Retro-Bit Saturn controllers (console and PC/Mac) available for pre-order

[dlauv]

Surprised this thread wasn't made yet. No word on the bluetooth and analog stick versions, but my guess is they'll be rolled out together. The ones with analog sticks will have triggers, btw.



He says the Genesis ones are up too, but gives the same link as above. A look at what's to come:

Edit: Almost everything up for pre-order in the UK:

Pretty much everything appears to be on Amazon UK. The only things I don't see in any form are the original Japanese-launch grey colour controllers, or Saturn 3D pad, if they're still going ahead with making those too.

The Saturn analogue Bluetooth pad, £42.99: Link

And the Megadrive 6-button Bluetooth pad is up for £39.99: Link

The Saturn Bluetooth receiver is there too, £14.99: Link

But the Bluetooth pads aren't out until Sept 1st. Saturn BT receiver is May 30th.

Megadrive pads are all there, all out March 28th.
6 button Megadrive. £14.99: Link
Blue 6 button Megadrive, £14.99: Link
6 button Megadrive USB, £17.99: Link
Blue 6 button Megadrive USB, £17.99: Link

Saturn pads too, semi-transparent smokey grey and Western style black, in console and USB formats too. Sorry, can't be bothered to link those, they're easily found through the MD pad links above.

Click to shrink...

 

[Jazzem]

Really hope the dpads are up to snuff, I'd love the Saturn USB one for fighters

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

Waiting on the dual stick versions

 

[TeenageFBI]

Probably my favorite d-pad controller ever. Here's hoping they stand up to the originals.

 

[Kapryov]

I need those dual stick versions.

Also when is this coming out??

 

[OmegaDL50]

That blue Genesis controller. I must have it!

Although it's probably not ironic it's the same shade of blue of Sonic has but I have a thing for blue controllers / accessories.

Case in point my arcade stick

 

[dlauv]

I need those dual stick versions.

Also when is this coming out??

Click to shrink...

The Amazon page says April 15th.

That blue Genesis controller. I must have it!

Although it's probably not ironic it's the same shade of blue of Sonic has but I have a thing for blue controllers / accessories.

Case in point my arcade stick

Click to shrink...

That's a blue Genny controller. The main differences between a Saturn and Genny controller is the d-pad and the Genny's lack of shoulder buttons.

Edit: Oh, you edited.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

Surprised this thread wasn't made yet.

Click to shrink...

There was a thread for the announcement they made back in 2017.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/re...r-genesis-saturn-and-dreamcast-in-2018.11900/

Needless to say this is basically the first time we heard anything.

 

[JustinH]

Yeah, pre-ordered the "skeleton" Saturn controller when I saw the tweet earlier. Don't know how I feel about this lol, because I have no idea how good they would be and I don't exactly need a new Saturn controller.

 

[OmegaDL50]

The Amazon page says April 15th.



That's a blue Genny controller. The main differences between a Saturn and Genny controller is the d-pad and the Genny's lack of shoulder buttons.

Edit: Oh, you edited.

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I'd like the shoulder buttons, so if they come out with a blue Saturn variant I'll definitely get one.

 

[Dache]

Pretty much everything appears to be on Amazon UK. The only things I don't see in any form are the original Japanese-launch grey colour controllers, or Saturn 3D pad, if they're still going ahead with making those too.

The Saturn analogue Bluetooth pad, £42.99: Link

And the Megadrive 6-button Bluetooth pad is up for £39.99: Link

The Saturn Bluetooth receiver is there too, £14.99: Link

But the Bluetooth pads aren't out until Sept 1st. Saturn BT receiver is May 30th.

Megadrive pads are all there, all out March 28th.
6 button Megadrive. £14.99: Link
Blue 6 button Megadrive, £14.99: Link
6 button Megadrive USB, £17.99: Link
Blue 6 button Megadrive USB, £17.99: Link

Saturn pads too, semi-transparent smokey grey and Western style black, in console and USB formats too. Sorry, can't be bothered to link those, they're easily found through the MD pad links above.

 

[tommyv2]

Ugh, I always wish they would add a "select" button to the Saturn pad so it could be used for SNES emulation. Best 2D controller but it's one button short...

 

[Nikus]

So, it should be good quality ?
Like, what would be the best between their Genesis controller and the one 8bitdo is releasing next month?
I was gonna insta-buy the one from 8bitdo but I guess I should wait for some feedback.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

This Is Cool

Pre-ordered! Already have an official matte black one from a long time ago.

 

[julian]

Ugh, I always wish they would add a "select" button to the Saturn pad so it could be used for SNES emulation. Best 2D controller but it's one button short...

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Couldn't it just get mapped to one of the extra face buttons? The Saturn controller technically has one more button than an SNES. Granted, placement would definitely feel off.

 

[dlauv]

Ugh, I always wish they would add a "select" button to the Saturn pad so it could be used for SNES emulation. Best 2D controller but it's one button short...

Click to shrink...

The analogue stick version will have a select button and four shoulder inputs.

 

[Orayn]

I'm going to have to sit out the first round until enough people vouch for the authenticity and build quality. If it pans out, it'll be great to have that exact d-pad design back.

 

[Dad]

Was the Saturn dpad really that stellar? I've never held one, but the design always reminded of the original Xbox/360 dpad so I just wrote if off as terrible

 

[thuway]

Wasn't there a wireless saturn controller with dual analogs?

 

[Ardiloso]

I have plenty of saturn controllers and 4 original usb ones. I'm waiting for the analog/wireless ones. Will buy plenty of them again lol.

 

[dlauv]

Wasn't there a wireless saturn controller with dual analogs?

Click to shrink...

It's for pre-order in the UK and releases September 1st.

 

[Miscend]

There was a thread about these during the recent CES show.

 

[GFP_RYU]

I wanted one for ps4. Make it happen . Ps4 Sega Saturn pad

 

[thuway]

Will this work on Switch?

 

[dlauv]

Will this work on Switch?

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I don't know how 8bitdos do it, but the analog controller will have HD rumble. I don't know what other platforms support that.

 

[s_mirage]

My 8-button USB Mega Drive controller finally arrived a few days ago. It looks and feels great, with a really responsive d-pad that pretty much feels the same as the original. The only issue I have with it is the button layout in Windows:

My SLS Saturn pad lays the buttons out like this: A, B, C, X, Y, Z = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. That's great because most old games expect the buttons to be laid out this way. The Mega Drive pad lays them out like this though: 2, 3, 5, 1, 4, 6. That can lead to a weird controller layout in games with no reconfiguration options.

Also, another potential issue is that the pad identifies itself with the same IDs as the Retrolink SNES pad, meaning that in some games/emulators that automatically configure the button layouts (e.g. Retroarch) the initial config will be completely wrong.

if you can live with those issues the pads are great though, and I'm planning on buying a couple to use on my actual Mega Drive.

 

[Ifrit]

Everyone keeps telling that the saturn has the best dpad ever, but it doesn't look to me like it is. As a kid I maybe have played 2 o 3 times saturn so I don't recall how it was, but I'm always really curious to try it to finally see if it's true.

So I'm eager to read of impressions from resetera before buying one, hopefully is as good as people make it out to be.

 

[s_mirage]

Everyone keeps telling that the saturn has the best dpad ever, but it doesn't look to me like it is. As a kid I maybe have played 2 o 3 times saturn so I don't recall how it was, but I'm always really curious to try it to finally see if it's true.

Click to shrink...

Personally I think the Saturn pad and the Mega Drive 6-button pad are the best d-pads ever; they roll nicely and are really good for fighting games. Bear in mind that there were two types of Saturn pad outside of Japan, and the Western Saturn pad that initially shipped in the West wasn't that great.

 

[TeenageFBI]

Everyone keeps telling that the saturn has the best dpad ever, but it doesn't look to me like it is. As a kid I maybe have played 2 o 3 times saturn so I don't recall how it was, but I'm always really curious to try it to finally see if it's true.

Click to shrink...

The d-pad kinda looks cheap in photos but it feels great. Stands up well to extended Magical Drop sessions which is about as tough as it gets.

 

[JustinH]

My SLS Saturn pad lays the buttons out like this: A, B, C, X, Y, Z = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. That's great because most old games expect the buttons to be laid out this way. The Mega Drive pad lays them out like this though: 2, 3, 5, 1, 4, 6. That can lead to a weird controller layout in games with no reconfiguration options.

Click to shrink...

I just noticed the button layout seems to be a little different when you put it in X-input mode.

Pressing A with the game controllers properties window will always just close it when in x-input mode since it also acts like an enter key press (annoying) but B-C-X-Y-Z is laid out like 2-5-3-4-6 (and also spacebar-left CTRL-PGup-PGdown-left ALT).
Edit: Oh yeah, the shoulder buttons act like 360 triggers and do the Z-axis thingy and also act like left and right mouse clicks...

It's weird, and I don't know why it's does the keyboard inputs. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong/have something wrong set up or something. Feels pretty good with Cuphead though (which doesn't work with the controller when it's in D-input mode).

I wish I had gotten an SLS pad when I could. I have a Play Sega one, but my PC won't even recognize it when I plug it in now.

Also yeah... Saturn, Mega Drive 6-button pad D-pad is my favorite D-pad of all time.

edit: I figured out it's Dteam doing those keyboard inputs. I just have to make sure I fully close Steam when I'm playing a game I didn't get from steam and it'll stop doing that shit.

 

[Shaneus]

Hanging for those dual-analogs. Still.

 

[0451]

Any updated thoughts on the USB Saturn controllers? Looking to pick one up but my experience with Retro-Bit controllers hasn't been great.

 

[Ostron]

I really love the Saturn USB and have been using it extensively... however, there is this issue in the first batch of controllers, and it was the cause of my controller breaking today. I've just sent an email over to Retro-Bit and we'll see how they handle it internationally.

As for the controller itself, I've found that it works very well. There were some issues before I got the hang of binding it properly... and some games seem to play nice while others don't (Chronicles of Mystara gave me a headache for a while). It's not as smooth in Steam as using a recognized controller, but after some setup Steam handles it fine among multiple controllers plugging in and out.

 

[Sheng Long]

Apparently we'll be able to use these on PS4 with a Brook converter. I expect to see quite a few of these at FGC events soon.

 

[John Omaha]

I was also told that the upcoming wireless variant of the Genesis and Saturn controllers would be natively compatible with the Switch.

 

[Unicorn]

Are these not the 8bitdo? I've been waiting years for the Bluetooth saturn pad.

 

[Lupin]

.

 

[Sheng Long]

Wasn't that an April Fool's joke?

Click to shrink...

What was?

 

[Lupin]

.

 

[Sheng Long]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDa-C9_EY-w

This April Fool's video promoting a fictional 8bitdo Saturn-themed Bluetooth controller is what came to my mind when Unicorn said they were waiting on an 8bitdo(?) Bluetooth Saturn pad. Though I might not have parsed the post as it was intended. Of course, we now have the M30, but it doesn't have a Saturn-compatible receiver (yet?). And we're all still waiting on the Sega-approved Bluetooth solutions by Retro-Bit.

Click to shrink...

Oh. No idea.

 

[hachikoma]

where are the analog stick versions :(

 

[dogen]

the analog stick versions don't look very good.. i'm waiting for the sn30 pro+. modern style grips make a huge difference for controller styles like these that weren't designed with sticks in mind. i have a sn30 pro and it's pretty decent but I have nowhere near the control i have with my xbox one pad, almost entirely because of the better grip i have on the controller when using the sticks.

 

[Gelf]

I want the analog stick version just for full compatibility with modern games. Chances are I won't use the pad for anything heavy on thier usage but it's good to have them there as you do get issues with certain functions being on a stick despite the game being 2D or stuff like fighting games using extra buttons to set things up in training mode.

 

[Zephy]

Still waiting for the bluetooth/sticks controller, which I imagine will come later than the regular version.

 

[sca]

anyone using their Retro-bit Saturn controller on Steam? Mine starts to hold down a direction, usually up or down, while configuring and using it in dinput mode on Windows and Linux. It works fine in xinput, but as far as I know it'll always reset to dinput when unplugged.