Gamepad Map

Gamepads come in handy when certain games are a pain to play on the keyboard and mouse combo, such as badly ported action games, or tricky platformers that require lightning-fast reflexes. However, not all controllers are supported, and sometimes the games themselves are not optimized to recognize and work with a dedicated gamepad.

Gamepad Map is a tool designed to make your life easier in a variety of situations, starting from enabling the use of a gamepad in games that do not normally support one, all the way to being able to utilize the controller in non-gaming applications. It comes in a simple and sleek packaging, and it should be simple enough for anyone to figure it out in under five minutes.

What the application essentially does is mapping mouse actions and keyboard button presses on your gamepad. Hence, you can use the analog stick to simulate mouse movement, which although may not be very precise, it can have certain uses. Every key on the keyboard is available and utilizable, except for special cases like multimedia buttons and custom macros.

Multiple profiles are supported as well, meaning that you can have different mappings for different applications, or even multiple controllers, each with its own profile. The profiles are saved and displayed in the app’s interface at all times, which makes it easy to switch between them when you want to. The configurations can be exported as XML files with the click of a button, just in case you need the profiles on a different computer.

Lastly, the actual user interface is not intimidating at all, even though it provides very few explanations. Changing a key requires a simple click on the desired field, and it is even possible to quickly map the D-Pad to classic arrangements such as WASD or the arrow keys. Moreover, a drop down menu allows you to map slightly more difficult actions, such as mouse movements.

In the end, Gamepad Map does its job silently and efficiently, which is why it should become part of your repertoire if you can find a use for its functions. On the other hand, the mapping process can be a tad counterintuitive, since there are no guides or tutorials to help you along.