Once the layout was finalized, I started soldering the connections.
All joystick X and Y pins were connected to ADC1 pins of ESP32, because ADC1 works reliably with ESP-NOW
Joysticks provide analog output, which allows smooth proportional control
All push buttons were connected to digital GPIO pins and configured with INPUT_PULLUP
Push buttons give digital output, so they are either ON or OFF
I carefully soldered each wire as per the pinout and circuit diagram.
Good solder joints are important here, because loose connections can cause random input issues.