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[Agent_Nobody]

I've only ever had 2 controllers fail on me since the PS1 (PS1/2/3/4/5/Xbox/360/XBO/XBSX/GameCube/Wii/WiiU/SW/Dreamcast) not including handhelds which I've also never had fail on me. I'm one of those people that refuse to believe the people that say controllers fail on them all the time but they treat them perfectly.

Those 2 controllers were the WiiU Gamepad and a DualShock 3. WiiU gamepad wouldn't work unless plugged in (this is after years of sitting in a box), and the DualShock 3 had the same issue + a DPAD that registered inputs on it's own.

The DualShock I opened up and replaced the battery and cleaned the DPAD and it work's perfectly now.

So the answer is basically every controller I've ever owned.

I think most of my problems with the PS4 controller triggers was just having big hands and putting pressure right near the tiny plastic hinge on the inside. And I had the N64 controller where the spring went and the stick just flops around like my dick…not sure how I could avoid that.

But yeah I suspect for most of the stick drift ones were probably dust or grime…

 

[Agent_Nobody]

I still have my original NES controllers that work perfectly that I received as a Christmas present in 1986.

Yeah everything I have with a Dpad still works…they get spongey they squeak, but yeah those were durable as hell. It’s almost like they were made for war like the Gameboy:

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

For me, only PlayStation controllers stand the test of time. Nintendo and Xbox controllers tend to wear out for me.

 

[GoldenEye98]

I actually think one of the biggest culprits of stick drift issues is having the sticks also act as button presses(R3/L3). I think some games like COD default the sprint button to that. So you end up pressing in on the joystick over and over.

 

[Agent_Nobody]

I actually think one of the biggest culprits of stick drift issues is having the sticks also act as button presses(R3/L3). I think some games like COD default the sprint button to that. So you end up pressing in on the joystick over and over.

I think that too to an extent, I especially think a lot of the Switch ones were just the plastic bending from the things being so thin and the pressure of the stick presses along with the added heat if you used it handheld which ended up warping the plastic behind it.

But then I still have that day one 360 controller from my earlier post that survived every COD on that console except the cross gen one, with the stick literally worn down to the plastic from that same push down press.

And somehow it’s unaffected? I treated that thing like shit, with literal years of use… I just don’t get why it seems to crop up more and more on newer controllers…and somehow this one survived almost 20 years now (got it in 2005)…even when my PS3 controller went it was the right trigger going floppy, not the sticks.

 

[manfestival]

out of all of the generations of controllers that I have had. The only ones that didnt really last are the current generation ones.

 

[MrPaul]

One of my two TRS-80 Joysticks still works fine. Inside are two potentiometers and a contact switch; the second controller required some minor maintenance about 5 years ago, though it was just a simple resolder of the connections from the cable. I was actively exploring the software library at the time, connecting a phone's audio directly to the TRS-80's RCA cassette connection. Longest lasting by far, though not due to quality so much as sparse usage over the years.

 

[Hohenheim]

My NES Controllers from 1990 is still just as good as new. Used them through my childhood, took them to my friends houses and they obviously got some hard treatment. Quite amazing quality on those things.