Gamepad & Controller Tester

A controller has dozens of parts that can wear: buttons that stick or fail, triggers that never reach full, thumbsticks that rest slightly off centre and make a character creep across the screen. Before blaming the game or the console, check the controller. This page shows its raw input, button by button, and measures stick drift.

Connecting a controller

Plug the controller in by USB or pair it by Bluetooth, then press a button while the page is open. Browsers hide controllers until one has been used, so the page says No controller found until then. Each controller appears in its own section with its name, slot number, mapping and the counts of buttons and axes. A mapping of standard means the browser knows the layout, so the buttons carry their names, such as A, B, X and Y.

A worked example

Press Sample to see a demonstration with an Xbox-style controller: 17 buttons and 4 axes. The left and right stick are drawn as dots in a square that move with the axes. The button grid shows each button lit while pressed, with its name when you hover. Under it, Pressed now lists the pressed buttons, and Triggers shows the left and right analogue triggers as two percentages. Back to real controllers leaves the demonstration.

Reading buttons and triggers

Each button reports a value from 0 to 1. Face buttons are on or off, while the triggers are analogue and report how far they are pressed, so a trigger that stops at 80% or never returns to 0% is worn. The grid lights a button above 10% and fades it in proportion to the value. If a button never lights, or lights when untouched, it is faulty or dirty.

Testing stick drift

Put the controller down, leave both sticks untouched and press Test stick drift. For three seconds the page records the position of each stick and then reports, for the left and right, how far off centre it rests, how much it wobbles and the dead zone that would hide the movement. A healthy stick rests within a couple of percent of centre. The larger the off-centre figure, the more likely a game is to register movement, and games vary in how large a dead zone they use, so compare the dead zone suggested here with what your game offers.

Vibration

Test vibration plays a 600 millisecond dual-rumble effect through the controller’s motors. It works only on controllers and browsers that allow it, and not at all over some Bluetooth connections. If nothing happens, try a wired connection or a different browser before concluding the motors are broken.

Edge cases

Triggers on some pads are reported as axes rather than buttons, so the percentage reading may show 0. A controller with a non-standard layout shows numbered buttons, which you can compare with a manual. Two controllers appear as separate slots; the drift test uses the first.

Limits

The tester reads what the browser reports; it cannot see how a game reads the controller or what the console does. It cannot repair drift. Nothing is stored or uploaded.

Reading the numbers

Each stick axis reports a value between -1 and 1, where 0 is the centre. The drift test shows these as percentages of full deflection, so a reading of 0.05 appears as 5.0 percent. The off-centre figure is the average resting position, and the wobble is the largest distance of any single reading from the centre during the three seconds. Repeat the test two or three times, with the controller lying still on a table, since a thumb resting lightly on a stick will give a different result from a stick left alone.

Related tools

• Keyboard Test checks every key on a keyboard.
• Mouse Test checks mouse buttons and polling rate.
• Aim Trainer trains reaction time and accuracy.
• Touch Screen Test tests multi-touch on a screen.