Best Retro Gaming Controllers

One from my personal stash, this bad boy has been part of my collection for many years now. In fact it saw in my introduction to the retro gaming hobby and it still holds pride of place to this day, being constantly connected to my PC.

As you can see it is modelled on the Playstation One Dualshock controller but this isn’t the reason for its selection (although it is by no means a fault). The reason for its inclusion in this list is, the number of buttons it features makes it compatible with games from a wide array of retro systems. In fact it can be used for all systems right up to the more recent consoles which featured analogue trigger buttons. Coupled with this the fact that I’ve had mine for many years and it still works, as well as it’s very reasonable price tag, means it’s difficult to fault it.

‘You’ve gone for a replica Megadrive controller as the best controller for all 16-bit systems?’ I hear you say. Well, yes, and I’ll tell you why.

There were a number of nominations for this category such as the SNES USB controller (dual pack), but the thing that clinched it for this Retro-Bit controller was the fact that it includes shoulder buttons as well as the 6 buttons of the 6-button Megadrive controller. This means that as well as being perfect for all Megadrive games, this controller adapts extremely well to all SNES games and other consoles of that era.

Yes, the XBox One controller is the winner of the day in this category, purely because of the amount of buttons it encompasses as well as the fact that it features analogue trigger buttons. Of course, I could equally have gone for the Sony Playstation Dualshock 4 controller, but I’m an Xbox fan at heart and couldn’t possibly betray my routes.

When the general public first laid eyes on the original N64 controller there was more scratching of heads than there was mashing of buttons and waggling of control sticks. To say the N64 controller is unique would be an understatement, but this being the case I felt that it really needed its own category for selecting the ideal controller.

In fact, the original N64 controller is so unique that it is very difficult to enjoy N64 games using anything else. Put simply, it can’t be replaced, and for that reason if you’re serious about playing N64 retro games to their full potential, you need to use the controller that the games were designed for. And here you have it, complete with a modern USB connector… Enjoy those N64 games!

When considering which controllers to select for your retro gaming needs a keyboard is one of the lesser pondered items. Despite this it is nevertheless an important piece of kit to consider. A keyboard in most cases, is a necessity, not least for playing arcade games but also for configuration tasks associated with your front end retro gaming management software.

The Rii i8 Mini Wireless Keyboard is the perfect device for such tasks. It’s minute size means that it does not clutter up your retro gaming area. It’s wireless functionality helps to keep the tangle of wires to a minimum and this, combined with the fact that there is a mouse pad incorporated into the device, results in a clean and uncluttered gaming area.