In the world of gaming products and peripherals, 8BitDo has made a nice niche for itself lately. It seems to fire on all cylinders whenever they release an SNES type wireless Bluetooth controller for modern systems. The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard – C64 Edition IMMEDIATELY sparked my interest. I had to pre-order one off of eBay instantly! While I didn’t grow up with the Commodore 64 I love vintage computers so I had to have one. Below is my overall thoughts and opinions on the keyboard.
8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard C64 Design and Build Quality
There is nothing about the 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard C64 edition that feels cheap. The build quality is great, the colors are great and a throw back to the Commodore 64. The Red LED adds quite a bit of charm to electronics enthusiasts like myself.
The Key Switches which don’t appear to be labeled anywhere on the box are Kailh Box White Switches V2. They actually feel great to type with. They don’t have as much tactile feedback as an IBM Model M but they are much better than “Reds” in my opinion which makes for a great typing keyboard. I’m not really a fan of red switches anyway; I always feel like I type everything twice.
8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard C64 Edition – Performance
Typing and playing games on the C64 edition keyboard is great. I’ve not had a problem with responsiveness or anything. Since it is an 87 Key keyboard it can fit just about anywhere and is very portable. I’ve not really tried the wireless or Bluetooth with any different devices but if I know one thing it’s that 8BitDo devices always seem to work for me. I may revisit this article and give an update on how it performs typing on an Android tablet. Hooked up to my laptop it’s been great and a very welcome addition as my home away from home keyboard.
Additional Components
The Super Buttons and Arcade stick are also a welcome addition. The Arcade stick is clicky and seems to work well. The big buttons are kind of neat to look at but I wouldn’t really use them for anything. Having a little arcade stick attached to the keyboard is kind of awesome though. I’ll have to test it more on MAME or some Commodore 64 emulators to give some more feedback but it’s very cool that it comes with the keyboard.
Pros and Cons of the 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard C64 edition
Below will be a list of Pros and Cons I’ve experienced with this vintage/retro style keyboard from 8BitDo.
Pros
- Design and Look – The Nostalgic design and solid build of the keyboard is very high quality. It is a joy to type on the keyboard and a pleasure to look at.
- Compact – Being a smaller keyboard you could charge it up and take it about anywhere you wanted and use it on the go. Very portable, connects via Bluetooth or 2.4ghz wireless with the USB adapter.
Cons
- No Keyboard Legs – I wish I could slant it just a bit more. At least it’s design is slanted just like the C64 computers but I enjoy a little extra whenever I’m typing. In the video you can see where I mention this and discover that the backplate has no legs to slant the keyboard up more.
- 87 Keys – While it is compact it’s missing a lot of useful keys to make this a main keyboard. As far as a gaming keyboard it is completely fine. Whenever it comes to trying to use this on a workstation I would probably search for something else.
Do you really need a Mechanical Keyboard?
I done a follow-up video on this on the tech talk series if you really need a mechanical keyboard?
The short answer is no, but since membrane keyboards are made very cheap, you can be expected to be buying a new one within a few years. Mechanical keyboards are way better to type on, more enjoyable and they will almost last you a lifetime if you take care of them.
8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard C64 Conclusion:
Overall after using the 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard C64 edition it has been a welcome addition to my keyboard collection. At first I was a little thrown off from the keycaps and key switches as I’ve never used a keyboard like this before. After a few days of using it regularly I was glad I purchased it. If you would like one of our own you can buy one from Amazon.
I wish there was bigger version of it with a numpad for doing actual work. But, this as a secondary keyboard or a gaming keyboard has been great. I’ve had zero issues with it and everything seems to work flawlessly.
Let’s hope that this article helps someone decide if they want a cool keyboard to go along with their collection.
Be sure to follow me over on Twitter/X.com @TheSmango if you enjoyed the article and want me to do more! Send me a follow and I’ll try to follow back; let me know what you thought of the keyboard in Discord or Twitter!
- ⌨️Website https://techholler.com
- ⌨️TechHoller.com YouTube Channel – YouTubeChannel
- ⌨️TheSmango YouTube Gaming Channel – GamingYTChannel
- ⌨️Twitter https://twitter.com/thesmango
- ⌨️Live Streaming – https://twitch.tv/TheSmango
- ⌨️Discord – https://discord.gg/52etAD9
- ⌨️Trading Cards and More – AppalachiaTCG
About Author
