Elden Ring is harder with a modded Fisher-Price toy controller

Elden Ring is hard enough as is. But it’s even more difficult when you play through with a toy controller meant for kids. Self described as a “builder of bizarre controllers,” streamer Rudeism shared that he had created a fully functional controller using a Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Game & Learn Controller on April 30. He later shared a video showing him using the controller to play Elden Ring.

Rudeism first got the idea to make it from a Wario64 tweet that shared a sale for a colorful Fisher-Price controller as a joke, saying it was “perfect for Elden Ring.” The toy is aimed at kids as young as six months old and is advertised as providing “hands-on learning for your little gamer.”

The modded controller is fully functional as an Xbox controller, and keeps the features of the original children’s toy so you can learn your ABCs and become the Elden Lord. Rudeism posted a video of the controller playing with Elden Ring and as he pressed buttons, an energetic voice would explain the colors of the buttons like “Blue!” and “Orange!” each time he pressed it.

Rudeism explained to Polygon over Twitter how he made it. He started by connecting an Arduino to the existing circuit board, and then programmed the Arduino to function as an Xbox device. Later he replaced the thumbstick, added some extra switches for the shoulders, and “then stuffed everything back in.” According to him, the hardest part was getting all the parts to fit inside. Rudeism told Polygon that it took about two weeks total to make the controller.

The controller is clearly missing a few buttons common to regular video game controllers; one of the biggest missing components being a second thumbstick. Instead of two thumbsticks, there is a yellow switch on the bottom controller that can be toggled to switch the controller between left and right thumbstick.

Rudeism said that, oddly enough, the controller works surprisingly well for FromSoftware games: “I’m gonna experiment with a few games to see what works and what doesn’t, but for now, I know that I’m going to use it to beat Elden Ring.” He also posted a clip of playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and chained tricks together with ease.

As for future plans, he’s just going to keep tinkering with it. People have already reached out to see if he takes commissions. He told Polygon, “I’m not quite at that stage yet, I’m still working on the quality of my builds, but I think this one was a huge step in the right direction!”