New Bluetooth Dreamcast Controllers From Retro-bit Revealed (Updated)

Retro-bit are yet to make an official announcement about their upcoming Dreamcast, Saturn and Megadrive peripherals, but one eagle-eyed YouTuber has beat them to the punch by the looks of it. John Riggs of RIGG'd Games recently published the following video which apparently shows some rather awesome-looking officially branded wireless peripherals, and what look like official VGA boxes for the Dreamcast. This was uploaded on the 8th of January and as of the time of writing, Retro-bit have yet to make an official announcment from their booth at CES 2018. However, if this is genuine then Retro-bit can take my money now!


As stated previously, the DreamConn exists already but if an officially licensed Bluetooth controller is available at a more affordable price then that's pretty fantastic. Here's a better shot of the packaging courtesy of RGT85's video on the topic:
Hopefully the build quality of these new accessories will live up to the hype. Will you be getting amongst these controllers and connectors? Let us know in the comments!

Update
It seems that yes, these controllers are indeed real. A reader called David who was at CES 2018 spoke to the Retro-bit staff and took some photos at the booth, and shared the news that they are looking at a late 2018 release date for the controllers, VGA boxes and other cables on show. Here are some better images, courtesy of David:
From the images, it looks as though Retro-bit will also be selling officially licensed USB controllers for PC, as well as standard wired controllers (not sure what the deal is there, as you can just get original controllers of eBay for pittance); as well as an S-video connector and (rather oddly) a power cord. Naturally, as soon as we can get our hands on any of this new hardware we'll bring you honest and unbiased reviews. If the build quality is up there with the official Sega Dreamcast HKT-7700 then we'll let you know...and likewise if they feel cheap and nasty. Thanks again to David for these images and speaking to the Retro-bit staff at the event.

15 comments:

hoogafanter said...

A couple cents I'll throw in here..

-While wireless controllers are cool, they're not really that interesting to me. You can get extension cords for all these consoles for very cheap. I'm much more interested in HDMI outputs and other modernizations that are actually hard to come by. Think Akura, Dreampi, Lightconn, USBGDROM, etc. that can be difficult to find for many people. Official and mass produced versions of these products would be amazing for everyone(except for mnemo, beharbros, etc.)...

-More importantly, just because these are officially licensed by Sega does NOT mean they will be high quality like the video suggests. Atgames consoles were also officially licensed. Retrobit products are very hit or miss, and usually a miss. We shouldn't be celebrating until these products actually release and we get some decent reviews of them...

way2easy said...

Wireless dc controller! I'm cautiously optimistic.

OfManNotMachine said...

I couldnt agree more.

If all they are doing is making some wireless controllers then ill be pretty let down.

Unknown said...

I'd rather they spent some time making the controllers better. I mean yeah guys bluetooth is awesome but how about a higher quality analog stick.

Jacob J said...

Maybe we just remain cautiously optimistic - new accessories for DC in 2018 is still pretty impressive. I'm hoping they do put out lightguns that work on modern TV's and ya for sure more official boxes or converters/upscalers to HDMI that all games can work with. Just about every other retro system out there, official or not, has these.

hoogafanter said...

The problem is in order to put out more products, the products they are already offering have to sell well. I personally have no use for a wireless controller, I'm hoping my fellow Sega brethren who enjoy such features support it...

I really, REALLY want a light gun and I can't afford the price of the current mod...

Anthony817 said...

I was pretty excited to see the news about this. I don't see why all the pessimism? Most modern gamers want wireless controllers. I for one do, and hate wires.

The thing for me though, is that it is literally only a matter of time before these Bluetooth dongles have a firmware hack to allow working with Xbox One and PS4 controllers. So I really don't see what there isn't to like about that? How they will be paired with it remains to be seen as I don't see any sync buttons on either wireless dongle for the Saturn or the Dreamcast adapters.

Also, with that also being said, want to make a bet that even if the wireless Saturn controllers aren't supported, that they will be hacked to do so? Who wouldn't want a Saturn wireless controller on their DC? Hell sign me up for a white one to make the console and I will be happy.

ConnyP said...

Great news!, I do hope this is is not some tectoy crap and will actually feel like a SEGA product(hopefully original molds!?).

Ben said...

I could definitely use a black wireless controller to match my black sega sports Dreamcast!

Animated AF said...

I hope the bluetooth dongle makes them interchangeable across systems, AKA will I be able to connect the bluetooth Saturn controller to the Dreamcast bluetooth dongle? Because TBH I will happily take the Mega Drive and Saturn pads but maybe pass on the Dreamcast ones haha.

Unknown said...

I am personally really excited for the new bluetooth controller. The retro bit genesis controller (supergen) is actually a pretty decent product. It would be nice not to have cords from my dreamcast that family trip over

Unknown said...

If you're looking for the best possible picture via HDMI, look no further than DCHDMI which taps into the digital output of the DC, bypassing analog. It also includes a line-doubler. Should be out soon.

righteousdavis777 said...

Bluetooth Stereoscopic controllers would be the way to go. Compatible on many devices. Identical to the originals but with a modern usb twist.I need this dreamcast controller for my collection😀😀😀 I actually wish it was usb as well.👀👀👀

Unknown said...

Any update on this?

Unknown said...

Sooo, when will this be released. This is one of the last consoles without a wireless option. Seriously, whats taking so long?