8BitDo controller test
Connect your 8BitDo and run the whole test. Its mode decides how the browser reads it: for a reading with every button named, use X-input mode on Windows.
Press any button on the controller
Browsers show a controller only after a button is pressed, so that pages cannot list your devices unasked. Wired or Bluetooth both work.
This browser cannot read controllers.
Try a current Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari on a computer, Safari on an iPhone or iPad, or Chrome on Android.
The controller was disconnected. Connect it again and press a button; your results are kept.
Result: No problem found so far
Press every button, then run the checks below: the result is written here as you go.
Sticks
The rings are dead zones: the inner one 10 %, which many games use, the outer one 24 %, Xbox's standard for the left stick (27 % for the right).
Drift check
Put the controller down and do not touch the sticks. The check reads them for three seconds.
Range check
Push each stick to its edge and turn it slowly round, two or three times.
Buttons
Press each one. A button turns blue while held and stays ticked once it has worked.
Triggers
Press each trigger all the way down. A trigger reports how far it is pressed, not just on or off.
Rumble
Each button runs a motor for one second. The tab must stay in front while it runs.
This browser cannot run this controller's motors: Firefox and the browsers on iPhone and iPad run none, and Chrome and Edge on Windows do not run a PS5 controller's. The rest of the test is not affected.
Report
For a return, a warranty claim or a sale: print it, save it as a PDF, or copy the text.
How it works
- Pick the controller's mode before you turn it on: on a Pro 2, the switch on the back (X for Windows, S for Switch, D for Android, iPhone and iPad, A for macOS); on an SN30 Pro, hold X (Windows), Y (Switch), B (Android) or A (macOS) while you press Start.
- Connect it with a cable, or pair it over Bluetooth (on a Pro 2, hold Pair for 3 seconds), and press any button so the browser shows it.
- Run the drift check with the sticks untouched, turn each stick round its edge, press every button and both triggers.
- Try the rumble, if your model has motors.
- Copy or print the report: it records the name the browser gave the controller, which tells the mode.
What the results mean
- Each mode looks different to a browser
- In X-input mode Chrome and Microsoft Edge read the controller as an Xbox 360 controller, every button named. In Switch mode a browser may read it as a Switch Pro Controller. In D-input or Android mode most browsers do not know its layout and show its buttons by number: every one is still tested, only without names, and the right stick may sit on other axes than the test expects, so use X-input for the stick checks.
- Back buttons
- The back buttons of a Pro 2 or an Ultimate are not passed to web pages in X-input or Switch mode. Give them a face button's job (on a Pro 2 in 8BitDo's Ultimate Software; on an Ultimate 2 or 2C also on the controller itself, as its manual shows), then press them here: the face button they copy lights up.
- Triggers in Switch mode
- In Switch mode the triggers act as ZL and ZR: only on or off, as on a Nintendo controller. For a test of how far they press, use X-input mode.
- Updates and calibration
- 8BitDo's updater brings the controller's firmware up to date, and some models can recalibrate their sticks, in Ultimate Software or with a button combination their support page gives (the Ultimate 2 Wireless: LB, RB, Minus and Plus held for 8 seconds). After an update or a calibration, run the drift check again.
Questions
The test shows «Button 3» instead of names. Why?
The controller is in D-input or Android mode, which browsers do not have a layout for. Every button is still tested; switch to X-input for names.
It shows as an Xbox 360 controller. Is that wrong?
No: that is X-input mode, the way Windows reads most 8BitDo controllers for games.
Does the rumble work?
On models with motors, in X-input or Switch mode, in Chrome or Microsoft Edge on a computer; in D-input mode a browser usually cannot run them, and Firefox runs no controller's motors. The Micro has no motors; the Pro 2, the SN30 Pro and the Ultimate 2C have them.
Which mode is best for the test?
On Windows, X-input: every button gets its name. On a Mac, an iPad or an Android phone, use the mode the manual gives for that system; the test reads every button in any mode, by name or by number.