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15+ best games with gamepad support for Android
The market for games with controller support is growing. Android TV, the NVIDIA Shield Console, and other systems are putting games with gamepad support on the forefront and making them more popular. The proliferation of gamepads and Bluetooth controllers have made playing games on your mobile devices with a controller easier than ever before. Why not play some wicked good games with it? Here are the best games with gamepad support for Android. Please note that there are some older games with excellent controller support like Star Wars: KOTOR and The Bard’s Tale. However, many of those older controller games haven’t been updated in years and we can’t guarantee that they’ll work with newer controllers, newer versions of Android, or newer devices. You can try those at your own risk.
The best games with gamepad support for Android
Bridge Constructor Portal
Price: Free / $4.99
Bridge Constructor Portal is a crossover game between the popular Bridge Constructor series and the Portal PC franchise. The mechanics are mostly Bridge Constructor. You build bridges with various materials to get from one end of the level to the other. There are portals to make things easier (or harder) as well as cameos from popular characters like GLaDOS. It’s a delightful puzzle game experience and one of the few with controller support. You also get Google Play Games achievements and support for tablets. The game runs for $4.99 with no in-app purchases or ads. We like this one a lot and it’s free if you use Google Play Pass.
See also: The best simulation games for Android
Crossy Road
Price: Free to play
Crossy Road is one of the most popular mobile games ever. It also has MFi controller support. This is basically the mobile gaming version of Frogger. You move the chicken forward across roads, streams, and other obstacles while avoiding being run over by cars or falling in the water. It’s a simple game with fun graphics and easy controls. It’s also safe for older kids. This is a free to play game, but the in-app purchases are mostly for extra characters. This is a good one and it supports Android TV as well.
Endurance
Price: Free / $3.49
Endurance is one of the newer games with gamepad support. It’s a retro-style action shooter with roguelike and dungeon crawler mechanics. Players head to Endurance, a ship where a virus spread and caused people to go insane. It’s technically a prequel to the developer’s other game, Ailment, but you can play it on its own if you want to. The game features tons of weapons, plenty of action, and a pretty decent little story. The game can stutter on older, midrange, or lower-end devices and the free version has some long ads. However, you can easily buy the premium version to remove ads and the rest is tolerable. This is a pretty decent game and so is Ailment.
See also: The best retro games for Android
Evoland 2
Price: $7.99
Evoland is one of the most unique game franchises on mobile. It doesn’t use any one particular style or genre. Evoland 2, the latest game in the series, employs platformer, fighter, top-down shooter, trading card, and RPG mechanics. The game also changes its graphics up quite a bit to match the style of game play. That makes it one of the most unique experiences on mobile. The developers boast support for most types of Bluetooth controllers as well as NVIDIA Shield support. The first Evoland is also quite good and supports hardware controllers as well. The publisher, Playdigious, also has Dead Cells, another excellent game with gamepad support that was launched in 2020.
GRID Autosport
Price: $9.99
GRID Autosport is one of the newest games with gamepad support. It’s also one of the best racer’s we’ve seen in a while. In short, this is a port of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 racing game along with all of its DLC under one roof. There are over 100 cars, over 100 circuits to race, scalable difficulty, and a variety of race types. It also supports offline game play if you want to go that route. Frankly, this game has a ton of upside and not that much downside. Most of the complaints are for the on-screen controls, but that’s not why you’re here so it doesn’t matter all that much. The game runs for $9.99 with no in-app purchases.
Horizon Chase
Price: Free / $2.99
Horizon Chase is a retro-style racing game. It features almost 100 tracks along with a variety of cars. You also get Google Play Games cloud saving, car upgrades, at least ten different events, and some of the most outstanding controller support we’ve ever seen. You can use this with Android TV, NVIDIA Shield devices, MFi gamepads, OUYA, and many others. Even the soundtrack is decent. You can get the full game for a scant $2.99. This along with Riptide GP Renegade represent the two best racing games with gamepad support.
Levelhead
Price: $6.99
Levelhead is one of those special games that only comes out every few years. It’s a platformer with outstanding execution, good mechanics, and a level builder for extra depth. The game has a simple premise. You help deliver packages through a variety of training courses with various and ridiculous obstacles. Even when it launched it had virtually no bugs or issues that we could find. This one of those legendary mobile games that should be way more popular than it really is. Plus, it’s cross-platform with the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC, and iOS so you can play it on multiple platforms if you want to. It’s crazy good, trust us. It’s also free if you use Google Play Pass. The developer is the same one that makes Crashlands and we absolutely recommend that one for this very list as well.
See also: The best platformer games for Android
Minecraft
Price: $6.99 with in-app purchases
Minecraft is one of the most popular games out there. It drops you into randomly generated worlds with plenty of stuff to do. You can build, you can mine, you can farm, and there is even a final boss to kill. Updates in 2017 aligned the game with its console and PC counterparts. That means you can start a world in one game and then play it on another system entirely. This is one of the few games with that level of cross-play support. It’s $6.99 for the game. The in-app purchases are optional aesthetic things like character skins.
See also: The best games like Minecraft on Android
Oddmar
Price: Free / $4.99
Oddmar is a newer platformer from the developers of Leo’s Fortune. It’s a side-scrolling platformer with a narrative story, pleasing graphics, and simple mechanics. You play as a disgraced viking looking to get his honor back. The game boasts 24 levels, various power items, and offline support after the initial download. There are also Google Play Games cloud saves and achievements. The game has a free demo mode and a $4.99 price tag for the rest of the game. Of course, it supports controllers as well. Leo’s Fortune is an older game, but it also has controller support as well. If you don’t mind trying out an older game, it may be worth your time as well.
Portal Knights
Price: $4.99 / $0.99
Portal Knights is another adventure game. This one launched in late 2017. The game boasts action-adventure game play mechanics, boss fights, RPG level progression, a crafting system, local multiplayer (on the same WiFi), random events, and, of course, controller support. This is actually fairly close to a console level title in terms of execution. Of course, the graphics are mobile friendly. This one goes for $4.99 with some optional in-app purchases. It’s had the occasional bug, but it worked fine during our testing. This game is also free for those with Google Play Pass.
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Riptide GP series
Price: $0.99-$2.99
Vector Unit has some real winners with the Riptide series. They are a trio of racing games that take place on jet skis. Your goal will be to race them, perform stunts, and make it to the end. The stunts give you boost. Thus, the better stunts you do, the faster you can go as long as you actually use the boost you get. The games get progressively more complex and better as they go. The first one is the weakest of the three. The third one is the strongest. Thankfully, they’re all fairly inexpensive. The second has in-app purchases but you totally don’t need them to enjoy the game. All three games have gamepad support.
SEGA Forever
Price: Free / $1.99 each
SEGA recently started doing something called SEGA Forever. It’s essentially porting many of its classic titles to mobile. Some of the games include Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2, Altered Beast, Kid Chamaleon, and Phantasy Star II. There are more than a dozen others and the collection is growing at a healthy pace. Most of the games include solid controller support. They’re relatively new. Thus, they do have some issues. However, each game is free to download with ads. You can pay $1.99 as an in-app purchase to remove ads.
Stardew Valley
Price: $7.99
Stardew Valley is one of the newer games with controller support. It’s a farming simulator with RPG elements. You create a farm, raise your crops, and live a life. The game has your usual farming game staples like gathering and selling crops and animals of various types. However, this one adds additional elements like being social with the nearby townspeople and even things like seasonal events and weddings. It’s a deep game with a long play time and that helps justify its $7.99 price tag. This is easily one of the best games of 2019 and it has controller support!
Steam Link and Xbox XCloud
Price: Free
Steam Link isn’t a game. However, it lets you play games. It connects your phone to your computer. The app then streams your PC games to your phone, Android TV device, tablet, etc with full controller support. This lets you play PC games from the comfort of your living room (for Android TV devices) or anywhere in your house (for mobile devices). This is a beta app and it has plenty of bugs to flush out. However, PC gaming with a controller on a mobile device is basically the dream and this is as close to it as you can get right now. You can also play your Xbox One games on your phone with XCloud (Google Play link), another neat way to play some modern AAA games on your phone.
Stickman Skate Battle
Price: Free to play
Stickman Skate Battle is another decent sports game with controller support. This one is more of an arcade game compared to the more complete experience of Skateboard Party 3. You go head to head in various game modes to score the most points or do the best tricks. Additionally, it has a practice mode, daily and weekly tournaments, and it works in offline mode. Plus, it has Android TV and NVIDIA Shield support as well. It’s a good, family friendly arcade skateboard game. It is a free to play game, though, but it’s not the worst free to play experience we’ve had.
See also: The best skateboarding games for Android
UNKILLED
Price: Free to play
Unkilled is one of the best first person shooters available right now. It has pretty much everything you’d want. That includes over 300 campaign missions. It also has online PvP. That means you can play alone or with friends. It also comes with solid game mechanics, gamepad support, and more. Even the graphics are really good for a mobile game. The developers have done an excellent job adding new content to the game. There is a lot to do here. It is a free to play game. Adjust your expectations accordingly. Most of MADFINGER’s other games, like Dead Trigger 2 and other Shadowgun games have controller support as well.
Xbox Remote Play
Price: Free / Game prices vary
Xbox has one of the most robust remote play functions of any console or PC gaming system. All you need is a compatible Xbox, a compatible Bluetooth controller, and the Xbox app. The setup takes a few minutes but it’s quite easy to use after that. How it works is the Xbox plays the game and then streams it over your WiFi to your phone and you control it from your controller. You may not want to play super competitive games like a first-person shooter, but it should work fine for most other genres. I tested this with NieR Automata on Xbox and it actually worked pretty well. This is arguably better than Steam Link because it is easier to use, but you do need an Xbox to actually do it.
Bonus: NVIDIA Shield games with controller support
Price: Varies
NVIDIA worked hard to bring a lot of games to the forefront. Unfortunately, all of them are for Android TV. However, that means they all have gamepad support without exception. Those looking for controller games on Android should definitely check out NVIDIA’s hardware first. There are some really good games in their lineup. That includes Portal, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Resident Evil 5, and many newer games. The only downside is that these games only work with NVIDIA Shield hardware, such as the NVIDIA Shield TV. Other than that, these games are all console quality in terms of graphics, content, and controller support.
If we missed any of the best games with gamepad support, tell us about them in the comments. You can also click here to check out the latest Android app and game lists.
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