There’s something incredibly charming about baby toys that mimic things we use every day. From the laptop to the (mostly) dearly-departed house phone, Fisher-Price generally knows exactly the perfect everyday products to turn toddlers into mini CEOs and whatnot. One of our favorite products, of course, is their video game controller, because it’s never too early to activate the young gamer. However, one gamer upped the ante on the Fisher-Price controller, proving it’s not just for kids. Rudeism—whose real name is Dylan Beck—actually modded it into a functioning controller. And he demonstrated it by playing Elden Ring. The whole thing is actually quite impressive—especially considering the idea started as a joke.
In a two-minute video Rudeism walks viewers through his vibrant new controller and shows off the gameplay. Hilariously, the modded Fisher-Price controller still boasts all the sound effects from the toy’s original form. In reality, it probably makes for a very distracting gaming experience, especially when working through a difficult level or quest. (Although the controller lighting up and shouting “woohoo” is certainly a confidence booster.) But for this purpose, we are quite charmed.
The whole video, which we first saw at The Verge, shows how well-developed Rudeism’s modded controller is. According to The Verge, he outfitted the controller with a Arduino Pro Micro clone. He also reworked the joystick to make it movable and added the tech to improve the functionality of additional buttons. But maybe most impressive is while he refitted the controller in a few big ways, he did so while still making sure to use the toy controller’s gamepad.
While it’s missing some of the features from the Xbox controller—namely the right joystick—Rudeism points out that the child’s controller has a workaround. Underneath the ABCD buttons—mimicking the Xbox’s XYBA—is a slider that lets you toggle between left and right position. This changes how the joystick functions—the left position controlling the playable character’s movements and the right controlling the camera movements—as well the buttons’ functions. Sure, it’s not a perfect match for the Xbox controller. But it’s pretty astounding how he’s able to make it work.
And this isn’t the last we’ll see of the controller. Rudeism not only plans to make a step-by-step tutorial on how to make the controller, he also plans to beat Elden Ring using the modded controller. We can only hope he streams it.
