Steam Controller Supremacy

Steam makes great controllers; between the Steam Deck and the Steam Controller they are the only ones that (I believe) truly understand what a PC controller should look like. Between their liking of touchpads as mouse alternatives, their inclusion of gyro, and the fantastic customization afforded via Steam Input, I truly believe they have the best controllers. Of course, there's some glaring issues.

The Steam Controller is amazing... as a mouse. Truly the only controller that you can very comfortably play games such as Civilization and The Sims. Of course when you try to use it as a controller it falls apart a bit. The face buttons are too far away, the "d-pad" touchpad is a pretty bad d-pad, the convex top on the left stick is not ideal, and while you can get used to the right touchpad as an alternate to a stick, it's not a true replacement. It's all things you can get used to, but it overall is just a bit off as a controller.

The Steam Deck is basically a nearly perfected Steam Controller, fixing nearly all it's flaw. But they just had to stick a whole computer into it. You can kind of use it as a controller, but it's definitely not an ideal situation.

My Ideal

Besides the basics, there's some nice to haves that I really want for a PC controller.

• Analog triggers: This may seem pretty standard anymore, but there's some issues that means it has to be on this list. More on that later.
• 2.4ghz connectivity: Bluetooth is fine, but it's definitely prone to more issues and input lag.
• Gyro: As someone used to keyboard & mouse, I really want the precision that combo stick + gyro gives you.
• Capacitive thumbsticks: The best way to enable & disable gyro.
• Programmable back buttons: Extra inputs are never shunned and ones that are right where you fingers are already resting anyways is truly ideal. 4 Like the Steam Deck is nice, but I can definitely make do with 2.
• Programmable: With back buttons, this is necessary. The absolute ideal is Steam Input as it give so many options, but I can make due with any semi-decent programmability.

As long as it's comfortable to use, with all the normal buttons in good-enough spots I'll be happy. I don't care too much if the sticks are symmetrical or staggered, I don't care about turbo or macro functionality, rumble is kinda of nice but I don't really miss it when I don't have it.

The Competition

My favorite brand right now is 8BitDo; they make great controllers that can connect to basically anything. Their flagship, the Ultimate Controller, has been my go-to ever since it was released. It's 2.4ghz connection mode and charging dock even makes it a fantastic for a desktop computer, using the Bluetooth (Switch) mode you can even get gyro. Unfortunately, it has the same problems nearly every other controller on PC has: Xinput.

I am no expert, but from my understanding Xinput is what's limiting controllers in exactly the ways that I want. Xinput is seemingly limited to just what an Xbox controller has, that means no gyro and no extra inputs. If an Xinput controller adds extra buttons, they must be programmed to one of the other standard buttons. Any controller that wants to add what I want, needs special software. Steam gets around this via Steam Input. Of course Xinput is the only protocol. Switch controllers (seemingly) use a separate protocol, but it's also annoyingly slightly limited. It has support for Gyro, but now we don't have support for analog triggers along with the same button limitation that Xinput has.

I have yet to use a DualSense controller, but I've heard that they'd check off more of my wants then most controllers on the market. Of course, they're pretty expensive and still aren't perfect. The DualSense edge is a bit closer, but it's $200. It also doesn't have capacitive sticks and 2.4ghz connectivity. It's definitely the closest as far as I can tell, but it's still not exactly what I want and the cost has kept me away.

Enter the Horipad

Hori announced in June 2024 that they were going to release a Horipad for Steam with capacitive thumbsticks, gyro, back buttons, and analog triggers, all configurable via Steam Input. I was understandably excited. Unfortunately it initially released only in Japan, so it wasn't until recently I got my hands on it; only to be immediately disappointed.

Unboxing

Every 8BitDo controller I've gotten has been packaged great with a nice, sturdy box. Even for their cheaper controllers it's a premium unboxing experience. The Horipad was put into a very thin foam pouch and stuck into a very cheap feeling cardboard box with plenty of room for it to move around. For $60 I definitely expected better. Additionally there's the thick instruction manual and inside the same pouch as the controller is a 3 meter USB A to C cable (probably the best thing in the box, lol). I should have known immediately the lack of care put into this product.

The Controller Itself

The first thing I noticed was just how light the controller was. In fact, I think the instruction manual (which is admittedly in 7 languages) is about the same weight and the included cable seems to be heavier. Weight doesn't necessarily mean quality, but it's not a bad indicator. Then I picked it up and knew just how cheap this controller truly is.

It's hard to quantify, but most people can tell when plastic is cheap, and in this case I can tell you that the plastics that make up the body are very cheap. Along with the cheap plastics comes a classic: the top and bottom halves of the shell don't quite match up, meaning the seam is a bit sharp and a bit uncomfortable. And then I saw the "analog" triggers.

The "analog" triggers have basically zero travel and, in fact, have a tactile bump at the top, and the tiny bit of travel after the bump required a ton of force to actuate. Technically they're analog, but in reality they are just digital triggers. No racing games for this controller.

I decided to give it a go, maybe in use it won't be that bad... right?

It's worse.

The thumbsticks suck; the tension on them is inconsistent. Both sticks have a section that feel file, but then a section that has noticeably higher tension; on the right stick going up is fine, but going down is significantly harder near the edge.

For some stupid reason Hori decided it would be a good idea to make every face button a different height; this makes switching buttons and hitting multiple buttons unnecessarily bad feeling.

The polling rate is noticeably bad under Bluetooth; when using gyro on Bluetooth there is a very obvious choppiness to the gyro movement. To make sure this wasn't just a Bluetooth issue, I put my Steam Controller into Bluetooth mode, and tested it on the same game with no noticeable choppiness.

As a general note, everything feels bad and cheap. Everything works, but nothing works good.

This controller is $60 dollars, and I would be disappointed in it if it was $30. This is truly unacceptable and Hori should be ashamed of the controller they made. Guess I'll just have to wait for the Steam Controller 2.