Customer Reviews

NES Retro Classic Controller USB

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I recently purchased this controller. It worked perfectly for about 40 days, then ceased to function. Contacted seller about returning, but was informed that warranty is only for 30 days and they would not accept any returns or exchanges. Thanks for nothin', Retrolink!

I don't trust these reviews on here. I just got mine today and I can tell you its the flimsiest, crapiest quality controller I've ever held in my hands. Doesn't feel anything like the real thing. Buttons feel like they are going to fall off any second. These reviews on here look planted. You got one guy saying that hes super happy and that the middle buttons are actually rubber. The middle buttons are not rubber they are plastic. Moreover you have people saying that this controller is not a Tomee controller but actually a Retrolink controller which is also completely false. This is indeed a Tomee controller. This was probably some attempt by Tomee to slander Retrolink. If you look up the retrolink controller it has their brand name written on the controller and this one clearly doesn't. If you are going to get an NES controller, I've heard good things about the retrolink, haven't tried it but the reviews that I read for it have been good. Don't get this one, it is utter crap.

Absolutely true to the original NES controller, I really enjoyed it for two weeks. Certainly wasn't any where near as rough on it as I was when I was ten either, but its buttons started to only function intermittently, and then it stopped working entirely. I suspect the USB power internal to the controller isn't connected anymore, and I'll probably get around to soldering it up at some point, but hardware troubleshooting is a bit beyond me.

Playing Zelda through again was worth the 30 bucks. I hope you make a sturdier one of these at some point, brilliant piece of hardware.

I got 4 usb controllers so my family could play Dr. Mario, the NES still works but requires 20 minutes of blowing on the cartridge/other voodoo, so I though these would be a worthy upgrade. At their best they don't work that well, with random jumps and pulls, at their worst you press down and they pull all the way to the right, making games unplayable. Disappointing, you would think today's technology would be able to replicate that of 20+ years ago. I was advised you can download old NES games to the wii, and one of their controllers has similar functionality, that would probably be a better experience.

The NES Retro Classic USB Controller makes for some wonderfully nostalgic gameplay, particularly with NES emulators. One small flaw hinders a fully nostalgic experience though; the D-pad is 8-directional instead of 4-directional.
"But shouldn't that make it better?" I hear you saying. But in truth, it does not. Just about any game that someone might use this controller for is meant for a 4-directional D-pad. So when approaching Gannon in the original Legend of Zelda, if my thumbs are weary or not acutely accurate, instead of going forward and shooting the final silver arrow in to his chest and winning the game, I turn right and fire the last silver arrow in to a wall and have to re-set the save state to start the battle all over again.
This is just one example, but I feel that it detracts from the nostalgia of using the controller, which is the main reason why I bought it. Still enjoying using it and am glad that I purchased it.

This a great item to have if you grew up with the NES system. It looks and feels just like the real thing. The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because the control arrows are a bit touchy. When you press down, it sometimes goes to the right or left instead. It makes playing games like Mike Tyson's Punch Out a bit tough.

It's a lot of fun, though, and it is definitely worth the 15 bucks I paid for it. I highly recommend it for anyone who, like me, will always consider NES the best video game system ever made.

December 24th - update on controller...

About a week ago, the A button stuck and was difficult to use. It would un-stick itself after a while, but then after being pressed would get stuck again and so on. I got tired of Mario randomly jumping, so I took the controller apart and switched the A button with the B button. Now the B button gets stuck. But I figured I'd rather have Mario randomly shooting fire balls than jumping. Aside from that, it still works fine. While I had it apart, I turned around the arrows thinking that may possibly fix the issue I was having pressing the down arrow. It did not. The hardware itself must be a little fluky with that.

I still think it's worth the buy, but perhaps it should be around $10 at most. :)

Broke the first time I used it. Already overpriced, but wow - what a waste of money.

It worked alright for a couple weeks and then suddenly it would stop working and you would have to unplug and plug it in for it start working again. Eventually (right in the middle of playing) it just stopped working completely and when you connect it win7 says "unrecognized USB device" and it won't initialize the control any more.

I was never really satisfied with the feel of this controller to begin with. The buttons are very loud and "snappy." So much so that it would disturb everybody in the house if playing after hours. The original controller was mushy and never that stiff.

My initial impressions of this controller are pretty good. It is the same size as a classic NES controller and has a very similiar feel. Windows XP recognized the controller right out of the box, just plug-in and play.

My only gripes are with the Start/Select buttons and the D-Pad. The Start/Select buttons function perfectly, but are hard plastic instead of the rubbery texture found on an actual NES controller, and as a result protrude further from the controller. The D-Pad feels exactly like the classic NES D-Pad, but it's much more sensitive. I often find the controller registering UP/DOWN when I am pressing LEFT/RIGHT. This can cause frustration in platformer games, such as Kid Icarus, where UP/DOWN stop your character in their tracks. But this controller is brand new, so perhaps the D-Pad will lose some of its sensitivity after some use.

I was slightly worried when I had read that the start/select buttons were made of plastic instead of rubber when I ordered the controller. To my surprise, when I received the controller, the buttons were rubber! This is a great controller. I could not be more pleased with my purchase.