D-Pad Doctor: XConverter 360 Review

For quite some time now, the stock Xbox 360 controller has been less than ideal for me, specifically the d-pad. Many action games require quick and effective use of the d-pad. It pains me to not feel in full control of my beloved Ikaruga. So what are my options? I have little faith in third party controllers and arcade sticks aren’t quite my thing. If only I could use my favorite controller, the DualShock, on my 360.

Until recently, the only way to do so was expensive adapter costing more than a controller itself. Sure, the XFPS adapters also allows a keyboard, mouse and other devices to be used, but if you’re like me that’s a bit excessive. I just want to play my games with a similar but superior controller. Korean company JOYTRON (alternate site) has come to the rescue. Now, for approximately $30 USD, you can get the XConverter 360, an adapter which allows you to use a PlayStation 2 DualShock controller (with vibration support) on your Xbox 360.

Like the XFPS, the XConverter 360 requires a wired 360 controller to be plugged into the adapter. It seems the controllers themselves have something similar to copy protection built in to discourage third party devices. I’ve read that plugging in a third party wired controller can work in some cases. The third party controller I tried didn’t work, so I had to purchase a cheap official wired controller online. Plugging in a wireless controller via a Play & Charge Kit, doesn’t work either, but that’s understandable.

The XConverter 360 documentation states that it supports PS2 gamepads (like the DualShock), arcade sticks, and steering wheels. The adapter itself has a switch on it to allow for an alternate button arrangement. I imagine if a device plugs into a PS2 controller port, it should work with the XConverter 360, though I can’t confirm this. I’m sure there’s some exceptions with trickier devices like light guns. I only had the chance to try an official DualShock, but that’s all I need, and what better to test the adapter with?

Use of the XConverter 360 is easy. Plug a wired 360 controller into the device, plug in a PS2 controller, then plug the adapter into the 360 system and power it on. You can unplug the wired 360 controller once the 360 system boots, but re-plugging the wired controller into the 360 system’s second USB port (in hopes I could use it as a 2nd player) yielded nothing. Only the PS2 controller plugged into the XConverter 360 was responsive. Basically the wired controller remains useless for the time being, so I just leave it plugged into the XConverter 360. This is a bit annoying and it’d have been nice if JOYTRON found a solution better than requiring a wired 360 controller. Apparently that’s difficult, since even the expensive XFPS requires one.

I’m no aficionado of fighting games, but I tested several games that require quick d-pad reflexes. I didn’t detect any lag at all. I felt a genuine improvement in my control of Ikaruga and was easily able to get a rather high score (for me). I easily made it to the 4th stage of R-Type (in R-Type Dimensions), only dying once on the way, and bust my highscore wide open by the time I finally got game over. This was a definitive test for me, as I’ve had a very similar skill level when playing other versions of R-Type. I easily beat X’ mode on normal in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Other games I tested were N+, Bomberman LIVE, Every Extend Extra Extreme, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Pac-Man Championship Edition and Mr. DRILLER Online. At no point did I feel that the controller was hindering me, unlike my experiences with the 360 controller.

The one small issue I found was with the game Ion Assault that requires the player to hold the left trigger. The XConverter 360 maps the 360’s left and right triggers to L2 and R2 on the DualShock. The 360’s triggers have depth to them and DualShock’s buttons are pressure sensitive, so this works somewhat, but at times the game would think I was letting go when I had not. The depth of the DualShock’s buttons is pretty shallow, so I’d assume only so much can be done about this. Perhaps a sensitivity toggle switch would have helped this. The analog sticks seem to work perfectly. It should be noted , however, that the DualShock’s analog sticks are a bit larger than the 360 controller’s. Larger analog sticks probably means slightly higher precision with slightly lower response time. Cross-controller differences like these are to be expected but are fairly negligible.