8bitdo seems to put out a new product about once a week. They are a retro-focused company and like to design their products around nostalgic design cues. Nintendo is a favorite even for things other than game controllers. 8bitdo has sold things other than gamepads for several years now, and for a keyboard and mouse it is time for me to take a representative sample for a spin. Do these devices deserve a place on your desktop? Did they make the cut on mine? Let's find out today.
The first item is the "8BitDo Retro R8 Mouse - N Edition". This mouse has a color scheme and buttons strongly evoking the front loading NES. Two-tone gray, black and red predominate (the publicity photos are whiter than the actual plastic). 8btido also has a C64 Edition with brown overtones to compliment the Commodore 64 and a translucent green Xbox Edition. The mouse retails for $49.99 but I got it for $44.38.
The mouse is ambidextrous and has two top buttons, two buttons on each side, a rubber-encased scroll wheel which can be pushed to activate a third top button. In all it has 7 buttons, and while it is not the most advanced mouse ever made there is a lot more to the mouse than just the number of buttons it presents. At 77 grams (2.7 oz) it is very light, if you like a weightier mouse you may want to look elsewhere.
The mouse can connect three ways. For wired connections it has a USB Type-C port on the front. A 2.4g dongle is included for wireless connections. A magnetic cavity on the underside of the mouse stores the dongle. Finally the mouse can pair via Bluetooth (LE 5.3 supported). If gaming is your primary goal for this mouse, a wired connection can poll up to 8,000 Hz and the dongle up to 4,000 Hz. Bluetooth is stuck at 125 Hz.
The mouse comes with a custom charging cradle and a braided USB Type-C to Type-A cable. The idea is that you can plug the cradle into a PC and the PC will charge the mouse when you place it on the cradle. A clever idea is that there is a USB port on the cradle for the 2.4g dongle to plug into. This acts like an USB extension cable and should allow you to maintain line of sight between the mouse and the dongle in most instances. (It will work with other, non 8bitdo dongles.) Two pogo pins on the cradle connect to two contacts on the underside of the mouse for cableless charging. The cradle has a weighted bottom so it should not fly off your desk with a stiff breeze.
The buttons have a satisfying click to them as you might expect. They use Kailh Sword GM X Micro Switches, which can be purchased as switches. The middle button is easy enough to press as are the two buttons on your thumb side. Pressing the side buttons on the opposite side with the ring and pinky is a little awkward unless you hold your hand in a way likely to induce discomfort quickly. The mouse glides on three feet (skates) and 8bitdo thoughtfully included a replacement set of feet in the box. Underneath the mouse is a three-position switch for 2.4g, BT and Off and a pairing button, which is only needed for Bluetooth. In order to use the mouse wired, you must set the switch to off.
Ambidextrous mice are not the most comfortable mice and this mouse is not as comfortable as my Logitech MX Master 3 but gaming mice tend not to be ergonomic because they appeal to right and left-handed people. The left-handed mode is easy enough to engage and might come in handy for right-handed people when their dominant hand is otherwise engaged, such as for writing notes by hand.
Between the scroll wheel and the two face buttons is a DPI (Dots Per Inch) setting button. This can cycle between 800 (yellow), 1200 (green), 1600 (orange), 2400 (violet), 3200 (blue) & 6400 (purple) DPI. At higher DPI settings the mouse will fly across multiple screens but is important when you need to flick the mouse sharply for accurate tracking. 1200 is good enough for me. An LED will show what the DPI is when the button is pressed.
Firmware updates and button remapping are handled by the 8bitdo Ultimate Software V2. This software is available for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, or in other words, everything a normal user is likely to encounter except Linux. Firmware updates require the mouse to be connected directly to a computer in wired mode.
By default the two buttons on the far side of the mouse (right-hand perspective) are disabled and do nothing. You can use the Software or a mouse button combo (see the manual) to instantly put the mouse into left-hand mode). This will swap the button assignments of the top and side buttons.
DPI can also be adjusted to a much finer degree using the Software than the button. The Software allows you to define the DPI level of each button press. You can also tweak the X-axis DPI differently from the Y-axis DPI. The levels go in ludicrous directions in both directions from a low of 50 and a high of 26,000 DPI.
Performance can set the polling rate from 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000 and 8,000 Hz. The scrolling speed can be set as well as whether the scroll is inverted (nature) or not (standard). Polling rate affects the battery life when using the 2.4g connection with the highest polling speed cutting battery life from 100 hours to 25! All-in-all the software is easy to use.
The high DPI measurement is provided by the PAW 3395 optical sensor. This sensor is not the highest commonly available sensor in gaming mice (PAW 3950) but is still an excellent choice for competitive gaming according to this article.
Outside the PC space the mouse's usage was mixed. With Analogue Pocket + Dock it worked with the Amiga Core but I discovered it takes up two of the four controller slots. This not a Pocket issue, Windows Device Manager also shows that plugging in this mouse reports it as a keyboard and a mouse. This undoubtedly must be because the mouse can report keyboard keys with mouse clicks. The wireless dongle did not work with Dock, it would constantly connect and disconnect, the mouse had to be connected to Dock wired and could not be paired via Bluetooth. Unfortunately it would not work as a mouse either in wired or dongle mode with my Commodore 64 Ultimate, I saw spurious key presses on the BASIC screen and the Arkanoids refused to accept input from it. My SuperStation One (a MiSTer) also worked well with the mouse and the Tandy 1000 Core with a wired connection.
8BitDo Retro 108 Mechanical Keyboard - N Edition
Accompanying the mouse is the "matching" 8bitdo Retro 108 Mechanical Keyboard Keyboard. This keyboard is typically sold for $119.99 but I got it on sale for $99.99. 8bitdo had 87-key versions of this keyboard available for quite a while now (2023 I think). The style was obviously attractive but I cannot use anything less than a full-sized keyboard, so I would not buy it.
The 87-key keyboards have come in multiple themes by this point, NES, Famicom, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Sega Saturn, Xbox, N64 and Mecha-Break. They seem to differ mainly in their styling as opposed to their functionality but the frosted cases have RGB backlighting. Opaque keyboards, including this one, do not have any backlighting. 8bitdo also has number pads with the styling of the NES, Famicom, C64 and IBM PC keyboards. I did not want one more thing floating on my desk to keep track of, which left me only two options from 8bitdo, the NES styled (N Edition) and the Famicom (F Edition) styled one. I saw the Famicom 108 on the shelves in my local-ish Micro Center (they have a great keyboard section) but I had to have the NES variant.
The build quality is excellent. 8bitdo has its plastics down and this keyboard and several of its siblings use dye sublimated PBT keycaps. The profile looks to be MDA or OSA. The key legends will not wear nor will the keycaps yellow in sunlight. Their textured surface will last longer than ABS keycaps. There is a little ridge above the F, J and Numpad 5 keys, useful for the ten-fingered. The keyboard has an aluminum plate so there is no flex or give to the key presses. The plastic will not flex much either. The keyboard weighs in at 1,350 grams (just under 3lbs), between that and its feet it will not slide easily on the desk. There are a pair of flip up feet for a more higher typing angle.
The keyboard packs in a lot for the price. It has hotswappable keyswitches and removable keycaps. It can connect via wired USB Type-C (cable included), wireless 2.4g via the included dongle or Bluetooth LE. There is a 2,000mAh battery inside the keyboard allowing for a claimed 200 hours of wireless operation. The switches are Kailh Box White clicky switches, but as these are hotswappable they can be switched out for something else if you so choose. No key pullers are included.
What is included, however, is a pair of very large A and B pads. These pads plug into one of the four ports on the back of the keyboard intended for these buttons and certain other peripherals which can be bought on the 8bitdo site. These pads have a green stem keyswitch in them and like the red B and A buttons on the keyboard, have no default function when plugged in. This is where the 8bitdo Ultimate Software V2 comes into play again, for it allows key assignments on this keyboard.
One thing that was not made very clear in the advertising and reviews of these 8bitdo keyboards, at least not to me, was whether only the "programmable" B and A keys could be remapped or all the keys could be. By setting up a profile you can assign any key to essentially any other key or function that you can assign to the mouse. Macros can also be recorded and assigned. In order to activate a profile, you press the "heart" button above the F3 key. When the light is on above that button, the profile is active. Unlike the mouse, you can only access keyboard profiles when the keyboard is connected in wired mode.
There is another way to map keys by way of the key above the F2 key. This "Fast Mapping" key allows up to six keys to be assigned to one of the programmable buttons. This is done by pressing the Fast Mapping button, then holding the key combination in addition to the key you want to program.
Between the Connection Mode Dial and the Pairing key is a Volume Dial. This dial controls the PC's volume. The dial rotates 360 degrees, so the volume is adjusted relative to its current position in the OS. Each of the three circular switches has an LED above it to let you know if it is active. Also, like a proper full-size keyboard there are status LEDs for Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock. The latter's status is often omitted on modern keyboards. I also appreciated that the number pad keycaps have navigation legends on them like the IBM keyboards of old. 8bitdo's standalone number pads do not have these legends on them.
Underneath the keyboard are five rubber pads and a pair of flip out feet. These feet are retracted by magnets inside the keyboard. There is also a magnetized hole for keeping the wireless dongle in place when not in use. Opening this keyboard would be very difficult, the screws are underneath the rubber feat and the sides are held together with plastic clips, so it is not advised. As both the keycaps and the keyswitches can be removed, some cleaning is possible. Modding the keyboard to add sound dampening foam would be possible and beneficial if you can pry the shell open.
No information was given in the manual or on 8bitdo's website about the input polling rate, unlike the mouse. There is no tab in the Ultimate Software to set the polling rate for this keyboard. An old version of Keyboard Inspector (v.0.4.0) has a polling rate tester and it states that this keyboard is "Definitely 1000Hz!" with wired mode and "Not sure, maybe 1000Hz?" with wireless mode.
It should be observed that there are significant limits to a mechanical keyboard's ability to send new key states over time. The switch has to make and break over 500 times per second to saturate a 1,000Hz polling rate. Human fingers are simply not fast enough to strike 10 keys 50 times in a second. Moreover the switch is a digital one, it too takes time to physically make and disengage the electrical connection. Although the keyboard comes with clicky key switches (as do most of the other 8bitdo keyboards) the same should hold true even for the smoothest linear switch. Were we dealing with a magnetic hall effect or inductive switch, the "analog" switches, then higher polling rates should become part of the conversation. For the Retro R8 Mouse with its high DPI setting and camera sensor which tracks variations in the surface, a faster polling rate makes sense.
I have discussed the look of these devices, but what about the feel? How does this keyboard feel to type on? If it is terrible to type on, its good looks will save nothing except maybe the keycaps for salvage. I like it, it grew on me quickly. I know many hardcore gamers would not go near a clicky keyboard due to its feedback and sound, but for someone who relies on his or her keyboard for their paycheck, this could easily be a daily driver. I am not certain whether it will replace my Model F Labs' Classic Style F104 Model F Keyboard but it sure makes a good first impression on the hands as well as on the eyes.
It should be noted that although the NES never had a keyboard peripheral released for it, the Famicom did in the form of the Family BASIC Keyboard. Nintendo originally had intended to port over the keyboard in the days when it was calling its US console the Nintendo AVS (Advanced Video System). However it went back to the drawing board and rethought all the peripheral designs. The Famicom version of the 8bitdo keyboards may come a little closer to mimicking the color scheme of the Family BASIC Keyboard because that keyboard mimicked the color design of the Famicom. The NES version mimics the NES console and its controllers. The Family BASIC Keyboard is about as crude a keyboard device as you can build and as far from a USB keyboard as you can get. No one unfortunately had made an adapter convert the USB output to something the Famicom or NES can understand.
I could not get the keyboard to work with Analogue Pocket, it really likes to hog the four controller slots the Dock presents. In Windows this keyboard reports to device manager as three HID Keyboard Devices and one HID-compliant Mouse. Getting a keyboard and mouse to work simultaneously with Dock is tricky enough with the cheapest USB keyboards and mice. The Amiga Core is the most popular core which supports both. MiSTer/SuperStation One had no issue with the keyboard wired or with the 2.4g dongle. The keyboard worked wired with my C64 Ultimate but not with the 2.4g dongle. Unfortunately Profiles do not seem to be completely stored in the keyboard, so the custom keyboard profile I setup to use with VICE would not work with the C64U. Nor does the Fast Mapping function. My Classic F104's custom keyboard layer works just fine with the C64U.
Conclusion
For the price the 8bitdo Retro 108 Mechanical Keyboard and R8 Mouse do not only present a winning aesthetic but work well with each other. They look like they belong together on a desktop, use the same configuration software and I have had no issue using both wirelessly via their 2.4g dongles at the same time. Although they clearly have a certain aesthetic, they do not look garish or ostentatious. If one's tastes in input device aesthetics changes with the month or the season, you will be dropping a lot of money on them just for design and color changes. Even at their full retail prices they are excellent value for money.
The keyboard is definitely in the upper-mid range. It does not have an aluminum body, is not compatible with QMK or VIA, there is no RGB backlighting and the keyboard's ability to be modded is warranty-voiding. You (or the guy in the next cubicle) may not like the sound profile (I know Hipyo Tech does not.) The mouse is not ideally ergonomic and does not have a plethora of buttons compared to some of the higher-end gaming mice. You might despise the look of them. They might not work with your FPGA-hardware.
I know 8bitdo has made a 68-key version of this keyboard with NES and Apple II branding. These variants have aluminum enclosures and keycaps, gasket mounts and layers of foam which can be customizable. They are also $499.99.
Even though 8bitdo likes to do things their way, they really put out a good product. I still have controllers I bought before COVID I still use. Their lineup has improved tremendously over time, gone are the days when one has to put tape over their D-pad directional contacts to keep the diagonals in check. Firmware updates are no longer a frustrating experience. The Retro Keyboard and Mouse have earned their place on my desktop, they may do so for yours.
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