I purchased a pair of these controllers in both available colors as a way to play multiplayer games on my Steam Deck when docked. For those curious, it’s this controller here.

Since buying them I’ve noticed some strange behavior that’s only getting worse. They are both on the most current firmware (1.07).

##Connection

While I’ve tried D-Input mode, both controllers are currently connected via X-Input mode as directed by the link above.

As the controllers cannot be re-paired to another Dongle, or share a Dongle, both wireless dongles are connected to the back of the Steam Deck dock (I’m using the official dock from Valve).

##Issue: TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge

With one controller connected, once the game launches the controller stops being used by the entire system. The game doesn’t recognize inputs and trying to call up either Steam menu fails. The only way to get it to connect is to either turn the controller on/off using the Guide button, or unplug and replug in the USB dongle and turn the controller back on. This doesn’t usually work on the first try and can sometimes take a significant number of tries. But the system clearly sees the controller as each disconnect and reconnect causes the FMV intro to stutter.

Two controllers? Forget it. Once you get one connected and recognized to the point where the game recognizes input, the second one becomes an issue. If you turn it off or unplug it to start the process of getting it connected, even though it wasn’t working before, the game now tells you the controller was disconnected and it stops responding to the first controller.

Removing one dongle to just go 1:1 controller:dongle does not alter the issue.

##Issue: Redout: Enhanced Edition

It ignores the first connected controller if two are connected (it’s fine with just one), so 2-player split screen doesn’t work. Does not detect both controllers when in game, so it doesn’t allow you to re-order the controllers in the Steam Menus.

##Issue: RetroArch/EmulationStation DE

This one is hilarious. Remember how I said you can’t pair controllers to another dongle? Well, here’s the oddball issue. If you use one controller and two dongles, it registers two simultaneous inputs despite the system knowing there is only one controller present.

In ES-DE this is fixed by telling it to only recognize the first controller. However, once you launch a game in RA (through ES-DE or direct), it acts as if your controller is two controllers. If you load up arcade/story mode in Dead or Alive (Saturn), DoA 2 (Dreamcast), or SoulCalibur (Dreamcast), it shows up as 1p/2p, with two characters selected side-by-side, and if you move left or right, both character select boxes move together. Removing one of the dongles fixes this. Having both controllers on at the same time? RetroArch prompts 4 controllers instead of 2, but when you load SoulCalibur it still shows 2. However, only one of them works (controls both characters) and the second physical controller is ignored. You can rearrange in Steam at least, and it shows up as players 1 and 2 being the 8BitDo controllers, and player 3 as the Steam Deck controller.

The problem goes away if you remove one dongle, which is fine if you only want one controller but not ideal if you had hoped to play 2-player games.

Overall, it’s disappointing that they can’t work as a pair on the Steam Deck. However, I could live with just one if it worked alright, but with the issue with TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge it’s still an overall aggravating experience.

Any input, suggestions, or guesses will be appreciated.