Which over the years had the track record of the making the most ergonomic/easy to use/effective controller?

I prefer Sony's controllers, but that's the least surprising thing in the world considering Playstation has pretty much been my primary gaming console since the PS1 one came out. It's hard to be objective about it when those controllers are just the ones I'm used to.

It does say something that the DualSense resembles an Xbox controller more than any of Sony's controllers ever have before. In that sense I suppose MS ultimately won the battle for most ergonomic shape, they all basically look like that now. However, I will say that I've always hated both the feel of the Xbox d-pad and the placement of it further away from the outer edge. I will die on that hill, so to speak. I much prefer the mirrored analog sticks of the Playstation controllers.

Nintendo easily wins for most creative controllers over the years, they've never been afraid to try new things, but I can't say I've ever really been in love with any of them.

PlayStation makes the comfiest controllers.

Xbox makes a controller that I think about the least while using it.

I feel like that got my point well. Xbox feels like the new default, where you don't think about it. I like that PS used shapes in theory...since it's not language based, anyone can understand it sorta. It makes sense business wise. But the x,y, b,a format helps me, aka b = back in a lot of games, so it confuses me when i get told press b to go start...when playing a nintendo game. But that's besides my question, kinda. The other issue is i just wasn't a fan of gamecube's look for the controller, and think wii controller was great until you play a more serious game, then wii u was unwieldy, and switch is fine for casual play but couldnt see it working for say a heated dark souls fight. PS is good but kinda boring now that they wont change lol, but ehh fair enough. I liked the box nintendo one even if it hurts hands. dreamcast was fun too, very ergonomic and the memory card idea was a nice touch at the time to keep the system small and let you see stuff. Overall, they're all pretty solid.

@finaldasa: Wow do I disagree with this.

I do not find ANY PlayStation controllers comfortable with the possible exception of the DS4, which was...okay. But I have a friend who literally could not use it and had to buy a dongle to use a Switch Pro controller on his PS4 because the DS4 was unusable for him.

I made a thread about how bad the Dualsense was for me when I first got it, and a lot of people agreed. I did adjust to it and with better hand positioning it's fine, but I've never seen people have the same complaints about the Xbox controller, and a lot of people use that as the PC default.

I think Xbox has the best controller shape. The Switch Pro controller copied it even more blatantly than the DualSense did. The problem with Xbox controllers is they haven't bothered putting in the new bells and whistles that others have. No motion controllers for gyro aiming and the like is just inexcusable at this point, and Switch and Dualsense have better rumble. Adaptive triggers are a cool idea though they don't actually do that much in my experience.

There's a reason that the Xbox design has become the defacto standard. I don't really hate the PlayStation controllers as much as some people, but it's just nowhere near as comfortable to use for an extended period of time.

The DS4 is almost the perfect controller so I went Playstation even though I haven't used the DualSense (I also liked the DS1 and DS2. They were fine. I never used a DS3 or Sixaxis). The DS4 is light, comfortable, and quiet. It loses points by not having a replaceable battery along with weak battery life but if you mostly use it with PC like I do, the trick is to go into the custom lighting menu in Steam or on DS4Windows and disable the controller's glowy light altogether. I swear it triples the battery life to have that big bright LED turned off. I only have to charge my main DS4 like once a week because of this.

Prior to this generation of controllers I would have said Xbox. The 360 and Xbox One controllers are both extremely comfortable and I still use both regularly. The Xbox One controller is in my view one of the best controllers ever made.

The problem is that the new revision of the Xbox controller that came with the Series consoles is a massive step backwards. It's not only much cheaper feeling, but worse in many other ways than the Xbox One version. Firstly, it's way too noisy. The face buttons are extremely clicky and loud to the point of being distracting. Then there's the D-pad. I could deal with the face buttons being how they are but the D-pad makes this thing unusable. It's somehow even louder than the face buttons (Gerstmann complained about this too. He said it's so loud that he can't use Xbox controllers anymore because the clicks wake up his kids if they're napping in his office). Not only is the new D-pad extremely noisy, but it's also far too stiff. There's no play to the D-pad so you have to use a bit of extra force to do inputs, which over time adds up. I tried playing Tony Hawk 1 + 2 with it and ended up with a sore thumb within about 20 minutes. It's like they looked at the 360 D-pad and went "How can we make this worse in every way possible" and did it. It was clearly designed by people who think of games as shooters where the D-pad is only occasionally used, not people who play fighting games, indies, retro games, or RPGs that rely upon using the D-pad extensively.

My actual hot take answer is that if the Switch Pro controller had analog triggers it would be my favourite. It's extremely light, quiet, and has a battery that lasts weeks. The D-pad isn't as good as the DS4 but it's still good enough for most games. I use my spare Pro Controller with my Steam Deck a lot and it's great.

The PS5 controller has a battery life of about 3 hours, and that's horrific

Honestly, I have encountered very few modern controllers that I didn't like. Like if you go way back, the Atari joysticks aren't great, and playing NES games on something with round edges sure beats the OG rectangle, but it's been a long time since I felt a 1st party gamepad was getting in my way. N64 had an impractically large pad, but having essentially two different setups made it work well for a lot of different types of games. GC button layout was only an issue for 2D fighters, but the system had very few of those anyway. Dualshock 1-3 were a bit small, but very practical with their layouts. DS4 improved this a lot. DC probably should have had a second stick but had great ergonomics. XBox controllers click too loudly, but are great otherwise.

Have to agree with @ben_h:. A Switch Pro controller with analogue triggers would be perfect, and fortunately it basically exists in the 8Bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth.

This may be very "old man yells at cloud," but I could not care less about controller battery life because I never unplug the thing. Cords simply don't bother me, and I'm not sure why every controller needs to be wireless now. If there was an official wired DualSense I would buy it.

Hey, it's me, the guy that says "offset analog sticks are very bad and make the d-pad a total pain to use" every time this conversation comes up.

I relented in the "face buttons vs. triggers" brake/acceleration debate (and in full fairness I was a total idiot to ever be annoyed by that change, lol), but I will never accept moving the d-pad. I still operate every single menu in a video game with that thing, it's just as important as the analog stick, but you can't just rest your thumb on it and go to town. You've got to lift, shift and press for every action. That should be a leisurely activity and it just isn't on an XBox or Switch Pro controller, IMO.

Plus I just like symmetry. The DualShock/Sense is an objectively prettier controller, it's perfectly balanced.

@nodima: What do you mean (not the symmetry thing, that makes sense even if I don't care what the controller looks like)?

You can TOTALLY rest your thumb on the D-pad on both Switch and Xbox. It's a slightly different position but it's no harder than with the Dualsense.

If it's a game where you primarily use analog you rest your thumb on that. If it's a game where you primarily use D-pad you rest your thumb on that. Yes if you want to use d-pad for menus in a primarily analog game you need to move your thumb but that's true for PlayStation just as much as Xbox-style.

You say that the D-pad is just as important as the analog stick and while I don't really agree (it's more important for some games but less important for most) even if that's true it's totally arbitrary which to put in which position because they're each as important as the other. One has to go lower and one has to go higher.

@bigsocrates: When I'm playing d-pad based games like fighters and strategy games and what not, I like that both my thumbs rest high. When I'm playing analog games, I like that they both mostly sit low. It helps the strain on my joints feel balanced.

It's probably some weird mental barrier built up from the format of the NES controller until now, but the XBox/3rd party default format feels different for the sake of it, and maybe because of all that accrued muscle/joint memory it does put more strain on my left thumb when they're flipped.

@nodima: I guess I....kind of get this, except that there are plenty of games that primarily use the left analog stick and the face buttons, like racing games or sports games any game where you use the analog stick to direct a cursor (think Hypnospace Outlaw or Steamworld Build, as examples.) There aren't a lot of games that primarily use D-pad and right analog stick, though, so there's that.

Xbox definitely isn't different for the sake of difference. It was different because the games Xbox was focusing on were different. The original Xbox pad works well for racing games, sports games, and also FPS but is not as well optimized for other genres. But it's a trade off. I mean if you want to play Madden or NHL on the PlayStation controller your thumbs rest offset, thus causing you unlimited trauma!

I hate the Dualshock 1 2 and 3. Not only are they tiny but the analog sticks are positioned so that your thumbs bump into one another if you press them towards each other. Also the sticks suck, which isn't an orientation thing.

I would honestly give Microsoft the past two generations for having the best controller designs in the industry for the Elite Controllers alone, but I can't/won't because their asking price is completely bonkers. Those things have probably the best ergonomics in the history of the hobby but paying over $100 for a controller that doesn't have hall effect sticks is a complete robbery.

I have a Series X Elite Controller and it is genuinely fantastic, but I would still tell you that my PS5 controller is slightly better in terms of just "feel" in the hand. Problem is, most of my gaming happens on PC and the Xbox controller is standard there, plus the Elite has two back buttons. I don't want to spend money on the PS5's premium controller when it only has one back button. I guess the touchpad makes up for that but... meh.

Shoutout to the Switch Pro controller, which feels excellent.

But my ideal controller, frankly, would be if someone took the Steam Deck and made it into a PC controller. Its analog stick and button placement feel perfect for me, I think the way that thing feels in my hand is amazing. I know you can rig-up a way to play PC games with the Steam controller on a screen, but doing some game streaming weirdness isn't really what I want to do. Part of the reason I use an Xbox controller on PC is, again, it's just the standard there and I think it's more than comfortable enough for the job.

Another shoutout - I bought one of those "Duke" remake controllers for PC and have used it perhaps more than its joke status warrants. I genuinely think that thing is pretty comfortable, but the LB/RB placement makes it difficult to use in a lot of games.

@zombiepie: The fact that the PS portal is the same price as the Dualsense Edge makes me laugh. Also, its apparently quite hard to get those replacement sticks as they're almost always out of stock. Its definitely scummy to me that they locked customization software behind a 200 dollar controller as well.

Edit: I also think its laughable that the Switch Pro controller sells for the same price as a Dualsense and doesn't even have analog triggers, plus it has the cheapest and shittiest rumble effect I've ever experienced in a controller.

pre-dual sense i would say sony .. post-duke i would say xbox . i don't really have a preferance between them they're both comfy , but the dualsense just isn't comfortable so idk ..

i will say that nintendo is the only one who makes handhelds/controllers so thin that they make my hands cramp ,.. but thats nothing compared to the weeks long post game pain the dualsense would put me in since launch until about a yr ago .. idk why it just stopped hurting like that and i'm thankful for it n i Still get some fatigue but yeah idk ...

as for sega well genesis and dreamcast will always be comfy to my hand i guess