Official 3D Saturn Pad Reproduction

For non-Saturn games on PC/consoles? I likely wouldn't ever use it. I'm satisfied with the currently available options.

For Saturn gaming? I'd definitely enjoy newly created controllers that are of the same quality as the originals. Lost the one that came with my NiGHTS copy and I'm a bit picky with secondhand controllers.

 

I would want it. But who's manufacturing it?

In my opinion, Retro Bit has some serious quality control issues, and they should frankly be ashamed of themselves for trying to cover that up year after year. This isn't from experience, but instead from reading the bazillion reviews of their stuff, half of which complain about the same things.

Some other companies exist, but I am not prepared to buy from a Chinese company. Sorry, no controversy meant here, but it's just how it is.

So... I come back to my original point. Who's going to make it? But does it sound appealing? Absolutely!

 

It's very tempting sometimes. I almost put one of their controllers on my Christmas list a few months back. But I tend to do a great deal of research on things I am interested in buying. I can deal with a few bad reviews, as long as they're rare. But I found the reviews on Retro Bit controllers to be very spotty at best. It was enough to deter me.

That said, some folks have had luck with them, and I am happy for those people in their fortune. But I am holding off for now.

 

Retro-Bit actually teased these themselves a few years back at CES 2019. One of their community reps recently replied to a couple of questions about this on social media and indicated that nothing is in development. I don't have high hopes given the delays they've encountered with their Dreamcast and twin analog stick Saturn controllers.

Are there any issues in particular you're concerned about? The Retro-Bit pads had a bumpy start out of the gate with quality control, but those issues have been ironed out. I own several of their Sega pads and haven't encountered any of the problems cited in early reviews (broken D-Pad, etc).

 

I’d probably buy one, considering the outrageous prices that the originals are going for on eBay at the moment.

 

Herein lies the rub: RetroFighters already has a controller that works on both the MD/Genesis and the Saturn with an analog stick.
They just need to fix the microcontroller on the analog stick so it actually registers magnitude and direction, rather than behaving like a D-pad.

https://www.amazon.com/Retro-Fighters-BrawlerGen-Saturn-Genesis-Controller/dp/B082XHRXC1

This gamepad looks pretty comfortable, and RF manufactures generally good controllers. It's just a shame they half-arsed the one feature that would have made it the definitive Saturn controller.

EDIT: Their Dreamcast controller is also way better than the OEM, at least in one pinhead's humble opinion:

https://www.amazon.com/Retro-Fighte...91L7RYY/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=B0891L7RYY&psc=1

 

Retro Fighters controllers are often pretty ugly (including that Genesis/Saturn one). They all seem to want to replicate the Xbox shape without knowing how to keep the appeal of the original controllers. Biggest example is their N64 controller, yeesh.

Their Dreamcast one fares better since it was kinda where the Xbox shape originated from, but it still loses a lot of the space-age personality imo, and that's coming from someone who owns two of them (I funded the Kickstarter!). Plus, their sticks and triggers feel kind of cheap. They're comfy, though.

As for our friends at Retro-Bit, they plan to kill two birds with one stone; making a Dreamcast controller in shape and function but with improvements made to match the Saturn 3D Pad (the D-Pad, higher up triggers, Z & C Buttons). Shown below:



Which looks great, right? Though I yearn for a second analog stick (come on, R-B, I need this for modern gaming).

It's too bad that they announced this controller in 2019, and gave us our last proper update on it around early 2020. Every word since has been them saying they're experiencing a shortage on parts for it, and all further updates being pending. The only way you can even get them to comment on it is if you ask them directly on Twitter, and it's always the same result.

I'm going to have to assume said parts are related to the VMU, because it certainly isn't for other controller parts. It feels like they pop out a new variant of their Saturn and N64 pads every other minute..

 

They pop out variants of their Saturn pads? I thought they only did variants of their Genesis pads.

I'm STILL waiting for their dual analog variant on the Saturn pad, which imo will probably be my de-facto controller if they don't mess up the ergonomics of the pad and the sticks are decent. They haven't announced anything for that since the last controller update (which was basically "no parts please wait until next time"), which is a shame because it's probably the only controller I'm actively waiting for.

 

It's been a while since they've added any to the lineup. The black and white versions of the 2.4 GHz Saturn pads dropped in 2020 about a year after the initial launch, and they've sometimes gone out of stock for months before coming back. Retro-Bit's social media says both are still being produced. I'd love to see a grey version someday.

The last Genesis pad they released was the crimson version which rolled out at the end of 2021.

 

I might be getting Saturn and Genesis controllers mixed up. Honestly not much different between them in build from R-B, since they often include L & R on the Genesis ones as well. lol

A dual analog standard Saturn controller would be neat, but I've never been a fan of having both sticks on the bottom, so I'm mixed on the idea. It'll probably be alright, but I'd prefer a dual analog DC pad.

If they ever make any of these, that is... it'll probably be 2024 before we even hear another word from them.

 

Having used both an OEM DC controller in "very good" condition (ebay parlance) and the RetroFighters controller, it is a welcome replacement. The OEM is a nice collector's item, but for the sake of playing Soul Calibur, Power Stone 2, and Sonic Adventure, it's just awful. In my experience, it was awful enough to drive me to the point of using NullDC instead of real hardware just so I could use an Xbox One analog stick.

It's ok to prefer something for nostalgia's sake, but I'm just saying I would rather speedrun SA1 with the Striker DC controller than the OEM.

Nonetheless, I think we both agree their version of an N64 controller (Brawler 64) doesn't beat the OEM equivalent, albeit for different reasons. I don't dislike the design for deviating from convention, I just dislike the design and implementation on their own merits. Z, L, and R are digital buttons, yet B64 uses analog-style triggers. This alone makes it a farce, but the analog stick also doesn't have the full range of possible input at the diagonals. I couldn't fathom trying to play Star Fox 64 or Rogue Squadron on that minimal-thought implementation. Here are analog stick tests that explain what I'm getting at:



Whenever SteelSticks 64 is back in stock, I'm plunking down the $125 to upgrade to an N64 thumbstick that will never wear out.

 

I love the original Dreamcast controller, so you're not talking to the right guy for this. lmao

I do think it's a very flawed controller, regardless, but it's shape is the main reason I keep coming back to it. It perfectly embodies the bold, brave future of the new millennium and Sega's last stand; a funky, weird circle-motif spacecraft that could, cruising into your sci-fi electronic dreams. And if your Dreamcast experience isn't with that funky little spacecraft, then well.. are you really getting the Dreamcast experience?

Could've really used two more buttons and a second stick, though. At the very least. Better stick(s) and d-pad would've been nice, but I'm not terribly picky.

 

You won't see me complain about Sega's willingness to experiment in designing the DC controller, but then again if the Dreamcast could have lived just 3 more years I would have been fully on-board with an inevitable controller redesign similar to what Microsoft did redesigning the "Duke" controller into the S model.

As long as the top VMU slot has a viewport for my VMU screen, I get all the nostalgia I need! Although the GC-GBA Chao Garden system has so much more functionality, the simple fun of improving Chao stats by playing VMU minigames is much more relaxing.

If there's anything I'd get nostalgic about, it's all the free online goodies Sega gave out. 2004-2006 era Xbox Live never surprised you with Halloween and Christmas in-game events. Seganet made SA1 a living, breathing world in a way that every other console game since late 1998 wasn't. To this day, I don't get Mario or Link dressed as Santa Claus when I play Super Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild on Dec 25th. No Santa's sleigh in Mario Kart 8, no exploding Jack-O-Lanterns in Super Bomberman R, NOTHING.

 

I mean, there IS a Santa costume for Mario in Odyssey.

 

True, but I didn't receive it for Christmas. Super Mario Odyssey went the route of Sonic Adventure in so many ways, but they didn't steal a page out of Seganet.

The fun is when things change in the game's environment by surprise, or in response to real-life current events. Y2K-era internet was full of this kind of experimentation/playing around. Little things like Happy New Year and Y2K banners in Station Square on 1/1/2000 made Station Square feel more like a place than just a corridor in between the previous level and the next.

Sadly, if we had that today in Mario Odyssey we would get Russian flag-colored Bullet Bills, and all the NPCs in New Donk City would be sequestered in their apartments.

But going back to the subject of Saturn/DC reproduction controllers, if the shortage really has something to do with VMU parts, does this mean they're making new VMUs? That's pretty ambitious!

 

I think it's mostly that they need the parts for connecting the VMUs to the controller. Retro-Fighter's DCStriker pad got delayed several times past it's release window due to a similar shortage.