JMro’s Top 10 Leverless Controllers of 2024

Choosing the Right Leverless

Hey all, ImageOmega here.  Ever seen an impressive collection of, well, anything?  The owner of said collection is always super passionate and incredibly knowledgeable about their craft. The kind of wisdom where you can’t help, but download information just by being around them. That’s the type of well-learned collector JMro is.

Community Member, JMro, was kind enough to share his thoughts on his favorite leverless controllers of 2024. Not only is JMro’s collection of controllers impressive, but he blesses the Discord with all sorts of intricacies about parts, buttons, and switches in the #controllers-gear channel (where you’ll often see just as many photos of rice cookers next to controllers…you know, for scale).

So, when JMro gives you his honest opinion on his favorite leverless controllers of 2024, you can take it as a solid stamp of approval. Below are JMro’s own words about each of his Top 10 Favorite Leverless Controllers of 2024 just as he shared with us on the Discord.

10. Mat Catz Versus Series + AFS Leverless Panel

XBOX 360 PCB replaced.
PCB/Firmware: Brook UFB Fusion
Buttons: Sanwa 24mm obsf

Pros: Nice and wide, supports a really large thigh gap.

Cons: Heavy, big, can’t buy them anymore.

Should you buy one: No, very difficult to find

Notes: This thing was my absolute GOAT stick back in the stick days, and I might have to convert it back because it seems like sacrilege (and I don’t use it).

If you want to convert and old stick to leverless I highly recommend Aaron at All Fight Sticks https://allfightsticks.com/ he can do all kinds of custom stuff. If I was doing it again I’d put a few more button holes in it.

9. Haute42 S16

The littlest 16 button controller. Acrylic sandwich style leverless out of Aliexpress. Too small for lap play, but definitely solid for desk play. 16 button customizable layout, USB pass through. Ridiculously cheap, extremely portable, you can have one in your backpack at all times for emergency situations.

Swap out for some silent kailh or wind engine switches for some customization. I do recommend a foam pad to make it feel a lot more premium – https://focusattack.com/semi-custom-non-slip-foam-bottom-pad-for-haute42-haute-board-g-series-s-series/

Honorable mention for the G16 if you want full sized MX switches and slightly smaller caps, similar in every other way.

  • Firmware: GP2040-CE (best choice!)
  • Platforms: PC/PS3/PS4/Switch/Classic – Passthrough support for PS5/XSX with dongle
  • Price: $42 USD
  • Pro: Very solid, very portable. GP2040-CE. 16 buttons to customize. USB Passthrough
  • Con: Too small for lap play, no thigh gap supported but I’ve seen people do it. Out of the box feet are these tiny little stickers.
  • Should you buy one: If you can drop $40 and want to mess around with leverless, absolutely.

8. Razer Kitsune

I love the size and premium feel of the Kitsune, but it’s already been obsoleted as the Street Fighter 6 has shifted the meta passed 12 buttons IMO. I use it to play Tekken. Buttons spacing too big for my hands as it has a 30mm layout. RGB only on the outer rim. If you like this form factor get a Haute42 M16+.

Firmware: Razer

Platforms: PC/PS5

Price: $300 USD

Pro – Great form factor, feels nice. Fits easily in a backpack, native licensed PS5 support. Great lap grip for slippery laps.

Con – Very pricey. 12 buttons. 30mm spacing (personal preference). Switches and capsaren’t really swappable like many of the others as they use a custom razer optical switch. Limited repair and replacement options.

Should I buy one: $300 for a 12 button controller? In this economy?

7. Victrix Pro FS-12

This was my leverless learner. No room in my heart or bag or lap for this big boy anymore though, which seems to be a theme with 12 button leverless for me. I do love that it uses full depth arcade buttons (currently qanba gravity in mine).

The most premium feeling stick I’ve ever owned.

Firmware: Victrix

Platforms: PC/PS5

Price: $400 USD (on sale now?)

Pro – Officially licensed for PS5. Nice tight 24mm layout. Extremely premium build quality. Tons of options for buttons as it uses standard 24mm arcade buttons.

Con – Very pricey. Not travel friendly. 12 buttons. Can’t have L3 / R3 at the same time (seriously wtf Victrix). Cannot be overstated how big and heavy it is.

Should I buy one: $400 for a 12 button controller? In this economy? Sorry Satorha I hope you got a good deal.

6. Haute42 T16/T16-C

Nothing flashy today. Overall “best value” leverless probably. Uses an Acrylic PCB sandwich design, but very thick and solid. 30mm spacing is just a bit too big for my hands. Easy to recommend for $50.

Firmware: GP2040-CE

Platforms: PC/PS4 + PS5/XBSX with passthrough authenticator

Price: $50-60 USD (always on Sale) + $30 for a PS5 capable adapter

Pro – 16 customizable buttons. Cool LED effects. Lots of capable switch and cap options.

Con – Cheap sticker grips on the bottom. 30mm spacing is too large for my hands.

Should I buy one: Fantastic choice for entry level leverless.

5. Snackbox Micro

The original small form factor leverless. My number 1 choice last year has fallen off due to lack of extra buttons and not running customizable firmware like GP2040-CE. I’ll miss you little guy(s).

Firmware: Brook

Platforms: PS5/Everything or PC/Switch depending on price

Price: $220 USD (on sale for $165) for PS5 and $125 for PC (recently $99)

Pro – Nice and portable, very customizable in terms of cases and caps including concave and convex. Tons of colors. Injected molded plastic feels a little better than acrylic.

Con – 12 button layout. Uses Kailh v1 switches which have far fewer swap options and cap options than v2. Expensive replacement button caps. No USB passthrough.

Should I buy one: Tough sell against the Haute42 lineup, but the prices have gotten a lot better. On sale was just $99 for the PC version, which is decent if you like the form factor and the pretty colors.

4. Haute42 M16+

Super solid, aluminium alloy, a Kitsune killer (comparison pic 1). The 30mm spacing the buttons are a bit still too spaced out for my hands, but the metal feel is great and it has the extra buttons.

I put Wind Engine switches in mine for smoother travel and responsiveness. Some “prototype” shots leaked of a 24mm layout Haute42 M+, is this the controller us small handers have been waiting for?

Firmware: GP2040-CE

Platforms: PC/PS4 + PS5/XBSX with passthrough authenticator

Price: $115 USD + $30 for a PS5 capable adaptor

Pros: GP2040-CE firmware, 16 customizable buttons. LED effects. Lots of compatible switch and cap options.

Cons: Cheap sticker grips on the bottom, I added some grip tape in pic4. 30mm layout.

Should I buy one: If you really like the Kitsune layout, form factor & build quality but want a 16 button layout.

3. Punk Workshop Mini (now called Leverless M)

More of a traditional stick style. Sheets of plastic with a magneticly sealed top. The one I bought came with a PWS PCB but mine is modified with a GP2040-CE capable PCB.

I drilled some extra buttons in this year to get those thumb buttons in as it was a 12 button layout. Modding a stick with a hole saw really brings me back. There’s wires to the buttons like in the old days!

One of my most used leverless because of it’s relatively silence.

Firmware: PWS (PC) or Brook (PS5/Everything)

Platforms: PC with PWS board. PS5/XBSX with Brook board.

Price: $130 USD? $230 USD? $330 USD? $130 USD from Punkworkshop.top (china) the others are prices on their US store punkworkshop.us. I recommend ordering from China as it seems they’ve gone back to GP2040-CE boards with USB passthrough at lower cost. I can’t speak for the new PWS Blaze buttons yet.

Pro – PWS buttons (V1) feel amazing. It actually uses wires unless unlike a lot of other leverless so you can actually do modifications like swapping the PCB or adding buttons. PWS (V1) buttons can take any fill sized MX switch you like. The Leverless M has several button layout options at order time. The quietest stick I own, PWS V1s are extremely quiet and the best at not annoying my family so I use this one a LOT.

Con – Brook variant is crazy expensive. It is made of machine cut plastic sheets, so it doesn’t feel as premium as the metal cases. Thicker than an acrylic sandwich but still quite thin due to low profole components.

Should I buy one: If you like punk workshop buttons, or you really like buttons with low travel and rims for slides. The more expensive variants are kind of hard to recommend in the current market, but the base model is pretty affordable. It looks like the new $130 USD variant might use GP2040-CE with USB passthrough making it a much more economical choice for multiplatform.

2. Haute42 R16

Finally a nice lap size with tight button layout from Haute42 and their first entry with button rims. If you find the T16 button spread a bit too far for your hands, this the Haute for you. It could use a left thumb instead of a left pinky (or both!), but it is still an exceptional controller.

I used mine at evo and it was the first evo where it wasn’t a pain to carry my stick around all day. I went 7-2 at Evo on this thing so it’ll have a special place in my heart (see how I mention that wherever I can?). Put in some Wind Engine switches for a great button upgrade. You should buy one. You probably already have.

  • Firmware: GP2040-CE
  • Platforms: PC/PS4 + PS5/XBSX with passthrough authenticator
  • Price: $70 USD (always on Sale) + $30 for a PS5 capable adapter
  • Pros: 16 customizable buttons. Cool LED effects. Lots of capable switch and cap options. Comes in black and white now (pic 3).
  • Con: Cheap sticker grips on the bottom, but you can buy aftermarket grips from Focus Attack and other places (pic 2). Plexi can be a bit creaky.
  • Should you buy one: Affordable, fantastic choice for entry level leverless, and has lots of customization options for long term use.

1. Mavercade Keebfighter+S4

https://mavercade.com/products/mavercade-keebfighter-s4
juzzy called it. This is the Keebfighter+ with 24mm buttons, “6 gawd” split layout which means a big 7th action button instead of two. Thumb and pinky buttons.

This thing is godlike, more solid and sturdy than any of the Haute42 offerings but the same switch compatibility. Also quite a bit more expensive than the Haute42 offerings. Recency bias!?!? Maybe, but this and the PWS are now my daily drivers.

Firmware: GP2040-CE

Platforms: PC/PS4 + PS5/XBSX with passthrough authenticator

Price: $200 CAD (~$150USD?) + $30 for a PS5 capable adapter

Pros: Very thick and sturdy, has a metal plate for weight and stability so there’s no flex at all. Nice custom foam bottom layer for table or lap. Thumb and pinky buttons on both sides. Big ass DI button. The split layout is more comfortable for me personally, like an ergonomic keyboard. Uses a USB passthrough for PS5 auth like other GP2040-CE offerings. Fully compatible with all the kailh choc v2 switch variants like Wind Engines and Lofree Ghost.

Cons: Small batch artisanal Canadian farm to table leverless, so it is sold out a lot and made to order. You might be waiting a while, currently the shop is closed until Feb 1. Pricier than the Hautes, cheaper than the licensed leverless.

Should you buy one: If you want something thicker and sturdier than a Haute42, and you can wait a while. They have several variants, but the split layout is really more comfortable for me. Check out the mavercade lineup here: https://mavercade.com/

 



AND…that’s a wrap! Thank you so much JMro! You are the controller owning GOAT.

If you’re interested in chatting up more about controllers (or even playing them fighting games people seem to like so much), join us on Discord and give us the good word.

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