Retro Bit at PRGE 2018 - Exclusive Interview - Licensed Sega Genesis & Saturn Controllers & N64 Pad

In this video, we visited with Richard from Retro-Bit at the 2018 Portland Retro Gaming Expo to discuss the officially licensed Sega Genesis & Saturn Controllers, and the up-coming N64 Controller.

One of the groups I was most interested in meeting at PRGE 2018 was the crew from Retro-Bit. They have been pretty big supporters of RoXolid Productions since the early days; In fact, they were our 500th subscriber! Early in 2018, Retro-bit announced a new partnership with Sega to create officially licensed controllers for the Sega Genesis and Saturn. There has been a lot of interest in these since the initial announcement, and here at PRGE they were on display and playable.

Talking about the Genesis controllers first, they were on display and will be coming in both a standard black finish and a transparent blue. On the Saturn controller, it will be available in both black and a clearish-purplish sort of color. One thing that I was a bit surprised about was that all of these controllers featured the Sega branding, as-if they were OEM equipment directly from Sega. I was expecting these to feature Retro-Bit branding, but it is a cool tip of the cap to Sega that these feature their branding.

Another cool feature about all of these controllers is that they will be available with either the original connector type or a USB connector. As a side benefit, this also means that these controllers will be compatible with the Retro-Bit Super Retrocade! We did get confirmation that these will be compatible with both the launch version of the Super Retrocade and the more recent version. For those looking for controller options for the Super Retrocade should find these as good solutions moving forward.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the tease of the first Platinum Edition Controller from Retro-Bit, taking aim squarely at the N64 crowd. Inspired by the Hori Game Pad Mini, the Retro-Bit N64 controller is pretty amazing to hold. It is slightly larger than the Hori, but maintains the same general fit and feel. I will say that, while the paint appeared to be slick and slippery in the video, it actually wasn't slick at all. The only near-drop was due to my clumsiness, not due to the paint.

One thing I do need to address is a mis-statement by me in an earlier video. In our video discussing the N64 Platinum Controller. I was under the impression that this was a collaboration between Retro-Bit and Hori, however the Platinum Controller is simply inspired by the Hori Pad Mini.

I personally cannot thank Retro-Bit, Richard and Ron enough for all their support, at the show and just in-general. It was amazing to meet these guys face-to-face finally and get to spend some serious time discussing things to help each of us in the future. While I can't disclose all that will be happening I can say that there is a lot of excitement building for the future. I think you'll be happy with what is coming down the pipeline.

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