Wired Controllers Recommendations

[Beldar]

@lesabotageur I did try that with no luck. However, I did do a little experiment with the Buffalo pads I have this morning. For reference, both the ones I tested are the 815 models. For some reason they have some additional components on their PCB compared to the 801 model, but have the same ghosting issue.

This morning I plugged in my two 815 Buffalos in a fairly stock install of Retropie running on a 3B+. Both of the controllers were giving ghost d-pad inputs in the menus and in games about once every 5 to 10 minutes. I opened the controllers, cleaned the contact pads on the PCB with alcohol, reseated the rubber, then reassembled the units. They behaved exactly the same way with ghost inputs every few minutes.

Then I plugged them into my other emulation machine, a 7th generation Intel NUC i5. The USB ports on it are all 3.0 or higher with far greater power output capabilities. I tested the controllers in the Windows 10 controller properties menu with no ghost inputs registering. Then I opened launchbox in Big Box mode and let it sit in the menus. Again, no ghost inputs. Finally, I played Final Fight for a full hour (did pretty well too) and I didn't notice a single hick up in play.

This makes me suspect that for some reason these little things are very inefficient with their power or have very cheap noisy wiring. I suspect that "Buffalo" has never fixed the issue because they probably test their stuff on higher power output PC's and likely not on a little bitty Pi. It does confuse me a little bit, because even USB 2.0 ports should provide well beyond the miniscule amount of power these things need.

My electronics knowledge is amateur and self taught while buring myself with a soldering iron many times. Perhaps somebody with a deeper understanding of electronics can provide more information than I can.

[Rion]

@beldar Brunnis over at the libretro forums did some investigation into this.

HowTo: Fix phantom/ghost input on iBuffalo/Buffalo SNES controllers

Reddit thread

[Darksavior]

8bitdo, high quality? I didn't know there was a comedic section in here. The dpad is horrendous, with it registering opposite inputs when tilting a direction. A direction has to be pressed right on the center of a direction. There's tape mods but they didn't work for me. They ended up requiring to press harder. Their battery tech is the old type where it drains when it's off..at least with my old SFC30. A ps4 controller can be cheaper than an snes/sfc30 pro when it's on sale.

As I can see, only their DIY kits seem to have the same dpad pcb layout as the real thing. I use the real things and they're around $12-15 used for japanese or US version + usb adapter. I'm using a real sfc's controller ports so I wouldn't know what usb adapter is good.

[Beldar]

@rion Thanks for the link! I saw the images with a description of the fix somewhere before but I didn't see that discussion then. It seems like I was almost sort of right about something for once!

[markwkidd]

@beldar said in Wired Controllers Recommendations:

@thelostsoul Mine are the same model number as yours. I've owned three and tested them on multiple pis. It seems to be a luck of the draw kind of thing as both the model numbers suffer from this flaw. You got lucky and I got unlucky, but such is life. There are tutorials online about how to fix the ghosting, but it requires soldering.

I've had this issue with iBuffalo controllers disappear when I connect them to a USB hub with its own power supply. Are you connecting your iBuffalo controllers directly to your rpi? Are you sure your controllers are getting enough amperage?

[Beldar]

@markwkidd I suspect that a powered USB hub would help with the problem, yes. In the little test I did the controllers were plugged directly into the USB ports on the Pi and then on the NUC. I do have have powered USB 3.0 hub, so maybe someday I will test that at some point to see if I have similar results. But, the data probably won't be that useful to me personally as I hate having a big old hub hanging off my Pi.

[markwkidd]

@beldar said in Wired Controllers Recommendations:

But, the data probably won't be that useful to me personally as I hate having a big old hub hanging off my Pi.

This is my gripe about the iBuffalo too -- a powered hub defeats the point of having a single board computer in the first place unless the SBC is built into something like an arcade cabinet where the hub is invisible.

[mat]

Was USB improved on Pi3+?

Debated on upgrading to it but also feel Pi 4 may come out early next year.

[mediamogul]

@mat said in Wired Controllers Recommendations:

Was USB improved on Pi3+?

Outside of improvements to USB mass-storage booting, I don't believe so. Other, improvements included a higher default clock speed, Improved WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as Faster Ethernet and power over Ethernet with a requisite HAT.

[Cybrasty]

Once again thanks everybody for recommendations and nostalgia trips.

I went with iBuffalo SNES controller. It will be here in few days, I thought if ghosting will be a real problem I can always return it (ordered from amazon). Fortunately, my setup has a powered USB hub and I run my controllers through it, so hopefully that will solve any possible ghosting.

[thelostsoul]

@cybrasty I just want mention that I don't use an extra USB hub on my Raspberry Pi 3. Both Buffalo gamepads (plus an arcade stick and a wireless receiver) are connected directly. The PSU is the original 2,5A/5V . If a hub is the solution, then it sounds like a ground problem to me. I also would change the cable, if there is any ground problem.

How to test properly if ghosting appears?

[Cybrasty]

Quick update:
Received the ibuffalo, feels amazing. Will do proper testing for ghosting over the weekend and will come back with my findings, maybe someone will find them useful in the future.

Also today I stumbled upon this guy in a thrift store and for $1.99 I picked it up:

It is a transparent black, game stop branded pad with PS2 and USB connectors. It feels a little cheap, but it will do for any PS1 games I might want to run for time being. My PC sees it as a wired PS3 controller, will test it on the Pi soon.

[Darksavior]

I ordered two innext snes pads for $8 total and they just arrived. They feel "ok" for the price. The d-pad itself is acceptable but still has the same problems as 8bitdo but to a lesser degree. The 4 front buttons are a bit taller and can be flimsy. Select/Start rubber feels very cheap. L button feels mushy. Overall, they're usable.

I went ahead and replaced the shell,buttons, and rubber pads with real sfc pad parts I wasn't using. I had to solder the original L/R pcb's because the innext one don't fit. It's just two wires per button so it wasn't a big deal. The innext ones can be glued on but I don't know how long they'll stay in place.

Feels very good now with the original parts. Used original SFC pads can be bought for ~$10-12US on ebay. Original SNES pads are more expensive due to this retrocraze at the moment.