ThinkGeek’s latest addition to their iCade line is the 8-Bitty, a controller that’s wonderfully oldschool in its design.
Those of us who were lucky enough to be gamers back in the 1980s all remember the iconic controllers that Nintendo designed for their first home entertainment system. They were blocky, hard on the hands, creaked when you hit buttons and impossible to get a good gaming grip (at least by our pampered modern standards). Nevertheless, there was something truly unique about their design and color scheme that made them simply unforgettable.
Now, according to Slashgear, ThinkGeek has just released a new controller for their iCade line of gear that will let us relive our glorious days of old school gaming the way we always wanted to.
The 8-Bitty is a controller that will connect wireless via Bluetooth to just about any mobile device, whether it be an iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad or any Android compatible machine. The controller is battery powered, which makes it convenient to carry around, but it would have been pretty sweet if they had an optional cord that could plugin to your device. It wouldn’t be truly oldschool with having to worry about triping over your wires when you flail your arms all over the place.
The controller has a standard directional pad and four big red buttons which will let you play anything from simple NES ported classics to more advanced retro games that have been released over the past few years.
I’ll have to say, despite the fact that it’s not the same ugly grey, black and red that I was so fond of, I’m still absolutely in love with the design. It has an 8-bit style logo and a color scheme that oddly makes me think of Boogey Nights. Heck, the controller even has wood panneling! You know it’s classy when it has wood panneling.
For the nostalgic nerds looking to get their hands on one of these marvels, they will be released later this year and available found over at ThinkGeek for around $24.99. You can also sign up for some early updates so you’ll be the first to know when they become available to the general public.
In other news, check out the re-release of the Simpsons Arcade Game: Relive Your Childhood, which I personally remember sinking more quarters than I could count into, and also a pretty good post on the Wife / Girlfriend vs Video Gamer Problem. Can’t say you’ve never been there before.
