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A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans

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131–138 of 138 posts

Re: A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't nintendo sell a bigger better controller? I forgot what it's called, but it's much higher quality than the default ones and feels really good in the hand.

That's good to know! It somewhat diminishes it's usefulness as a portable system but it beats having to put up with that insane d-pad and baby buttons. I'm still kind of hoping for a switch XL...

I think the Japanese have smaller hands to begin with, and Nintendo's controllers have always been small and uncomfortable. It was a much better experience playing them emulated with an Xbox controller.

But the Switch Pro controller (found it, https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/pro-controller/) is basically that... a full size, Xbox like controller you can bring with you. You can leave the smaller side controllers at home and just use Switch in tabletop mode, maybe...?

There are more comfortable PC and Android handhelds too, if you're not set on the Switch ecosystem.

Re: A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans

#132
post #39

One thing they didn't make quite clear here is that the Xbox controller is considerably less advanced than the PS5 controller. The PS5 controller has "linear resonant actuators" (previously introduced in the Switch, and in the iPhone before that) which provide a much more fine-grained rumble feature than the older method which is still used in the XBox. The newer feature lets you feel e.g. that the character walks ov…

I haven't picked up a Dual Shock controller in probably 5 years. How does the "heft" feel these days? I was really put off by the PS4 controller (DS4?) because of the super light, plastic-y feel. Compare that to a Xbox Elite controller (different price tier, I know) and it feels like a cheap piece of junk. I assume with all of this new tech the PS5 controller is a bit heftier but I was surprised how much just the wei…

Anecdotally, the dualsense subjectively feels a lot higher quality than the Dualshock 4. I just picked up both to check.

Re: A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans

#133

DualShock controllers are the best, tactile, haptic feedback and gyroscope Nintendo's joycons also pretty novel, you just clip them on your console in/out and you unlock new ways to play, OP should have included them too, I'm curious now.. a shame its build quality is one of the worst of this decade Xbox's one is pretty basic and conservative, wich is a shame..

I don't want controllers to keep changing. I love the Xbox controller. I also have a PS5 and a switch, but those controllers don't feel good in my hand. The PS5 haptics don't add much IMO, but hurt battery life enough that I'd rather just turn them off.

Layout seems to be mostly locked in. Apart from back buttons from elite controllers. What we really need are more controller sizes. It's ridiculous they're still one-size fits all.

Re: A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PS1/PS2/PS3 controllers were never great for people with bigger hands, but I've noticed people that really dislike them seem to try to hold them with a full palm grip. If you have big hands it can be a lot more comfortable to instead kind of wrap your fingers around the grips but not make contact with your palms (kind of like it's a SNES controller with some extra finger grips). I don't know if this is the intend…

And here is thought the way you describe holding them was the proper way.... It's how I've pretty much always held them... It feels like only a monkey would full palm them...

It’s the obvious way, but still not great. The PS4 controller was a massive improvement.

Re: A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans

#135
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes this situation even more frustrating is that analog sticks have been around for a long time now. I still have controllers from the PS2/GC/Xbox era that work just fine after all these years and countless hours of play, and have no drift whatsoever. Even the earliest analog sticks like the N64 (Which used LEDs for tracking) didn't suffer from drift — although it did wear out considerably mechanically! I just…

Even more frustrating, its not even that difficult to fix. All they need to do is implement a renormalization routine. If you find your controller is drifting, then the console just needs some menu where you put the stick to a bunch of reference locations, and then the stick maps outs its own response and renormalizes. "This is neutral." "This is upper-left as far as it goes." "This is..." ect... Maybe even with fine…

They had this calibration on PCs decades ago

Re: A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans

#136
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may want to open it up with a phillips head jewelery screwdriver (they don't have the lockout screws) and clean the scum off of the pads and button areas. If the rubber pads are still springy, then you are in good shape. I can tell you as a Heavy Retro Console User (with a beautiful Trinitron CRT) that the rubber pads will eventually lose their springiness... there isn't much you can do for that and there are no…

Pardon my pedantry, but any cross-head crews in old game consoles are likely to be JIS, not Phillips, and using a Phillips driver makes it likely to strip every single screw: https://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/300

Oh wow! i had no idea; i honestly just used smaller sized phillips heads to compensate for this apparent head gap size difference. Thanks for the info!

Re: A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet the PS5 controller is worse at the most fundamental thing: physical ergonomics. The Xbox controller is so much more comfortable to hold and play with it doesn't even count.

I can't stand the offset sticks on the Xbox controller - feels much more natural to me to have both thumbs in the same position. And I massively prefer the shape of the PS4 controller to everything else, including PS5. My ideal controller would be the PS4 shape and layout, but with the dpad and triggers from the Xbox one/series controller (the PS5 haptic feedback is nice, but hardly any games I play actually use it e…

> have both thumbs in the same position.

Do you use both sticks at the same time? I think most games are left stick + buttons, meaning the Xbox would not only be symmetrical but also allow for a more relaxed extended thumb instead of the lower down ps position

Re: A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like a major security liability

You can see what the agents are looking at just going through a security line.

I meant more from a standpoint of random USBs from the public being plugged into their computers.
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