8BitDo has revealed a new entry in their keyboard lineup. While their previous keyboards were based on the Famicom and NES aesthetic, this one is based more on the classic home microcomputer, the Commodore 64.
Oh, yeah. That is majestic. Electronics were so much more elegant in the 80s. If it didn’t feature wood paneling, it was beige. The classic Commodore 64 breadbox design is peak ‘80s electronics. It was marketed as an affordable home computer for the family, and because of its ubiquity for that period, a lot of games were created for it.
The 8BitDo has 87 keys, which, unfortunately, means that there is no numpad. It can be connected over USB or used wirelessly via Bluetooth or 2.4g. You can also hotswap the PCB if the switches are just not feeling right to you. They’re also throwing in a “Super Stick” to supplement the two big weird “Super Buttons” that came with the Famicom and NES models.
I love my Famicom-style 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard. I did a review on it a while back, professing my love of it. As an update to that, I spilled water on it the other day (a lot of water), and after drying it out, it’s still working perfectly. Thank goodness.
I don’t have as much affection for the Commodore 64 as I do for the Famicom, but I still love the aesthetic. I think 8BitDo did a great job of recapturing that, with its brown keys on beige base. They got especially cheeky by including their logo between the rainbow stripes.
The Commodore 64 version of the 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard will be available for preorder via Amazon on March 28 for $109.99 USD. It’s then expected to ship on May 26.
