A YouTube creator has released a blueprint for a 3D-printed mod for the stock Xbox Series X gamepad, which makes it possible to play video games with just one hand.
The mod, by Japan-based hobbyist Akaki Kuumeri, consists of several snap-on parts that let a user access most of the pad’s various buttons from the left side of the unit.
The right thumbstick can be manipulated by setting the pad on a surface, such as a table or the user’s leg, and rocking the controller back and forth. This lets a user with only one usable hand play fast-paced action games such as Halo Infinite and Elden Ring.
Kuumeri has released blueprints for the mod via printables.com, and estimates it would take about a day and a few dollars’ worth of plastic to put together with a compatible 3D printer.
By day, Kuumeri works in security, and has been tinkering with various 3D-printed controller projects for a couple of years, as chronicled on his YouTube channel. His previous builds include homemade racing, arcade, and flight mods, which can equip a stock PlayStation or Xbox gamepad with snap-on controls that mimic more specialized gear.
“I’ve made a few different joysticks for flight simulators,” Kuumeri said to GeekWire via email. “I had a crazy idea of making a snap-on extension to turn a regular game controller into something more like a flight stick. I have to be honest, it was half a joke, but it turned out to work quite well!”
Kuumeri had also been following developments in the accessible gaming space, which works to make video games available to the disabled community via specialized control methods.
Inspired by the one-handed custom Xbox controllers built by Ben Heck, Kuumeri entered a design contest held by The Controller Project in late 2021 to create 3D-printed snap-on accessibility mods.
“I took the experience I had built up for printed snap-on controller mods and what little I knew about gaming accessibility,” Kuumeri said, “and made the one-handed DualSense design.” That mod, made for the PlayStation 5’s trademark controller, was one of three winners of the overall contest. The Xbox version of the mod followed in late March.
Kuumeri is currently in the process of “completing the set,” by making a similar one-handed snap-on mod for the Nintendo Switch’s stock JoyCon controllers.
“You might say that those are one-handed already,” Kuumeri said, “but I have a little idea on how to hold and control two of them in one hand.”
