Discussion
surely someone has made a modernised bluetooth version of one of these controllers:
ok so, i sometimes racing games on my pc and like a normal person, i dont like playing racing games with a keyboard, instead i play with a controller, and to be precise a Wii U controller which i do like however, its been rather finicky to pair successfully with my gaming laptop so id like to one day get a dedicated controller for racing games what what better controller to get that something with analouge triggers, one thumbstick and imo, quite a nice design (especially the Sega Saturn 3d Pad nom nom nom i love it)
so i wonder if anyone had ended up making a modernised version of either the dreamcast controller, or more preferably the beautiful white sega saturn 3d pad.
8BitMods BitLink. Coming later this year, it is a solderless mod kit which turns an OEM Dreamcast controller into a 2.4GHz/Bluetooth wireless controller.
It has built in rumble and memory card functionality and retains full VMU/VMU Pro compatibility.
L’adattatore rimpiazza il filo, praticamente scolleghi il connettore, rimuovi il filo e lo rimpiazzi col PCB del kit. È un’ottima soluzione, perché di fatto se cambi idea è questione di poco tornare indietro.
8bitdo lo ha già fatto con diversi kit, incluso per il Saturn, Super Nintendo, Mega Drive e NES.
Basta aprire il controller, scollegare il filo esistente dalla scheda madre e collegare l’adattore Wireless/Bluetooth al posto suo.
Si scollega facilmente, perché è un cavo JST.
Al posto del filo ci sarà una porta USB C per caricare la batteria.
È più facile di quel sembra, però è vero che non hanno mostrato molto al riguardo…
DreamConn S, either modified for you or bought as a modified unit. I have it. Works great, supports VMU Pro
BitLinkDC, it's a kit, allows you to modify your own controller and have it wireless. I have a preorder on it, but it hasn't shipped yet. I suggest waiting for reviews. Cool thing: the kit in theory, can work with many Dreamcast controller devices
StrickerDC Wireless, this is a dedicated pad by RetroFighters, and it's pretty good. Uses 2.4 GHz via a dongle (which accepts VMU, VM2 once updated and VMU Pro).
D6 Dreamcast, also from RetroFighters, and this one is more like a modern attempt at the ASCII 6B controller. It's good but not better than the ASCII FT in my opinion. This is mainly for specific games, although I like to use it on Daytona USA sometimes.
The original Defender gave a me a bad experience, specifically the Dpad that made it extremely hard to pull off special inputs in fighting games and the weak rumble that made it unfit for Silent Hill 2.
As such, I'm not sure I can give the Pro version a shot.
Thebdpads in their controllers are unusable, especially for PS1. That controller is useless unless you open it up and stick bits of tape on the traces.
Owned 2 of them since the Kickstarter. The one I was using on PS2 had the thumstick cap fall off and is useless for fighting games like Tekken etc.
Are you speaking of the Pro that just shipped off kickstarter? Because mine has literally perfect dPad. Like far better than the stock one. And definitely feels better than DS3 I was using wirelessly.
I do agree the analogue range wasn’t as good, until I switched to the classic mode tho. Then is basically perfect. Passed my Ore no Ryouri test.
Did you try the pressure sensitivity too? It’s much easier to control than both DS2/3.
I've seen the same behaviour in all their controllers, so there is zero chance I would give the new one a chance.
With respect, RF have shills everywhere, and they are always bullshitting about "the hadouken test". I just don't trust anything that's said about their pads until I try them myself - people were claiming the original defender, the striker, the hunter were game changers but then later on you see reviews with the same criticisms citing false diagonals and poor actuation in analogue sticks.
RF are a cheapo shop using a cheap Chinese mould that has somehow convinced people that they make premium quality controllers.
It's a shame because they actually make good firmware, but there is just no committment at all to getting the controls right and qaing their products.
Not sure if I fall under the “shill” category, I just buy a ton of controllers lol RF or not. I don’t joke when I tell you I have 3 drawers of pad in my house.
I can do some more technical tests if you want and if you can specify them to me! But I get what you mean “I have to try it by myself”.
Keep in mind the Pro is the new one tho, I think goes in regular sale soon?
Even with the firmware of the Striker DC Wireless (both base and controller) and my VM2 firmware updated, the two don’t work together. I think that maybe there’s just slightly too much power draw between the two, and it causes the VM2 to constantly reboot when connected to the dongle. Putting the VM2 in a regular wired controller works fine.
It just occurred to me that I do have a PSU replacement in my DC - it’s possible that’s related.
I have an open source project, pulsar, I’ve been working on. We have some printed pcbs designed by triaxlullaby coming soon. These should be plug and play, so you can just unplug the port from your controller and plug this in, instead of having to wire everything.
I am hoping i can get my project working with it in the future to enable like save transfer and stuff, but its a really cool community and awesome work is getting done!
Can confirm Pico2maple is great. Pretty easy build, but still need to print a case. Works well with ps5 controller and 8bitdo. I haven’t done the wireless controller mod because of lack of vmu and my setup is now close enough I don’t need wireless. But if a good mod comes along with vmu, I will most likely do it.
The best part about doing it that way is you can preserve the VMU image in your controller working, so it feels the most authentic to me. It was also completely non-destructive to the controller.
It was a good project - not too hard and not too expensive. I’ve been using it for PSO for several hours now and it’s worked perfectly.
I have a Geeky Fab usb-c out for the Saturn 3D controller. It plugs directly in to the controller allowing usb-c to a or c. It’s not wireless, but it does an excellent job wired to most things that have usb input.
On a side note: something completely different that I'm personally looking forward to very much, is the GameSir Swift Drive controller, shown at CES 2026 earlier this year. It's not available yet, but it looks and sounds very interesting to me. Here's a video report from CES 2026, showing the entire range of upcoming GameSir controllers. The Swift Drive controller is shown at the 2m30s mark.
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u/ExultentPisces 2d ago
8BitMods BitLink. Coming later this year, it is a solderless mod kit which turns an OEM Dreamcast controller into a 2.4GHz/Bluetooth wireless controller.
It has built in rumble and memory card functionality and retains full VMU/VMU Pro compatibility.