HORI Fighting Commander 4 Controller for PlayStation 4/3

First let me preface that this is not a budget controller as it's missing a lot of features from the standard PS4 controller such as the touch pad, rumble, led light, audio jack, motion controls and 2 thumbsticks. What this controller is very useful for is retro and fighting games as it's very ergonomic for those two genre of games. So who is this controller for? Let's run down the list while describing the list of features for the controller. I'm going to describe the controller with intent that you'll being using it for fighting games since that's what I assume most will buy this controller for. -Those who can't afford a joystick arcade stick Arcade sticks can run you $100+ (for a decent one) and if you are not able to afford one or not sure if you want to make the investment this is a good middle ground as it has the same button layout, but without the the actual stick. With the right side having a shorter handle, you can lay it on your thigh and use the same finger position as if you're using a arcade stick. The buttons may not feel as great pressing down on them, but you get the same motion and reactions without it being very loud (which is an advantage since sound can signal to your opponent what you're doing if they sit next to you). Even if you use the claw method (griping both sides while like a standard controller), you are still able to get a better response time as oppose to a standard PS4 controller since the buttons are larger making for better hit confirms. Also the shoulder buttons are click buttons, so they are very responsive during play. -For those who do not like the over-sensitivity of the joystick of the arcade stick There's less travel time using a D-pad for double tap (dash) and charge attacks (hold/press back forward) in my opinion over arcade sticks which can be advantageous for use of charge type characters in 2D fighting games, or side stepping in 3d fighting games. Disadvantages for use of D-pad is doing quarter-circle or half-circle motions. It's way easier on an arcade stick in my opinion. Either way, whatever one you choose; one is not superior over the other, rather it comes down to muscle memory in the end and how familiar are with with using the motions. Having one over the other will not magically make you a better fighting game player, rather it's all about practice, patience, how well you take your losses and learn from them, and time investment. Now on to the D-pad itself. Very ergonomic, you wont' get splinters on your thumbs after doing a few dozen fireballs and/or shoryuken motions (quarter circle motions) after hours of extensive gameplay as oppose to the stock PS4 controller. I like how the D-pad is customizable as you are able to make sensitivity and angle adjustment. The sensitivity adjustment is on the back. You can change it via twisting the gauge with a quarter or coin. I personally set it as it's default position since I'm already used to it on a standard controller. You can angle the D-pad up to 20 degrees so that it's more comfortable for you to dish out button presses. I personally find the right fit around 10 degrees off the default position. -Portability/ other features that I have not mentioned: Way more portable than an arcade stick as it does not take up much room and is also significantly lighter. The cord is of very decent length (around 10 feet). Great for if you have a TV in your bedroom. If you have a large living room with your couch and TV on opposite ends, you may want to pull up a chair. Also being not wireless makes for no input lag Setup is pretty easy. You just plug and play even on the PC without having to install additional drivers. The turbo button is an option if you need it. Great for platform shooters and SMUPS (Shoot 'em up) games in my opinion. Overall best game pad I've ever used for a fighting game. Great if you want to get into fighting games without having to pay the high price tag of an arcade stick.

Little background: I've got big hands and I'm one of those guys that's been playing Street Fighter since the SNES. I never played it in the arcade. I consider myself a casual player, but I do a lot of online playing and it's not abnormal for me sit down to a 3 or 4 hour game session. In preparation for SF5, I bought SF4 for PS4. Obviously, playing with the DS4 sucked pretty bad, so I went out there looking for options. Now, I'm not a stick player. Never have been, never will be. I'm a pad player, because that's how I grew up playing. I was a huge fan of the Mad Catz fightpads on the 360, so if you hated those, this review is not for you and you should ignore it. I found this pad, saw the great reviews, did my research, and dropped the $45. I've never been so disappointed. I play with my thumbs on the buttons, not my fingers, so I was worried the short handle on the right side might be an issue - but surprisingly, the one thing I was worried about was not actually a problem. Here's why I rated the pad so low. 1) It hurts my left hand. Badly. Even using it for 20 minutes causes the palm of my left hand to start cramping up. I'm not sure what it is, if it's the shape of the handle or the lack of symmetry is causing me to do something weird or what it is, but my left hand starts cramping so bad while I'm playing with this thing that I start missing moves and blocks and have even had to stop in the middle of an online match to shake my hand out. Not sure what the problem is, but like I said, I'm used to 3-4 hour sessions with an MC controller and have never had this problem before. This is the #1 issue. Everything else after this is gravy. If you're a pad player that hits the buttons with their fingertips, this may not be an issue for you. If you have small hands, this may not be an issue for you. I'm 6'0" with large hands, and I'm a thumb player, so this is a problem for me and I'm relaying that in case you are too. 2) The d-pad misses inputs. I'll hold down-back for a crouching block, and the character doesn't crouch. This happens over and over and has cost me a ton of matches. I tried adjusting the pad clockwise, but it made the problem worse. It's possible, like another reviewer mentioned, that rotating counter-clockwise may have helped as well, but I doubt it. It feels like the pad just isn't reading the inputs I'm feeding it, like I need to overcompensate to get it to do what I want it to do. I understand that there's often an acclimation period with new controllers - I had one with the MC fightpad, when I first got that - but this goes beyond that. I main Ryu in SF4 and one of his bread and butter combos is c.mk into hadoken (possibly FADC'ed into a followup). I couldn't reliably hit c.mk. 30% of the time, I'd do a standing mk. This was not my failing, not with how many times it kept happening. 3) They failed entirely to put a button on that emulates the touchpad click from the DS4. No problem, I figured I'd never use it - except SF4 on PS4 requires you to push the touchpad to customize controls on the character select screen, and it's literally impossible to do that with this controller. The button doesn't exist. By itself, not a huge deal, but for a $45 controller I wouldn't expect this failing and it was disappointing. 4) The options button is squishy. Like, really squishy. Yes, we're definitely into nitpicks here, but this is the button you push to skip cutscenes and the intro screens for an online game. You push it a lot, and it's hard to tell when you've got it pressed and when you don't. Why is this like this? All the other buttons are nice and crisp, but this one they figured had to be squishy? I don't get it. Like I said, #1 and #2 are the biggest issues. It's disappointing, because the layout on the right side of the controller is great. Having two shoulder buttons is a joy, and the buttons (excepting the pad) seem crisp and responsive. But the hand cramping and the issues with the pad were so severe that I closeted the thing today and will probably try to offload it on E-bay. I'm going back to 360 for SF4 fix and will wait for the PS4 MC fightpads, which I assume will be coming along eventually.

This pad has everything needed for games like the Street Fighter series: 6 face buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, and a d-pad. No more using shoulder buttons for HK/HP! This was my main draw. The d-pad can be rotated slightly - from the perfect vertical position to about 20 degrees clockwise - by turning a loosening screw that's visible on the controller face and manually turning the d-pad. The diagonal sensitivity of the d-pad can also be adjusted by pushing and rotating a plastic adjustment screw on the rear face of the controller. The d-pad itself has a feeling that's different from that of the X360's d-pad. I can't say that I find it ideal, but after reading the other reviews here I must be in the minority. It isn't clicky, but it isn't spongy either. I'd say it's in between. I will say, though, that I hated that scratchy frictiony feeling I got when pressing a direction on the d-pad. After about an hour of play, I couldn't take it anymore so I opened up the controller and used a cotton swab to rub lithium grease all up inside the d-pad housing. After that little remedy, it feels MUCH better. I might be a little crazy, but it was totally worth it. If you aren't used to taking things apart and tinkering, I wouldn't suggest doing this because the d-pad is inside its own assembly which is more complex than normal due to all the adjustable stuff mentioned earlier. One last thing- mind the LR toggle switch on top of the controller. If you don't flip it, you might not get an L3/R3, instead two of your shoulder buttons will just mirror the R1/R2 buttons on the face of the controller. If you're playing Street Fighter, you'll probably want L3/R3 so you can map them to focus attack or throw. In summary- a good controller, and a pretty well-thought out design. Edit: Initially had a problem with the controller not being on right after PC bootup. It was actually a bad USB hub. It was a new hub and never had problems with it connecting other devices. I've also been using this pad with Street Fighter V. It's pretty much great, but due to SFV being an unfinished game on release, you have to use a program called X360ce. Unfortunately this only emulates an X360 controller. I'd like to map the bottom two shoulder buttons to LP+LK and MP+MK but unfortunately we have to wait until they fix dinput support in the game. Obviously, none of this is Hori's fault.

I've had this for a couple of months now with lots of play time with it and I have to say that I'm extremely impressed at how many features this controller has. The 6-button front layout is not something you see very often, and for players that play with a claw style, like myself, it's almost necessary to have something like this to play games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Almost everything else is self-explanatory--the turbo buttons, the L3/R3 switch, etc.--but one thing that's really amazing and incredibly convenient is its cross-platform compatibility, specifically PC functionality. Most gamers that use controllers for PC games typically use either 3rd-party garbage or 3rd-party software that allows them to us a PS controller. No need with this nifty thing. Windows picks it up as its own controller and games recognize it as such; no need to try to get Windows to recognize it as an XBOX controller or anything. The lack of analog sticks stifles its use a little bit, but it has every other button, so you can still play most games with it. Now, some people might not like the fact that it's wired (and it would be kinda cool if they had a wireless version), but to be honest, it's better that it's wired: You don't have to worry about any stupid sync or battery issues, and the cord length is plenty long enough. The only thing I dislike about this controller is the D-pad. Despite having three different mechanisms to customize the feel of it, I really dislike the old Nintendo cross-style D-pad. There's a reason that Dual Shock controllers ditched that model and went with something that looks and feels like each direction is its own button: It's more responsive and feels better. That being said, you get used to it and, like I mentioned, you can fiddle with the settings, so I don't think it's so big of a deal that I should rate the product lower. Thus far I've had zero technical issues with it and it feels really sturdy, so hopefully it will last a long time. If you're looking for a good competitive controller, look no further.

Loved the feel of this pad in the two months I had it, playing a good amount of USF4 and Rising Thunder with it. One day, in the middle of a match after an hour and a half of play, the D-pad stops jumping. Ok, no biggie, shut the game down, restart and it'll work as usual. Nope, unresponsive. The controller was still being recognized and all of the other buttons worked but the D-pad burned out after less than two months. Not the build quality I expected for $50, very disappointed. I have emailed Hori about my issue and will re-review the controller if they remedy the situation.

The controller works as supposed, but its weird non-symmetrical design makes it really uncomfortable to play with. I’m used to the common handle design in the Xbox/PS controllers, so I biased to that design. The logic behind it, is that some competitive players hold the right side on their laps, so the wing-less right design would be more comfortable for this. I don’t hold or play with controller this way, so if you try to hold it in a more traditional manner, it just feels weird as you end up wishing there was something to grab/rest your right palm to, as you can with your left. The newer model has the same issue, it just has very sort wings on the sides. I wish they offered an option like older models, as the 6 buttons on front and responsiveness is great for fighting games.

The controller itself actually feels very solid and is much better than the MKX PDP pad because the dpad is way bigger, which I think is important. What really annoys me though is that no where in the description not even on the box is it ever mentioned that the the Dpad rotates only clockwise. The entire reason that I bought this controller is because I expected to be able to rotate both clockwise and counterclockwise. I just needed to be able to move the dpad slightly counterclockwise for my needs. But I can't. I guess I'd be willing to increase my rating if perhaps the description is updated, but I still can't believe that this controller's strength is supposed to be it's "adjustability" but they couldn't implement something as simple as being able to rotate the dpad in either direction. Edit 2015-05-25: I've been made aware that many don't find my review helpful. First off, I'm not trying to bash the controller. I've been using fight pads for a very long time and this Hori controller is without a doubt a very solid, functional and comfortable controller. Much better than a lot of the pads I've used over the years. I agree with many points made in the 5 star reviews, so if you're looking for detailed pros of the controller, please take a look at those. I've found a few more issues with the controller since I've been playing it and thought it best to update my review. After a week of using this controller for a couple of hours a day I have noticed that the Square button every so often is actually getting stuck in the "pushed" position for a fraction of a second. This is the button that I use the most while playing. A fraction of a second might not sound like a lot but for players of fighting games, this could potentially be a big deal. I know fight pads have membranes that give out over time, but in my experience it usually takes months before that starts to happen, not one week. I thought it was worth mentioning. Another issue that I find pretty annoying is the available options for the placement of the L1 and L2 buttons. You see most fight pads only have 2 shoulder buttons, not 4 as this controller has. Since only 2 shoulder buttons are available then the logical mapping that other fight pads use is to spread out L1, L2, R1, R2 across 2 face buttons and 2 shoulder buttons. This Hori controller has R1, R2 "hard coded" as the 2 face buttons, so you would think that there would be an option for the 2 front shoulder buttons to be L1, L2 right? Wrong. The front shoulder buttons can only be L1, R1 OR L1, L3. So you might think, "Who cares, just adjust the in game controller settings to whatever is available on the controller". Well the problem here is that not all fighting games even allow L3 and R3 to be mapped to. Mortal Kombat X certainly doesn't allow this. So if you want to use L1, L2, R1, R2, then you are FORCED to use the back shoulder buttons. I just think it would've been great if a 3rd option existed that wouldn't force you to use those back shoulder buttons. Again, I still think this is the best Ps4 fight pad out now, but it's an expensive controller and had I known these issues before hand I probably would've used that money to invest in a high quality arcade stick.

If you can't afford a stick but need something other than the garbage d-pads available today for 2-D gaming, this is probably the best option out there. It takes about an hour of practice to get a feel for it, but it is capable of pulling off very precise maneuvers. I use it for Street Fighter games mostly, so I decided to break it in on the training mode in some of those titles and try to pull off the hardest maneuvers the game throws at you. This is what I found works for me. Make sure to set the diagonal size to large using the screw behind the pad. This increases the sensitivity and allows you to rest your thumb closer to the center of the pad, and you won't need imprecise exaggerated motions to pull off moves; you will find it takes a little "tilt" to respond and that's it. (Not to be confused with the kind of clumsy tilting that some modern d-pads actually do.) I have no trouble pulling off Shoryukens and other zig-zaggy moves using the controller in this way. I am far from being pro, but my execution rate is well above 90%. I also found the d-pad can slip out of its locked position after a few hours of vigorous play. It easily relocks and stays put for a other few hours. This is not really a problem and makes sense given the application of the controller and is better than a more permanent sort of adjustment slipping out of place. I don't believe it should be interpreted as a durability issue, but I will revise my review if I am wrong. I also found that it tended to slip into a position that was more comfortable for me than what I originally thought would work. Obviously the face button layout is a boon to fighting fans. The remappable shoulder buttons are another amazing feature of this stick and allows you to have eight buttons reachable with your right hand. I don't play lap style and don't use turbo, but still find no trouble dialing up combos and the like other than my sometimes inperfect timing. I use this for both PC and PS3 currently without hassle. The only weird issue there is that Double Dragon Neon on PS3 doesn't seem to like this controller. (That's okay as that game is actually pretty playable already with a DS3.) Aside from Street Fighter, I have also tried Injustice and MK (both on PC). Even though they don't use diagonals for special moves, I still found them easier to play with large diagonals, especially for jumping. All in all, I love this controller and it is my favorite new toy. I have a Hori Gameboy Player controller from days ago that I admire and worked like a charm for many 2-D GBA titles. Perhaps it's a Hori thing, as they sure seem to get what 2-D gamers need out of a controller. I do play plenty of 3-D games, too, but always hated being forced to play 2-D games with modern controllers because the d-pad design is almost universally terrible on those things. As one exception, I think the DS3's d-pad is okay for most 2-D games, but the extra size and sensitivity of the Hori FC4 make it (perhaps in hindsight) indispensable for 2-D fighters.

Amazing controller! I love that I can use 8 action buttons with just my right hand so that my left hand solely focuses on executing motions. The keys are very nice and have a good size and click to them. The overall material and feel are solid and the d-pad is smooth. The one downside to this controller is that it's not very ergonomic and feels a little big and awkward in your hands compared to the exceptionally comfortable and ergonomic DS4, even though I have medium-sized hands with long guitarist fingers. It's not that big of a deal though, it's still comfortable enough and I can play on the Fighting Commander for hours on end with no problem. One other gripe: too bad we didn't get it for $30 like in the U.S. Very highly recommended! Especially, if like me, you want to use your right hand for action buttons so that your left hand is free just for thumb motion. I got one-day shipping and it arrived as expected; fast like a Raijuu Hadoken. HADO!!

This is the best Fightpad available on the market today, Hand's Down!! It has some cool features like Sensitivity Adjustment, D-Pad Rotation & Turbo Function. D-Pad and Buttons have Awesome Responsiveness. You can also use DPad as Left Stick or Right Stick there is a switch for it. This Fightpad is compatible with Ps3, Ps4 & Pc (Use with xboxCE) and is perfect for Games like Street Fighter V, Mortal Kombat X & Tekken etc. Build quality is Solid & Top notch, and way superior than Madcatz Fightpad Pro (It has worst D-Pad of the Gaming History). Don't think too much, just buy it!!

Es la mejor opción para los juegos de pelea, nunca me acostumbre al Fightstick (y tenía la HORI RAP4), es tán responsivo en todos los botones, el D-Pad ajustable, el poder usarlo en PS3 & 4, el cambiar L1-L2 a R1-R2 y el Turbo es demasiado para tan poco precio y de mucha calidad, Hori nunca falla. Mis habilidades aumentarón demasiado (en SFV en específico). En cuánto el envío fue rápido como siempre en menos de 3 días, gracias de nuevo Amazon y DHL. 100% recomendado para todos los Fighters Players.

No hay mucho que pueda decir que no se haya dicho ya en alguna otra recomendación, el control es de excelente calidad, la Cruz direccional responde perfectamente así como todos los botones y el ps4 lo detecta inmediatamente. La relación calidad precio supera por completo cualquier expectativa que haya tenido. Completamente recomendado. En cuanto al envío, al principio tenía algo de dudas al pedir algo desde EU sin embargo el paquete llegó 2 días antes de lo esperado y en perfectas condiciones. A comprar sin miedo!

It is a good product.. I musing it on ps4, recently i m playing mkx by this... All over worthy. D pad quiet nice.. Diagonal inputs also easy to execute. No chances for malfunctioning.. Go for it.