diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b36a8e5..245a9a4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@
 /wipegame
 /save.dat
 .DS_STORE
+gamecontrollerdb.txt
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 16953d5..45295db 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -98,6 +98,8 @@ The directory structure is assumed to be as follows
 
 Note that the blog post announcing this project may or may not provide a link to a ZIP containing all files needed. Who knows!
 
+Optionally, if you want to use a game controller that may not be supported by SDL directly, you can place the [gamecontrollerdb.txt](https://github.com/gabomdq/SDL_GameControllerDB) in the root directory of this project (along the compiled `wipegame`).
+
 
 
 ## Ideas for improvements
diff --git a/src/platform_sdl.c b/src/platform_sdl.c
index 5750c05..4d45c46 100755
--- a/src/platform_sdl.c
+++ b/src/platform_sdl.c
@@ -302,7 +302,15 @@ void platform_set_audio_mix_cb(void (*cb)(float *buffer, uint32_t len)) {
 
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
-	SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO | SDL_INIT_AUDIO | SDL_INIT_GAMECONTROLLER);
+	SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO | SDL_INIT_AUDIO | SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK | SDL_INIT_GAMECONTROLLER);
+
+	int gcdb_res = SDL_GameControllerAddMappingsFromFile("gamecontrollerdb.txt");
+	if (gcdb_res < 0) {
+		printf("Failed to load gamecontrollerdb.txt\n");
+	}
+	else {
+		printf("load gamecontrollerdb.txt\n");
+	}
 
 	audio_device = SDL_OpenAudioDevice(NULL, 0, &(SDL_AudioSpec){
 		.freq = 44100,