RetroPie's BT pairing is geared mainly to input devices (gamepads/keyboards) and may not work properly on Audio devices. Try to pair manually using bluetoothctl - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Bluetooth.

You may also want to replace pulseaudio with pipewire-pulse, since Pipewire has replaced Pulseaudio in the latest RaspiOS (and other Linux distributions).

If you don't succeed, try installing the RaspiOS desktop image, which has the Bluetooth pairing utilities on the desktop and installs the necessary audio packages. Once you make it work, you can disable the graphical desktop and boot to console to start EmulationStation.

Did you try to ask the vendor if they have Linux support ? Is the controller you have the Brawler64 BT NSO Edition - the one that's created for the Switch ?

Please also add the info requested in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

Aha!
The USB charger cube I was using (true Apple 12W) REFUSES to charge/power the Sony Controller! When I used a cheap no name USB cube it now connects and stays connected. Yay!

Thanks for your all suggestions

@mitu Like my 8bitdo gamepads (on pi3 or pi4), my DS4 never reconnect after a system reboot. They stay connected only on EmulationStation reboot.

No particular error shows up in the logs, the 360 is detected but not initialized as a gamepad though. Nothing comes to mind on what's going on.
You may want to post in the Steamlink forums (https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/discussions/0/) and post the link to your log there also. If any of the controller works by itself, then it's not a config issue and usually in situation like this I'd check if there's enough power for both the WiFi and USB at the time, but since they already work (simultaneously) outside Steamlink that can't be it.

@vorvy
Do you have any update on this? I am currently trying to make the same controller work, but I am not having much luck.

@mitu

No luck. Bought two cables. Same thing : /

p.s. I think the full update broke something because now I can't play a game with the controller wired haha. It says xbox controller not configured, a message in the lower left screen. But I can use it in the emulator carousel GUI. Everywhere except a game.

As much as I want to play wireless, it's more my curiosity and desire to want to fix a bug and understand why the pi zero is fussy about this and not the pi 4.

@mitu thanks

@abj Will look thru these again, thank you

A standard keyboard is ok

@barleyguy
For some reason, it works now!
It must've been something I did before that fixed it, and i didn't test it correctly.
Thanks for the help y'all!!

Hello,
I had the same issue and found another work around rather than reverting to the previous version.

The topic is discussed here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez/+bug/2045931

It seems that this is intentional will not be changed in future versions.
As mentionned right at the beginning of that post the workaround is the following:

Set ClassicBondedOnly=false in /etc/bluetooth/input.conf Run: systemctl restart bluetooth # or reboot

It worked for me.
Maybe its worth digging a little bit more to know what is the more suitable way of handling this new way of working of BlueZ...

Perhaps this?

https://www.8bitdo.com/micro/

My goal is for my friend to be able to turn on his headphones and connect much like the 8bitdo is allowing me to with the controller.

Then you need to pair & trust the headphones BT first (via bluetoothctl), just like the gamepad was paired with the RetroPie Bluetooth script.

'm confused if the above lines are related to the adapter, why would it be referred to as retropie?

It's the 'local' BT adapter and the name is taken from the hostname of the system, that's why it shows as 'retropie'. Controller is also a mis-nomer, it refers to the BT local device, not the gamepad you have connected.

I want to bring up this topic again!

As I have noticed from experience, at SWITCH mode sn30pro + retropie could has much delay! And it's awful :(

So, in 2024 year, could someone tell how to get work sn30 at XINPUT mode? ( with both working Triggers and "hotkey" buttons)

@mitu Ahhh on the keyboard to be PAIRED? No, I did not understand. Thanks, I'll try that.

edit: of course, it now works. I can't quite believe I didn't understand that part of the instructions haha

Thanks. I'll try that when I can save up some money.

Also some other details. When I try to connect it to other devices like my phone or laptop, it also turns off by it's own, and what's more is that Windows 11 says that its a "Driver Error" when reconnecting to the controller.
Also when reconnecting with Android, there is also a pin requirement of "0000".
(Maybe my controller is just the Issue)

Also, Is there a way to run:

Bluetoothctl

and try to re-pair and connect when retropie Starts, Restarts, or Boot up?
Because this might solve my Issue.