Tool

Arcade stick tester

Plug in a fight stick, an arcade stick or a leverless controller, press any button on it, and this page lists every button and every direction it reports, by number, lighting as you press. It shows exactly what the stick sends, which is what an emulator or a game receives.

Check a stick in this order

  1. Set the mode. On a Mac that is PS3, PS4 or DirectInput first. On Windows, XInput works.
  2. Plug it in and press any button, so the browser shows the stick to this page.
  3. Press each button once, one at a time, and note the number that lights.
  4. Push the lever to each of the four directions, then into each corner.
  5. Hold two buttons together and check that both stay lit.

Go one control at a time. A button that lights two numbers, or none, is the one to look at.

Read the lever

  • As a D-pad. With the lever switch on DP, each direction lights a button, or moves one axis that jumps between fixed values, depending on the stick and the browser.
  • As a stick. With the switch on LS or RS, the lever moves two axes: each one snaps to -1 or 1 and returns to 0.
  • Diagonals. A corner is two directions at once, so two buttons light, or both axes move.

A direction that never shows, or one that shows without the lever being there, points at a microswitch.

Test a leverless controller

On an all-button controller such as a Hit Box, the directions are buttons, so each one lights like any other. SOCD cleaning happens inside the controller: what left plus right, or up plus down, turns into is decided there, and the computer only ever sees the result. Hold both directions together and this page shows that result.

If the stick 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. Change the mode. On a Mac, most sticks in Xbox or XInput mode are invisible, and on many PlayStation-licensed sticks the position marked PC is that same mode. A fight stick on a Mac has the mode table.
  3. Try another cable. If the stick lights up and nothing is listed, the cable may only charge.
  4. Skip the hub. Plug straight into the computer, or into a plain adapter.
  5. Try a second browser. A browser shows only the devices it accepts as game controllers, and browsers differ on which ones those are.

What a browser cannot tell you about a stick

The page shows which inputs arrive, not how fast. It cannot time the delay between a press and the game, and it does not see a turbo setting, a tournament lock switch or the lights. The controller polling rate test counts how often new readings reach the browser, which is one part of that picture.

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

How do I test a fight stick online?

Put the stick in a mode your computer reads, plug it in, and press any button so the browser shows it to this page. Then press each button and push the lever to every direction and corner, one at a time, and watch what lights.

Which mode should my arcade stick be in for the test?

On a Mac, a PS3, PS4 or DirectInput mode first, because macOS reads those as ordinary USB devices. Most sticks in Xbox or XInput mode are invisible to a Mac. On Windows, XInput mode works.

Why does the lever show as buttons in one mode and as an axis in another?

Many sticks have a switch that sends the lever as a D-pad, a left stick or a right stick. As a D-pad it arrives as buttons or a hat. As a stick it moves two axes to their ends.

How do I test SOCD on a leverless controller?

Hold left and right together, then up and down together, and watch what the page shows. SOCD cleaning happens inside the controller, so what you see is the result of its setting.

Related

Download InputConfig on the Mac App StoreFree. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.