The 10 Best USB Retro Controllers (2023 reviews)

We consider a usb retro controller to be a worthy investment in the long run. We are here to help you choose the right one for your needs from all the best available products in market today.

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Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: suily USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best For firestick: Buy: Exlene USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best For Laptop: Buy: SAFFUN USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best With Trigger: Buy: miadore USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best With USB ports: Buy: Mafiti USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best For Steam Game: Buy: Rii USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best For New players: Buy: LUXMO premium USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best With Windows XP: Buy: MODESLAB USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best For Retro style Gaming: Buy: Nargos USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best For Nvidia Shield: Buy: Retro fighters USB Retro Controller READ REVIEW

Best Overall: suily USB Retro Controller

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We are personally inclined towards suily usb retro controller, it is not so pricy, but it overachieves its purpose and outstanding in important aspects. It is okay for a turn-based game, like Super Mario Bros. These controllers work and bring back good memories of gaming on the NES. Although not completely gone, it's much more responsive to quick side-to-side movements, jumps, and punches/kicks than the wireless 8bitdo controllers. They look and feel just like the original ones, with a sturdy build and responsive buttons. The buttons feel great and the overall quality of the controller is excellent.

These have basic controller boards with no drivers and should work fine for all versions of android compatible with otg. This is good for emulators for computer. It is pretty much plug and play.

• Very good, feels like an actual nes controller
• Controllers are user-friendly to setup with your games
• Lots of fun playing old nintendo games on the desktop
• Nice controllers, perfect for playing classic nintendo games on your pc

Best For firestick: Exlene USB Retro Controller

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Next on the list, we've got yet another controller that manages to win our hearts. It's the exlene usb retro controller and it's widely considered as one of the best convenient controller you can buy. This snes usb game controller works with an emulator on android. It does work well, and feels like the real one in terms of the size and button placement. It is a good online provider with gamepads and accessories like charging cables, extension cables, wall charger, snes controller, gba usb cables.etc. The directional buttons are stiffer, which gives them a more solid, responsive feeling.

They are well made, feel good in the hand (weight, and button response) But the fifth star comes from the 4 ft of extra cable. It works with any emulator you wish to download and use. If you are just getting controllers to play around for fun, these are perfect.

• A good quality controller with a nice, long cord
• Button conflicts, no failed responses, everything is working flawlessly
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For Laptop: SAFFUN USB Retro Controller

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The saffun usb retro controller is suitable and reliable and fits well with your daily usage. For using this controller on retro pi, you need to first plug the receiver to the pi before power on the pi, then power on the pi. It works well with Retropie and works well for average use. The new controller configuration does pop up because you have roms already installed on your system. The screen never blanks and the computer never sleeps while they are plugged in. There is a pinhole sync button next to the usb plug. The battery lasts a long time and they charge quick.

It's just a controller, if whatever you are using to run the games has map able options like that, you can set them up.

• Great range and recognized just fine by retro pi
• Perfect and wireless is a plus
• One of the new comers and featured product

Best With Trigger: miadore USB Retro Controller

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The miadore usb retro controller's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. This is a USB n64 controller compatible with switch windows pc mac linux raspberry pi retropie. It works with all types of emulators. The buttons are responsive and the analog stick is smooth and accurate. All the buttons work correctly, the analog stick feels true, and they feel pretty darn close to the real thing. It is great for pc emulator, specially for n64 emulator. The control stick is smooth and the range seems pretty accurate.

• Works great with the raspberry pi
• Nice to play retro games with
• Works perfectly out of the box with project
• Works on the switch and perfect for emulators

Best With USB ports: Mafiti USB Retro Controller

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Next on the list, we've got yet another controller that manages to win our hearts. It's the mafiti usb retro controller and it's widely considered as one of the best convenient controller you can buy. These are the same exact controllers that come in many Raspberry PI kits. It works with USB ports like on a computer. It is perfect for blasting alien invaders into the nearest galaxy. The buttons feel really nice and are very responsive. It is great for light game playing. They are recognized by a Sega mini but have to be configured to use on a PC. They work great on both PI and PC.

• Excellent for working with opengl and sfml
• Works just like a retro controller
• Very responsive, and super easy to set up

Best For Steam Game: Rii USB Retro Controller

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The rii usb retro controller is satisfactory and appropriate and fits well with your daily usage. This is a great product for playing retro games. It is designed for playing classic old school snes games and retro games on a computer or laptop. It can be used as backup when more than 2 controllers are needed. The Game Controller Button Flexible, when playing the game is very powerful, especially smooth, transmission speed is also very fast, experience when playing the game of fun, for parents, they like it.

The handle is easy to use. The directional cross is very stiff so it's really hard to do rotation moves like you need for a street fighter. They are just fine for casual playing.

• A must-have for raspberry pi emulation enthusiasts
• Feels pretty good and looks nice
• Some decent usb controllers for casual emulator usage
• Sturdy buttons, no need to install, windows 10 and 7 will pick it up

Best For New players: LUXMO premium USB Retro Controller

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If you're hoping to use Retro-Pi or PC N64 emulation, then this controller should work very well for you. It is great for imulators on PC. It's difficult to map C-arrow buttons well on modern controllers, so this makes it a breeze to play games the correct way.

This controller just works flawlessly. It's range of motion is a square so when moving the stick it reaches it full range before the stick can reach the edge of the control. This device is instantly recognized on all emulators. It's easy to install and in the emulator you program the controller button. This controller is easy to install and in the emulator you program the controller button.

• Works flawlessly with oot on p64 after mapping the controls
• Plug and play, no drivers or software required
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best With Windows XP: MODESLAB USB Retro Controller

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This USB snes controller has built-in 500 mah li-on battery, large capacity, long battery life, long standby time, more durable, and can improve your gaming experience. It's a good basic controller. The buttons work good and do not feel flimsy.

This controller is a generic usb controller, it uses a standard usb port, if your program or application accepts usb controller input, it can be used natively without drivers or patches, just plug and play. It works with any emulator you wish to download and use. It's compatible with windows 10 pc and emulators.

• Plug and play and even works with linux
• Significant enough delay made even mario a challenge, fine for tetris or turn-based games
• Wireless reach is perfect, battery lasts a long time
• Works with ubuntu 20.04 without issue

Best For Retro style Gaming: Nargos USB Retro Controller

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This is a fantastic controller for Raspberry Pi. It is compatible with switch (version 3.0.0 or above), windows, steam and raspberry pi devices. It comes with a 1.8m USB cable plugged into your console, just sit and enjoy your game at a comfortable distance. The buttons and d-pad are comfortable and work really good.

When it comes to comfort and quality, this controller appears to be well made. It is perfect for retro style gaming but could even be used for modern games since it has pretty excellent joysticks and shoulder buttons. It is a must owned controller for retro game players. If you need a spare controller or you're looking for the snes feel this is a go to. This controller is really small and lightweight.

• Responsive, feels great and even has rumble
• A fully featured wired retro controller to play 30 years old video games
• Comfortable, durable, very nice for retrogaming

Best For Nvidia Shield: Retro fighters USB Retro Controller

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Providing a new and comfortable way to play your favorite classic n64 games on your PC or mac, the next gen styled controller has a completely updated look over the original n64 controller. It feels very lightweight and cheaply constructed. It rearranges the buttons to a more modern format and feels very natural in hand as compared to the official controller. The stick is the right amount of stiff versus loose, with no sticking. The build and quality are great, no complaints, and had a lot of fun playing some classic N64 games using this controller.

The controller itself has macros to change the way the computer reads it. This will allow you to bind the start button normally like any other button.

• Plastic casting is nice and clean
• Controller feels good and works well
• Analog stick and better range and sensitivity than saffun controllers
• Really good controller for n64 emulators