While not the first, the Brawler64 brought attention to me the more ergonomic, standardized form factor that an N64 controller could have. I missed out on pioneers like the Hori Pad Mini, so this was a revelation to me. Unfortunately, I quickly realized it had serious shortcomings. The build quality was pretty cheap, and the joystick was crucially lacking in range (fully holding diagonals only gave about 75% of the input, on other words, Mario wouldn't be able to run in SM64...). And this happened with all 4 controllers I got for me and friends. Very disappointing, and with no rival option available at the time, I was left hoping 8bitdo would AT LAST tackle N64 controllers, as I've been a fan of them by that point, but they'd only do other consoles. I don't know if it wouldn't have happened without the Analogue deal, but boy am I glad it happened: yes, finally onto the review.
It's great. It does everything right. The feel in hand is really premium. The stick is STIFF, but good stiff. No snapback, and good analog control still. The presence of distinct dual trigger buttons is a nice addition, allows some flexibility when mapping buttons or playing non-N64 games. All buttons push well, and the placement feels natural for the N64 layout. The USB-C is expected by now but still very welcome. The battery seems plenty good, never been an issue with 8Bitdo controllers, looks solid so far here too.
Nothing truly bad to say really, except a few (in my opinion) minor things:
The DPad is just like other 8Bitdo controllers: not bad, but still not great. Wish I could've used this controller as a 2D Mario main, but the DPad is too unreliable. The NSO SNES remains one of the best DPad available (and my personal fave).
If anything else, not a must for an N64 controller, but being 8Bitdo I'd say I hoped for a bit more customisation via the Ultimate Software.
Now I'm just waiting for transparent colors for the 8Bitdo N64 controller to go with the inevitable limited Analogue 3D throwback color suite.
tl;dr: Best N64 controller ever. Great build, has everything you'd want out of a modern N64 controller. 8Bitdo didn't miss with this one.
