Have you heard about the 8BitDo M30? It's a gamepad that resembles the legendary 6-button Genesis / Mega Drive controller and works with the Nintendo Switch and legacy systems. We even did our very own hardware review for it last week, explaining how fantastic it was for anyone who is a fan of 2D fighters and various other classic games on the Switch.
In his latest video, our lovely video producer Alex Olney has now gone hands-on with this controller to see what all the fuss is about and put it to the test. He even went to the extent of hooking it up to his own classic system with the wireless dongle and noted how effortless it was to use. See for yourself below:
Would you be interested in using a Genesis / Mega Drive controller to play classic games on your Nintendo Switch? Leave a comment down below.
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Comments 26
I cannot wait to get this controller. The original was one of my favorite controllers.
Don't worry about using Genesis or MegaDrive. As a Yank, I've always preferred its real name.
It would be nice if they did a version with analog sticks so I can compared it to the upcoming retrofit versions.
Joy Cons, Switch Pro Controller, Wii / Wii U Pro Controller (with adapter) are the best for me.
The buttons are switched up on megadrive classics though
I got mine on Saturday. Fantastic controller for pretty much all 2D games on the system. That D-Pad is so good.
@jobvd It's no big deal, you really only need 3 buttons with the Mega Drive Collection anyways. Also it's Sega's own fault for not allowing us the option to remap buttons, come to think of it almost all games including indie this gen somehow had a control settings but no remap options which is stupid cause then what would be the point having control in the option menu anyways.
Lots of people complaining about the constant loss of signal renderng them, useless. Mine are in the post but ot doesn't bode well.
Also as a side note, the d-pad on this controller works the same as the left analog stick and not the directional buttons/d-pad as on the Joycons/Pro controllers so if you're playing Tetris 99 and use the d-pad from this, it won't move Tetris blocks, instead it would be targeting the other players so yeah do be aware of that. However if you always wanted to play 2D Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with a proper 2D d-pad then nows your chance: Ryu, Ken, and Mega Man controls perfectly with this controller method.
@retro_player_22 accept u won't be able to choose between walking and dashing.
@Rinari do you know if it can be used with a PS4?
Sooo.... which one to buy : 8bitDo or Retrobit ?
I can safely say that the D-pad on a 6-button Genesis / Mega Drive controller isn't supposed to "crunch" like that.
@retro_player_22 I'm sure I heard somewhere you can switch between left stick and d-pad functionality by holding the start button for a few seconds. EDIT: Nope, I got that wrong. It was actually MetalJesusRocks talking about Retro-Bit's Sega pads. Oh well. I've seen comments elsewhere though saying 8bitdo will likely fix the issue with a firmware update anyway.
@Rinari ow ok no problem. Thanks anyway. Glad your enjoying it
@MJKatana @Rinari Until today, no 8bitDo controller is compatible with PS4 or XBox One (which is a total shame).
So It's not a surprise if the official list doesn't list M30 as PS4 compatible (which is AGAIN a tooooootal shame)
Only you, Alex, could carp on for 15 minutes about a controller... Pressing the Dpad that hard will give you arthritis later in life, so don’t!!!
This is not a genesis pad! Saturn ?
@ToneDeath Though it's a minor issue now, 8Bitdo may release a fix for it in a future firmware update. I hope they don't though as I like playing Smash Ultimate with the d-pad on here, now it's the only Smash Bros. game other than Brawl that supported some kind of d-pad for directional movements.
I remember using a 6 button Megadrive pad back in the day, Sega released it to conincide with the release of Street Fighter 2
These have been as of yet unavailable at my Canadian amazon store. I can't wait to get one. My favorite controller from my youth.
@YANDMAN assuming it can be fixed with firmware updates 8bitdo are pretty good with their support
@SenseiDje They did release a six face buttons + shoulder buttons controller later on. The only games I remember actually making use of all the buttons were fighting games.
Yes they did, but this peanut-shaped design is very close of the saturn controller, IMHO
@Shufty I sincerely hope so, it just puzzles me why there are different strength connectivity models with the obviously better one costing a lot more money. Why not have one unit.
Debating if I want to buy this for playing Neo Geo games on Switch.
Ansioso por este controlador. O original era top!
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