Is an analog input not 0-225 under any circumstance?
No. The values returned by analogRead(), for instance, are between 0 and 1023.
The robot functions as it should. It is just too sensitive to be controlled with ease... I need the sensitivivity of the analog stick to be exponential, in other words input values near the center position of stick will effect less motion in my robot.
Then, map(), which is a linear function, is not what you want to be using.