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Rich! · Jun 23, 2015

Owned this for a month now, put it through its paces, and I thought I should make a thread about it - considering most people seem unaware of its existence.

8Bitdo is a company that previously released this bluetooth replica of the NES controller with a few additions:

I never tried it, but it got great reviews. Anyhow, last month I built a games console - I put a raspberry pi 2 into a SNES case, soldered it up, added real controller support/power switch/LED function/ports. Someone in the pi thread mentioned that 8bitdo had released a SNES/SFC version of the NES30 pad. Bluetooth/wired. Native Wii/Wii U wiimote emulation, bluetooth. I looked on ebay, and bought one (USA version) for £20. Arrived in two days.

holy shit, I was stunned. Firstly, the presentation of the product and packaging is premium as hell. It comes in a very nice box, packaged and designed with more care than any other product I have bought of its kind - especially for twenty fucking quid. Comes with a nice booklet, good length micro usb cable, a hefty metallic keychain.

And holy hell, this thing feels fantastic. Every single thing about it, from the build itself, to the feel of the plastic, to the colours used, even down to the dimensions to the goddamn millimeter are identical to the official SNES pad, and the buttons are responsive as hell, D-Pad is amazing and...well, I wouldn't be lying if I said it is actually better to use than a real SNES pad. It's incredibly good.

After some time spent messing with the Pi, I got it working wirelessly via bluetooth (it works instantly with no setup on a PC). No lag whatsoever. Battery life is holding at around 10 hours or so per charge for me, and upon opening it, it seems easy enough to replace it if it ever died. The Wii wiimote emulation function works great too - hold start+y and you can sync it with a Wii/U. Played some New Super Mario Bros U with it and it was fantastic.

Anyhow. Don't want the USA design? There's a SFC version:

or you can do what I did and swap the buttons with ones from an official PAL/JP pad. The buttons and membranes are identical to those in the real thing:

Anyway. I'm sorry if this post comes off as some sort of advertisement...it's not. I've just never been so impressed with any gaming accessory in the past. This thing is amazing. Oh, and I also own a buffalo USB SNES pad - there's no fucking comparison. not even in the same ballpark.

kamicowzi · Jun 23, 2015

That sounds pretty rad. How hard was it to build the SNES?

Rich! · Jun 23, 2015

kamicowzi said:
That sounds pretty rad. How hard was it to build the SNES?

tricky. but it works perfectly now. more info here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1047566

all the images are down because pomf.se closed...I'll have to rehost. Here's some in the meantime:

Hardware:
- SNES Console (bought one with a broken motherboard)
- Raspberry Pi B 2
- 16GB Micro SD+32gb flash USB inside
- OEM Bluetooth dongle
- TP-Link WiFi N dongle
- HDMI Extension lead
- Micro USB extension lead
- ControlBlock circuitry for polling the real SNES ports and controlling the LED and power switch
- Solder, wire and a new LED.
- USB port under the EXT panel at the base of the console

Dr. Kitty Muffins · Jun 23, 2015

How much did the Snes cost to build?

kamicowzi · Jun 23, 2015

That's really neat man! I wish I could solder better.

Gordon Shumway · Jun 23, 2015

Haha! Great job with the SNES, OP..really cool.

bernardobri · Jun 23, 2015

Been hearing lately a lot about these controllers. A store in Chile (Dristore) distributes the NES one for the same price that it'd take me to buy one of these online.

Anyone knows if they work on PS3 and PS4?

Rich! · Jun 23, 2015

bernardobri said:
Been hearing lately a lot about these controllers. A store in Chile (Dristore) distributes the NES one for the same price that it'd take me to buy one of these online.

Anyone knows if they work on PS3 and PS4?

just tried it. works perfectly, played some street fighter third strike with it.

no idea about PS4.

Dr. Kitty Muffins said:
How much did the Snes cost to build?

umm...well

£35 pi 2
£5 decent pi power supply
£25 controlblock board
£20 SNES
£10 for bluetooth and wifi dongles
£10 32gb sandisk nano usb stick
£10 hdmi extension cable and micro usb extension for the ports at the back, usb socket for mounting under the EXT panel, wire, solder.

so that's £120 or so. I think that's reasonable considering what it is and what it actually plays (everything from Atari 2600 to PS1 at fullspeed). And it was a homemade project, so yeah.

TheGamingBox · Jun 23, 2015

where can i buy those controllers?

Rich! · Jun 23, 2015

TheNintendoBox said:
where can i buy those controllers?

ebay, aliexpress, many other online stores

mine was from ebay.

drotahorror · Jun 23, 2015

This is amazing. Subbed so I can do this myself one day.

sörine · Jun 23, 2015

I got the SFC version, one of the best replicas I've ever used. And the package design is just as great.

I need 8bitdo to do NeoGeo and Saturn pads.

MercuryLS · Jun 23, 2015

I've been wanting something like this for ages. Will buy, thanks op for letting us know.

sixteen-bit · Jun 23, 2015

I'm impressed by the build quality. It's a great clone controller.

Cloudius12 · Jun 23, 2015

I got a raspberry pi 2 up and running. I decided to get 2 iBuffalo USB SNES Controllers. For what they are right now, they do the job. I may get 2 of these 8bitdo pads later though.

Conezays · Jun 23, 2015

Awesome stuff; might have to check one out myself.

RowdyReverb · Jun 23, 2015

Thanks for the write up. I shopped for a SNES clone for PC for a while, but eventually connected a GC/XB/PS2 to USB adapter to a SNES/N64/NES to GC adapter and plugged my old SNES controller into it lol. Not exactly ideal, but I had one of the adapters already and figured, why not?
This controller is going on my wishlist though.

bernardobri · Jun 23, 2015

Rich! said:
just tried it. works perfectly, played some street fighter third strike with it.

So no lag when connected bluetooth at all? Man, this is very tempting...

The Broken Ska Record · Jun 23, 2015

I've been wanting to pick up a Bluetooth controller for a while. Gonna pick up the SNES version soon.

Rich! · Jun 23, 2015

bernardobri said:
So no lag when connected bluetooth at all? Man, this is very tempting...

not at all. and I'm one who immediately would notice it.

Mr.McFist · Jun 23, 2015

Sounds fantastic, I want to pick one up now for sure.

fester · Jun 23, 2015

Been looking at these for a little while and this thread pushed me over the hump. Rich!, make sure you collect your check from 8bitdo.

Rich! · Jun 23, 2015

fester said:
Been looking at these for a little while and this thread pushed me over the hump. Rich!, make sure you collect your check from 8bitdo.

haha if only

Astral/H3X · Jun 23, 2015

Sounds awesome, especially the SFC version. I'll look into this with my next paycheck.

EDIT

fester said:
Been looking at these for a little while and this thread pushed me over the hump. Rich!, make sure you collect your check from 8bitdo.

I'm still waiting on a check from Mayflash. Hell I still see my thread pop back up from time to time.

timetokill · Jun 23, 2015

Sounds great, definitely on my radar. it looks like there are actually the same number of buttons on the NES version (that also has shoulder buttons) so it's all about whether you like the NES or SNES look and feel better or not.

Nekofrog · Jun 23, 2015

does the dpad suck? every "retro" controller i've ever tried has had a shitty dpad.

i have ridiculously high standards so even your glowing review of the dpad still makes me worry

zweifuss · Jun 23, 2015

How do you get it to work with the pi 2? And what mode did you use? Is there a good tutorial for getting one to work with retroarch and the pi2? I have a Bluetooth dongle but I was only able to pair a ps3 controller using the sixaxis utility.

Glowsquid · Jun 23, 2015

This looks really cool! I hope that company goes around making Saturn pads one day.

I did some searching and found 8bitdo also released an arcade stick. Anybody serious about their sticks reviewed that one?

elfinke · Jun 23, 2015

Very neat! And a well written OP, too.

I just read your other linked thread, spectacular. I often flirt with the idea of grabbing a pi to play with... you may have pushed me over the edge!

RadarScope1 · Jun 23, 2015

So is there a dongle to use it with a real SNES?

Rich! · Jun 23, 2015

zweifuss said:
How do you get it to work with the pi 2? And what mode did you use? Is there a good tutorial for getting one to work with retroarch and the pi2? I have a Bluetooth dongle but I was only able to pair a ps3 controller using the sixaxis utility.

set it to joypad mode, use bluez bluetooth driver to pair to it, set it to remember the MAC address and auto connect to the controller whenever turned on, and then simply configured it to work in retroarch and emulationstation (for emulationstation, you need to configure it first in keyboard mode for the d-pad and then joypad mode for the buttons).

works perfectly now. I turn on the console, hold start on the controller to turn it on, and it just works.

RadarScope1 said:
So is there a dongle to use it with a real SNES?

nope

EricB · Jun 23, 2015

I've been using this one:

and it has been surprisingly awesome as well. Highly recommended.

MercuryLS · Jun 23, 2015

RadarScope1 said:
So is there a dongle to use it with a real SNES?

That would have made this thing perfect. Damn shame.

sixteen-bit · Jun 23, 2015

You think 8bitdo will ever do a Saturn controller?

RoryDropkick · Jun 23, 2015

EricB said:
I've been using this one:

and it has been surprisingly awesome as well. Highly recommended.

I was about to ask, I've been considering this one, but the FC colored one appears to be unavaliable anywhere.

CO_Andy · Jun 23, 2015

Dayuuuuuuuum that controller looks authentic

Hope this company sticks around in a world of awful 3rd-party jank.

suikodan · Jun 23, 2015

EricB said:
I've been using this one:

and it has been surprisingly awesome as well. Highly recommended.

I have been using this one as well for my Raspberry Pi setup. Very satisfied so far and wanted it for the twin sticks.

jimjonjimmy · Jun 23, 2015

EricB said:
I've been using this one:

and it has been surprisingly awesome as well. Highly recommended.

I'm curious what you used with it? I bought this controller NES30 Pro if anyone is wondering, and I am mostly displeased with it. I'm still tempted to get the SNES30, but after using this one I'm hesitant. Maybe I just got a bad one, but it has many problems. I tried it with my phone Android Samsung Galaxy Nexus 5 using a few emulators and it was laggy and the joystick needed some deadzone adjustments. I tried it then on my PC only tried 2 games Borderlands where it was unresponsive half the time and left joystick up and down were reversed. The other game was Portal 2 and all the buttons were terribly messed up I couldn't remember all of them but one was the orange portal was mapped to the left and right of the right stick. From my opinion don't buy the pro controller.

tbb033 · Jun 23, 2015

EricB said:
I've been using this one:

and it has been surprisingly awesome as well. Highly recommended.

Looks like the original Wii classic controller mated with an NES controller.

Nice.

Miker · Jun 23, 2015

Thanks for the post, Rich! I'm using a Wii U Pro Controller for my 2D needs right now and while it's good, I feel like I'd be better served with an SNES controller. I might pick up the SFC30.

jimjonjimmy said:
I'm curious what you used with it? I bought this controller NES30 Pro if anyone is wondering, and I am mostly displeased with it. I'm still tempted to get the SNES30, but after using this one I'm hesitant. Maybe I just got a bad one, but it has many problems. I tried it with my phone using a few emulators and it was laggy and the joystick needed some deadzone adjustments. I tried it then on my PC only tried 2 games Borderlands where it was unresponsive half the time and left joystick up and down were reversed. The other game was Portal 2 and all the buttons were terribly messed up I couldn't remember all of them but one was the orange portal was mapped to the left and right of the right stick. From my opinion don't buy the pro controller.

I don't know about the mobile experience, but it sounds like it's using direct input rather than Xinput for PC games. It would probably benefit from Xbox 360 controller emulator or similar programs.

EricB · Jun 23, 2015

jimjonjimmy said:
I'm curious what you used with it? I bought this controller NES30 Pro if anyone is wondering, and I am mostly displeased with it. I'm still tempted to get the SNES30, but after using this one I'm hesitant. Maybe I just got a bad one, but it has many problems. I tried it with my phone using a few emulators and it was laggy and the joystick needed some deadzone adjustments. I tried it then on my PC only tried 2 games Borderlands where it was unresponsive half the time and left joystick up and down were reversed. The other game was Portal 2 and all the buttons were terribly messed up I couldn't remember all of them but one was the orange portal was mapped to the left and right of the right stick. From my opinion don't buy the pro controller.

Sorry to hear that. To be honest, I've mostly used it as a SNES controller and have only dabbled with the analog sticks so I guess
I should give it a more extensive testing. All the games I've tried have worked great with the dpad, and overall the controller feels great. Since it is not an mfi controller, I haven't tried it on my phone/ipad. I'll give it a whirl with some more analog joystick based games and report back.

jimjonjimmy · Jun 23, 2015

Miker said:
Thanks for the post, Rich! I'm using a Wii U Pro Controller for my 2D needs right now and while it's good, I feel like I'd be better served with an SNES controller. I might pick up the SFC30.

I don't know about the mobile experience, but it sounds like it's using direct input rather than Xinput for PC games. It would probably benefit from Xbox 360 controller emulator or similar programs.

According to the site it's supposed to act as a 360 controller when plugged into a PC. Which it did but as I stated the buttons were mapped weird or had other problems. Portal 2 saw it as a 360 controller and was impossible to change the controls to fix it.

jhmtehgamr20xx · Jun 23, 2015

Dunno; Saturn pad still looks and performs better for action-focused games. This might be a decent 2nd though.

Miker · Jun 23, 2015

jimjonjimmy said:
According to the site it's supposed to act as a 360 controller when plugged into a PC. Which it did but as I stated the buttons were mapped weird or had other problems. Portal 2 saw it as a 360 controller and was impossible to change the controls to fix it.

Ah, then I dunno

Artex · Jun 23, 2015

I have the nes30 and use it with my Nexus Player for all my emulators. It's a great controller, didn't even know they had another product.

Anth0ny · Jun 23, 2015

Fuck, this sounds awesome. I've run into nothing but problems trying to hook up a SNES controller to USB. Considering picking this up to play 2D games on PC.

Rich, any idea if this thing cooperates with Retroarch/games on Steam? I'm ready to impulse buy here.

jimjonjimmy · Jun 23, 2015

EricB said:
Sorry to hear that. To be honest, I've mostly used it as a SNES controller and have only dabbled with the analog sticks so I guess
I should give it a more extensive testing. All the games I've tried have worked great with the dpad, and overall the controller feels great. Since it is not an mfi controller, I haven't tried it on my phone/ipad. I'll give it a whirl with some more analog joystick based games and report back.

I'd love to hear you're impressions as it is possible I just got a bad controller. I also tried it on my Wii U, its not advertised much but it is a feature. I tried Mario 3 and it seemed mostly ok from what I tried, the controller acts like a Wii remote alone with only the face buttons being mapped to 1, 2, A, and B. I also tried Smash Bros. for shits and giggles but just moving the cursor around at the character select screen the hand didn't move smoothly but really jittery.

FSLink · Jun 23, 2015

Any recommended links to reputable sellers with good shipping (speed + price)?

RadarScope1 · Jun 23, 2015

Rich! said:
nope

MercuryLS said:
That would have made this thing perfect. Damn shame.

See, they need to fix that. Sell a dongle and I'm in. I've dreamed a wireless NES and SNES controllers that use the exact form factor of the originals but today's modern wireless tech. Seriously, why is that not a thing at this point? Haven't these people seen what we retro gamers will pay for shit? C'mon, nerds, make it happen.

Rich! · Jun 23, 2015

RadarScope1 said:
See, they need to fix that. Sell a dongle and I'm in. I've dreamed a wireless NES and SNES controllers that use the exact form factor of the originals but today's modern wireless tech. Seriously, why is that not a thing at this point? Haven't these people seen what we retro gamers will pay for shit? C'mon, nerds, make it happen.

well, it is a thing. kinda:

Anth0ny said:
Fuck, this sounds awesome. I've run into nothing but problems trying to hook up a SNES controller to USB. Considering picking this up to play 2D games on PC.

Rich, any idea if this thing cooperates with Retroarch/games on Steam? I'm ready to impulse buy here.

works fine with retroarch and steam. works as directinput.

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