From bananas to frying pans, here are 10 of the wackiest gaming controllers the world has ever seen

By Sam Wareing

Published Jun 2, 2022 at 09:00 AM

Reading time: 4 minutes

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Images by @rudeism and @realmofmandy on Twitter

Video game controllers are pretty commonplace these days—most of them sport a similar design and layout, making them instantly recognisable and easy to get the hang of. But throughout the years, gaming companies have gone out of their way to produce unique and novel controller variants to play your favourite games with.

Some players have even gone a step further and used these controllers to play games they were never meant to work with in the first place. Heck, they’ve even made their own ones using household items. Don’t believe us? Here’s all the documented evidence on the wackiest controllers the world has ever witnessed:

If you’re not familiar with Dragon Quest, it’s a role playing game series by Square Enix with art and character design by legendary manga artist and Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama. Although the game features weird and wacky enemies and locations, other important elements include… the Slime. This delightful little blue blob has been made into a controller and, honestly, have you ever seen something this cute? With a Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch version, the likeness to the creature it’s modelled after is uncanny, and while fully functional, it may take a little getting used to.

The Donkey Kong bongo controller was released in tandem with the Donkey Konga series of rhythm games. Featuring a barrel design, this controller was initially created to be played like a pair of bongos—until one curious gamer had another idea in store for the novel device. YouTuber and streamer Benjamin “Bearzly” Gwin hooked up the controller and used it to beat none other than the notoriously difficult Dark Souls in about five and half hours. Now, we have one question: How?

Resident Evil is one of the most iconic horror franchises out there with memorable monsters such as Nemesis, the Baker Family and Lady Dimitrescu. But one particular nightmarish creature provided inspiration for our next bonkers controller. In Resident Evil 4, players will come across an enemy wielding a chainsaw with a sack over its head. If careless, this monster can kill the player in one hit. It’s this chainsaw that was made into one of the coolest looking, if not insane, controllers out there. Not much more needs to be said really, just take a look for yourself:

If you’ve always wanted to play an instrument but couldn’t afford it, then this is the game for you. Guitar Hero released with its iconic guitar controller that let you rock out without any expertise with the actual instrument. But as usual, someone decided that they didn’t want to use it for what it was intended. YouTuber SuperLoius64, also known as Louis Hamilton, took to the internet in 2020 to try and complete Dark Souls 3 using the wacky controller—all without levelling up.

Typically used to play dancing games, the dance mat controller effectively works like a giant regular controller, but for your feet. This doesn’t mean that it’s any easier to use, however. Legendary unconventional controller master Louis Hamilton (part of the Super Scrub Brothers’ Twitch channel) has used and concocted loads of weird controllers in his day, but once reminisced fondly about the start of his journey in an interview with Game Informer. “Me and my buddies were just playing games, just every night after school,” he said. “And one of the days, my buddy brought his dance pad… and we’re like, what if we play Street Fighter with this? And somehow it worked.”

Following the success of Guitar Hero, a follow up game by the name of DJ Hero was released—with an equally cool controller resembling a DJ turntable. Of course, Louis Hamilton couldn’t resist taking a crack at beating Dark Souls 3 with this insane creation. And of course, he beat the game. Is there anything this man can’t do?

The answer to the previous question is ’No’. Hamilton, feeling a bit peckish, decided that maybe we should play with our food. From this, the baguette controller was born. Created to be used with the sniper character Widowmaker in Overwatch, this glorified sandwich featured a gyroscope—meaning he could move it around in real life to make the onscreen character aim her weapon. Anyone hungry?

Taking a step back from Hamilton’s creations, let’s take a look at what happens when you mix an Xbox controller with traditional Scottish tartan. The answer is this beauty right here. Marking 20 years of Xbox in Scotland, and featuring the phenomenal work of legendary kiltmaker Gordon Nicolson, (who also provides the Scottish National Football team with their own tartan), it brings together the iconic Scottish pattern and Xbox’s easily distinguishable colours to form a smart and sophisticated controller that you’re probably going to want to keep miles away from those gaming snacks.

Hamilton isn’t the only one capable of this gaming wizardry. His Super Scrub Brothers co-star Beck came up with yet another novel way of beating Dark Souls: A frying pan. Yes, you heard that right. Once again, joysticks and buttons have been wired into the pan to create a functional controller. Beck even told Game Informer that he dies less in Dark Souls with the pan controller compared to a standard one. “By all means, it’s not better than the standard controller, but I’ve gotten used to using it so much. It just feels more comfortable,” he admitted.

And here we are. La pièce de résistance. As has become a theme with this list, we’ve saved Hamilton’s most insane and glorious creation for the last. Let’s talk about the banana controller which was used to beat, you guessed it, Dark Souls 3.

Using a piece of programming kit called Makey Makey, which lets you run an electric current through everyday objects and turn it into recognisable inputs, Hamilton was able to turn twelve bananas (because that’s how many it takes apparently) into a working controller. By programming it in a way that registered different pokes and taps as different inputs, Hamilton was able to beat the aforementioned game with…fruit. So if your controller is broken and you don’t want to shell out £50 for a new one, fear not. Just head to your local supermarket. Bananas are on sale, apparently.