analog sticks.

Driver download - http://rs701.rapidshare.com/files/343135692/MayflashWiiClassic.rar
Review of the adapter to see all its options - Mayflash Wii Classic Controller PC USB Adapter Review

Ergonomics 4.5/5 – I consider this the pinnacle of emulation gaming, as it closely resembles the old SNES controller. However its upgraded with dual analog sticks so it can do the same duty as a XBOX 360 controller. It’s a small controller again about the size of SNES controllers so for me its very comfortable and I prefer it to the larger controllers, but if you have big hands it may not suite you quite as well.

Quality 4.5/5 – Just like the wiimote its built perfectly, all the buttons are responsive, it has a great d-pad, its nice and light. The analog sticks are very responsive and precise. It would be hard to find and real flaws in the design. If I had any complaint at all it would be I prefer the cable to come from the top rather than the bottom of the controller.

Conclusion – If you want a controller for emulation this is the one I most highly recommend, also even though you need an adapter for it to work it still packs away and travels a lot easier than a XBOX 360 controller since both the adapter and the controller are slim and not bulky like the 360 stuff. You wont get official GFWL support since its not a Microsoft controller however it has all the buttons and analog sticks needed to do exactly what the 360 controller does. The cost is also very fair. Much like how the wireless 360 adapter for PC handles more than one controller so does this one, it will take 2 controllers so you can offset the cost to only $50 for 2x controllers and 1x adapter for 2 player games, that is much cheaper than any other setup so far and your getting official licensed Nintendo quality, not some 3rd party stuff.





Wii Classic Controller Pro

Price 4/5 - Just like the traditional classic controller you can get the pro for only $20 right off the store shelves.

Compatibility 5/5 - Identical to the regular classic, with the Mayflash drivers it works on everything. The only difference you will have is that the two analog shoulder buttons are now digital single click buttons instead so if you used the analog function (maybe a flight simulator or a racing game) now that is gone.

Ergonomics 4.5/5 - The ergonomics is the obvious change in the new "pro" version of the classic controller. You can clear as day see the two handles sticking off the sides making it resemble something more like a Playstation controller now than a SNES controller like the traditional classic does. The change is not bad or good its just a different option. If you like to have grips on the controller this helps. If you were a furious gamer and noticed your grip changing when using the analog sticks on the traditional now your hands will be locked in place so you do not accidentally push the wrong direction. The controller is not as well suited for small hands anymore with the new grips and the controller is now almost 2x thicker from front to back. The analog sticks are also now spaced further apart. The last main change is that the shoulder buttons are now 4 true dedicated buttons rather than the two analog buttons and two little "nubs" the classic controller had. It makes pushing these buttons much easier/faster. Some people would only half way depress the analog buttons and not register a click so that was one of the changes they made on the pro to make it more "pro like"

Quality 4.5/5 - The quality of the pad is identical, though I admit at first I had a bad impression because it was so light that it just felt cheap. Despite the new grips and larger pad size, the pro is a lot lighter than the traditional classic controller. No doubt due to removing the parts/circuits needed for the analog buttons. The button presses feel just as good, and the d-pad feels great (a bit more stiff than the traditional but I had no problems doing any d-pad movements in games like street fighter alpha 3) I picked up the black one because I thought it would be a good match with my black laptop but wish I had gotten the white. The black one is only matte on the bottom half of the controller, the face is a very reflective black piano gloss so its a total finger print magnet and does not match at all.

Conclusion - Overall basically identical to the traditional classic controller other than the changes mentioned above. Id say I prefer the traditional version to the pro since I like the smaller size and heavier weight and never known when I may need the analog shoulder buttons. However for competitive play the pro does offer advantages letting you grip the controller better and have faster/better access to the shoulder buttons. For only $20 it was not a large investment and I am glad I picked one up.





Playstation 3 Sixaxis / Dualshock 3

Price 2/5 - The average price is about $45-$50 pretty expensive but worth its cost due to the quality and components used to build the pad.

Compatibility 4/5 - Like the wiimote this gamepad is not directly compatible with the PC it rely on some 3rd party drivers to get it working, however unlike the wiimote the drivers are much easier to use and not hard to install so it still gets good marks in compatibility. It works on XP/Vista/7 for 32bit, and Vista/7 only for 64bit using the Motion Joy drivers. Once you have the drivers installed and working the gamepad works both USB mode and Bluetooth mode, and the drivers have a lot of configuration options to change buttons/axis settings and other important things like built in XBOX 360 controller emulation. Its due to this robust feature set and ease of use that it still gets high marks in compatibility despite it not being plug & play.

Ergonomics 3.5/5 - 3.5 is not a bad score, but you definitely noticed its not as high as I rated many of gamepads. There is a good reason why and it maybe hard to understand why before I explan since the PS2 controller layout is a favorite of many console gamers. Here is the main reasons I took away from the ergonomics and it could not compete with the 360 or Wii Classic. First the d-pad its eons better than the 360 it has a perfect pressure and feedback to it but unlike the wii classic its "broken" into 4 separate buttons with a gap between the directions. So its very usable you can get any direction you want with ease, however the problem is in games that require a lot of sweeping motions like a fighting game your rubbing your finger over those empty spaces and you get sore quick and easy. Think of a Street Fighter game with the half circle motions and the uppercut motions instead of your finger gliding over the d-pad it goes between it and gets rubbed and sore. This is definitly a ergonomics issue in those types of games, but in other games that do not require sweeping motions its a great d-pad actually one of the best. Next is the analog sticks, again they work wonderfull but from a ergonomics standpoint they have flaws. Fristly they have a very large range of motion, nearly 2x more than the other gamepads and with big rounded smooth tops that dont offer really great grip for your thumb so you get a analog stick that has to be moved very far in each direction and you have to make sure your thumb stays in place. The other problem is that it has a perfectly round 360 degree restrictor on the analog stick so you cant feel any of the corners, this combined with the above just makes the analog sticks feel so un-natural. The wii classic has a slight octagonal restrictor that by no means makes it so you cant rotate easily 360 degrees but you can just barely "feel" the 8 directions making it a lot easier to hold a direction without slipping into another angle on accident.

Last is the analog shoulder buttons they are hinged at the top side rather than depressed and it just does not feel natural, its a large motion again so you push the controller near you instead of down into your hands. If your in a game that uses analog that you hold down for long periods (think racing games) its good, but otherwise it just feels akward and even for analog games I wish it could have been hinged at a less drastic angle or just a direct depress into the controller.

The pad body/fit itself is middle ground it works with big and small hands and its pretty comfortable to hold. Sony has just been too stuck in there ways keeping things "classic" with the PS3 design when some minor changes could have made the ergonomics so much better.

Quality 4.5/5 - I give high marks for quality with this gamepad, despite the numerous ergonomics flaws I spot it just seems to be a tad better in overall quality that the 360 pads witch are the closest competitor in both price and features. Its like a hybrid between the 360 and a wiimote lots of r&i went into the pad and it should last you a long time.

Conclusion - A very good gamepad overall it has really started to pickup in popularity as use for a PC gamepad now that some stable and easy to use 3rd party drivers have come out. It offers you a very different feeling than the most common XBOX 360 controller. Given the 360's worst point was the d-pad for me, the PS3 has one of the best d-pads except for the ergonomics of it. The wii classic takes the cake though with the best d-pad for sure. I say the Dualshock 3 is probably the most feature rich gamepad of the bunch with all the buttons/axis you could need for any game, and even with some accelerometers that can be used similar to the wiimote. Since it can work with bluetooth and charge with USB its a very nice laptop gamepad and the one that stays in my laptop bag.

Important Resources:

Motion Joy These are the 3rd party drivers you will need to use the PS3 controller on a PC - http://www.motioninjoy.com/download

Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider This is a program that lets you easily turn off the enforcement of signed drivers so you can install the Motion Joy drivers on a 64bit OS (note this is only needed for 64bit OS users!) - http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=dseo







Madcatz Fightstick Standard Edition XBOX 360

Price 1.5/5 - MSRP is like $79.00 however most stores have them in the $55.00 range.

Compatibility 4/5 - The Fightstick uses has the same driver support as the Microsoft 360 controllers. Its plug & play on Vista & 7, and just need to download the drivers for XP. It works in both 32bit and 64bit OS's. It is supported by Microsoft and uses the exact same drivers as the controllers from Microsoft. The half star loss is simply because there is no analog sticks so it wont work well with as many games.

Ergonomics 4/5 - The SE stick has a good arcade layout, nothing strange or unusual. The problem I find with this unit is that its a bit too small and light for an arcade stick. If you try to sit it on your lap it may move around some, and on a desk during intense play it can move around so it lost some points for that. Of course this makes it more portable so if I need to throw a joystick in my laptop bag to get some gaming in on the go I take this one instead of my tournament edition stick.

Quality 3/5 - I cant give great marks for quality for this joystick. It uses Madcatz's version of Sawna parts instead of authentic Japanese arcade parts. These parts have had mixed opinions from many people. Some people have used one for a year with no problems or complaints, others have had the joystick break in a month, or had buttons stick when in use. The joystick problem is a washer under the cover, it can scratch away the PCB that controls the joystick and break traces and cause the joystick to fail (not the whole unit, the buttons and stuff will still work and the main pcb is undamaged). You can fix this by removing that washer its not needed. The buttons work good but some of them may have a tendancy to stick. None stick on my unit but I have seen a few people have this issue. So for the good news, because these are knockoff parts of offical Japanese specification they are directly replacable with real Sanwa or Seimitsu arcade parts. So if you have something fail or just want to upgrade its not too expensive to do so. Unlike a gamepad where if it fails its basically trash, with arcade sticks you can easily replace only the part that failed and salvage the rest of the unit.

For purcahse of arcade parts I highly recomend http://www.lizardlick.com/ they have fair prices and fast/great service.

The buttons are 30mm so get any of the Sanwa or Seimtsu 30mm buttons (screw in and snap in both work) the joystick can be directly replaced by Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT-SK or a Seimtsu LS-32-01 (need to rotate PCB 1/4 turn to get correct orintation)

Conclusion - The entry level joystick from Madcatz released with the Street Fighter 4 game. Its extremly modable but not really worth the full price. However you may find them on sale for a much better price (got mine from Dell.com for $25.00) so in the case of a sale you can get one and its worth it, and you can upgrade the parts to be the same quality as the real arcade cabinets or the more expensive version of this stick called the Tournament Edition. Its size make it a bit unstable in intense play, but for casual gaming its totaly fine. The joystick has 3 modes with a switch to choose the mode. It can be in d-pad mode to act as a 360 controller d-pad, or it can be in Left Analog Stick mode, or Right Analog Stick mode, when connected to a PC however only the d-pad mode works. There is also a turbo feature should you want autofire on a button(s) this comes in handy for shmups games where you press the same button over and over for a long time.





Madcatz Fightstick Tournament Edition XBOX 360

Price 0/5 - Haha yeah I had to give it a 0/5 because my scale does not reach the $100+ range and thats how much these cost! about $150 full price and between $100 and $130 average market price. Expensive yes, worth it? Totally

Compatibility 4/5 - Just like the SE its jusing the Microsoft 360 controller drivers its fully supported in all modern Windows based systems and should work with the hacked Mac drivers posted back under the 360 controller section. XP, Vista, 7, 32 & 64bit all ok.

Ergonomics 5/5 - Perfect score, there is not a single flaw in this unit, its perfectly crafted to be exactly like the actual SF4 arcade cabinet. It uses the same positions/distance and Sanwa parts that the arcade cab does. It has a nice solid weight to it so it wont move around and its big enough to sit on your lap easily for play as well. It even has holes pre-drilled on thee bottom plate so you can bolt it down to a table or something so it wont move no matter what you do.

Quality 5/5 - Super strong plastic makes up most of the frame but the bottom plate and top plate are metal. The buttons are Sanwa OBSF-30's and the joystick is a Sanwa JLF. Again the same stuff in real Japanese arcade cabs. So if something breaks (basically impossible to do) all you have to do is buy a new button for like $2.50 or a new joystick for $20.00 and put it in.

Conclusion - The cost is steep but this is basically a lifetime investment you will never need another joystick again and when it comes to pre-built joysticks this is the best you can get from retail, expect to pay $200+ for anything custom made from a joystick builder.

These joysticks are quite versatile, If you want a realistic arcade experience when playing games on your 360 or PC it makes a great choice. If you know what Mame is and how to use it this is the missing link to really enhance your Mame experience.

The TE boast the same selection switch for the joystick mode and turbo functions as the SE has and also has a lockout feature to disable the start/back buttons on the rear of the case so you do not hit them on accident during play (for tournament players if you pause duing a match its instant disqualification)

If you need parts to upgrade/repair I recommend http://www.lizardlick.com

If you want to change the artwork on the stick or the top panel check out Art Hobbies http://www.tek-innovations.com/arthobbies/?loc=products

Here is my TE I have changed the stock Sanwa parts to Seimtsu (Sanwa are traditionally in fighting game cabs while Seimtsu in the SHMUPS cabs), added a secondary PCB inside to give me support for multiple consoles (XBOX 360, PS1, PS2, PS3, Xbox1, Gamecube, NES, Super Nintendo, 3DO, Sega Saturn and TurboGrafx16) and changed the top bezel and artwork.







Extra Section

The XBOX 360 Controller Emulator – This program basically takes any windows gamepad and tells the game your playing that it is a genuine Microsoft controller and will allow it to work with the game when it would have otherwise not worked before.

Download - ToCA EDIT -> Download Manager -> Recent Projects -> XBOX360 Controller Emulator v3.0

Thanks to Racer S for doing this, he has made many great programs and released them all for free to the public.

As you may have discovered by now, most GFWL titles will auto detect a 360 controller connected to a PC and automatically assign the proper button layouts and also give you proper HUD readouts that associate to the gamepad buttons. Nice feature but un-necessary. If you had another controller it would take you a few minutes to setup the buttons and the HUD stuff is just extra.

The problem however is that some titles are locked to ONLY accept Microsofts 360 controllers and will not allow 3rd party controllers to work. They did not lock the game per say its just very very bad 3rd party support. Some gamepads may work and some may not. If you run into this problem this is the solution for you.

Use your gamepad as a keyboard for games that do not support gamepad inputs!

Xpadder – A great program that lets you assign any keyboard input to a button on your gamepad
Download (not free) - Xpadder.com

Joy2Key – An older program that may work for you to do similar to Xpadder but its free
Download - JoyToKey English Version

Soon to come:
Graphs for comparison of data

 

Nice info., you read my mind... I was just wondering if I was able to hook up my wireless PS3 remote to my laptop. Is this possible? I understand it will not be as compatible as a XBOX360 remote as that has the highest compatibility.( do to obvious reasons) I currently don't own an XBOX360(and never, ever will) and love the PS3 remote since the original PlayStation. Thanks in advance.

 

Great info, wanting to get a controller for playing emulator on my PC as well, has a wiimote + nunchuck from my wii, but it seems to be too troublesome to be worth the effort. Guess I'll get a 360 wired controller, which isn't that expensive and perfect compatibility, tried my cousin's xbox 360 and the controller is very comfortable as well.

 

The 360's home button only works in GFWL titles, much like it does on the 360, and I don't think there's a way with the drivers MS provides to make it do anything else for the PC either.

If you can get over the D-Pad and the fact that the D-Pad and analog stick is switched, its really not a Bad controller for PS2 emulation, has just enough buttons to do it all. I've used the analog stick in games that were D-Pad only and didn't have too many issues, but I don't play fighters so...


I will say the 9 foot cord is freaking annoying though; CABLE MANAGEMENT WHAR

 

Well, some games like FFXII actually would prefer the xbox360 controller format as movement is controlled with analog instead of D-Pad. The buttons could be remapped anyways though, and trouble-free compatibility with PC Games is the tie-breaker IMO.

I'm surprised no one sued microsoft over anti-trust laws for this crap with GFWL only working perfectly for their controllers though.

 

PS3 works but just like the wiimote it requires some hackery, if you plug it in instead of wireless that could be easier to get working but its picky about some usb chipsets requiring some people to get pci usb adapters for it to work.

Im a self taught expert on the wiimote stuff but never had a PS3 controller to review or write a guide on how to connect it.

A google search of PS3 controller on PC should give you most of the information you may need.

Speaking of remapping. That is one minor quibble I have with the 360 is that the drivers are so basic and do not allow you to do any remapping so its all up to the game.

One game I used to play ALOT was Phantasy Star Online Universe and the 360 pad was a perfect layout like you said but the 2nd analog stick that controlled the camera was backwards! There was no in game option to change it. So at the time I had to use the modified/hacked 360 drivers called XBCD. Annoying to get working they did allow me to remap the axis and get the game working properly but now that I use Windows 7 64bit XBCD does not work anymore so I am stuck with the stock drivers. I think one of the Tomb Raider games also had a similar issue for me.

Mayflash a much smaller poorer company than Microsoft was able to create better drivers, the Wii Classic Controller lets you reverse the axis directly in the drivers, so there are a lot of times I will now use the classic controller over the 360 controller for PC titles when I originally got the classic adapter more or less for older emulation games. The ability to change how the shoulder buttons work is also important. The 360 works as an axis rather than a digital button and sometimes thats bad because a game wont support it as a button press.

I think I am onto a way to get the XBCD drivers to work on newer OS's and if I figure it out I will post the method here.

 

I have just noticed that if your Gamepad does not have a button that switches from Analogue to digital then it is pretty much useless for Mame emulation unless you don't mind using the analogue to play your games. I found this useless for fighting games. Unless there is a version of Mame that recognises the Dpad without the analogue switch then I don't recommend it. All other emulators don't seem to have this issue. Some people managed to use third party software as a work around.

 

I have never had an issue with Mame using both analog and digital inputs.

What you cant do is configure mame for one, and then hit the switch and have it work on the other input mode. you have to go back into mame config and bind the new control type because when its analog it will bind as an axis, when its digital it binds as a button/direction.

If your using a mame that is so old that it cant do this (it would have to be very old, because my old version that is atleast a year old can do it) you can always fallback on a program like Xpadder to use keyboard input from the gamepad/joystick.

 

@ ViciousXUSMC

I am referring to controllers that don't have a switch between analogue and digital at all. My Horipad EX2 Turbo has a button that says analogue control but regardless of where the switch is before Mame is started up, I can only use the analogue control and never the Dpad.

On my other controller that has a switch, there is no problem.

I will try out a more recent version of Mame but I doubt it will make a difference.

Edit: A recent version of Mame makes no difference. If your controller does not have a button that allows you to switch between analogue and digital then you will probably have to rely on third party solutions which is annoying.

 

Wireless PS3 controller with bluetooth using Motionjoy software has been amazing for me...

It emulates the 360 controller to the T so any game using the 360 controller works perfectly ... Good stuff ...

 

Yeah I have the Motionjoy stuff bookmarked I need a controller to test/review though.

Are you using a x64 OS so that you had to do the signed driver verification process? So is your OS in test mode if that is the case?

 

Yep i am using x64 OS but you dont need to sign the driver anymore you just have to run the OS in test mode which will let you run unsigned drivers... Before you had to do both run in test mode and sign the drivers yourself so it was a pain...

The program to let you run in Test mode is a simple one click thing and you can change it at anytime so there is 0 hassle involved...

 

I found a few programs this one is looking the best: Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider 1.3b - NGOHQ.com

probably the one you use I assume?

Newegg has the DS3 for $45.00 w/ free shipping right now. Thinking about getting it for the sake of review but kinda broke right now.

edit: just got one, a black one. Kinda thought about the white color for a bit but my laptop is black and black should not show dirt easy, I hear the white has more of a gritty finish that is easier to grip though. In the end I just have a preference to black but thought about white because it was more unique.

There is a red/blue/silver option as well but those did not really interest me.

So in about 5 days I will have the PS3 DualShock3 controller added to this review/guide and the directions on how to do it and a download package like I do with my limit breaker guides.

 

Yep that is the program i use ...

Getting the software up and running now is a no brainer and make sure you use the Alpha version MotioninJoy ver 0.5 alpha available | MotionJoy ..It has auto updates and the app starts when you start your machine if you want it to so its all very simple... You can power the controller on and off just by holding the PS button but to power it down you need to hold it for abit maybe 15 seconds...

Only thing i have changed is lowering the rumble since it can be way to aggressive ....

When you get it and if you have any questions just PM me...

I think this is a great alternative to the 360 controller since its smaller for one and 2 you dont need the dongle which is the main reason i looked into this for my laptop...

I am using the internal bluetooth on my machine but before i got this machine i was using the Kensington Micro dongle..

Good luck hope you like it as much as i do ..

 

great review vicioius.

what do u think about this new HKS/PS3 controller made for racing games.



HKS is a japan-based company that modifies mainly import cars. the controller's layout actually looks really ergonomic.

 

Very nice info Vicious!

That look's really sweet, especially if you don't own a racing wheel (I need to get me one).

Edit: 999 post's. Haha

 

That is really slick... Wonder what that puppy will cost or is it even for sale ?...

 

Just added both Madcatz Fightsticks

Enjoy guys.

 

Looks interesting, id drop $80 for a real force feedback wheel though, im sure the controller is going to be close in cost ($40-50+)

No way can the controller emulate the feel of a wheel/pedals and maybe most important of all for the experience is the force feedback on the wheel, its way different than the ruble of a controller.

I started with a Momo for $50 from ebay before I upgraded to my G27


edit:

Just found an article says its supposed to be about $50.00

I guess its worth messing with, if you do not have the space for a wheel. I really do not have the space for one and it is a hassle to set it up before playing but honestly id still get a wheel anyways.

The chances are A, your a very casual racing player that does not need a wheel because you do not play often enough (thats probably me lol) so its a waist of money, or B your into racing enough to consider investing in equpment that is specialized in racing like a dedicated wheel or this new controller.

However I have a hard time seeing anybody thats dedicated enough to buy a controller like this that cant go the extra bit for the wheel, and a $50 controller just for racing games is still overkill and a waist of money for the casual player that will almost never use it.

You would have to be in a very specific middle ground that would be hard to fit into for this controller to fit your needs I think. That or just a gadget geek with money to spend.

 

yea, i'm definitely gonna get a logitech wheel and pedal set up when gran turismo 5 comes out. i just thought the HKS remote was a really sweet setup for a person that's kind of restricted on space, or can't get a full out wheel set up for one reason or another.

i actually like how the brake and the gas buttons are like pedals. i like how they did the "wheel" thing as well with the top dead center notch.

 

I like the G27 a lot, and I liked the Momo a lot. I had only planned to use it for PC so they were logical (no pun intended) choices.

However if your going dual system a great investment is the Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S wheel.

It works on PC & 360 and its ultra high quality comparable to the G27.

 

I bought wheels in the past only to never use them because they were a hassle to set up when i was in the mood to play.... Sometimes you only want to play for a few minutes hear and there so yeah its just not worth it to me to have a full blow wheel since all mine collected dust in the past ....

That controller looks sweet and again im not sure id ever use it but that has not stopped me in the past ...

 

Yeah its a bit of a pain if you do not have a dedicated setup but I dont play for less than an hour and its worth taking 8 minutes for an hour of play.

 

nice guide, comes in handy.

I hope you keep it updated with new stuff coming out

+1

 

hey, if u can get ahold of that HKS ps3 remote i posted up. i wouldn't mind helping u pay for it via paypal or something just to see how well/bad it works.

i know all those "toys" add up after a while, and i wouldn't mind helping u out cuz yur reviews are very helpful to alot of ppl.

 

problem is this guide is for laptop gaming that controller is ps3 only and the hack for the ps3 controller may not work. i dont have a ps3 as a fallback device

 

That controller should work like a standard PS3 controller i think they just moved around some buttons around but in the end it should be the same thing...


I have that MadCatz streefighter pad like the one above but its for the PS3 which came with a USB dongle and it works like a charm on the PC ..

 

Well I'll think about it, its not out yet anyways but when it is out I will PM you.

I am happy to have support with the reviews/products it will help me get things going.

I have the PS3 Dualshock 3 in-bound and got a black Wii Classic Controller Pro that I need to open and start messing with.

Edit: First impressions on the Wii Classic Pro... Its very light feels kinda cheap its so light but it works really well.

Full overview due probably Sunday night.

 

What do you guys think about the Logitech G13 G13 Advanced Gameboard

I was thinking about something like this the other day and was shocked to find such a pad exists. I prefer at least 1 anolog stick over a dpad or wasd, and utilizes more fingers, saving you thumb for movement and your 4 left fingers for more important things.

 

That is more of a dedicated keyboard than a gamepad. Some people like them and others do not. I personally dont find much use for them. Keyboard & Mouse work fine for the kind of games you would normally use that for. For controller games I prefer a full fledged controller.



Edit: Wii Classic Controller Pro added!

 

it has that joystick on it though, which to me is a really big selling point, you save the characters moving functions for the joystick on your thumb, opening up the rest of your fingers to rest on the keys, fully optimized hand imo .

 

Noticing a lot of Wii Classic controllers on eBay are cheap. It seems these ones plug into the Wii directly rather than the Wiimote. Anyone know if there's a difference, if I get one for my laptop?

I don't have a Wii, so don't know....

 

They are not real they are fake, unless you find one that has been moded for usb and that will cost probably $80++

 

so they won't work with the laptop? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

I prefer the Xbox 360 controller because I play pretty much everything besides FPS with it, and it's compatible with most of the games I play, especially new ones.
This is a great guide though.

 

Figured I would post this here for you Vicious, since you are working on this guide.

How to use a PS3 controller with your computer

Not sure if people know how to do this or not, but I just saw it, and figured it was useful.

 

hanks i got the ps3 controller yesterday and it only took 10 min to get it working on usb have to try blutooth. So far i prefer the wii classic to the ps3 i like the octagonal restrictor on the analog sticks and the way the move/feel.

 

I will def be doing bluetooth ps3 controllers for sure, but , I figure ill give the g13 a go

 

PS3 Dualshock / Sixaxis overview added.

Added graph of overview results.

 

Thanks for the gamepad review.
Wii Classic controllers ftw!

 

Yeah the wii classic is really a champ in my opinion.

Between the PS3/360/Classic the top 3 guys for a PC controller its the only one that does not have some sort of notable flaw.

The 360 is great in almost every way except the d-pad.

The PS3 has quite a few issues, I dont like the analog shoulder buttons, or the analog sticks nearly as much.

Both the Classic and 360 have some sort of impression to help your thumb stay in place on the analog stick while the PS3 is just rounded in the opposite direction.

I have been using the PS3 controller the most simply because its the only one I can pack in my bag and leave it. It fits in my side pocket and works with bluetooth and can charge with USB (and play with USB if you want or have too)

The 360 pad with the 9ft cord and larger size was just not something I would tolerate for my always in the bag controller.

 

Vicious- tried your method for the PS3 controller and the app majorly hosed up my drivers- killed off the trackpad and then the bluetooth wasn't working either. The controller worked via USB that way, however.

I ended up having to roll back and everything is ok, but just warning folks who use the Motionjoy app. I may try it again.

*edit* Tried it again, same results- it completely kills off my bluetooth adapter until I uninstall it. Should I be disabling the BT until I'm ready to use it? Seems like a big hassle overall- I had the extra 6-axis but it may not be worth it.

 

Maybe your BT hardware or drivers are not compatible.

If its your G73 it should work fine though thats what I use.

Be sure you signed the drivers if your in 64bit, also must be in test mode.



It works fine for me though, just got done with a round of FFXII on PCSX2 using Bluetooth.

I just press a button and it pairs, and go play. I also tried the built in 360 emulator and it works like a charm windows picks it up as a real 360 controller rather than just emulating it to the game engine like the other 360 emulator I have posted. Plus vibration works even over bluetooth.


Oh and also make sure you d/led the right version and the newest version of the drivers.

 

Glad to see you got a chance to use the PS3 controller ....

Overall it is the ultimate laptop gamepad ... I do enjoy the 360 controller overall better but because of its size and lack of needing to connect anything to the machine the PS3 controller wins in my book...

 

Yeah same reasons for me if you read the reviews thats why it won "best laptop companion" except i prefer the wii classic instead of the 360 pad.

the MotioninJoy drivers still need a bit of debugging but overall are very nice. The 360 controller emulator in them is flawless, so it will work just like a 360 pad in the GFWL titles.

 

Possibility I may not've used 64bit, but I think I did. When I went into test mode it acted like there was no BT module there at all- not in device manager either.

May just try and use my 360 controller but I only have the one and it's a bit larger for traveling with.

 

If you installed the right drivers you will have these files.



Look at the directory in the address bar.

You have to create a certificate with the overidde tool for all the files in the x64 folder and the MijXinput file there as well.

Did you skip that step? Because if you did it you should have known for sure without any second guessing yourself that you did install the 64bit drivers since the driver files were under "Program Files" not "Program Files x86" and also because of that folder in the drivers folder titled x64 as seen above.

I do not have a bluetooth icon/control panel anywhere myself, in Windows 7 to add a bluetooth device you go into "Devices & Printers" and then choose "Add a new device"

Its not like XP or Vista where you have an actual control panel from your software. You can perhaps have one depending on your software/drivers but on the G73 I do not have one. Even when I run the BTTray.exe program I do not get it to appear in my task bar. But the BT works fine.

 

hi all! one question, what do you think Vicious & friends of Logi Cordless Rumblepad 2? too old for you? i have one 360 wireless controller and play L4D2 with my brother in splitscreen! funfunfun! i like the controller very much but just hate the d-pad... and i like using d-pad instead of analog in certain games (but i live with it) even in PES2010 (soccer)..... anyway i´m planning on getting another controller to play against my brother in other games but i can´t decide myself.... maybe i´ll finish buying the 2nd 360 controller but other choices are logi CR2 and dualshock 3.... here in Argentina is impossible to get the mayflower adapter for the classic wii controller... and even if i could get it the wii controller costs almost the same as the 360 controller and DS3.... also, is true that dualshock 3 does not have removable battery? opinions of wich one to buy? (i'd love to have one pair of each one but that´s not a valid answer at least for the moment jajaj

thanks in advance and please excuse my english

 

I'm not even looking for a gamepad, but this thread was so neat and interesting that I had fun reading it anyway. Great guide .

 

Hi guys.

Can anyone help out? I'm sorta having trouble with getting my Dual Shock 3 to work properly on my G73. I can get the drivers installed all fine - rumble works, the controller is detected and actually usable.

Problem is, both analog sticks don't work. I fired up Batman: AA and what happens is that while the buttons all seem to work, movement is mapped to the digital pads and the analog sticks don't respond.

I've tried switching profiles using the DStool utility. All profiles don't work for me, even the Xbox 360 controller emulation one.

I'm using the Motioninjoy 0.5 drivers and connected the controller using USB. I've tried using the new 0.6 alpha drivers but they won't install properly in Win7 64x.

Thanks.