What's SW's consensus on the Duke controller?

I remember this thing back in the day, didn't get to use it much. I recently picked up the 20th anniversary edition and I'm enjoying it! Which makes me wonder.. should Xbox have kept the Duke as the standard Xbox controller, or are you happy with the revision, SW? And did you like the Duke?

I liked it back in the day because i was going directly from the N64 controller to this thing, so an obvious upgrade.

Better than any cheap feeling Sony controller.

The size is fine but the face buttons are pretty bad because of their shape.

Thought it was bulky as hell and didn't care for the D pad.

Never did use one. When I got the Xbox they had already replaced it with the S controller. I probably wouldn’t have too much of an issue with the size of it but the buttons don’t look all that great.

@Archangel3371: come on man you're an Xbox diehard how do you not have it

This. The DualSense controller might be the first good PS controller. It’s a shame about the rest of the PS5 though…

I remember it to be quite horrible for my pretty small hands.

And that.

I like it a lot. I actually had to get used to the 360 pad, especially for Halo, since I was so accustomed to the duke.

@SolidGame_basic: I was a skeptic when Xbox first launched. Kept hearing how great Halo: Combat Evolved was and the hype for the upcoming Halo 2 was through the roof so I said fine let’s see what this Xbox thingamajig is all about. Picked up an Xbox and a copy of Halo to prep for Halo 2 and the rest as they say was history. 😅

Not really interested in getting one of those Duke Anniversary controllers though to be honest. More then happy with the current ones.

Hated it. I have small hands and it was a nightmare. The revision was good though (other than my usual digging on asymmetrical analogs)

It was fine in its time and lasted years compared to controllers now that get stick drift in mere months sometimes. Had a lot of fun with it.

i got big hands... so i like it

@Pedro: how the hell did you get that footage of me!

@Renegade_Fury: why don't you get one for your PC?!

@SolidGame_basic: wait there a 20th anniversary duke controller? News to me sounds cool.

I always liked the Duke, it felt right. But the 360 controller overall just nailed it.

I had a Dreamcast, so the Duke worked fine to me. But the S was an improvement over it, as was every XBox controller sinse then.

@sargentd: yea it just came out recently. It has a cool animation where the center Xbox button is. There's also a Cortana version. I got the white one.

It was way too big.

Love it for the nostalgia, hate it for it's ergonomics.

The buttons were shaped in a way that made your fingertips hurt during extended play

The dpad, I mean look at it.

The white and black buttons were hard to reach and also hurt to press

The triggers were sippery and tiny

The S controller I loved though

I actually remember this controller because I have large hands and this felt really good in them. Never owned a console but had a friend with this controller, I always tried to make sure I ended up with it.

@judaspete: but the Duke wasn't actually like the DC controller at all, despite the similarities in general layout. Totally different ergonomics (and the DC is great for small hands)

I go what Chutebox said. I thought it was okay (ish) but nothing to brag about. Only care for the games on it.

I'm sorry but that was too damn funny😂

@xantufrog: You're right, it was different from the Dreamcast pad. To me the similarity is both were big and awkward, but still worked well enough. Dual shock 2 and GC were better though.

Way to big and bulky which made the button placement just feel bad along with a pretty shit dpad (something that MS wouldn't fix for ages). It did look cool though.

I much preferred the controller S made after. I have big hands but even then It was like holding a pipe wrench. It wasn't ergonomic at all.

It was fine, but the smaller one was definitely better. I didn’t like the ABXY, White and Grey buttons, too firm and too concave. Sticks and triggers were great.

I remember not liking using the flashlight in Halo CE with the white or black buttons.

The asymmetrical design was different but I never had a problem with the controller myself.

@SolidGame_basic: Technically, I do. Since I have three of them, my bro cut off the end of one and made a makeshift usb wire. It works, so if I really wanted to, I could play PC games with it, lol.

It was big and gawdy when I first held it.... About 20 minutes into playing with it I realized it was awesome... Sturdy, very easy to use. Loved my Duke.

For playing Halo, it was great. We would play every Sunday from noon to midnight, and my hands never hurt. The buttons were fixed with the S, but the triggers and sticks were better on the Duke. That being said, I'm not sure if I could go back... but I would try.

Relive the glory days!

@davillain said:

@xantufrog said:

Hated it. I have small hands and it was a nightmare. The revision was good though (other than my usual digging on asymmetrical analogs)

I'm sorry but that was too damn funny😂

Well he is a frog, so can't blame him really. Also has the webbed fingers problem too, no wonder he prefers a mouse.

Absolutely hated it, I'm glad MS moved on to more ergonomic designs.

Never used it, but heard is was pretty uncomfortable.

I owned some people in Halo Infinite with the Duke controller 😎

Loved the Dukes back in the day. ;)

The 360 controllers though were the blueprint for where controllers aught to be. :P

Given that I have big hands, I loved it and it was one of the reasons that I preferred to buy games on the Xbox.

I remember buying the Duke controller cause our Xbox came with the Controller S. Huge controller and just awkward to play games with it. I never liked the face buttons and the white and black buttons were position weird.

Too big, glad they ditched it.

I liked that it's made for non baby hands, but the buttons sucked

@navyguy21:

Agree, I actually tried to give it a chance but just hated the feel. Control S was definitely an improvement though I hated the black and white buttons.

@SolidGame_basic: I loved it. I have big "man hands" and found it very comfortable.

The controller was far too big for my hands the revision was perfect.