8BitDo Arcade Controller Review

When 8BitDo were like, “Hey, would you like to try out our Arcade Controller?” I was like, “Oh yeah, send it over. I’d love to try that out. I’ve never had an arcade stick before.”  – and I just got Mortal Kombat Legacy Collection. I’ll give it go. 

Perhaps I was just tired from having two kids under three, or it’s just my constant inattention to detail, but I wasn’t expecting this. This is 8BitDo’s Arcade Controller – not a stick – and it’s something called a leverless controller, which I didn’t even know was a thing. At first I was like, “Uh, crap, what am I gonna do with this?”

Learn, that’s what I had to do with this, because trying to figure out how to relearn fighting games with this controller, when all I’ve ever used before is a regular controller or an actual arcade machine, is going to take a lot of muscle-memory changes. But then I remembered I used to play Mortal Kombat 2 on my cousin’s PC back in the day. Surely I can draw on that… well, sorta not really.

You see, I’ve tried, and I really don’t think this thing is for me. You have to rewire your brain way too much, and I’m just too old to do that. No matter how many times I tried to pull off the moves I still remember from Mortal Kombat, even when I managed to do them, my brain just went, “Nope, play this like a keyboard. Nope, that direction should be this way.” I even tried to play some Pac-Man, thinking maybe I should just keep it simple. Nope. My brain wasn’t having any of it. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, though, I could handle pretty well, but I’m not really using this thing to its full potential there either.

But you know what? That’s alright. Because damn, this might be one of the best 8BitDo products I’ve ever used in terms of build quality, even if I don’t know how to use it.

Let’s start with the build quality, because this thing is solid. From the nice rubber matting that helps keep it in place to the tempered glass surface that not only cuts down on fingerprints but also looks super svelte, it feels premium right away (come on, what other controller has glass on it). The buttons are responsive and have that perfect arcade-pad click you expect from something “arcade”. There are extra buttons for mapping whatever you need, and you can do that on the fly as well (and even replace the caps with ones that lock them so they don’t do anything). You can even replace the switches as well if you’re into that sort of thing.

There’s one more thing about this controller that helps ease you into a leverless life: all the buttons have a light that shows what input they’re mapped to. I’ve learned that some other pads don’t even do that, with layouts that are just implied. If you switch between the two modes as well, the lights of the layout change between Switch and Xbox layouts under the glass.

At the top of the unit are a couple of switches: one for powering on the device and another for switching between Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless. The wireless dongle is included tucked under the pad and stored within it. It’s magnetically held into place there! There’s also little legs under the pad that you can fold out, to give yourself a different angle to play on. Everything on here is just super “extra”.

The switches add to the retro aesthetic, and the whole thing is clearly meant to evoke the NES Advantage pad from the 80s. If that wasn’t obvious enough, the pill-shaped buttons at the top really drive it home. I do hope they update their arcade sticks with this kind of build quality and size – because this thing is like a small MacBook, it just feels so well built, more expensive than it is.

8BitDo Arcade Controller is something I don’t think I could ever get to be proficient on, seeing how the pros use it, amazing stuff – it’s just not something for me. However as a lover of awesome tech products, the controller is just so nice, it’s so well built, the buttons are fantastic and the overall packaging of it is superb. For those who play this way, this the perfect package for you. I think?

The 8BitDo Arcade Controller is available now, it retails for $159.95 AUD, and can be found at Amazon, EB Games, JB Hi-Fi, The Gamesmen (who have it on sale for $129!) and more.