8BitDo’s new keyboard is a blast from the past, but works like a modern machine

Gaming accessory brand 8BitDo is going old school with its first ever mechanical keyboard with a design reminiscent of previous Nintendo consoles.

Appropriately named the Retro mechanical keyboard, it comes in two different color schemes: one in black, gray and red to match the NES, while the other is based on the Famicom – the Japanese rendition of the console. With the latter, the red takes on a more rustic hue and white replaces the gray for a brighter look. The Famicom version even has hiragana on most of the keys. So this particular model could potentially act as a Japanese tutor of sorts, helping students learning the language become more familiar with it.

There’s more to this device than just being a pretty keyboard, and it has some interesting hardware too. Starting with the external parts, the Retro keyboard has a tenkeyless layout, meaning there’s no numeric keypad on the side. You will see that there are buttons ‘B’ and ‘A’ at the bottom. These two are programmable, allowing owners to add any macro they want, such as Control-C on ‘B’ and Control-P on ‘A’. This can be done through 8BitDo’s ultimate software app. Another cool design is the Power LED light in the top right corner with the analog buttons on the left, adding to the vintage 80’s look.

Internal hardware