RETROFLAG Game Controller Classic Retro Wired USB Gamepad for Raspberry Pi Windows PC Switch

This is by far the best Sega Genesis controller available that’s not the actual original one. It’s well known among Capcom fans that the original Sega Genesis 6 button pad has one of the best D-Pads around. The layout of the 6 face buttons was also perfect for Capcom fighters and designed in conjunction with the release of Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition for the Genesis. The buttons were extremely high quality, as was the overall construction and the set of materials Sega used. With that said, the only options for a USB version thus far have been relatively poor or overpriced.For Capcom’s initial PS2 era Street Fighter 2 Anniversary gamepads, they choose to “heavily borrow” the Sega Genesis/Sega Saturn pad design. I bought the Akuma hologram gamepad when it came out, and it was truly beautiful looking, but the D-Pad was a hard, imprecise mess, with a thick construction that was incredibly uncomfortable to hold, despite how large my hands are.The RetroFlag Genesis controller has none of those issues. There are, however, only 2 issues I have with it, and one isn’t really a fault of the actual game pad, but rather one I had with the original Genesis 6 button pad itself when it came out. It’s incredibly small for those with big hands. The 3 button Sega pad felt like the perfect size for all different hand sizes, but the 6 button pad was far slimmer, and slightly thinner in certain areas, such as the recessed finger rest in the back of the controll pad. Everything else about the 6 button pad was better overall, in my opinion, than the original 3 button controller. The way the D-Pad could be used for long stretches without any discomfort, due to an incredibly nice feeling, soft textured plastic finish, with very precise directional control, was possibly the nicest aspect of the Sega 6 button gamepad.Now the second issue is actually one with the RetroFlag gamepad itself. It adds 2 features, namely an L and R button for more modern titles. This is great in theory, but it’s so flat against the curved sides of the pad that it’s somewhat uncomfortable to use. It seems as if they wanted to make such a perfect replica of the 6 button Genesis pad that they felt making the L and R shoulder buttons more prominent would detract from the perfectly replicated form factor. To be fair, on the original 6 button pad, there was a recessed mode button where the right trigger button is on the RetroFlag controller. The only difference is that the mode button’s only purpose was for original 3 button Sega games that needed its one time functionality to allow the games to work with the newer 6 button pad. It wasn’t a button that gets any form of constant use, so its recessed and well hidden form factor made sense.The Sega Saturn Second Gen US gamepad, modeled after the Japanese one, would’ve been the most logical pad to replicate in this case, though I understand why RetroFlag choose to make the correct controller for their Genesis case. Despite that, the Sega Saturn S controller remidied all of the aforementioned issues with the Genesis 6 button pad in 1995. It featured the same exact softly textured D-Pad which was already sublime, and it had a larger, form fitting hand shape, with raised L and R shoulder buttons that felt comfortable to use. Both of its R and L buttons had a nice, satisfying mouse click style sound when pressed down.Aside from that, the Saturn S gamepad was basically a small evolution of what many felt was the nearly perfect 2-D gaming 6 button controller the Sega Genesis had.I love the RetroFlag Genesis pad, but I’d gladly buy a Sega Saturn replica right away if RetroFlag made one. While Sega already did this a while ago with their SLS (Sega Logistics Services) Saturn USB pad, it was a very limited release that sold out right away. It was not only a perfect replica, but it had some very minor improvements too. It’s extremely expensive on eBay now, and many of those that are sold there are actually poor knock offs with horrible D-Pads and sub-par construction.The other Sega Saturn USB gamepad replicas that are sold now aren’t great in terms build quality at all. Sega even released another USB Saturn pad from Play Sega. It’s an official product, but after buying it and comparing it to my actual original Sega Saturn S Pad, the quality feels just slightly above the knock offs, and the D-Pad is severely lacking. It’s also not as nicely textured or soft, which causes discomfort in precise 2-D platforming or fighting games over longer stretches of time.In the end, this RetoFlag Sega Genesis 8 button replica of the sublime 6 Button Genesis pad is truly the real deal. It’s curently the best one I’ve seen or used thus far. I put it through it’s paces today, playing the Sega Classics Collection on Steam with it. To show my history, I have a platinum trophy in the Sega Genesis Collection for the PS3 and beat Sonic 1-3 without using any continues at all on my original Sega Genesis. I did the same thing with Streets of Rage 1-2 and Revenge of Shinobi when I was a kid. This is something I haven’t been able to pull off on any other controller other than the original Genesis 6 button pad. I was able to do it today with Revenge of Shinobi, Streets of Rage 2 and Sonic 1 using the RetroFlag USB pad on my day off. The price is excellent, and thus far, the build quality seems like it’s top notch too, so it’s a must buy for classic Sega game fans.All I’m hoping for now is a RetroFlag Sega Saturn S Pad replica. If this controller has any longevity issues, I’ll update this review accordingly.

For some reason I can't write a review directly for the case, so I'll do that here. The MegaPi case is simply amazing. The faithful recreation of the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive is something pictures can't do justice. It looks awesome online, it looks even better in person. When I opened the box I had the biggest grin on my face. This thing is just well built and quality all around. Does it really do anything for your RaspPi other than make it look super awesome? No, not really. But it makes it look SO AWESOME that it doesn't matter. This thing is fantastic.OK. Now that I've got that out of the way, there are a few, small, tiny details that I feel the need to mention.1) The case is a VERY snug fit. Getting everything in there is not hard, but if you have a large fan and/or heat sink on your Pi, there's a very good chance you'll need to take them off to fit in here. I did not have a heat sink, but I did buy a small fan to fit in. All the wires are a bit difficult to tuck in so you can secure the board to the case with the screws, but once you're set up, you shouldn't need to tinker with it too much, so it's really not a big deal.2) The SD card access bay on the side is very difficult to open. Again, not a huge deal because I personally don't plan on swapping cards very often, but if you do, I found that I thought I was going to break it when I first tried opening it. I actually questioned if I was doing it wrong somehow and had to resort to YouTube to see if anyone else had difficulty. Yes, yes they did (at least, the guy I watched did). The easiest way to open this bay is to take a small flat head screwdriver or something, stick it in the little notch, and flip it open from there. I simply could *not* do this with just my hands. Also, as someone else with their NES case pointed out, you may want to remove the SD card from your Pi before you install in to the case. It looks easy enough to accidentally snap the card if you leave it in while installing. It's easy enough to slide it right back in after the board is secure in the case, though. I wouldn't risk it, so just take the card out before you slide everything in to be sure.3) The access to the LAN port and other two USB ports are not optimal. To get to them, you'll need to pop off an access panel and have cables sticking out the side, which does ruin the overall look of the case. Again, not a huge deal for me since I'm using it on WiFi and I only ever need two controllers at this point in time. Can't really fault the case for this, though, I don't think, because the only other option might have been to modify the case to extend the ports out, add all four to the front, or something like that. This would ruin the slick look, so it is what it is.4) This is for the controller. The controller is pretty nice overall. Feels solid and responsive. How long it lasts is anyone's guess, but for the price, it feels quality enough. Setting it up as a 6-Button does take some fancy whatnot. It won't work properly as a 6-button controller for Sega Genesis games right out of the box. I asked a question about this here on Amazon and RetroFlag provided an answer that should get it up and working. Or you can directly search YouTube and/or the RetroPie support pages to find the correct documentation. It's not overly complicated, but it was not something I was expecting, and it won't just work as you would hope right out of the box. Not RetroFlag's fault, but would have been nice to have instructions for this included with the controller, because otherwise how are we more novice users really to know?5) I didn't setup the safe shutdown script. It doesn't look hard to do, though, from the guides I looked at. But I can't comment on that aspect directly.Overall, the case and controller are worth the money. Even if the case somehow breaks or otherwise stops working somehow, I don't care. It still looks awesome as a mini-Genesis (even if it is officially the Mega Drive look... close enough) on my shelf. I would have bought it just for that, even if I didn't have a Pi, because I'm a dork. The fact that it also serves a reasonable function to protect my Pi is really a bonus for me. A sweet, awesome bonus. I really hope RetroFlag does some other Sega cases. A mini Dreamcast, Saturn, and/or Master System would be outstanding and if they were of the same quality as the MegaDrive case, I wouldn't hesitate to buy them, too.