The olden days where preteens and adults alike would pull all-nighters, eyes glued inches away from the classic CRT TV screen during impassioned playthroughs of '80s titles on the Nintendo Entertainment System have long faded, with the amount of freedom wireless controllers on modern consoles have given players.
These newfangled controllers give players the freedom to roam around the comfort of their own quarters. Additionally, ever since large flatscreens dominated households, sitting close to the TV became unnecessary. This why Nintendo's palm-sized nostalgia machine, the NES Classic Edition, and its short controller cables makes gameplay a little bit difficult for modern times.
Despite its glowing acclaim, the common fault of the system is the NES Classic controller short cable — only about 30 inches long. Luckily, design studio 8Bitdo has a solution that eliminates wires altogether.
8Bitdo's Retro Receiver
The Retro Receiver, designed by 8Bitdo, is a Bluetooth-enabled dongle that allows players to play their NES Classic wirelessly. The tiny dongle plugs to the console upon which players can pair it with the included wireless NES30 controller.
The Retro Receiver is even compatible with other controllers 8bitdo has designed in the past while also supporting controllers such as the Wiimote, Wii U Pro controller and DualShock controllers for PS3 and PS4. The Retro Receiver acts as a catch-all solution for the NES Classic Controller's short cables, and chances are players will have at least one compatible controller lying around.
Retro Receiver Features
Nintendo was so faithful to the design of the NES Classic Edition that accessing the homescreen requires users to push a button on the console, similar to how the original NES worked. 8Bitdo has ironed this woe out by allowing players to access the home screen right from the controller.
Users can even attach a second retro receiver for multiplayer mode in some of the 30 preloaded games on the console.
Pricing And Availability
The Retro Receiver is now available for preorder on Amazon for $39.99, which hovers near the NES Classic Edition's original $59.99 price.
The console, however, has been exceedingly harder to track. The console has so far sold out on a number of major retailers, with no definite window as to when Nintendo will deploy more units as the holiday rapidly approaches. Some nefarious eBay resellers even list the console for insanely high markups ranging from a couple of hundred dollars to a thousand dollars or more.
Unless users are willing to shell out exorbitant amount of money for what is essentially a $60 '80s rehash, then the best thing to do is hope that Nintendo is making more units in light of the overwhelming demand for the system.
The Retro Receiver is a slightly expensive but definitive solution to the NES Classic Controller's measly cables. However, it's hard to imagine anyone preordering the accessory, since so many users are still failing to locate a fairly priced NES Classic Edition system in the first place.
