Years in the past, third-party gaming controllers had been grime low cost and infamous for their poor craftsmanship—particularly the eggshell-plastic MadCatz knockoffs. Every family had one. It was reserved for child siblings and houseguests you perhaps did not like that a lot. Those varieties of controllers gave third-party gamepads a foul identify—one which persists to at the present time.
In current years although, firms like Scuf and Astro have donned their armor and unfurled their banners on a quest to rebuild the status of “off-brand” gamepads, one controller at a time. We’ve tried a bunch of them prior to now couple of years, and these are our favorites. Here are the perfect gaming controllers, official and unofficial, for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox (One and Series X/S), and PC.
Be certain to learn our guides to the Best Gaming Headsets, Best Gaming Mouse, and Best Gaming Laptops for extra suggestions.
Updated March 2021: We adjusted pricing all through this information, wrote some tips about how far to take a seat out of your TV or monitor, and added the PS5 DualSense controller.
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