8BitDo’s mechanical keyboard is a wonderful homage to retro gaming consoles

I’ll start by saying that I generally like 8BitDo’s products; I bought several controllers from the brand over the years, and they’ve held up well. A big part of the allure with the brand is the styling; most of its products have a delightful retro aesthetic, and that’s even more true of its mechanical keyboard.

The Retro Mechanical Keyboard has a fabulous design that evokes memories of retro gaming consoles, and 8BitDo did a great job staying true to its design ethos. The keyboard is available for $89 on Amazon, and it is sold in four editions. I’m using the N Edition, and you can pick up the C64 Edition, Fami Edition, or the M Edition. The feature-set is identical with all the models, and the only difference is the design.

The N Edition is styled to resemble the NES, and it looks fantastic; the design is a definite differentiator, and 8BitDo did all the right things in this area. The keyboard has a power button on the right that light up when it’s connected, and you get dials to switch between modes; there’s Bluetooth and 2.4GHz connectivity in addition to the standard USB-C.

There are physical buttons to pair the keyboard, and I set it up with my iPad Pro M4 and Vivo X200 Pro in addition to testing it with my Windows machine. There are no problems whatsoever with connectivity, and 8BitDo’s unique 2.4GHz receiver slots into a magnetic cubby at the back, ensuring you don’t lose it.

The keyboard uses an aluminum plate, but the chassis itself is made out of plastic. I don’t mind the plastic build (it is a faithful recreation, after all), and the build quality itself is pretty good. Coming in at 1050g, the keyboard isn’t particularly heavy, but it stays planted on a table thanks to rubber feet on the underside.

I like the dual knobs to switch between modes and adjust the volume; they have a decidedly retro flair. The keys are similarly great, with 8BitDo using dye-sublimated PBT keys with a custom MDA profile. Another interesting inclusion is a set of buttons — dubbed the Super Buttons — that you can connect to the keyboard via custom connectors. You get one set of buttons in the package, and you can easily connect three additional sets. The buttons are programmable, so you can set up macros or launch a program with relative ease.

Similar to most keyboards today, 8BitDo went with a TKL design — you miss out on the dedicated number pad. That said, if you need a full-size model, that edition is available for $115 — and it retails the same design. The TKL model has the standard 87 keys, and it is available in ISO configurations.

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The keyboard comes with Kailh Box V2 White switches as standard, and the pre-lubed clicky switch is loud — it’s similar to the Cherry MX Blue in this regard. The switch has a 45gF actuation and 3.9mm total travel, and it feels wonderful to use. I generally prefer Gateron’s linear switches, and the feel of these Kailh switches is totally different.

That said, if you need a mechanical keyboard with quiet switches, this isn’t the one to get. Of course, you can easily take out the switches and use your own if you want — the keyboard takes standard 3- and 5-pin MX switches. While it doesn’t have VIA, 8BitDo’s software does a decent enough job, and it is easy to program buttons and macros.

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Now, the biggest limitation with the keyboard is that it doesn’t have backlighting. I get that some brands don’t want to include RGB lighting on their keyboards, but there isn’t any backlight whatsoever with this model, and that is annoying. 8BitDo should have at least used white LEDs to accentuate the design, because as it stands, the keyboard isn’t that usable in a dark room.

I would have liked a metal chassis as it usually delivers better acoustics, but the choice of switch mitigates that issue to an extent. Outside of that, I don’t have any problems with the Retro Mechanical Keyboard. The keyboard has a 2,000mAh battery, and 8BitDo touts 200 hours of usage between charges. That’s because of the fact that it doesn’t have any backlighting, and in my usage, I got two weeks of usage out of a charge, and that’s considerably more than any other keyboard.

Overall, the Retro Mechanical Keyboard has one of the best designs of any keyboard I have in the house (and I have over 30 boards), and the versatile connectivity makes it a breeze to use it with just about any device. It’s annoying that there’s no backlighting, but if you don’t mind the omission and want a keyboard that celebrates the glorious era of retro gaming, you should buy it.

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