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This is a subject that I don't see a lot of people talk about. What do you guys think of off-brand controllers? I'll try to give two sides of the story here.
I remember whenever the Nintendo Switch first came out and Pro Controllers were being debated by the fans. If I can remember correctly, Pro Controllers were a holy grail at that point and were very expensive (and still are...), but I remember seeing an article about this wireless controller that cost about 30 bucks; people were going nuts over it! It connected to plenty of consoles and was much more portable than the Switch Pro Controller (bringing up this point since I remember the Pro Controller's bulkiness being a big complaint.)
On the other hand... You have the "unbranded" or "generic" ones that sell for very cheap. For example, while searching eBay for Gamecube controllers, I found a pack of FOUR for 1.65! Yeah, not gonna fall for that one. I know here in the US, Rock Candy controllers are infamous. They're not very durable and tend to break. My Spanish teacher bought one for her kids' Wii and she said that it didn't work straight out of the box. Whenever I first got Steam on my PC and wanted to use a controller for Castle Crashers and Cuphead, I went and bought a Rock Candy "XBox 360" controller because I couldn't fork over 60 dollars for a genuine one. So far it hasn't broken, but I've been incredibly gentle with it. Depending on how long this controller lasts, it may change my mind about the cheaper alternatives.
I used some off-brand Wii remotes a while back, it was a lot like you described.
I don't know where my mom bought that thing, but man did it wreak of cheap.
The buttons were honestly the worse part, you could barely tell when they were being pressed down.
I don't remember how well it held a charge, so maybe they were decent in that aspect? I doubt it though.
I've tried exactly one off-brand controller and it was a wired 360 controller. It worked pretty well...except for the weird tendency to autoscroll left at random intervals. PowerA was the brand. I would not recommend it.
I actually just now realized that mostly all of my third party controllers were PowerA controllers, but I've had good experiences with them myself!
One of them was also a wired 360 controller which I got with the system back in 2012. It finally broke last year, so 5 years of consistent use out of a third party controller is pretty solid imo. Then I also got one of their wired Switch pro controllers during Christmas last year. It feels super sturdy, it works completely fine, the wire is plenty long, it's solid overall. The only complaints I'd have with it are that it doesn't have a gyroscope (so you aren't going to be playing Splat with it), and that there's no rumble.
Other than those 2 controllers, I had plenty of third party junk for the GC and Wii from all sorts of brands and they were usually awful. I remember one of them being a brand new nunchuck, and it worked for... 5 hours or so before completely breaking. That was a great use of $20
I avoid them. Would rather splash out on an official controller than take the risk with anything third party, especially given it's pretty rare a store will have an unboxed one for you to at least hold before purchase. From my experience they've always felt cheap and flimsy, build quality is all over the place and generally uncomfortable.
I almost never buy off-brand controllers. Every time I made the mistake of buying one, or was gifted one by a well meaning person, it was either uncomfortable to hold, or broke after a week. Individually, official controllers may be more expensive, but since they tend to last a lot longer they will be a lot cheaper long term.
It really depends on the off-brand. Hori (a Japanese company) makes really fantastic off-brand stuff. I can't really say enough good stuff about Hori. I have a PS3 controller of theirs and it's better than the Sony ones. Generally their things can even be better than official stuff. Cobalt Flux was (I say was because they aren't around anymore) the best maker of DDR platforms, way better than the Konami official dance pads. You can get/build great mods to use real electronic drum kits instead of the meh Rock Band drums.
For standard video game controllers though, most of mine are officials. You can't beat that most of the time. It's generally specialized controllers for specific games that the 3rd party/indie/mod ones can be better.
I've had a few third party controllers through the years and none of them come close to first party controllers. I always go first party since many years now but I have heard som good things about Hori. Might check them out at some point.
I don't think I've ever brought off brand controllers. The only time (I think) I had an off brand controller was one of my PS2 controllers, and honestly that thing was as good as gold. It was second hand and it outlasted my singstar microphones lol. All of my current controllers for my Wii, Wii U and Switch are all official though. I think it does depend on brand though, Hori is very good!
I have a knockoff and I have yet to find a controller-supported game that accepts it without any issues. Any AAA game had issues with camera movement and any indie game that might offer controller support didn't recognize the buttons all too well.
I've been using official Xbox PC controllers for two years now, first a normal one and then got a wireless last one for my birthday, and they both work perfectly with all games. They also haven't broken down, my old one only has the A button a little bit worn out.
I had some off-brand controllers back then for my GameCube. While the quality of one of them
was actually pretty good, the other ones were kinda acceptable, at least they worked for the
second player, but I didn't like them that much. Overall, I prefer more to use offical controllers.
Back then I used a few of these off-brand controllers for my consoles. I remember there was one of
them for the PS2 which sucked at lot, it got broken pretty quickly, like the buttons didn't worked at
all after I used it only two or three times. The others were fine, at least they did their work and also
last for longer.
Normally I don't trust off brand controllers and won't buy them but I have a wireless wave bird gamecube controller. I've had it since 2004 or maybe a little earlier. Never had any issues with it and it's the best gamecube controller I've ever used.
