8BITDO Retro Receiver for NES

[bobrocks95]

Saw this on Facebook today- it's a bluetooth dongle for an NES essentially, letting you connect wireless controllers to it.

I figure this has probably been done before? Maybe not with bluetooth but in some capacity. Anyway, it's $20 USD and can be used as a PC bluetooth dongle as well, and since it mentions Wii U Pro Controller, Wiimote, etc. compatibility, it might be an easier solution for those since you need the Toshiba bluetooth stack and a bunch of software.

The most interesting thing imo is that they're a company based in Hong Kong but didn't make a Famicom version of this first, the console that would likely exist there and the console that desperately needs wireless controllers.

Some links:
http://www.play-asia.com/play-asia-com- ... y/5f/747m9 - Press release on PlayAsia
http://www.play-asia.com/retro-receiver ... /13/70a2f7 - PlayAsia store page
http://www.8bitdo.com/retro-receiver-nes/ - The company's website

Thoughts?

[Pasky]

Lag and batteries...no thanks.

[Guspaz]

Lag and batteries...no thanks.

I wasn't aware that anybody had yet done any benchmarks on latency, certainly I haven't seen any demonstrating that it adds any perceptible lag.

[bobrocks95]

Lag readings would be interesting, though I doubt it's enough to matter on a CRT for even the pickiest gamer. At the same time it's a Chinese product, so it could be exceptionally bad. No way to tell right now.

As for batteries, I'd use a Wii U Pro Controller anyway. 80 hours of battery life, I think I've charged it 5 times in 3 years or so.

[Guspaz]

It's a Chinese company, yes, but they (8bitdo) aren't a noname fly-by-night, they're quite well known for their wireless controllers. And it's a collaboration between them and Analogue (of Analogue NT fame), and say what you want about their high prices, the stuff they build is quality.

They may turn out to be garbage, but I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt until somebody can review and benchmark them.

[RGB0b]

Mine just arrived. I ran the manual lag test 10 times with the original controller and 10 times with the bluetooth dongle / SNES30 controller and they performed identically. I also played through the first few levels of SMB1 and it worked fine.

...and yes, I realize that these tests are subjective, but I'm REALLY sensitive to lag and would have noticed a big difference. I'll play through a few levels of Mega Man later and see how it works, but so far it's looking like a great alternative to the original.

[bobrocks95]

Good to hear. Probably 1 frame or fewer of lag. I'm not dying to use it on the NES, but I'd buy one that plugged into the Famicom expansion port in a heartbeat.

Does one support multiple controllers like I assume it would?

[Guspaz]

I'm not sure why you'd want to connect multiple controllers to a single NES controller port...? Because you have one wireless receiver per NES controller port, you're expected to have one wireless receiver per controller.

[bobrocks95]

I'm not sure why you'd want to connect multiple controllers to a single NES controller port...? Because you have one wireless receiver per NES controller port, you're expected to have one wireless receiver per controller.

I'm thinking Famicom here, which has one port. In its case it can support 2 controllers.

[Guspaz]

Just use a Famicom-to-NES controller adapter: the 8bitdo wireless dongle will work with any device that has NES controller ports*, because it's simulating a real controller.

*: Providing the device can supply at least 100ma of 5v power per port.

[bobrocks95]

I'd like for them to make a Famicom version, that's all I'm saying. I don't know why that's difficult to understand?

[werk91]

Just use a Famicom-to-NES controller adapter...

Can anyone find those somewhere online that ships to UK ? Last time I looked I gave up as leads were dead and soldering your own seemed to be the only choice.
Ideally I'm after one that lets you plug in two NES controllers into the Famicom. The console's pads are in perfect nick but I just can't deal with the short wires. Sorry for my blatant offtopic..