When you think about the countless ways people sit down to play a video game, you probably imagine the classic combo of a mouse, a keyboard, or maybe a trusty gamepad. Yet the gaming world is full of oddball innovators who prove that anything—yes, even a banana—can become a controller. Below we explore 10 bizarre ways gamers have beaten titles, showing just how creative (and crazy) the community can get.
10 Bizarre Ways to Play Games
10 With Fruit And Vegetables
Parents have been warning kids for generations to keep food off the floor, but for a handful of daring creators, that advice only fuels their imagination. Take the inventive mind of BOOM, LLC Robotater, who literally turned kitchen produce into a gaming interface. By attaching tiny sensors to sliced potatoes, each tuber becomes a button: a firm press on a russet spud triggers an attack, while a gentle tap on a King Edward sends the character forward. BOOM even published a Steam guide so anyone can swap out their controller for a basket of spuds and attempt a run in Skyrim or a goal‑scoring session in Rocket League.
The fruit‑based experiments don’t stop there. Streamer Rudeism crafted a banana‑shaped controller to dominate Overwatch, naturally choosing Winston—the banana‑loving gorilla—as his avatar. He originally tried to fashion the setup with peanut butter, Winston’s favorite snack, but discovered the sticky spread was a terrible conductor. The banana solution, however, proved both conductive and thematically perfect.
Not to be outshone, the Dark Souls community produced its own produce‑powered champion. A player known as ATwerkingYoshi rigged a banana array and managed to clear the notoriously punishing game with a modest 62 deaths. While many gamers consider beating Dark Souls with a quirky controller a rite of passage, doing so by prodding a bunch of bananas at the final boss surely earns a spot in the hall of fame.
These culinary controllers prove that if you can slice, mash, or peel something, you can probably map it to an in‑game action. Whether you’re aiming for a high‑score in Rocket League or just having a laugh, turning your grocery list into a gamepad is a deliciously weird way to play.
9 With Musical Instruments
The notion of swapping a controller for a musical instrument started with a legend: a gamer who conquered Dark Souls using a Rock Band guitar. In 2014, Bearzly mapped the guitar’s fret buttons, whammy bar, and star‑power detector to the game’s inputs, creating a performance that required more stamina than a marathon run. Though he quickly ran out of buttons for actions like blocking or heavy attacks, he still managed to finish the entire campaign in just 11 hours, with the final boss falling after only three attempts.
Never one to settle, Bearzly experimented with drums next, choosing the plastic bongos from the obscure Donkey Konga rhythm game. With only five (six if you count clapping) distinct inputs, he introduced three “control states” that could be toggled by pressing multiple buttons simultaneously, effectively expanding the input set to 18 theoretical buttons. After a month of software tinkering, he completed Dark Souls in a swift five and a half hours—faster than most players with a standard gamepad.
The musical madness didn’t stop there. Other creators have taken turntables to the next level, DJ‑mixing their way through a Dark Souls boss while Overwatch’s Lucio fans spin records to control their hero. Rumor has it that someone will soon be demolishing a Call of Duty match with nothing but maracas, proving that any instrument can become a weapon in the hands of a determined gamer.
8 With A Fishing Rod
Continuing the quest for ever‑weirder controllers, Bearzly’s bongo triumph inspired others to dig up forgotten peripherals. The 2009 fishing game Bass Pro Shops: The Strike shipped with a rod‑shaped controller that features a joystick for movement and conveniently placed buttons on the handle. ATwerkingYoshi seized this device to tackle Dark Souls III, proudly declaring that he can “beat any game with any controller.” He proved his point by slaying a major boss using the rod, demonstrating that the fishing controller’s ergonomic design makes it surprisingly well‑suited for action‑heavy titles.
Not content with a single success, Yoshi streamed an entire ten‑hour session the next day, this time wielding a Nintendo Wii steering wheel from the beloved Mario Kart series. The juxtaposition of a fishing pole and a kart wheel showcases the lengths gamers will go to prove a point: the controller is merely a conduit, and any shape can become a conduit for victory.
These experiments highlight how even the most niche hardware can be repurposed for hardcore gaming, turning what was once a novelty accessory into a legitimate input device capable of taking down the toughest digital foes.
7 With Makeup
Shifting from the grim darkness of Dark Souls to a more colorful arena, we find a gamer who turned lipstick into a lethal weapon. Using a Makey Makey kit—the same platform that transformed bananas into controllers—Counter‑Strike enthusiast Chloe Desmoineaux created “Lipstrike,” a system that attaches sensors to a lipstick tube. While a mouse handles precise aiming, every kill is secured by applying lipstick, which completes the circuit and triggers the in‑game action.
Desmoineaux designed Lipstrike as a tongue‑in‑cheek rebuttal to the stereotype that makeup belongs only in the realm of cosmetics while shooters are a male‑dominated space. The result is a playful yet powerful statement: you can dominate a battlefield while looking like a glam‑icon. The only downside? After a heated match, you might end up looking more like Heath Ledger’s Joker than a polished professional.
6 With Their Mouth
Rocky NoHands—real name Rocky Stoutenburgh—lost the use of his arms in a tragic accident at 19, yet he refused to let that stop his gaming ambitions. He streams competitive Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds matches using only his mouth, thanks to a device called the Quadstick. The Quadstick translates blows, sips, and bites into controller inputs, letting Rocky execute complex maneuvers without ever touching a button.
Imagine trying to land a headshot while inhaling through a tiny hole, or crouching by simultaneously sipping two separate ports. That’s Rocky’s reality, and despite the absurdity, he regularly secures solo victories in a 100‑player battlefield. His mastery demonstrates that with enough determination—and a bit of lung power—you can outplay opponents who rely on conventional hand‑based controllers.
Designing his setup took roughly three days, and while some actions remain impossible, the Quadstick’s configuration lets him fire, reload, and navigate with surprising fluidity. Rocky’s story is a testament to the resilience of gamers who adapt their playstyles to whatever hardware they can command.
5 With Their Dance Moves
Physical activity might not be the first thing you associate with unconventional gaming, but dance‑pad enthusiasts prove otherwise. Jayce, self‑described as a “dance gamer,” repurposes the arcade‑style pads from Dance Dance Revolution to tackle classic platformers. By stepping on directional arrows, he controls characters in titles like Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario World, and Yoshi’s Island, often needing two pads at once to cover all necessary inputs.
The most chaotic moments see Jayce contorting himself on all fours, resembling a frantic game of Twister, as he navigates tricky platforming sections. His dedication even extends to the notoriously unforgiving Dark Souls III, where a fellow gamer replicated the dance‑pad method to claim victory, confirming that rhythm can indeed meet relentless difficulty.
These performances showcase a blend of athleticism and ingenuity, turning a simple step‑based input device into a full‑featured controller capable of handling the most demanding game mechanics.
4 With A Bow And Arrow
Rudeism’s banana controller saga didn’t stop with fruit; he later ventured into archery-themed setups. By modifying a toy Nerf bow, he linked the bow’s mechanical movements to in‑game actions for the Overwatch hero Hanzo. Pulling the real‑world string mirrors Hanzo’s draw, and releasing an arrow triggers an on‑screen shot, blurring the line between physical and virtual archery.
To keep the character mobile, Rudeism paired the bow with a dance pad for movement—stamping left to go left, stepping forward to move forward. This hybrid system of a Nerf bow and rhythm‑pad controls lets him mimic Hanzo’s motions down to the last footstep, creating an immersive experience where the controller mirrors the hero’s own toolkit.
3 Upside Down (Or Even Blindfolded)
LobosJr is a unique case: he plays games the traditional way—controller in hand, eyes on the screen—except he flips the visual feed upside down. Using a mod that inverts the display, he confronts the disorienting challenge of a world where the sky becomes the floor and left becomes right. The resulting experience is a nauseating, yet fascinating, test of spatial awareness and muscle memory.
But LobosJr’s sensory gymnastics don’t stop at inversion. He previously posted a video of himself tackling Dark Souls while blindfolded, relying solely on audio cues and memorized level layouts. Picture a bat using echolocation, except the prey is a demonic knight and the bat is a human gamer navigating a treacherous realm without sight.
These experiments illustrate how far a player will go to push personal limits, whether by turning the world upside down or plunging into darkness, all while maintaining a respectable level of success.
2 With Their Feet
Stevie Rex was born with TAR syndrome, a rare condition that leaves him without forearm bones, rendering traditional hand‑based controllers impossible. Undeterred, he turned his feet into the primary input device for the MMO Final Fantasy XIV, using a standard gamepad to press buttons with his toes.
FFXIV’s “cross‑bar” system—originally designed to let console players switch between ability sets using shoulder buttons—proved to be a lifesaver. By mapping a handful of foot‑controlled buttons to the cross‑bar, Stevie could execute the complex combat rotations required for high‑level play, effectively turning his feet into a full‑fledged command deck.
Stevie shared his setup as a thank‑you to Square Enix for implementing the cross‑bar, highlighting how a seemingly minor accessibility feature can dramatically expand the gaming possibilities for players with physical challenges.
1 By Blowing Their Noses Into Recorders
We close our bizarre journey with a classic: a Japanese gamer who turned a simple recorder into a controller for Super Mario World. By attaching a pitch‑detection system to the instrument, he assigned different tones to Mario’s core actions—jump, move left, move right—creating a hands‑free method of play.
To keep things truly eccentric, he doesn’t blow into the recorder in the usual musical fashion; instead, he uses his nose. The resulting sound, while unconventional, reliably triggers the mapped inputs, allowing him to breeze through levels without ever touching a button.Next time you feel confident in your platforming skills, remember that somewhere out there, a player is guiding Mario through the Mushroom Kingdom with nothing but a nose‑blown recorder, proving that imagination truly knows no bounds.