8BitDo is now selling a Bluetooth receiver for the Sega Saturn for $25. They’re claiming “Virtually Lag Free”, but as usual they don’t post any actual measurements. If you’re willing to spend an extra $10, you can get one based off of BlueRetro that’s been measured with low-latency BT controllers at less than half a frame of lag. They’re also selling a limited edition Saturn-themed keyboard and appear to be having a “Black Friday” sale on many of their products as well. More info after the links:
Purchase Here: https://amzn.to/492iFn3
Black Friday Sale: https://amzn.to/4f19rcd
SaturnBT Review: https://www.retrorgb.com/saturn-bt-bluetooth-adapter.html
Saturn-Themed Keyboard: https://shop.8bitdo.com/pages/saturn-30th-anniversary
To be clear, I’m a fan of 8BitDo products and am happy to recommend them. But when given a choice of purchasing a product with clear specs listed, vs vague statements like “Virtually Lag Free”, I’ll always pick the one that posts hard numbers. And while the controller, distance and room interference greatly affect wireless latency, all we need to know is the lag the receiver adds – Anything else is up to us. Fingers crossed a member of the community will buy one to test.
As for the keyboard, it looks pretty cool, but I’m disappointed it’s the standard edition and not the one with the number pad built in. That said, if you’re a big fan of the Saturn, the colors, “S” logo on top and Saturn-font-themed A&B buttons are very cool. That’s a pre-order though and not available on Amazon; The price is $110, which is $10 more than the other editions and $30 more than the current Black Friday prices of the other three color schemes. If you choose to pre-order the Saturn version, they should arrive to you before the end of the year (about a month).
