I’m 31 turning 32, and my hands hurt.
I’ve been playing games for as long as I know, from Game Gear, to Gameboy to Gamecube and a n64 in between and I've been tightly gripping my controller ever since.
The creaking sound of plastic was more of a welcome sound than anything else!
The controller that hurt me the most.
Ah, the Gamecube controller. (sorry mine is so dirty)
From hours grinding Uncle Punch just to go 0-2 at your local, to experiencing a nostalgia overdose as you tap the oversized A button to run with your Blue Eyes White Dragon copy in Amazing Island, this controller has been through it all, but ergonomically it sucks for me.
From long joystick and trigger travel to having a hunched over feeling my big ol' meat mitts just had to move on.
(i still use this for melee and yes you can mod these, I have cut springs but let's keep just the basics, yea?)
PS4 (the dualshock controller)
From shooting smaller robots to destroy bigger robots in Ratchet and Clank to quick time events with Nathan Drake this has been my most held controller. And yet over time my thumb just didn’t want to reach for the left joystick. It mostly wants to rest on the D-pad, everything else feels so great about it. Plus they last forever, pictured is my Black Ops 3 ps4 controller. Which came out in 2015, almost 9 years old and no issues.
Odd duck Ugly Duck
This was almost it, the HORI Fighting Commander OCTA.
Mostly used for fighting games but it's perfect for me, but can’t be used for every game.
With its slightly longer base, shorter stick movement and easier to move d-pad it’s perfect for rogue-likes and fighting games. I put 60+ hours into Guilty Gear: Strive with this thing, and beat Hollow Knight, Dead Cells and Hades with it.
When it comes to getting used to it this takes the cake, the r1 and r2 being on the face throws you for a loop, and I understand not everyone will buy a specific controller for fighting games and rogue-likes, so we will move on.
What I landed on for every game
My journey was made short when my brother suggested the 8bitdo pro controller. And it felt like everything came together for me. The sticks are easy to move around, the buttons are nice and rounded, and there are multiple versions like my “xbox” version shown above. You can get one to match your system, It’s easy to set up with every system(not the switch tho) and they have the more expensive one that syncs with Bluetooth!
I’ve since bought 2 and this controller stays at my desk for when I want to play anything that feels better than Mouse and Keyboard. (currently Ze-less Zone Zero & Dungeons of Hinterberg.)
While your mileage may vary, this is an inexpensive option and it worked out the best for me, now - I still get hand pain, just less of it with this controller.
Not mentioned are my years with xbox style controllers.
Part 2, I play a lot of fighting games.
I love fighting games, from competing locally to grinding ranked. I just love the 1v1 mentality with them. From Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 to fighters like Melty Blood and Them's Fightin' Herds, I needed something that changes games just like I do.
So I've settled on one option, but I tried something new before doing it.
If you are unfamiliar with fighting games, this may be a weird sight, this is a Leverless controller - everything is a button input instead of a joystick.
It allows for a quicker motion and a more relaxed handshape.
I can play for hours on this thing and I don’t feel anything. The buttons on mine are really easy to hit and it’s small enough to take with me, but my hands still curl over the buttons and that causes some pain overtime. This would be perfect, I would just need one that's bigger, and I have my eye on one. So I may go back to being leverless in the near future, but because I needed bigger. I went bigger.
(i’ve tried to play other games on it, and you have to remap buttons like crazy, a fun time but not worth it)
I grew up in trailer park arcades, with a fighting game tucked into a corner next to the loudest knock off Star Wars pinball machine to a Crusin' in the USA machine that never worked was something that just felt good.
Buttons so big even my 7 year old hands could smack and a lever that made sense.
My main Fighting game controller is this, a HORI Fighting Stick Alpha.
This just feels right to me, it’s big where I have no issue moving it around, the stick feels nice to throw around and the buttons clack with a joy that rushes back to me every time i pick it up.
Now, this is my most expensive controller, coming in at around 260$ Canadian.
This is a commitment, I don’t expect this post (to reach anyone eyes) convince them to buy any of these products, especially this one.
This was just my journey to alleviate the hand pain I've gained over the year of playing games, guitar, piano and never stretching, I now stretch before I do any of these as I have learned my lesson.
I hope you found this entertaining or useful, pictured below is every controller I own currently for fun.
Happy to answer any questions about any of these.
romaincrisis
tangentwithtanner
ellievsbear
discoholicmusic
andulkaphoto
prguitarman
pixelskylines
kianamaiart
theartofmadeline
