Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

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GSZX1337
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Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

Post by GSZX1337 »

Wireless controller maker 8BitDo have innovated again with 8BitDo DIY, a series of mods that can be installed into existing NES, SNES, or Genesis controllers to turn them into Bluetooth controllers. You just disassemble the controller, remove the PCB, and replace it with the 8BitDo PCB. The Tom's Hardware article linked below states the controllers are compatible with Windows, macOS, Raspberry Pi, Nintendo Switch, and more.

For those that wanna read more:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/8bitd ... 37468.html
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Re: Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

Post by samsonlonghair »

Well, you got my attention!
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pierrot
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Re: Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

Post by pierrot »

I don't think I'd be comfortable doing that unless it were already a non-functioning controller. I think it would be a great upgrade modification to a broken controller, but I fear that's not likely how they would be used, more often than not.
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Re: Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

Post by marurun »

Why don’t they just make a little thing you plug into the end of the controller cord. That seems easier to deal with.
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pierrot
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Re: Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

Post by pierrot »

I think you might have missed the memo about wires and cords being the devil, maru. (I think that would be a pretty good solution, though.)
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Re: Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

Post by Ziggy »

But then it wouldn't be a wireless controller. It might as well just be an adapter, which already exists.

That's not to say I'm down with this. I don't like the idea of repurposing original hardware like this.
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Jmustang1968
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Re: Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

Post by Jmustang1968 »

Ziggy587 wrote:But then it wouldn't be a wireless controller. It might as well just be an adapter, which already exists.

That's not to say I'm down with this. I don't like the idea of repurposing original hardware like this.


Why not? It is just a board swap out, you can always put original guts back in, nothing is detroyed.
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Re: Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

Post by Ziggy »

Yeah, I suppose this isn't the worst example. But are all the people who buy one of these eventually gonna restore the controller? Because if not, then they're essentially destroyed.
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Re: Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

Post by marurun »

It is a lot of work, and in most old controllers it is the buttons that go bad before the boards, usually, so it’s not like you are reviving dead hardware.
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Re: Turn Your Existing Retro Wireless With 8BitDo Kits

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