The worlds of modern and retro gaming collide with our Retro-Bit Wireless Mega Drive Controller Review. When it comes to playing retro games, you want to play on original hardware, but it would also be great to have proper modern wireless controllers with all of the modern conveniences that we expect from a gaming controller. Can you do it all without losing the spirit of what feels like a Mega Drive controller? Let’s find out.
What Is the Retro-Bit Wireless Mega Drive Controller?
The Retro-Bit Wireless Mega Drive Controller is a 6-button controller for the Mega Drive that follows the classic design of the original controller you’d have bought back in the day, with the slight addition of two shoulder buttons. The other physical addition to the package are the two different wireless dongles, one serial port (like a Mega Drive) and one USB (for pretty much everything else).
It also all comes in a pretty fancy-looking plastic case, giving you a nice place to store whatever dongle you’re not using, as well as a protective case for the controller itself, of course. All of this is helped along with an official bit of Sega-licensed branding. That’s right, this is an official controller with that classic golden seal of quality that you used to find on old Mega Drive games and hardware.
Usability
It’s a pretty simple concept in principle. You can put either dongle into various pieces of hardware, from a PS3 or Nintendo Switch to the original hardware itself, and then you press a sync button on both the controller and dongle to connect them. In practice, this is mostly true, but every so often, it also requires the prodigious use of a paper clip to hardware reset the entire controller before it’ll reconnect. Minor inconvenience aside, it always connects after a reset, and most of the time it continues to work on the same platform as long as you’re not swapping around too much.
There’s not much to worry about with controller settings or mapping as long as you’re using it on an original Mega Drive or emulating the software of the MD. Things get a bit more complicated when you start playing on a more modern system. Like the CRKD Atom, you can use a few different button combos to have the D-pad emulate either the left or right analogue stick or just stay as a D-pad. While this means you won’t be able to play every single game for these modern systems, at least the protective case can also fit the manual inside, meaning you won’t have to try and remember the various button combos you need for switching D-pad emulation styles.
Design
In terms of physical design, I don’t think it’s possible to beat the one that Retro-Bit has gone with. It’s easy to see why Sega felt comfortable licensing their classic ‘gold seal’ to this company, with this controller happily sitting alongside any number of the official controls that the 90s spawned. The controller is also a damn sight sturdier-feeling than a huge number of other third-party offerings, meaning you won’t have to worry about it falling apart. With the extra buttons, you can play pretty much every game in the Mega Drive library, as well as various modern adaptations like Kaze and the Wild Masks on PC or Switch.
You also get a respectable battery life. I had the controller for quite a while and only had to charge a handful of times thus far. The only downside in terms of charging is the use of the slightly flimsier micro-USB instead of a more updated USB-C standard. It’s also possible that if you lose your charger cable that you’ll need to buy a replacement, as these cables are a bit less common in most households compared with what they were half a decade ago. Then again, Mega Drives are much, muuch, less common than they used to be, so maybe you’ll be fine. It’s also worth noting that because it requires you to use a dongle, you can’t use it on a Switch unless the Switch is in a dock. So, no on-the-go Mega Drive gaming for Switch owners just yet, at least not with a proper controller.
Worth Your Money?
The all-important question is whether or not the Retro-Bit Wireless Mega Drive controller is worth your money or not, and the answer depends entirely on how much Mega Drive you play. If you’re still an avid fan of the console, either emulated or physically, then this is an obvious peripheral to make your own. It looks like a proper Mega Drive controller (because it is), and because it’s new, you can be sure it’s going to last you a long time while allowing you to play your games wirelessly.
If you’ve only got a casual interest in the system, this controller probably isn’t what you’re after. The dongle-only design means it’s very clearly aimed at users on a home TV who want to sit down and play their consoles. If you enjoy some Mega Drive games on the tube, then you’ll need to get your kicks elsewhere.
