i used to use a Logitech F310, this baby

But honestly, it kind of sucks dick. It's really uncomfortable and constantly ran into issues that I had to repair until it gave up entirely. Now i'm looking for a new controller, but i'll most likely go for an 8bitdo one

If a don't need an analog stick, my go-to has been the Hori Fighting Commander Octa. It has a stick, but I don't use it often. The buttons are microswitched and it feels great.

If I do need the sticks, Series X controllers are fine, generally.

Retro-Bit Saturn pad, just feels right for most 2D games. Soon I will be using an 8bitdo Neo Geo CD pad though.

Dualshock 4

People may hate it but I don't. DS4 is just incredibly comfortable to me. That's been taken over by the steamdeck recently though

I have 2 that I can recommend. First is the known quantity - the 8bitdo Pro 2. Primarily because of the dpad placement, it's an excellent controller for older retro games. Well-built, wireless capability, remappable buttons, etc etc. Covers Windows, Mac, Android, and Switch. You know the drill.

But the GameSir T4 Kaleid really surprised me. For a little over $41 you get: hall effect sticks AND triggers, microswitch face buttons, 2 back paddles, remaps, and possibly the cleanest implementation of RGB strips I've seen on an electronic device, ever. There are only 2 downsides for me: the GameSir logo (chickens are cool but just not my thing), and it's wired only. Otherwise it's a seriously awesome piece of kit.

I've never owned an Xbox in my life, only PlayStations, so I thought I wouldn't like the staggered joystick layout, but it is surprisingly comfortable.

I use a horipad mini switch controller. I have small hands and bigger controllers feel unwieldy.

Xbox controller or DualSense, depends on if I'm playing PlayStation or not.

I run everything on a Retroid Pocket 2+, so...uh, the Retroid Pocket 2+, lol. A handheld system just suits me better.

I use a Razer Kishi and an Xbox one controller

Uusally just my xbox 360 controller. But I also have an 8bitdo Pro 2.

A keyboard. Any standard computer keyboard.

This post was originally written as a reply to a comment by @redsol2@lemmy.world. But it got kinda long and it's basically my answer to the thread topic. So yeah, lemme tell y'all a story.

I started out playing 2D platformers for DOS, where the default -- or more like, only -- control scheme was arrow keys to move and Ctrl and Alt to do things (commonly Ctrl to jump and Alt to shoot). I also grew up on NES, GB, and SNES games, and a handful of PC games. Notably, though, I never picked up FPS games as a child, and also never really got anything from the 32-bit era and beyond until much later in life.

With emulators being more integrated into Windows (meaning Ctrl and Alt do important things), I shifted the action buttons to the lower left corner of the keyboard. Emulating an SNES gamepad, for example, I generally map the action buttons in a mirror-image fashion to ZXCS (respectively, ABYX). (A friend of mine maps them in a similar fashion, using ZXAS instead.) This then lets me map the L and R buttons to A and D respectively. And I move this whole ensemble of six buttons up a row if I have ghosting issues. (The Sega Genesis gamepad can be mapped similarly easily.)

This works brilliantly well (at least for me) for 2D platformers, top-down action games, JRPGs, and more. Notably, though, this excludes pretty much anything that requires analog controls of some sort, e.g. FPS games, N64 games, etc.. But between a lack of hardware capable of playing 3D stuff (whether natively or by emulation), a lack of a familiar control scheme, and a lack of personal interest (due to just not having ever gotten into them), I pretty much just stuck with emulating up through the 16-bit era, with a little PS1 emulation thrown in. It's not like I ever had a shortage of excellent games.

And curiously, it turns out my control scheme (arrow keys + ZXC(V)ASD(F)) is the favored scheme for a number of Japanese indie developers who made things like action games and RPGs using 2D sidescrolling and top-down views. So I ended up having even more to play! In contrast, it seems western devs often prefer WASD, even for stuff like 2D platformer Flash games (to my chagrin). And I see (English-speaking) PC gamers these days regarding my sort of control scheme as a "left-handed" setup (which is amusing since I'm not left-handed).

I only learned to WASD as an adult. At first I even tried to use the mouse with my left hand, and tried putting my left hand on the arrow keys, but eventually I gave in and learned to WASD. I still only use this when I need to use mouse aim though, e.g. Terraria (which I played a lot).

For games that actually require console-style analog controls, though, I nowadays have a wired XB360 gamepad that connects via USB. I've tried mapping things like the N64 gamepad to a keyboard before but with no success. But now that I have this, funny thing is this means I'm only recently getting into a number of classics from that era.

I've considered getting an 8BitDo SN30 or SN30 Pro(?)...whichever basically looks like an SNES pad with added analog sticks. I specifically want a gamepad without "legs" -- the two stubs that seem to be meant as palm grips on each side of the gamepad. That's because I held my SNES pad from the side so that I could press A, B, and Y at the same time with my right thumb. (This was highly useful when playing Mega Man X.) Controllers with "legs" basically make it way harder for me to do this, as I found out when I tried to play MMX4 on my PS1. It felt so awkward, I just went straight back to emulating it, despite having the disc and hardware.

But, for now, I only pull out my XB360 gamepad for stuff that needs analog stick functionality. Everything else is keyboard. (And mouse, if needed.)

I use the atari modern controller for the Atari VCS. It has no drift or any loss in quality after over a year of usage. It’s super clicky and feels cheap but is a pretty responsive controller. Most emulators map it automatically very well.

It’s prone to smudging though. Also the charger port has a notch which makes it so you can only use the atari charging cable, nothing a dremel didn’t fix ;)

I use a mix, but mostly the Xbox Series X controller, and the 8BitDo Ultimate.

I honestly hardly even play retro games, but for some reason I love getting controllers. I use the official controllers with my PS4 and PS5, but I also have two 8bitDo SN30 Pros, and 8bitDo Ultimate BT which I use for PC and Switch, and even an arcade stick somewhere (I made a promise to myself that I was gonna pick a fighting game to get good at, but never did).

TheJoystick serves most 8-bit and 16-bit needs

I'm a little crazy but I get original controllers and get USB adapters for them.

I use a Competition Pro USB. I also have an 8bitdo if more buttons are required. Keyboard is always a favourite though!

Most of the time I use the pdp Wired Xbox controller, but sometimes I'll use the 8bitdo SNES30. Logitech Rumble Pad 2 still gets some use and if I'm feeling especially nostalgic I'll use the SN Program pad with a SuperSmartJoy that converts it to USB.

I have a Buffalo SNES clone (usb) for really old games, and I just use an Xbox controller for newer stuff.

The Buffalo controller is probably 10 years old but still works fine. Good choice IMO if you don’t want to mod an original or hunt down an adapter.

The 8Bitdo Pro 2!

Great feeling controller, quite like a switch pro controller. The sticks, handles, buttons, and triggers all feel great! Bluetooth connectivity for PC has been... not great. But it works well with my switch, or when i have it wired to my PC. My biggest gripe about it is that I can't seem to map things to the pad buttons on the bottom? they seem kind of wasted, but that may be a limitation of x-input.

Keyboard. All controllers are abomination unto God and are going to damage your wrists sooner or later.

8bitdo SN30 Pro controller for games that dont requires use of joysticks, Xbox Elite V2 for games that use one or two joysticks.