Debuting in late 2001 in North America, the Xbox was Microsoft’s first foray into the console gaming market. To that point, Microsoft computers had harbored a dedicated community of gamers, though the company itself had rarely dabbled in gaming directly. While the Xbox was a success, it came with one major flaw in the form of its clunky controller. Known as “The Duke,” some Xbox aficionados revere the controversial controller, and one dedicated fan on Reddit has taken to assembling an impressive assortment of them.
In a post submitted to r/xbox, Redditor u/quattroconcept displayed their collection of classic Xbox controllers, all featuring the classic Duke design. The multicolored collection consists of a standard Duke controller, two made of transparent plastic, two that are still sealed, two twentieth-anniversary editions, and Hyperkin’s purple Cortana-themed controller. All in all, it’s an eclectic assemblage of Xbox memorabilia that any hardcore fan would be happy to have.
The twentieth-anniversary edition Xbox controllers are worthy of special mention; Microsoft commemorated its 20 years in the industry in December 2021 by releasing a set of exclusive peripherals including headsets and a variety of controllers. Three of the products on offer were reproductions of the original Duke controllers made to work with modern Xbox consoles and Windows 10 PCs. They still go for $90 apiece, indicating that u/quattroconcept’s collection of apparently-old accessories is more valuable than it may seem.
In 2017, third-party controller creator Hyperkin announced that it would release new Duke controllers for the Xbox One, a move that was met with more than a few raised eyebrows at the time. Yet, this proved to be more popular than many thought it would be, and it looks as if this Reddit user was a huge fan of the idea, as Hyperkin’s green and red variants both appear to be present and accounted for.
While the renewed interest in such an old controller still may seem odd to some, it serves as a nostalgic throwback to the days in which controller designs were much less streamlined. Today, the Xbox, DualSense, and Nintendo Switch Pro controllers are all fairly uniform, but some prefer the more-or-less bygone era when controller design played a huge part in a gamer's console preference. There are still a few interesting unofficial Xbox Series X controllers fans may find interesting, but none are quite as distinct as the legendary Duke.