Tool

8BitDo controller tester

Set your 8BitDo pad to the mode for your computer, connect it, press any button on it, and this page lights every control it reports: the face buttons, the bumpers and triggers, both sticks and their clicks, the D-pad and the menu buttons. It reads a Pro 2, an SN30 Pro, an Ultimate and any other 8BitDo pad the browser recognizes.

Check an 8BitDo controller in this order

1. Set the mode. On a Mac that is D on a pad with a switch, or B and Start held at power-on for an SN30 Pro. On Windows it is X.
2. Connect it and press any button, so the browser shows the controller to this page.
3. In the menu that reads Names: automatic, choose Switch if your pad has Nintendo-style letters, or Xbox if it has Xbox-style ones.
4. Press every button once and watch the checklist turn green.
5. Let go of both sticks and press Record 5 seconds at rest, then run the circle test.
6. Pull the triggers slowly, then press Both motors.

8BitDo prints Nintendo-style letters on some pads and Xbox-style letters on others. The tester reads positions, so choose the names that match your pad and the drawing follows.

Pick the mode before you test

• D. The mode 8BitDo lists for Apple devices on models with a switch, the Pro 2 included. On a Mac the pad is then listed as a game controller.
• S, Switch. The pad presents itself as a Switch controller, with Nintendo's swapped A and B.
• X, XInput. The Windows mode. macOS does not treat a pad in this mode as a game controller.
• No switch. An SN30 Pro or SN30 Pro+ picks its mode at power-on: hold B and Start for a Mac.

8BitDo controllers on a Mac has the mode for each model. A pad in the wrong mode is the usual reason a working controller shows nothing here.

Back buttons, and what a browser leaves out

• P1, P2, L4 and R4. A back button either copies a button you assigned, and then pressing it lights that button, or it stands alone, and a browser has no standard place for it.
• Motion. The browser's Gamepad API carries buttons, sticks, triggers and rumble, not the motion sensors.
• Rumble. Browsers differ on vibration from one controller and connection to the next, so a silent test here says little about the motors.

A control that stays dark here is not proof it is broken, so check it once outside the browser.

If the controller does not show up

Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

1. Press a button. A browser hides every controller from a page until a button is pressed while that page is in front.
2. Click the page, then press again. The tab has to be the active one when you press.
3. Reconnect it. Unplug the cable and plug it back in, or turn the controller off and on so it pairs again.
4. Check that the computer sees it. On a Mac, a connected PlayStation, Xbox or Switch controller is listed in System Settings under Game Controllers. If it is missing there, the fix is pairing: controller connected but not working on a Mac has every step.
5. Try a second browser. Browsers read controllers in different ways, so one that is missing in one browser can show up in another.

It works. Now give it a job

A tester tells you the controller is fine. On a Mac, InputConfig is the app I make for the next step: it turns the buttons and sticks you just tested into keys, the mouse pointer, clicks and scrolling, in any app or game. It is free, and its Live Visualizer draws the same live picture inside the app, with the touchpad and motion sensors a browser does not pass to a page. Test it here, then put it to work there.

Questions

Related

• 8BitDo controllers
• 8BitDo controller not working on a Mac
• Gamepad tester
• Stick drift test
• Switch Pro Controller tester

Free. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.