When a review sample of the 8BitDo 64 Bluetooth Controller was offered to me, I had to admit I wasn't all that excited initially – after all, this is the same pad which shipped alongside the Analogue 3D, so I'm already intimately familiar with how it feels.
However, after a few seconds, my rose-tinted enthusiasm was triggered by that new colour scheme, which is based on the original N64 controller from Nintendo.
I know some different colours shouldn't really sway me that much, but let's be honest here, the glorious union of grey, red, yellow, green and blue speaks to the heart in a way that no other combo does – especially for those of us fortunate enough to have experienced first-hand the arrival of Super Mario 64, Star Fox 64, Zelda: Ocarina of Time and more.
The analogue 'wand' is now a Hall Effect stick, and features a "wear-resistant metal joystick ring" to avoid the traditional fate of N64 controllers – namely, the internal tech crumbling to dust over time.
Beyond that, I don't have much more to add, really; the pad design is based on 8BitDo's other offerings, which means it benefits from several years of R&D when it comes to build quality and ergonomics.
Sure, the lack of three prongs to hold onto removes some of the nostalgia, but this is an excellent pad – and you can even use it on your Switch, Android device, or PC (a 2.4G version is also available, which ships with a dongle).
If you already own the black or white variants of this controller, I'd be hard pushed to say this is worth purchasing purely for the nicer colours, but I do know one thing for sure – this is going to be my pad of choice when it comes to playing my Analogue 3D.
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