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Mechanical keyboards used to be an expensive rarity, but patents expire, and the internet is overflowing with awesome mechanical keyboards today. The first keyboard from 8BitDo still manages to stand out. The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard has an uninspired name, but the design will enchant any fan of classic games. The board is available for pre-order with NES or Famicom colorways, and it includes some giant A and B buttons as a homage to the iconic console of yesteryear.
8BitDo is known mainly for its retro game controllers, which make it easy to play older games with modern hardware. It has also expanded into more high-end peripherals with its Ultimate controllers and an Xbox arcade stick. For many people, keyboards are gaming accessories, so this isn’t a huge leap for the company.
The 8BitDo Retro Keyboard features an 87-key layout, also known as tenkeyless, as it’s a standard layout minus the number pad. The case is styled to look like your choice of the NES or Japan-specific Famicom variant. The keyboard also comes with a separate set of enormous (160.2 x 74.6 x 32.3 mm) super buttons that look like blown-up NES buttons. You can configure them to do whatever you want; additional sets are available for $20. The keyboard can support up to four of them.
Both versions have prominent A and B keys on the bottom row, which you can configure to do whatever you want with 8BitDo’s Ultimate software. It sounds like just those two buttons will be configurable in the 8BitDo software. You can, however, customize the switches. This board comes with a set of Kailh Box White switches, a light and aggressively clicky switch. If that’s not to your liking, any Cherry-compatible switch will plug into the keyboard.
The board also has some neat dials and buttons at the top.
Credit: 8BitDo
The included keycaps are PBT plastic, which is tough and resistant to wear. The legends are dye-sublimated, so they should stay crisp even after years of use. The images of the keycaps show very thick walls and sharp legends, even on darker-colored keycaps. Doubleshot caps are usually more attractive, but dye-sub gives you more freedom with legends, which is essential here.
The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard is yours for a mere $99.99 and will ship on September 20. It supports USB, 2.4GHz (with an included dongle), and Bluetooth. It has a 2,000mAh battery for Bluetooth mode and works with Windows 10/11 and Android.
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