Retro-Bit Legacy16 2.4GHz Wireless Controller for SNES & More (Onyx) | For SNES, Switch, PC, MacOS, RetroPie, Raspberry Pi and Other USB Devices

If you are buying this controller, you probably care a lot about the D-Pad. From my experience I would say that the D-Pad on this controller is excellent. It is a good size and feel and most importantly it does not register any false diagonals like the 8bitDo controller lineup. The buttons are also very good and feel remarkably similar to North American SNES controller buttons. X & Y even have the concave shape. The shoulder buttons are also great and it is easy to differentiate between ZR & R as well as ZL & L because of the way they are shaped. As for the sticks, they are essentially Joy Con sticks. If you are okay with Joy Con sticks, you will be fine with these. I suspect if you are a big First Person Shooter fan who is gaming primarily by using the two sticks that this controller is probably not for you. If you are someone playing a lot of 2D games, Tetris, Mario Maker 2, and other similar games this is near perfection. I know others have said they have problems pairing the controller to the dongle, but I have encountered no such issues. Make sure you have Pro Controller Wired Communication set to ON and it works perfectly. All you need to do is attach the dongle to one of the USB ports, press the button on it and press Start on the controller. It works immediately and without any issues whatsoever. Also the fact that it is 2.4GHz is a real advantage over Bluetooth when it comes to latency. The game-changer for me is the fact that all the buttons are remappable with the onboard Switch Button Mapping software. I play a lot of Mario games and use the claw-grip on my controllers. As such I am using my right index and middle fingers for button presses rather than my thumb. In this configuration I cannot hit R or ZR. The problem is that with the more recent 2D Mario games on the Switch, Shiro Mouri has taken over for Takashi Tezuka as director and has stopped ZL and L mirroring ZR and R. So, for example, on New Super Mario Bros U (on Wii U) you can do the mid-air twirl by pressing ZL, L, ZR, or R, but on New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe (on Switch) ZL and L do nothing. Recently, Shiro Mouri decided to map menu and other functions to ZL & L in Super Mario Wonder, making it impossible to use the mid-air twirl if you use the claw-grip. Due to these choices I am forced to use a controller that I can swap ZL & L with ZR & R. This controller allows me to do that. Very few 3rd party Switch controllers have the ability to be remapped in the Switch software and the ones that do are almost all 8bitDo. If you do not know, 8bitDo controllers have THE WORST D-Pads of any 3rd Party controller. They constantly register false diagonals. Playing something like Tetris or Mario is nearly impossible since pieces will constantly change lanes in Tetris when you try to pull them down and Mario will climb every vine he passes when you try to run past them. Unfortunately 8bitDo dominates the 3rd Party controller market so it is very difficult to get a good controller with a smaller profile that has a decent D-Pad. This Retro-Bit controller has an awesome D-Pad. Lastly, I want to address the things this controller is missing. It does not have any kind of Rumble. Personally, I dislike rumble and always turn it off, so this is not an issue for me. It does not have an NFC reader. If you need to scan in an Amiibo, you can just use the right joy con. It does not have motion controls. This to me is a small drawback, since it means I cannot play Super Mario Galaxy or Odyssey with this controller. Lastly, it doesn't wake up the Switch. I have found that the 3rd Party controllers that do wake up the Switch like the PowerA Nano (https://www.amazon.com/PowerA-Enhanced-Wireless-Controller-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B08BK27KZF) and the PDP little Wired Controller (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FCWYQJD) do NOT allow for button remapping on the Switch, so I am not too bothered, since I can wake up the system with another controller or on the system itself. The last negative I have is the one thing I personally really dislike about the controller: After you turn the Switch off the dongle will not stop flashing once the controller powers off. It will just stay flashing (presumably forever) until the system is back on and you press Start on the controller. I wish I could turn off the flashing. My solution is to unplug the dongle from the Switch, but then every time I need to use the controller, I have to go over to the Switch and replug it back into the dock. This is a big issue I wish could be fixed with a firmware update. Other than that I have no complaints. Takeaways: PROS 1. Great D-Pad 2. Fantastic Buttons 3. Easy to Pair - 2.4GHz dongle. 4. Joy Con Style sticks 5. SNES form factor 6. Buttons CAN be remapped with Switch Button Mapping Software 7. Full suite of Switch Pro Controller buttons including ZL, ZR, Home and Capture. 8. Very good battery life (up to 15 hours) CONS 1. Light on dongle keeps flashing when controller is off 2. No Rumble 3. No Motion Controls 4. Does not wake up Switch Overall if you want a SNES style controller with a fantastic D-Pad and need to remap buttons on the Switch then this is a MUST BUY. It is a great little controller with only minor drawbacks.

Used it for a little while, and it worked great. It sat for a while, and when I went to use it again, it will not pair up with a dongle tried repeatedly even hit the factory reset still doesn’t work. Don’t waste your money on this.

I was initially hesitant with the mixed reviews, but I have had a great experience with these remotes. My scenario might be a little niche, but I'm sure some could relate. I've been doing retro gaming through my raspberry pi4. Initially I used the 8bitdo remotes. Don't get me wrong, those are fantastic remotes, however as finicky as the pi can be the system kept forgetting the 8bitdo remotes and I had to hop back into the Bluetooth menu to reconnect them, which is a huge hassle especially when you're trying to jump into retro game night with company. Finally I decided to cut corners and get remotes that hook up via USB dongle. After some light research I came across these. The mixed reviews left me hesitant, but as with most Amazon items you never really know until you experience it yourself. The packaging came intact and the remotes appeared to be in good condition. The hardware itself feels light, but the buttons are clicky and responsive. The stick feels tight and bounces back into the center no issues. An added bonus are the bumpers and triggers having their own rows as opposed to some models that line them up. My only nitpick are my big dumb adult fingers that crowd a little when trying to occupy all four buttons. But I know that's a common thing when you're going for this type of shape for a remote. The remotes arrived with some charge and I wasted no time plugging in the dongle and powering on the pi. After hitting the sync button on the dongle, the remote connected with zero issues. After configuring the inputs I hopped into several games. When testing remotes I like to hop into fighting games, and sure enough I felt no lag input which was something I had adjusted to with the 8bitdo remotes. The inputs were solid enough to land an ultra combo and so I spent the rest of the week putting in some gaming time. As for the battery life I can't say if the 6 or so hours are true. I've got a busy schedule that allows me an hour or 2 max of gaming per day, but they last those sessions no problem. I final note my pi is using the argon case. With 2 dongles and a third USB, its a little crowded but everything is reading perfectly. These remotes are absolutely fantastic and at this point I hope I can get a few years of use out them.

Grand Poo World 3 is out!! Super Mario world hacks are a lot of fun. Since they are really fast paced I needed either a corded controller or a no lag controller (no Bluetooth). This controller works great! Feels a little cheap in the hand but plays absolutely GREAT! Plays like the original SNES controller (I played years of that system as a child when it first came out). Can't feel any lag even though it's probably around 4ms. I've never had a button not register. I have only played about 4 hours at a time so I don't know how long it lasts. Seems like any usb-c will charge it, even my high speed 100watt usb-c PD charger will charge the controller. An amazing SNES controller! I'll probably buy a second for when this breaks. I haven't used any other functions like macros or home/screenshot button.

It is a sensible controller when it stays connected. The battery life is middling at best, and the connectivity via SNES or PC is frustrating at best. It disconnects at the most inopportune times, usually when you're reading text or something similar in a game. Frustrating, to be sure. But if it stays connected, it is a competent controller that feels fine for the price. There are definitely worse controllers.

Not a bad controller. The dpad is very smooth and is easy on the thumb. Buttons are decent, but nothing special. The analog sticks are completely useless and just feel awful. Shoulder buttons don't feel all that great and I would have preferred a single button on each shoulder. I think I actually prefer the dpad on this controller over the 8bitdo. Time will tell on that one. For whatever reason the SNES receiver wouldn't work with my Daemonbite adapter on my MiSTer. The USB adapter works fine on it though. The SNES receiver works fine on my SNES Jr. and was responsive enough to play Tetris Attack. Overall a strong contender. It won't be replacing my 2.4ghz 8bitdo SN30, but I can see myself switching over to the Retro Bit from time to time. Especially on games that are rough on the thumb with the dpad.

UPDATE - 3/7/22 -- I've beaten several old school games with this thing, including Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission. This felt just amazing the entire time, it is my go-to controller for everything 8 and 16 bit! Even does great with Sega Genesis games, which I know is sacrilege. I was really frustrated that the only 2.4ghz wireless 8bitdo SNES style controllers were for SNES classic and actual hardware, since I hate Bluetooth and wanted to play on my MiSTer. I decided to give this one a shot since I was reasonably happy with the quality of their Saturn controllers (even though the first one I got straight up didnt work, I think their QA must have improved). This new SNES controller is fantastic, it feels almost identical to the wired SNES controller I have from 8bitdo, and it keeps a great charge. I played through all of Super Metroid for the first time (what a game!) and it performed perfectly. It's a great value and also comes with a dongle for my SNES. Retrobit have really upped their game, and I eagerly await their wireless Dreamcast controller.

The SNES controller is right there with the GameCube controller in terms of controller layout and feel that I consider perfect, so when I saw that there's a SNES style controller that is both compatible with the SNES itself and comes with a USB dongle to use with PC, I was sold. The analog sticks seemed like a fun bonus, in the event I ever wanted to play a Switch game with it or something. The controller is the right shape and size, and feels quality. I like the somewhat grainy feel of the black plastic, and it looks very appealing. The buttons have a clickiness to them that isn't very SNES-like, but it's no big deal. The deal killer here is that, unfortunately, I found that the D-Pad doesn't accept two inputs at once, so diagonal inputs are entirely off the table. For this reason, I have to return it. This is probably fine for the many RPGs that the SNES is known for, but for precise platforming games or games like Secret of Mana or Link to the Past, not being able to move or input diagonally is a huge hinderance. Obviously, I'm not sure if this is a problem unique to this controller or if it's a problem with all of these controllers, and I really would rather not get caught in a cycle of purchases and returns to find out. Judging by some of these reviews, quality control seems to be all over the place, and it could be a one-off issue, but either way, proceed at your own risk.

Ho comprato due di questi controller, la versione in nero e quella in bianco, per collegarli a una macchina linux con RetroArch. Funzionano molto bene. Il pairing va fatto solo una volta all'inizio, dopodiche' quando si vuole usare il pad basta premere "Start" per svegliarlo (non ha interruttore di on off) e collegarlo al ricevitore. Spesso bisogna premerlo due o tre volte per farlo collegare (come indicato anche sulle istruzioni), ma non e' mai un problema. Viene riconosciuto subito sia da windows che da linux. Inoltre non ci sono problemi ad avere due controller insieme, vanno usati due dongle separati (quindi servono due usb libere) ma per il resto non ci sono conflitti di sorta (per fortuna visto che non c'e' scritto niente a riguardo, nella documentazione!) Lato hardware, mi sembrano ben fatti, hanno il peso giusto e un ottimo feeling in mano, sia con la croce direzionale che con il joystick analogico. I pulsanti rispondono bene, bisogna vedere dopo qualche anno di uso prolungato se le membrane si rovinano, ma al momento, dopo un paio di settimane di uso sono ancora in ottimo stato (e ci mancherebbe).La batteria dura abbastanza ed in ogni caso si puo' giocare anche mentre e' in carica. L'unica pecca e' che non c'e' un indicatore di carica completa, il manuale dice di lasciarlo "qualche ora".. Il dongle per la snes non l'ho provato, non essendo interessato all'argomento, e avrei anzi preferito poter scegliere di non averlo, meglio se a fronte di un costo minore (visto che il prezzo del controller non e' proprio bassissimo). Anche perche' il dongle snes e' piu' complesso di quello usb, ha pure un sistema di aggiornamento firmware con la sua presa microusb. Certamente ha un costo non indifferente nell'economia della scatola. Quindi i difetti elencati sono minimi, nel gioco vero e proprio funziona alla grande e io e mio figlio ci facciamo grandi partitone con gli arcade dei miei tempi :)

Only played with it with the SNES so far, but the controller feels really good.

Bonjour, Acheter pour jouer jeux de course automobile sur Steam sur mon PC... fonctionne bien notamment via les 2 modes de manette (change le comportements des boutons)... par contre, je suis un peu décu par le fait de devoir utiliser le dongle USB propriétaire pas très esthétique (trop long)... mis à part cela RASet semble de bonne qualité Cdlt

Känns bra

It works well with Raspberry Pi and MacBook with it's wireless usb emitter. I use it with RetroPie and works perfect. Also I can use it with MacBook to play Xbox cloud games.