Cheap controllers

[D00hickey]

I love using this thing with my Steam controller for single player experiences. Sometimes my young niece and nephew come over and like to play games but I only have a janky wired 360 pad and an Xbox One controller at my desktop that I'd like to keep their grubby hands off of. Wireless is preferred because it's a long way between the couch and the TV and they have a tendency to yank and throw things. What is the cheapest controllers out there that I can be up and running with them for those infrequent gaming sessions.

Would something like a Buddies 2.4 Ghz Wireless Game pad even work with the link? I believe it's Xinput with a dongle. That's $15 and thats about what I'm looking to spend here. There are also the cheap Zhidong wired controllers I think may work.

Any advice is appreciated.

[Tim]

hi there, did you ever find out an answer to this question?

[D00hickey]

I ended up buying an as-is, untested lot of 6 used 360 controllers on craigslist for $25. For of them worked an I used parts from the other two.

[Tim]

Cool. Thanks for the reply. I'm debating between getting an Xbox 360 controller or the Steam Controller.

[Draxenath]

Originally posted by Tim:

Cool. Thanks for the reply. I'm debating between getting an Xbox 360 controller or the Steam Controller.

As I have mentioned in another thread, the Steam Controller is one of those items you either Love or Hate. Check the positive video reviews preferably, as they are the ones that took more time to get to understand its differences from the popular game controllers and familiarize with it. Then give it a try by yourself.

The Steam Controller is a PC Controller, not a Console controller, so there is a reason for it to be different than the PS and Xbox controllers, although it can emulate the feel of console controllers quite decently, good enough for some people, not good enough for others.

[D00hickey]

Sorry about all the weird errors in my last post, it was typed on a Steam Controller. That's not a slam on the controller but I'm not good at typing with it.

[Tim]

@Lilith, Thanks for the response. That's exactly why I'm interested in the Steam controller -- I mostly play mouse/keyboard games these days. Stuff like Stardew Valley, Rimworld, Prison Architect, Machinarium, Democracy 3, etc. Although, I'm pretty excited about Astroneer right now and that seems like itll work well with a controller and I've been anxious to play Undertale but I've heard that it doesn't work great with a console controller.

That all said, I'm still un-trusting of a controller's ability to accomplish what a m/kb can do and I plan to use a wireless m/kb with the steam link for most of the games I play. If, however, and I know this is a big if, the Steam Controller can actually emulate the m/kb functionality -- that'd be absolutely amazing. I'm just not willing to drop $35-$50 to test that "if".