Souls games are notorious for their difficulty, but for some, that’s not hard enough. This player trades in his gamepad for eleven bananas.
A passionate community has rallied around the tough games from Dark Souls developers From Software since the first instalment, creating new challenges for themselves with increasingly unusual controllers.
After trying their hand at commercially available devices such as steering wheels, dance mats or Donkey Kong bongos, some of the players went over to inventing their own control methods and digging deep into their bag of tricks.
The streamer and self-proclaimed “controller bender” SuperLouis64 recently pulled eleven bananas out of that box, wired them together and made Elden Ring think it was a Playstation 4 gamepad. He then went out and beat up Godrick, the first demigod boss of the game, among others, which only took him a brave 30 minutes despite the fruity handicap.
He uploaded the corresponding clip to Twitter afterwards, but if you’d like to watch the full stream, you can find it at (Twitch).
THE BANANA CONTROLLER WORKS 🍌
AND WE BEAT GODRICK WITH THEM LETS GO ELDENRING pic.twitter.com/ZOjzYb8Sgo
– Tarnished Louis 64 (@SuperLouis_64) March 8, 2022
While Louis simply enjoys tinkering and gambling, supposed purists and newcomers regularly engage in mud-slinging battles on Twitter when it comes to making the difficulty level more adjustable.
By the way, the hobbyist described the way his banana gamepad works to our colleagues at the English-language (PCGamer) as follows:
In principle, I simply connected each banana to an HID and emulated keystrokes with them when touched, very similar to an Arduino solution with buttons, except that in my case they are bananas. Finally, I programmed the whole thing to be recognised by my PC or my PS5 as a Playstation 4 controller, depending on which platform I want to play on at the time.
Towards your dream figure with Elden Ring Fit
The bananas were by no means the streamer’s first rodeo: just three days after release, he began literally jump-starting his fitness by standing on his trampoline and controlling the hardcore role-playing game with a Nintendo Ring-Con from Ring Fit Adventure.
What’s special: The mixture of motion and button control only reacts when he is constantly kicking his legs. To attack, he squeezes the ring and – because they can’t be missing from any leg workout – heals with squats.
Despite this sweaty control method, he succeeded in defeating numerous bosses, including the bloodhound knight Darriwil. Darriwil’s movement patterns are considered particularly chaotic, yet SuperLouis defeated him in just one attempt.
And what everyday object will streamer Louis turn into a controller next? After recently controlling Final Fantasy 14 with a pizza and a giant cat seat cushion, there’s little doubt that nothing is safe from his creativity.
What was your most unusual control on the PC, console or in the arcade? Feel free to share your experiences with us in the comments!
