Metroid Dread Speedrunning Wiki
Controller Information
Information on the controllers used by the community for Dread speedrunning.
Page Contents
A Note About The Controller Research Guide
Welcome
Turbo Speed Cap Information
Current Turbo Speed Caps
Restricted Turbo Tricks
Frequently Asked Questions
Last edited by
jayena
08/14/2024

Edit rights to this page have been restricted to wiki moderators only.

A Note About The Controller Research Guide

If you don't see the controller you own in the list at the bottom of this page, please check to see if it's in the Controller Research Guide. Our Controller Research Guide is a comprehensive database of Nintendo Switch first and third-party controllers; if you have a question about a controller, it's very likely the Guide will be able to answer it.

Click here to go to the Controller Research Guide.

Welcome

Welcome! If you’re here, you’re probably asking yourself "what controller should I use to speedrun this game?" With this Research Guide, we hope to provide the information you need to make an informed decision.

Please post in the help-and-troubleshooting forum on the Metroid Dread Speedrunning Discord server if you have any questions or concerns.

It is the responsibility of the runner to ensure that they are using a legal controller and turbo speed setting in their runs. The verifier team conducts periodic audits of turbo speed in runs. If a run is found that is breaking the cap, regardless of the reason, that run will be removed from the leaderboard. Options for self-verifying turbo speed can be found here.

Legend

✅ Recommended Controller (learn more)
💚 Budget Pick (learn more)
🧲 Controller has Hall effect sensor analog sticks
⭐ Granular (fully adjustable) turbo function
🚀 Turbo function is capable of leaderboard-legal Gold Skip
🎯 Controller has exceptionally accurate analog sticks (fine tracking, minimal snapback, no jitter, 3% circularity error or less)
🔵 20Hz speed setting performs poorly enough to fall under the 13Hz cap
⏬ Requires firmware downpatching for optimal turbo

List of allowed controllers

Last updated June 26, 2024

If your controller is not listed here, please look for it in the Controller Research Guide before submitting controller feedback to the Discord Server.

Turbo Speed Cap Information

Current Turbo Speed Caps

Last updated August 4, 2024

FeatureMax Hz
Boss Rushless than 21Hz
New Game / Continueless than 13Hz
Competitive Randomizer17Hz or less
Boss Rush Practice ILsless than 21Hz

Restricted Turbo Tricks

Last updated June 16, 2023

The list of tricks below are not leaderboard legal for turbo runners:

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an easy way to compare the turbo speeds of multiple controllers?

See this comparison chart.

How was the decision made to cap the turbo speed at 12Hz?

Initially, the community ran the game with turbo capped at 20Hz, starting in January 2022. Community members felt that the 20Hz cap was excessive and the topic was revisited. The community managers held an interest poll and sanctioned a discussion about the turbo rules over the course of multiple months, where qualitative and quantitative data and concepts were discussed in order to come to a decision on what the cap should be.

The decision to cap turbo at 12Hz was based on a few areas where turbo runners had a distinct advantage, such as:

After this discussion, a proposal to cap the turbo speed at 15Hz with a missile weaving restriction was introduced, and a round of ranked choice voting was held to determine what the final cap would be: 15Hz with restrictions on missile weaving and turbo Omega Stream, 12Hz with no restrictions, and 12Hz with restrictions. When the votes were tallied, 12Hz with no restrictions was the most popular option, followed by 15Hz with restrictions, and finally, by 12Hz with restrictions in a distant third place. 12Hz with no restrictions became the new (and current) fire rate cap as of August 15, 2022.

If you would like to look more into the nitty gritty details, please take a look at the #turbo-rules-discussion channel under the Archives section in the Discord server!

Why is the Boss Rush leaderboard cap higher than the cap for full runs? Doesn't turbo affect Boss Rush more?

The Boss Rush leaderboards are split between turbo and non-turbo, while other leaderboards are combined. Since turbo is not on the same leaderboard as non-turbo in Boss Rush, the 12Hz cap does not apply to it.

The cap is 12Hz. Why are controllers up to 13Hz allowed?

Officially, the cap is 12Hz, but due to manufacturer variance, there is a 1Hz margin of error. Even though a lot of controllers are advertised as having a "12Hz" setting, very few controllers are 12Hz or slower even on this setting when tested - they're more like 12.4, 12.5, etc. Please see the Controller Research Guide for more details.

If a controller has both a wireless mode and a wired mode, which one produces faster turbo?

It depends on the controller. For most controllers that are manufactured and programmed well, there is usually no difference. However, for certain controllers that suffer from Bluetooth packet loss, the wired mode produces more stable turbo, allowing a controller with an inconsistent fire rate in wireless mode to better approach its manufacturer-tested fire rate in wired mode.

In addition, research indicates that the shorter the USB cable, the more consistent the turbo, so if you are having trouble with inconsistent turbo speed, try switching to wired mode with a short cable, less than 3ft/1m.

Can other Bluetooth devices interfere with a controller's turbo function in wireless mode?

Certain lower-latency Bluetooth devices, such as speakers, have been known to interfere with the turbo functions of the following controllers:

  • 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller [source]
  • Terios WINKEY

In the case of the 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller, the Hz of the turbo function was boosted from its normal 16.8 Hz all the way to 20Hz.