Help finding N64 controllers

[Despatche]

Alright, here's a question that's bugged me for a while. It seems that getting a proper N64 controller for any use case besides an original N64 itself is more difficult than it appears. For what it's worth, I like the N64 controller a lot, it's much much much better than people think. Additionally, the OEM N64 controller's stick is very different from virtually all other controllers, and many N64 games do not play right on anything else as a result. Also, trying to play N64 games without a proper set of six face buttons just plain sucks.

For example, the Brawler64 seems pretty cool, except I've heard nothing but bad things about it from people who by all accounts know better, and that's before getting into the OEM stick issue mentioned above. There doesn't seem to be anything else besides what Analogue's up to, and I doubt that's going to turn out any differently. I'm not even sure Nintendo's own remake controller can be trusted anymore, and it's also very expensive.

Does anyone have other alternatives? More information on this? Maybe someone can rep the Brawler64? Please help, thank you.

[RocketBelt]

I bought a Retro-bit Tribute64 which unfortunately has a useless stick as well. I was all over the grass on Mario Kart 64, the fairy bow mini games in Ocarina of Time were impossible and Goldeneye was unplayable. This was on an original 64. Shame because other than the stick the controller was nice. I guess it would be ok for games that are less input sensitive maybe. I went back to an original controller and no problems.

[bobrocks95]

Here are some testing results from a few controllers I had. I hate the Kitsch-Bent replacement stick by the way, never got it feeling good.

viewtopic.php?p=1496417#p1496417

Here's someone else's test of the new 8bitdo replacement stick which looks superb, though the feel will of course be different than OEM:

Spoiler

My recommendation would be find a decent looking OEM controller and replace its stick with 8bitdo's module if it's loose or worn.

There's also Retro-Bit's new stick replacement that I just got in the mail, but my N64 is out for repairs so I currently can't test it. Unfortunately I ordered it right before I heard about the 8bitdo one, and I'm expecting it to look more like the Tribute64's overblown gate than 8bitdo's careful calibration...

I do like my Hori Mini though, even though it's still more sensitive than OEM, it has a really big, tall stick with a long throw so you can still make fine adjustments when needed. It's too expensive to generally recommend these days though.

[Despatche]

Greatly appreciate the help, thank you both. It really does seem like having an OEM controller involved at some point is required... but there's only so many of those left. And yeah, the Super Mario 64 speedrunners totally ruined the Hori Minis, a shame.

Well, the problem with OEM controllers, then, is that I've also heard nothing but bad things about adapters. I am no stranger to adapter hell and I'd like to avoid as much of it as possible. I see that both Mayflash and Hyperkin make fairly recent products, but are either of them actually good? I've always heard Mayflash products are very hit-or-miss, and I've never tried a Hyperkin adapter.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

While I've never tried a Mayflash N64 adapter, I do own one of their Magic NS adapters and it's worked flawlessly. Lets me play on my Switch using an Xbox 360 stick or controller. The only "problems" I've had with it haven't been the fault of the adapter either (the Switch doesn't allow control remapping in the operating system of third party controllers, and sometimes after being asleep for several days it stops detecting the controller and requires a hard reset of the Switch so it detects USB controllers properly again). If you can get a Mayflash N64 adapter I'd expect it to do what it advertises. Note that sometimes they release firmware updates for their adapters so if it's an older adapter you may need to do that first.

I also own two Mayflash sticks for PS2 use and they work fine. The buttons and sticks on them aren't quite as good as Sanwa sticks but those are replaceable and the stock parts are decent enough for casual play.

So yeah, for whatever it's worth, my experience with them thus far has been positive.

[jd213]

Refurbishing original analog sticks doesn't look too hard: https://youtu.be/RzxguPfWhe0?t=462

The replacement parts bobrocks mentioned look pretty inexpensive, dunno how much shipping costs though: https://store.kitsch-bent.com/collectio ... ment-parts

I see that stoneagegamer has replacement gears as well: https://stoneagegamer.com/replacement-g ... stick.html

I don't play N64 too much but all the controllers I have were bought used, will have to see if I can play better after refurbishing one.

[NoAffinity]

I posted results from testing a replacement stick off amazon. It's not jaw dropping, but works well enough. Just adding here for posterity:

viewtopic.php?p=1392469&hilit=stick#p1392469

[bobrocks95]

I posted results from testing a replacement stick off amazon. It's not jaw dropping, but works well enough. Just adding here for posterity:

viewtopic.php?p=1392469&hilit=stick#p1392469

If you have access to a controller test program to see how the stick performs I'd love to see it! I'd recommend that over the Kitsch-bent just because pre-made is so much easier.

[NoAffinity]

I posted results from testing a replacement stick off amazon. It's not jaw dropping, but works well enough. Just adding here for posterity:

viewtopic.php?p=1392469&hilit=stick#p1392469

If you have access to a controller test program to see how the stick performs I'd love to see it! I'd recommend that over the Kitsch-bent just because pre-made is so much easier.

Were you looking for something more than this?
viewtopic.php?p=1393016#p1393016

[bobrocks95]

I posted results from testing a replacement stick off amazon. It's not jaw dropping, but works well enough. Just adding here for posterity:

viewtopic.php?p=1392469&hilit=stick#p1392469

If you have access to a controller test program to see how the stick performs I'd love to see it! I'd recommend that over the Kitsch-bent just because pre-made is so much easier.

Were you looking for something more than this?
viewtopic.php?p=1393016#p1393016

Ah, should've scrolled down a bit. Definitely looks better than my Kitsch-Bent results! Not bad for an OEM-style replacement.