It’s such a great time for controllers.
I was a huge fan of the 8bitdo Pro 2 before, because it does provide great bang for the buck as an all-around controller for consoles & PC… But it does have it’s flaws along with the sn30 pro. The D-pad has a ton of marketing, but despite it’s look and initial feel, with the SN30 pro dpad I have constant miss-inputs, and the pro 2’s dpad comes squeaky out of the box and needs to be worn down, but remains somewhat squeaky at certain angles. wearing it down also generates a ton of microplastic dust– on the clear version of the controller, this takes the form of a large white smudge surrounding the dpad. This would be something I could fix with a bit of lubrication, but for whatever reason, 8bitdo makes some of the least-user-serviceable controllers on this market. they use security screws that aren’t difficult at all for me to bypass, but after that, the controller is a mess of a puzzle to dissasemble, and you can easily damage and break it trying to do so. Things are often held in with clips. It’s lame. Still, they are both in my rotation! The sn30 pro is probably the best retro style dual analog since the wii classic controller, and the pro 2 is still the best PS4 style controller with paddles.
I’m grateful we live in an age with this retro replica controller arms race, with several companies competing. Old Skool always made crap-tier stuff, and it seems like they’re catching up to the newer companies. The influx of Mini consoles has put a ton of relatively cheap, oem-adjacent replicas out there, and generated a ton of demand.
Retro-bit, 8bitdo, and Old Skool are now directly competing over niche products like the classic HORI GCN Gameboy Player controller, and six buttons SEGA pads. We’ve often got options for both 2.5ghz and bluetooth. Things just keep getting better and better!
Recently I got my first NSO controller, a super Famicom pad, and I am in love with it. Nothing beats OEM quality like this. the buttons aren’t as PC/Xbox poppy like stuff like the sn30 is going for, it’s nice and smooth like 90’s era controllers always were. I would really like to be able to acquire the family computer and N64 NSO controllers as well.
It’s wild to me how we now have redundancy for replica controllers. In the upper echelon of SNES pads, you have SNES mini, NSO, 8bitdo sn30 and more!
there’s also 2.5gz and bluetooth dongles coming out every day for vintage consoles… incredible…
before this, we only had the Wii Virtual Console snes replicas that were super expensive and hard to get!!
I’m just so hopeful for the future now. Controllers get so much wear on them, as they are used there will be less and less out there. When a controller costs over $100 and is over 30 years old, it becomes too good to be sullied by your oily animal palms.
