Ten teams, one Saturday, a slightly sketchy pizza place. Controllers everywhere. Except the winners.
A friend runs a small mobile-gaming meetup where I live and they had a Sideswipe 2v2 last weekend. Twenty players roughly, tiny prize pool, mostly bragging rights. I went to hang out and eat cold pizza.
Going in, I assumed controller players would dominate. They mostly did — but the finals had a touch team that absolutely should not have been that good. The taller of the two used one thumb for boost and dodge simultaneously in a way I still don't fully understand.
They lost, but only barely, and it made me think about something. Controller is objectively easier to be consistent on. But the ceiling for a really practiced touch player is higher than most controller players think. The best touch players are doing things with grip that look wrong until you slow down the replay.
Would I ever go back? No. But I stopped saying 'controller is just better' at parties. It's more like 'controller is easier to get 80% of the way there.' That last 20% is still up for grabs.