RetroFlag Classic 2.4G Wireless Controller-M (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Official Store: https://retroflag.com/classic_2_4g_controller-m.html
Controllers have seen as much evolution on this planet as the creatures that roam on it. The earliest known game pad fossils (1962) started with three or fewer buttons. Still, within a generation or two, twisty wheels emerged from the primordial clay, and eventually, the buttons multiplied. Sticks, directional pads, triggers and all manner of touch-sensitive and rumbly haptic features and appendages have grown, shrunk, protruded and undulated within their DNA ever since.
With services such as NSO, PSN, XBL, & Antstream regularly offering retro games; it invariably always feels more authentic to play with a systemically relevant input device rather than try to compensate for it on a completely inapposite controller.
Nostalgic In Every Way!
RetroFlag's Controller-M transports us almost bang-on 30 years back in time with the six-button Sega Mega Drive/Genesis arcade pad, but whereas the original opted to ignore the trend for shoulder buttons, RetroFlag has spliced its genes and genetically enhanced it to incorporate the full count of face buttons as well as left and right shoulder buttons, and an additional select button too!
Boxed in the nostalgic packaging, it comes with a USB-A 2.4G dongle and a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging and playing, the Controller-M is compatible with Nintendo Switch (docked), Raspberry Pi, Windows, and the two official Mega Drive Mini Consoles that have come out in recent years.
Connecting the controller is as simple as plug and play, but where this controller both excels, but becomes a little complicated, is in its ability to change on-the-fly via built-in macros.
Turbo, Autofire, & Macros But No Profiles
When using it on the Nintendo Switch you can press Start+Select to simulate the Home button, which is incredibly handy to get back to the Switch menu, pressing L+Select & a button of your choice activates turbo (there are two modes: double tapping the button while L+Select is held auto fires, whereas holding the button down along with L+Select makes it quickly fire when just that button is held).
Pressing the Select button + D-Pad directions remaps D-Pad to the left or right analogue stick respectively for those games that don't support a D-Pad. Finally pressing L+R+select & the two buttons you want to swap will invert those two buttons. This is great if you want to swap the buttons around for SNES games, for example, but if you dabble between platforms quickly you would have to switch it back and forth each time.
Thankfully turning the controller off removes all your tinkering ready for the next session, but perma-mapping with profiles would have been a nice option too, but for $16.99 it's really more than forgivable that these features aren't present!
90's Ergonomics, Modern Features
In hand, the Controller-M feels exemplary. It is extremely lightweight at just 136 grams, and it feels small, perhaps a little too small for me for lengthy sessions personally, but then I've always grumbled at the size of Joy-Cons, and hated the fact that they're tiny and hand-crampingly uncomfortable to use for long periods, however, this is definitely larger than a Joy-Con and far comfier to use!
The D-Pad feels great. It's clicky, not mushy, and it's ideal for spamming fireballs in Street Fighter 2. The face buttons are hollow-feeling, and rattly if you shake the pad, but technically they work perfectly, though they're a little mushy in places, but worked incredibly reliably whilst speeding through Green Hill Zone, swimming to freedom in Ecco, and battering foes to bits in Altered Beast.
The shoulder buttons are where my bone of contention arises. They are almost flush with the controllers' form factor, and whilst I get the attempt to make it look identical to 1993's design and hide them somewhat, the shoulders are lacking any sensory feedback, and I kept finding myself looking for them rather than being able to feel for them with my fingertips.
In my opinion, they simply needed to be raised in the middle, or at the very least have braille-like ridges or dots to differentiate their positioning, then you could locate them without looking.
The one upside of their design is that each of the shoulder buttons wraps around a little to the rear, so if you rest your index fingers on the shell of the controller and squeeze like you're pulling the trigger of a gun, you will invariably press the shoulder buttons with your middle phalanges (the bit of meat between your first and second knuckle), rather than your distal phalanges (aka your fingertips).
The RetroFlag Controller-M does what it says on the tin and provides an incredibly affordable yet tangible approximation of the wistful 90's input device while being bolstered with reasonably modern features, and as such it is an ideal pad for strictly retro gaming on modern platforms.
For under £30, you get a lot of bang for your buck and if you have a penchant for the Sega Mega Drive; then you will definitely have a blast using this on your devices to relive the classics in style!
Verdict
- Plug and play
- Tactile face buttons + good D-Pad
- Perfect for retro-centric gaming
- ~40hr battery life
- Finnicky remapping
- No onboard memory
- So-so shoulder buttons
