DelugeFGC
Smash Stick Space Cowboy
So over the course of playing Smash Ultimate so far, I've managed to accumulate literally ALL of big name controller brands to test out. There are a few I have not tried, like the janky one that has face button plates you can change out to N64, GCN, Pro and NES layouts. That being said, I think I've tested all of the likely choices people will make.. and this is what I've found.
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POWERA WIRED / WIRELESS GCN SWITCH CONTROLLER:
Wired variant: This one seems to be held to a low quality standard. The bumpers felt squishy and the triggers very springy. The face buttons were EXTREMELY loud and clicky, only seeming to worsen with age. The stick just feels.. off, I'm not sure how to explain it. It's like they tried to go for a real GCN feel, but missed the mark entirely. This could do, I'm not saying it won't, but.. it's kinda crap. 5/10
Wireless variant: This one was MUCH better than the Wired, and upon taking apart my Wired (I replaced the wireless one's C-Stick with the Wired L-Stick) and Wireless controllers found them to be built entirely differently. Not just obvious differences from wired to wireless.. but a lot of cheap outs and short cuts were taken on the Wired one. That said, the Wireless one has some issues. The stick notches aren't perfectly aligned with the 8 axis', so when you push the stick into a notch it's JUST barely off the mark. It seems to be ever so slightly worse on the horizontal axis, and the diagonal notches actually match for some reason. I've tested this with the controller apart and can confirm it isn't the stick, the C-Stick also has this vertically to a very small degree. All that said, with Smash only accepting 8 real directional inputs in the grand scheme of things this doesn't amount to anything. If you wanted it for ANY other game, it could cause irritation. Overall I give this one an 8/10, being able to use a Wireless GCN in portable mode is cool, but I wouldn't take it to a tournament as while it's pretty quality.. it's still not the official. The bumpers are pretty nice, though the triggers are meh.
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HORI WIRED GCN SWITCH CONTROLLER:
I wouldn't buy this. It has some sort of weird axis snapping thing where you can't get consistent inputs outside of straight-to-the-notch flicks. Again, like said above with the PowerA wireless notch issue, this doesn't amount to a problem.. in Smash. I imagine this thing would be hell in most other games. The buttons are okay, but they don't feel great compared to the Wireless PowerA and they PALE to the official. I do like the triggers on this one, all said. The middle buttons are rubber and feel awful, plus it has a turbo which makes it quesitonable for tournament use. If you just want a secondary controller to bust out for a friend or practice stuff, or don't take the game too seriously.. I wouldn't say it's an awful buy, but it's got some weird quirks and if you intended to use it for ANYTHING but Smash, due to said axis snapping issue.. it's probably worth a miss. 6.5/10
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PDP WIRED GCN SWITCH CONTROLLER:
This thing sucks. Point blank, it's an awful controller. The triggers and bumpers are strange for a Gamecube design, they try to blend in with the rest to form a fusion of Pro/GCN and it misses the mark entirely. The bumpers extend too far out and the triggers are large and mushy. The face buttons are loud and worst of all extremely resistant compared to every other controller on this list.
The absolute deal breaker is the sticks. The irony is this is what made me think this would be a potentially good buy, but they kill it. You can replace the C-Stick with a full sized stick like the L-Stick.. and for some reason you can replace the R-Stick too. This means BOTH sticks are just a ball insert with a little snap-on stick sitting atop it. Needless to say, this feels really grindy and strange because of how naturally loose it is by design. I had to force the tabs on the stick out and cram it onto the ball to stop this. The range / travel on L-Stick is FAR too long, and both sticks are too loose. This controller is awful.. give it a miss. 3.8/10
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OFFICIAL WIRED GCN CONTROLLER w/ ADAPTER:
If you don't want to use a Pro Controller, be it because of habits, preference or you like the design.. buy this. Even if you don't take the game very seriously, get it. One day, sooner rather than later, they'll likely become mad expensive and hard to get. These are choice, everything about them in my opinion is quality. I love Z (I use it to jump, including short hops) and the face buttons feel perfect. Quick short hops (when doing a NAir) are easy and satisfying by feel on X, and I love using Y to grab due to the location. The sticks are so perfect on these, I adore them. Even though the Switch has no analogue support, you don't have to fully depress the triggers to tech / shield either.
You can get decent adapters now, they're in stock all sorts of places.. just avoid sketchy brands. I own a Nyko one, and once you use each port 2-3 times (even if just plugging in a controller and carefully removing it 2-3 times) feels just like an official one. They are a bit snug out of the box though, so be careful when using it new. Some 3P adapters have gutted controllers due to VERY tight ports, so be careful. If you can get an official adapter, get it.. if not, Mayflash and Nyko are good alternatives.
10/10
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WIRED POWERA PRO CONTROLLER:
Don't use this thing. Plain and simple. It's extremely cheaply made, just chintzy as hell. The sticks have UNGODLY amounts of snapback and have far too much travel/range on them. The buttons feel weird. I don't mind this controller for some games.. but definitely not for Smash. I really didn't think this controller was all that bad until I tried it in Smash.. then it all came out. The D-Pad is just strange feeling, it's unlike any other D-Pad I've ever felt and NOT in a good way. The sticks travel oddly and just feel janky, they also have so much snapback that they WILL cause misinput turnarounds a lot when flicking them. The buttons AND triggers are kinda mushy to press as well.. overall just a poor option. Avoid. 3/10
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WIRELESS PRO CONTROLLER / OFFICIAL PRO CONTROLLERS:
Amazing option, if you aren't mentally hard-wired on the GCN layout like many of us, I'd recommend going for this. It doesn't have the stick notches.. no.. but in no other way is it beat. I actually feel like if you got used to this controller and gave it a chance it has a TON of potential. Techs like wavebouncing are laughably easy with certain setups using this thing, and that's where it shines. Due to the excess buttons, you can set this thing up all sorts of crazy ass ways.. and it can be VERY effective if used properly. The quality of these controllers is very high, very little snapback. amazing feel to the sticks and buttons.. it's all great. It's by far the most expensive option here, but it shows in quality. For some quirky reason, the Wireless / Official Pro controllers (along with JoyCons) have the LEAST amount of input lag, which is usually the opposite of how reality is. I think this is something specific to the Switch itself, kind of like its ass internet-capability.
You can't go wrong with this thing, if you think you can get used to it or deprogram yourself from the GCN layout.. I see tons of potential in these bad boys. 10/10 for this one as well.
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JOYCON CONTROLLERS / GRIPS / ETC:
Well, what did you think I was gonna say here? It's an option, yes, but we all know it isn't an ideal one. It has the same strengths are the Pro controller in terms of excess buttons you can setup crazy control layouts for.. but in terms of executing them? The buttons on this thing are TINY, making it hell to use for anyone who doesn't have very small hands. The triggers are just, no. I press the bumper and trigger at the same time, OFTEN. These things also feel like they would break after some time passes, especially with a game as hard on controllers as Smash. The sticks don't have a ton of range/travel on them either, so that's potentially a problem depending on what you're used to. I mean.. like I said, it's an option.. but not a great one. 5/10 for these. 1/10 for single JoyCon for obvious reasons.
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TL;DR: Buy an official GCN controller or an official Pro controller. If you MUST own a 3P one, the Wireless PowerA is the only one I can truly recommend, but I wouldn't recommend it for competitive play.
Have a wonderful day.
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POWERA WIRED / WIRELESS GCN SWITCH CONTROLLER:
Wired variant: This one seems to be held to a low quality standard. The bumpers felt squishy and the triggers very springy. The face buttons were EXTREMELY loud and clicky, only seeming to worsen with age. The stick just feels.. off, I'm not sure how to explain it. It's like they tried to go for a real GCN feel, but missed the mark entirely. This could do, I'm not saying it won't, but.. it's kinda crap. 5/10
Wireless variant: This one was MUCH better than the Wired, and upon taking apart my Wired (I replaced the wireless one's C-Stick with the Wired L-Stick) and Wireless controllers found them to be built entirely differently. Not just obvious differences from wired to wireless.. but a lot of cheap outs and short cuts were taken on the Wired one. That said, the Wireless one has some issues. The stick notches aren't perfectly aligned with the 8 axis', so when you push the stick into a notch it's JUST barely off the mark. It seems to be ever so slightly worse on the horizontal axis, and the diagonal notches actually match for some reason. I've tested this with the controller apart and can confirm it isn't the stick, the C-Stick also has this vertically to a very small degree. All that said, with Smash only accepting 8 real directional inputs in the grand scheme of things this doesn't amount to anything. If you wanted it for ANY other game, it could cause irritation. Overall I give this one an 8/10, being able to use a Wireless GCN in portable mode is cool, but I wouldn't take it to a tournament as while it's pretty quality.. it's still not the official. The bumpers are pretty nice, though the triggers are meh.
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HORI WIRED GCN SWITCH CONTROLLER:
I wouldn't buy this. It has some sort of weird axis snapping thing where you can't get consistent inputs outside of straight-to-the-notch flicks. Again, like said above with the PowerA wireless notch issue, this doesn't amount to a problem.. in Smash. I imagine this thing would be hell in most other games. The buttons are okay, but they don't feel great compared to the Wireless PowerA and they PALE to the official. I do like the triggers on this one, all said. The middle buttons are rubber and feel awful, plus it has a turbo which makes it quesitonable for tournament use. If you just want a secondary controller to bust out for a friend or practice stuff, or don't take the game too seriously.. I wouldn't say it's an awful buy, but it's got some weird quirks and if you intended to use it for ANYTHING but Smash, due to said axis snapping issue.. it's probably worth a miss. 6.5/10
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PDP WIRED GCN SWITCH CONTROLLER:
This thing sucks. Point blank, it's an awful controller. The triggers and bumpers are strange for a Gamecube design, they try to blend in with the rest to form a fusion of Pro/GCN and it misses the mark entirely. The bumpers extend too far out and the triggers are large and mushy. The face buttons are loud and worst of all extremely resistant compared to every other controller on this list.
The absolute deal breaker is the sticks. The irony is this is what made me think this would be a potentially good buy, but they kill it. You can replace the C-Stick with a full sized stick like the L-Stick.. and for some reason you can replace the R-Stick too. This means BOTH sticks are just a ball insert with a little snap-on stick sitting atop it. Needless to say, this feels really grindy and strange because of how naturally loose it is by design. I had to force the tabs on the stick out and cram it onto the ball to stop this. The range / travel on L-Stick is FAR too long, and both sticks are too loose. This controller is awful.. give it a miss. 3.8/10
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OFFICIAL WIRED GCN CONTROLLER w/ ADAPTER:
If you don't want to use a Pro Controller, be it because of habits, preference or you like the design.. buy this. Even if you don't take the game very seriously, get it. One day, sooner rather than later, they'll likely become mad expensive and hard to get. These are choice, everything about them in my opinion is quality. I love Z (I use it to jump, including short hops) and the face buttons feel perfect. Quick short hops (when doing a NAir) are easy and satisfying by feel on X, and I love using Y to grab due to the location. The sticks are so perfect on these, I adore them. Even though the Switch has no analogue support, you don't have to fully depress the triggers to tech / shield either.
You can get decent adapters now, they're in stock all sorts of places.. just avoid sketchy brands. I own a Nyko one, and once you use each port 2-3 times (even if just plugging in a controller and carefully removing it 2-3 times) feels just like an official one. They are a bit snug out of the box though, so be careful when using it new. Some 3P adapters have gutted controllers due to VERY tight ports, so be careful. If you can get an official adapter, get it.. if not, Mayflash and Nyko are good alternatives.
10/10
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WIRED POWERA PRO CONTROLLER:
Don't use this thing. Plain and simple. It's extremely cheaply made, just chintzy as hell. The sticks have UNGODLY amounts of snapback and have far too much travel/range on them. The buttons feel weird. I don't mind this controller for some games.. but definitely not for Smash. I really didn't think this controller was all that bad until I tried it in Smash.. then it all came out. The D-Pad is just strange feeling, it's unlike any other D-Pad I've ever felt and NOT in a good way. The sticks travel oddly and just feel janky, they also have so much snapback that they WILL cause misinput turnarounds a lot when flicking them. The buttons AND triggers are kinda mushy to press as well.. overall just a poor option. Avoid. 3/10
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WIRELESS PRO CONTROLLER / OFFICIAL PRO CONTROLLERS:
Amazing option, if you aren't mentally hard-wired on the GCN layout like many of us, I'd recommend going for this. It doesn't have the stick notches.. no.. but in no other way is it beat. I actually feel like if you got used to this controller and gave it a chance it has a TON of potential. Techs like wavebouncing are laughably easy with certain setups using this thing, and that's where it shines. Due to the excess buttons, you can set this thing up all sorts of crazy ass ways.. and it can be VERY effective if used properly. The quality of these controllers is very high, very little snapback. amazing feel to the sticks and buttons.. it's all great. It's by far the most expensive option here, but it shows in quality. For some quirky reason, the Wireless / Official Pro controllers (along with JoyCons) have the LEAST amount of input lag, which is usually the opposite of how reality is. I think this is something specific to the Switch itself, kind of like its ass internet-capability.
You can't go wrong with this thing, if you think you can get used to it or deprogram yourself from the GCN layout.. I see tons of potential in these bad boys. 10/10 for this one as well.
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JOYCON CONTROLLERS / GRIPS / ETC:
Well, what did you think I was gonna say here? It's an option, yes, but we all know it isn't an ideal one. It has the same strengths are the Pro controller in terms of excess buttons you can setup crazy control layouts for.. but in terms of executing them? The buttons on this thing are TINY, making it hell to use for anyone who doesn't have very small hands. The triggers are just, no. I press the bumper and trigger at the same time, OFTEN. These things also feel like they would break after some time passes, especially with a game as hard on controllers as Smash. The sticks don't have a ton of range/travel on them either, so that's potentially a problem depending on what you're used to. I mean.. like I said, it's an option.. but not a great one. 5/10 for these. 1/10 for single JoyCon for obvious reasons.
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TL;DR: Buy an official GCN controller or an official Pro controller. If you MUST own a 3P one, the Wireless PowerA is the only one I can truly recommend, but I wouldn't recommend it for competitive play.
Have a wonderful day.
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