Bold Armored Core 6 veteran kicks off NG+ with two flight sim controllers for the ultimate challenge

Someone's playing Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon with two flight controllers, picking up a long-held tradition of whacky controllers with FromSoftware's series.

Yesterday, on September 7, an Armored Core 6 player took to the game's subreddit to ask everyone if they were a "psychopath." It's a pretty loaded question, and for good reason: they were playing the new game with two Gladiator NXT controllers, which are typically used to play games like Microsoft Flight Simulator.

New Game+ With Twin Sticks, am I a psychopath? from r/armoredcore

"I'm living my best Gundam life with this setup!" writes the user, on the post that has nearly 1,000 upvotes on the subreddit. The user explains that the left controller is set up for left-hand and shoulder weapons and movement, while the right controller is set up for the corresponding weapons on the other side of the mech and camera movement.

The jump button is wildly bound to the "pinky" button on the right controller, and repair kits, "decision making," and assault boosts are also bound to the same controller. We've no idea how the player has managed to acclimate themselves to using a controller with such a fast-paced game like Armored Core 6, but somehow they've pulled it off. 

We've done some digging, and it turns out this player isn't alone with whacky controllers. The Armored Core 6 player just below reveals Capcom's bodacious Steel Battalion controller, one of the wildest controllers ever conceived when it was released all the way back in 2002, can actually be used to play Armored Core 6.

The controller has two joysticks and three foot pedals buried underneath the desk. It also boasts a downright unreasonable number of buttons and switches on the main interface, and there's even an eject button on the right-hand side of the bloody massive controller.

The Steel Battalion controller has become the stuff of legend over the past two decades. It might've only originally worked with the Steel Battalion game and its sequel, but it's become the holy grail of game controllers for mech games, hence why we're now seeing it used with Armored Core 6. It's good to know some traditions aren't dying. 

You can check out our Armored Core 6 builds guide if you're after info on how to construct the best light, medium, and heavyweight builds.