@sarahoveryou Re-map you controller (1 would be enough, 2nd one would get the same configuration since it's similar) and skip the Hotkey selection (long press A to skip it). You'll be asked if you want to use Select as Hotkey and here choose Yes. Re-try to see if you can now use Select + Start to exit games.
What game are you trying and it's not starting with the Start button ?

@PaddyPat You might want to disable the ps3 controller driver and use the customhidsonly driver instead (you'll have to re-configure the controllers again after switching drivers).
Traditionally, Blueooth problems can be alleviated by disabling the Wifi or using a dedicated USB Bluetooth dongle - but for the 3B+ that may no longer be necessary since the wireless chips is better.

@mitu Thank you. I will lookup both of those.

@mitu Perfect! that's how it works with my PC setup, just wasn't sure if having a key mapped to "esc" would work.

Thanks Clyde, I'll keep that solution in mind. I know knockoff PS3 controllers are tricky. Thanks for your help :)

@mitu yup it seemed to remember the controller when it was the only one plugged in. What I’ve noticed is that the controller is switching to and from JS0 to JS1. I just configured it with the keyboard and it’s JS0 again. I’m wondering if having multiple controllers plugged in at one time might be the issue. I’ll try running Drastic and using just the lone PS4 controller and hopefully it works out!

Thanks again!

So yeah, that was it. Add the udev rule and trigger udev. Hey, the controller wiki really needs to be updated with the ps4 controller.

@screw One of the advantages of Etcher is that you don't need to extract the image, so you just write it as is.

So far, I got a really long usb extension cord ($5) and a cheap 4 port hub ($7) that sits on my coffee table next to the couch. Not wireless but works well enough so far.

I use a couple of generic snes usb controllers for a bunch of systems (nes, atari 7800, snes, game boy, game boy advance, sega master system, and other such games). For the a+b button systems, I just remember to use only the bottom buttons. I do have some nes usb controllers, but TBH have found the SNES ones to work well enough.

I use a couple of the official Sega 6 button USB controllers for the sega games.

I haven’t worked my way up to any modern controllers yet, but plan to at some point.

@cjohnson26 I have set up a working PS3 controller for RetroPie on my PI 3B+.

It is however an original PS3 controller from purchasing the console a few years back.

The instructions from the github page you reference are not as fulsome at step 3 as they could be.

I recommend the following additional thoughts in case you haven't applied them.

3a. Reset your controller, this is a little hole on the underside of the controller that you stick an uncurled paperclip or similar into. Do not touch a button until further notice.
3b. Once the PS3controller driver is installed, you must select it to configure options.
3c. Choose your particular (compatible) controller from the list, hopefully it is there.
3d. A screen will now appear asking you to plug in the controller. Plug it in for 10 seconds, do not touch a button!
I believe at this time certain configuration files are created, including for retroarch.
3e. Unplug the controller and now press the PS button. If working, the lights will 'sweep' back and forth, rumble and settle on the controller number.

You then start ES and configure the controller.

The default setup is pretty good for retroarch emulators, although you may prefer to switch X & O!

ive hit this as well and was confused. i see auto stuff and explicit buttons, so its confusing. I checked the input bindings and saw some map to auto and some map to explicit buttons, so i'm assuming this means it depends on the input settings--this mostly works but ive found a few situations where it isn't working, so im not sure.

@mitu Thanks.

I will give this a try and report back tomorrow as it is getting late here.

GT2 fine as far as I can tell on my end. Don't have RE3

@BobHarris
Ok I quess I’ll have to wipe the SD card and download the software. Thank you .

@pingywon I can tell you the 8bitdo SN30 and N30 have the slightly aggravating northwest kernel problem.

As @TheDataCereal said, open the RA menu (Select + X) while in a game and change your Input settings, you probably want Player 1 to be the NES gamepad instead of the arcade Joystick. I don't think this is caused by the auto-save-on-exit settings.
As an alternative, use @meleu's joystick configuration and you can configure - per system - which controller is which player.

Thanks guys - that sorted it. No idea what config files I've been finding and deleting until now, but that first location had the default.cfg and tons of seperate game ones too. Wiped them all, rebooted and mame seems to be fine now.

Many thanks for your contributions. Case solved!

~Z~