Expect to Pay: $90
Compatibility: Windows, Switch (Unofficially Android and Raspberry Pi)
Connectivity: Wired, 2.4g, Bluetooth.
Battery: 10000mAh Li-on (40 hours 2.4g, 30 hours Bluetooth)
Introduction
Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat have both seen major releases in 2023, and Tekken 8 is right around the corner. While I have never been a huge fan of fighting games, I became intrigued at the idea of playing these games with more than a controller and began to shop around for a reasonably priced arcade stick that was both reasonably good quality and reasonably priced. Does the 8BitDo fight stick meet those goals?
Pros
Price — Compared to many sticks, the Arcade stick is moderately priced and can be found on sale for roughly $70. It typically runs anywhere from $80-90. This is not cheap, but consider that some sticks go for well north of $100 and the value proposition starts to become clear.
Battery Life — One Charge gets you 40 hours if you use the included 2.4g dongle and that is outstanding, Having used the stick for over two months, I’ve barely had to plug it in at all
Aesthetics — If you wanted something to pair with your 8BitDo retro keyboard, this is it. It is similarly NES inspired with it’s reds, beiges and blacks and slightly boxy overall design. There are a few nice modern touches as well, such as backlit button labels that swap between X-Input (essentially the layout for an Xbox controller) and Switch control schemes. Overall, in a field with a lot of weird and arcadey designs. the 8BitDo Arcade Stick looks very classy.
Build — One of the first things you notice about the stick is it’s weight. The base in particular is weighted so that if you set it down on a table top or even your lap, it’s not going to be going anywhere. The plastics used throughout are good thickness and there is no flex anywhere present.
Customization — 8BitDo’s promotional materials are quick to tout just how moddable this stick is designed to be, and that’s not just ad copy. The stick is simple to open (all you need for access is a Phillips head screwdriver) and just as simple to swap out parts. For this review I replaced all the face buttons with official Sanwa buttons and the process went very smoothly. Detach the wires, pop out the buttons, pop in the new ones and reattach the wires. I also swapped the default square restrictor plate for an octagonal one. (This part was a little more complicated, but more on that in a bit). Support for Sanwa parts in general is a huge selling point.
Connectivity — The stick sports several ways to connect to your chosen device including Bluetooth. a 2.4g dongle and USB-C cable. I could not detect any lag or latency issues when connecting over Bluetooth, though any other device connected over Bluetooth at the same time suffered some lag and drop outs. Wired is necessary for firmware updates and macro editing through the 8BitDo software and also charges the battery.
Cons
Connectivity — What. Wasn’t this just also a pro? It was and it is, but it also isn’t. In spite of it’s wide ranging connectivity options, it does not connect to every device you might hope. It connects to PC and Switch (and unofficially to Android, iOS and Raspberry Pi via Bluetooth), but it it will not work with PS5 or Xbox. There is a separate stick that connects to Xbox and PC, but PS5 is left completely out in the cold (Unless you want to spend another $60 on a Brook Wingman FGC Converter). If you were looking for something that connects to everything, sadly this is not it.
Also: The USB C port is sunk deep into the base of the stick and can be difficult to seat properly. This is something 8BitDo actually fixed for the Xbox iteration of the design, but you do not get the benefit of that fix here.
Software –When the 8BitDo ultimate software works, it works fine, but it does not always register the Arcade Stick. I tested the software on two different computers both running Windows 11 and found that it failed to recognize the stick at least half of the time. Updating the firmware (a separate piece of software that is also sluggish about recognizing the stick) did not remedy the issue.
Some Replacement Parts Might be a Tight Fit — The octagonal restrictor plate I installed technically fits. And it fits extremely well. But something I did not know before removing the old square shaped restrictor plate is that Sanwa plates are not just snug when used with the stock 8BitDo joystick; they are nigh on impossible to remove. The restrictor plate connects over 4 small tabs and all 4 tabs must be pressed at the exact same time while applying even pressure to the bottom of the plate in order to remove it. This is easy enough on the stock plate, but the Sanwa plate is so snug that when I accidentally knocked out a microswitch from the joystick assembly and had to remove the plate to put the microswitch back on, it took me hours of fiddling to even lift the plate enough on one side to slide the switch back into place. So with that in mind, I strongly recommend swapping to a Sanwa stick as well if you are considering changing out the restrictor plate as the part will fit much better and should require a lot less fiddling if you make a mistake.
Overall
The 8Bit Do Arcade Stick is solidly built, has multiple connectivity options, allows for nearly every major part to be tweaked to your liking, has a great battery and the entire package is available for a very reasonable price relative to it’s competition. The drawbacks are not major and can all be worked around if you are prepared for them
8/10