Review: The CronusMax lets you use cross controllers to different consoles!

It’s long been the battle cry of the technologically unaware – “Why can’t you just use a controller from (A Console) on (B Console) instead of having to own all these different ones?” To be fair, it was usually my mom, dad or aunts asking me the question and not fellow gamers.  We instead all have preferences.  Do you prefer the Xbox One controller, for example, or the PS4?  Have you actually wondered how it would be like if you played your PS4 games with an Xbox One controller?  The CronusMax is something that can make that happen for you now.

Note: Before we get started on this review, you need a PC to get things set up.  If the only home computers you have at home are Macs, you’re out of luck. While gamers have found ways to make the CronusMax work on a Mac, it was after setup, and for its actual purpose.

On a high level, the CronusMax is a third party device that provides you the comfort and ability to use one of your favourite supported controllers on another console.  However, in addition to this, you can set mods like rapid fire, burst fires and more. Best of all, everything is software based and loaded into the device, which doesn’t involve you having to modify or manipulate the controller itself!

The CronusMax is a small flash drive-sized device that hooks up into the USB port of your console or PC and allows you to play games on that console using another console’s controller. You can use your Xbox 360 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 on an Xbox One, 360 on an Xbox One and so on.  Some may require additional hardware (like a bluetooth dongle) and support right now for the PlayStation 4 is limited, but to give you an indication of what works on what, here is the information directly from the source.

You can also have up to 10 different profiles set up on your CronusMax if you will be setting up fairly difficult mods or will be playing numerous genres of games for which you’d like to separate all of your preferences. There is some Plug and Play functionality for consoles, however, you’ll need to download the free GTuner software and configure things manually if you’d like to use it on your PC.

This is where we hit one of the first stumbling blocks with the CronusMax.  Setting the device up on consoles aren’t difficult on paper, but might be in execution. For example, you need a wired official Xbox 360 controller to be able to authenticate the device with your console. I honestly don’t think I know a single person that owns one (and my only wired controller is a light up 3rd party one.) This is necessary because a play and charge cable isn’t capable of transmitting any data to the console. Setting things up with the Xbox One and PS4 is fairly easy though.  You simply plug the device into a console’s USB port to start, and when prompted, plug the official controller into the input port (you need the micro USB data cable to hook up the controller to the CronusMax.)  Setup is basically instantaneous and when done, you can unplug, and plug your respective controller in.  I was able to use my third party 360 controller on my Xbox One without a problem as shown below (the controller didn’t light up, but that’s neither here nor there.) The buttons automatically mapped correctly for me.

There are a few more limitations here and there which are listed in the manual, and more in depth as provided direct from  ControllerMax.

You’ll also have to shut the console down manually, or through the original controller by the looks of it. While I was prompted to turn the console off through the use of my 360 controller, it wouldn’t shut the system off when prompted – Just reset it.

One of the things to be aware of here with the CronusMax is that while it SUPPORTS Bluetooth devices, it doesn’t have onboard support. What this means is that for you to use a PlayStation 3 or 4 controller, for example, you will have to provide your own Bluetooth 2.1x dongle device. A small dongle like this one, for example, should do the trick:

In addition, if you wish to play with a wireless Xbox 360 controller, you have to own the OEM wireless receiver. I don’t think I’ve seen them for sale in stores for quite a while.  You might have to try something like eBay to pick one of them up, or order one through the ControllerMax website (the links are in the limitations page I linked above.) If you wish to play on Androids, you’ll also need an OTG cable, but those are a dime a dozen, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

Really, the only major roadblock that most people face with the setup is a temporary stumbling block with the GTuner software. GTuner itself and getting the tool working to your satisfaction are the toughest part of the whole experience.  There is some automation possibility, but it’s pretty touch and go, so I’d recommend just going manual on it.  This is achievable through the “Output Protocol” in the Options tab. You can then choose what the output is and go from there.

One of the neatest things about the GTuner software is just checking out the sheer number of mods that exist within the community.  It’s everything from the auto-fire mods for unlikely games (there’s an Auto-Trade mod for FIFA 14, for example) to mods for old controls with new versions of games (which oddly is of my most common gripes.)  There is a lot of out of the box thinking as well.  One thing I found really interesting in the community was a mod which allowed someone who was missing their right hand to play NHL 11.

I’d say the gamers that would get the most benefit out of this will be those who play games that require a lot of precision that they feel they get out of one of the controllers, or importantly, those who have spent a LOT of money for specific hardware, like a racing wheel.  Fighting and shooter enthusiasts will probably really get a kick out of the CronusMax. In addition, PC gamers might really get a kick out of it too, since it’ll make it so that you don’t have to go and buy a PC controller or gamepad. It might take an hour or two to go through the growing pains of setup, but once it’s down, you should be good to go.

In closing, the CronusMax does something we’ve all wondered about doing, and it’s made the impossible possible.  It has a few stumbling blocks here and there, but it doesn’t seem like it’s anything that hadn’t been thought of (and really just came up against because it was unavoidable.)  Even if you go through the rigors of setting up the most difficult mods and you feel it’s really time consuming, think about it this way – You couldn’t do it before this device showed up.

The CronusMax is now available at Best Buy and online at BestBuy.ca