Controllers
The goal is simple: one pad that drives everything — browsing, launching, saving, loading, quitting — across every emulator you own, regardless of which controller you have.
Two modes
Your pad talks to the emulator as a real controller — full analog sticks and rumble. No setup from you; The Vault configures the emulators behind the scenes at every launch.
Turns your buttons into keystrokes — unlocks remaps, combos, and macros, and works with every controller and emulator. See Keyboard Mode.
Under the hood, "Controller mode" is one of three delivery paths — the emulator reading the pad natively, a Bluetooth → DSU bridge, or a real HID device — while "Keyboard mode" is the keyboard-forwarding path. The four input models spell out which is used where.
Supported controllers
| Controller | Mode | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Sony DualSense | Controller + Keyboard | ✅ Now |
| NSO N64 / SNES / NES / Genesis | Controller — RetroArch (Bluetooth) | ✅ Now |
| GameCube wireless pad | Controller — Dolphin | ✅ Now |
| Wii Remote (via Dolphin Bar) | Controller — Dolphin (native) | ✅ Now |
| Switch Pro / Joy-Cons (Switch 1) | Controller — native · basic | ✅ Now |
| Xbox / 8BitDo / MFi | Controller — native · basic | ✅ Now |
| Switch 2 Pro / Joy-Cons | Keyboard — Astris (BLE bridge) | ✅ Now |
| Dreamcast controller | Controller — RetroArch (Flycast) | ✅ Now |
| Wii U GamePad | Controller — Cemu | ✅ Now |
"Native" means macOS recognizes the pad on its own. The Switch 2 controllers use a proprietary Bluetooth macOS can't see — so The Vault reads them itself, and the only way to feed them into emulators is Keyboard mode.
What The Vault sets up for you
Controller mode isn't zero-config — a lot happens under the hood, automatically, at every launch:
- Picks the right input driver per controller (e.g. RetroArch's
mfifor most NSO pads,hidfor the Genesis pad). - Writes a per-controller button map, including the fiddly bits — N64 C-buttons on the right stick, and A/B placed the way you'd expect (Nintendo pads are labeled opposite the standard layout, so we swap them).
- Sets up the GameCube pad's Dolphin profile + DSU connection (and uses the rumble patch when applied).
- Establishes the in-game hotkeys — hold the modifier and press R (Save), L (Load), Start (Quit), or ▲/▼ (slots). The modifier is a different button on each pad. See Hotkeys.
In this section
Concepts — how controllers work everywhere:
- How It Works — input models, monitoring & per-emulator handling
- Hotkeys — the modifier-combo scheme, per pad
- Keyboard Mode — the universal keyboard-forwarding path
- Remapping, Macros & Chords
- Mouse & Remote Mode
Per-controller setup & mapping:
- NSO Controllers — the retro pads at a glance
- NSO GameCube — complete mapping & hotkeys
- NSO N64
- NSO SNES
- NSO NES
- NSO Genesis
- Switch 2 Pro — mapping, quit combo & BLE setup
- Wii Remote + Nunchuk — mapping & hotkeys (Dolphin)
- Wii U GamePad — mapping & hotkeys (Cemu)
- Sega Dreamcast — mapping & hotkeys (Flycast)
See also: Controller Reference (the complete button-name list) and Controller Combos (trigger scripts from button chords).