Retro-Bit Official SEGA Mega Drive 8-Button 2.4Ghz Wireless Arcade Pad for MEGA DRIVE MINI CONSOLE, Sega Mega Drive Console, PC, Switch, macOS, Playstation 3, Steam, RetroPie, Raspberry Pi (Black)

Using this for Batocera but also discovered it works with my Amiga 500 and comes with the serial adapter. It’s not cheap, but it’s just like the original and it’s worth the price.

I wanted this controller primarily to use on my original Mega Drive and Master Systems but also as an added bonus would use for gaming on my PC.The unit comes in a nice presentation box with a USB dongle and the 9 pin dongle. There are also vital instructions hidden under the tray.Pairing with the dongle is a fairly simple affair - hold the button on the relevant dongle until it flashes quickly and then press the start button on the controller. The process is the same for both dongles.When both dongles are plugged into two devices simultaneously, it appears to be pot luck which one the controller connects to, even if one dongle is in pairing mode and the other isn't, it can stay connected to the one not in pairing mode. There is a key combo to "reset" the controller but this doesn't make a difference in this scenario.AThe USB dongle stays on, including the bright red light, when the PC is in sleep mode, something which doesn't appear to be configurable in Windows Device Manager. As a contrast, the official PS4 wireless dongles close off completely when the PC is in sleep.This always on behavior compounds the issue of connecting to the desired dongle when both are plugged in and I don't think its unreasonable to expect a user to leave the USB dongle connected to a sleeping PC while using the mega drive dongle in the Mega Drive. Of course the way around this is to physically disconnect the dongle from the PC when wanting to connect with the Mega Drive.The controller has two modes - three button and six button. Holding the Start + B buttons cycle the mode and there is a handy LED on the top of the controller that denotes the mode - blue for six Button and red for three button.Windows recognises the controller as a different controller depending on the mode and annoyingly, the button mappings for each are completely different, meaning if you set your button mappings up in a game in three button mode, and then play in six button mode, the mappings are all wrong. For example the A button in three button mode might be recognised as button 1 in Windows but then in 6 button mode, Windows recognised the left shoulder button as button 1. If button 1 in your game is fire, you have to use the left shoulder button if you are in six button mode to fire. Obviously the workaround is to map the buttons in your preferred Config and always ensure you are using that Config but why they couldn't make ABC and Start buttons correspond to the same button number in Windows baffles me. Perhaps there is some driver update I'm not aware of.The annoyances above, whilst minor, interfere with a seamless experience in Windows and even though the Windows experience is not a primary use case for me, it's enough to lose a star I feel.The controller has some other weirdness to be aware of if like me, the Mega Drive or Master System you are using has been modded with region or other mods that are activated via the controller.My Master System has a controller start button pause mod (meaning I can use a mega drive controller and use the start button as pause rather than having to stand up and use the pause button on the console) for whatever reason, the mod requires the Mega Drive controller to be plugged in as the system is switched on otherwise it doesn't work.With this controller, the mod doesn't work, presumably somehing to do with the controller being wireless. There is a workaround that I have to connect a regular, wired Mega Drive controller to the Master System, turn it on and then unplug the controller and switch to the Retrobit dongle.Once past this hurdle, there is an issue when using the controller with the built in Master System game (Alex Kidd in my case) where the controlsjust mess up - they are unresponsive, laggy and pressing one button will sometimes register as another button. Again, I can work around this either using the regular wired controller for the built in game or use the cartridge version (I have both)I also have an issue using the controller with my modded Mega Drive. The Mega Drive has an EU / US / Japan region switch mod where holding ABC + Start cycles through the regions. The problem here is that as I mentioned earlier, holding B + Start cycles three and six button modes on the controller so holding ABC + Start sometime switches the controller's mode and you could end up in a six button game using a three button controller.The Master System issues irritate me as do the Mega Drive, albeit less so, however, I don't really feel I can mark the controller down for these issues as I wouldn't expect the Manufacturer to guarantee or even test compatibility with modified consoles but they are something someone in the same situation as me may want to be aware of.Finally, another with the controller is that it was laggy out of the box. I had to download a firmware update and now it performs fine. However the firmware update process was also painful - to get the PC to recognise the dongle in its update mode, there is a weird combination you have to perform with the Pairing button of the dongle when plugging it in. This information was in a text file that was part of the firmware download. Why this is necessary, I don't know.Having worked through the teething problems above and knowing the workarounds, I am fairly happy with the controller overall and will probably order a second. I feel the PC / USB side of the controller let it down with some poor design but the controller feels well built and the convenience of a wireless Mega Drive and Master System controller is brilliant.

This is A great Pad as it works across multiple platforms. Including the Retrofreak console which I had problems with the equivalent 8Bitdo pad.

5 stars when it was working. Stopped working ( battery dead and wouldn't charge ) after 2 weeks.

Yes, it an awesome controller

very well packaged commits own plastic storage box works very well with the evercade alpha plug and play very easy to set up feels nice in the hand very very happy would recommend

What I like about this controller is obviously it’s wireless capabilities and it feels ok in the hands. Has the 6 buttons for some games that use them. So for £30 that’s not too bad to get you up and playing again but should be closer to £20 though for what it is in my opinion. Also this game pad is officially Sega licensed so has the Sega stamp on the back and doesn’t look out of place with the console.What I don’t like: The original Sega pads were never that great back in the 90s (SNES allot better) with a loose feeling D-pad and noisy buttons this pad hasn’t upgraded or removed that feel (some might like it) of cheap quality. It could use a battery level indicator if that’s possible somewhere. Comes with a charge cable but it’s not very long. The most annoying thing and it could be a deal breaker for some is that it just doesn’t work with certain games! Zombies Ate my Neighbours being one of them (see photo) You can update the controllers firmware but it doesn’t specify any improvement to game compatibility just maybe an improvement to input lag which isn’t that bad out of the box.Conclusion: This controller works with the majority of cartridges but some it doesn’t and that’s a shame. It’s good for casual gaming in bed or at a reasonable distance from your console. It comes in a nice case and looks like an official Sega product. It’s easy to setup as long as you don’t put an incompatible game cartridge in to set it up because you’ll think it’s broken. Stick in Flashback (Or other known compatible game) cartridge and it works fine. Others have mentioned the M30 Bitdo controller is better and more compatible than this one so I’d consider that although it doesn’t have the original Sega looks and feel (or lack there of).

Bought for use with the Mega Drive Mini so that I could do away with the wired controllers. As expected, it worked perfectly. I have yet to try it out with the supplied dongle on my original Sega Mega Drive 1 but I suspect it should be fine as that's what it's made for!