In a world where keyboards already offer more remappable keys than most users ever explore, 8BitDo has chosen to make programmability visible, tactile, and unmistakably playful. Two oversized red buttons, styled after the iconic NES controller, arrive not as a solution to a known problem but as an open question posed in plastic and mechanical switches. The deeper provocation here is not about hardware at all — it is about how design shapes behavior, and how the things we can see and touch invite us to imagine possibilities that hidden settings never could.
8BitDo's NES Buttons Turn Nostalgia Into a Playful Invitation to Experiment
A big red invitation to experiment
Mark
So these are just extra buttons on a keyboard that already has a full set of keys. Why would anyone need that?
Mimi
They don't need them. That's kind of the point. The design is so visually striking—these huge red NES buttons—that it makes you want to find a use for them rather than the other way around.
Luke
But functionally, you can already do everything these buttons do on any programmable keyboard. Stream Deck, Loupedeck, even QMK firmware boards let you set up macros. What's different here?
Mimi
The difference is visibility. Those other devices hide the programmability in menus and apps. 8BitDo puts it front and center with a design that's impossible to ignore. It's an invitation to experiment rather than a tool you have to dig into.
Mark
How customizable are they, really?
Mimi
You can bind them with a quick button press on the keyboard itself, or use a Windows app to record more complex macros. The switches are hot-swappable too, so you can change how they feel.
Luke
Wait—Windows only for the app? That's a significant limitation. And the 3.5mm connection means you're tethered to the keyboard, not using them as standalone accessories.
Mimi
True. They're a peripheral to a peripheral. But you can add up to three more sets of buttons using the four jacks on the back, so there's some expandability.
Mark
What does it actually feel like to use them?
Mimi
The Gateron Green switches are clicky and satisfying, but there's a slight wobble to each button. You're meant to use a single finger, not slam your fist down on them. They're essentially large, circular keyboard keys.
Luke
So they look like NES buttons but don't feel like them at all.
Mimi
No, they don't. But that's not really the point. The nostalgia is in the design, not the tactile experience. The real appeal is that they make you want to keep experimenting with what you can program them to do.
The Pulse
- A keyboard that already has dozens of keys now ships with two more — enormous, red, and shaped like childhood — daring you to find a reason to want them.
- The tension is not technical but psychological: most programmable features already exist on other devices, buried in menus where curiosity goes to die.
- Unlike the feature-dense Stream Deck or Loupedeck, 8BitDo's approach strips away complexity, betting that simplicity and aesthetic delight will do more to change behavior than raw capability ever could.
- The buttons connect via a humble 3.5mm jack, snap onto a retro NES-styled keyboard, and can be programmed with a simple shortcut or a Windows app — low barrier, high visibility.
- The story is landing not as a hardware review but as a small case study in how design grants permission: make something impossible to ignore, and people will invent reasons to use it.
In a world where keyboards already offer more remappable keys than most users ever explore, 8BitDo has chosen to make programmability visible, tactile, and unmistakably playful. Two oversized red buttons, styled after the iconic NES controller, arrive not as a solution to a known problem but as an open question posed in plastic and mechanical switches. The deeper provocation here is not about hardware at all — it is about how design shapes behavior, and how the things we can see and touch invite us to imagine possibilities that hidden settings never could.
There is a peculiar logic to adding more buttons to a device already full of them. A keyboard needs nothing of the sort — you can remap the Pause Break key, which has been obsolete for years, to do almost anything. And yet the moment you see 8BitDo's Dual Super Buttons, the argument dissolves. Two enormous red circles, shaped like the A and B buttons of a Nintendo Entertainment System controller, sit atop the company's $99.99 retro wireless mechanical keyboard. They are not a solution to a problem you have. They are an invitation to find one.
The NES homage is unmistakable, even if Nintendo goes unmentioned in the marketing. The keyboard mimics the console's design, and the buttons connect via a 3.5mm jack — the same standard used by Microsoft and Sony for accessibility controllers. Four such jacks on the keyboard's back mean you could theoretically expand to eight programmable inputs total. Inside the buttons sit Gateron Green mechanical switches, clicky and satisfying, hot-swappable for anyone who prefers a different feel. A tacky base keeps them in place on your desk, though a single finger works better than a full fist.
Programming is refreshingly simple: hold a shortcut, press the button you want to bind. A Windows app handles more elaborate macros for music control, microphone toggling, or whatever your workflow demands. Elgato's Stream Deck and Loupedeck offer far more flexibility, but they can overwhelm. 8BitDo's design chooses delight over comprehensiveness.
There is a reason Netflix pays millions to place its button on TV remotes. Buttons capture attention — they make you want to press them. Most keyboards already support deep remapping, but those features hide in settings menus, easy to forget. By making programmable inputs enormous, red, and shaped like childhood memory, 8BitDo forces a question into your daily field of vision: what could I do with this? The buttons become less a feature than a provocation — and the real product, it turns out, is the permission they quietly grant you to experiment.
There's a peculiar logic to adding two more buttons to a device that already bristles with dozens of keys. A keyboard doesn't need extra buttons—it needs nothing of the sort. You can reprogram almost any existing key to do almost anything. The Pause Break key has been obsolete for years. So why would anyone want more?
The answer arrives the moment you see them: two enormous red circles, shaped like the A and B buttons from a Nintendo Entertainment System controller, sitting on top of 8BitDo's $99.99 retro-styled wireless mechanical keyboard. They're the kind of buttons that make you want to shout something triumphant every time you press them. They're not a solution to a problem you have. They're an invitation to find one.
8BitDo doesn't mention Nintendo by name in its marketing materials, but the homage is unmistakable. The keyboard mimics the NES console's design, complete with a red "Fami" version that echoes the Japanese Famicom. The Dual Super Buttons come bundled with the keyboard—you can't buy them separately—and they connect via a single 3.5mm jack, the same connector type that Microsoft and Sony use for their accessibility controllers. The keyboard itself has four such jacks on the back, meaning you could theoretically add up to three more sets of these buttons for a total of eight programmable inputs. Each button costs $19.99 if purchased as an add-on.
The buttons themselves house Gateron Green mechanical switches—clicky, satisfying, nothing like the membrane buttons of the original NES controller. They're hot-swappable, so if you prefer a different feel, you can pop off the top and replace the switch with any Cherry MX-compatible alternative. The housing is solid with a tacky base that keeps the smartphone-sized peripheral from sliding across your desk, though each button has a slight wobble that discourages full-fisted pounding. A single finger works better.
Programming them is straightforward. Press the star button on the keyboard's top, hold a multi-button shortcut, then press the button you want to bind it to. For more elaborate work, 8BitDo offers a Windows-only app that lets you record and edit macros—useful for controlling music, toggling your microphone and camera during video calls, or whatever else your workflow demands. Nothing here is functionally impossible on other devices. Elgato's Stream Deck and Loupedeck both offer far more flexibility and built-in screens. But those devices can overwhelm you with options. 8BitDo's approach prioritizes simplicity and visual appeal over comprehensiveness.
The keyboard itself is competent: PBT keycaps with dye-sublimated legends, hot-swappable Kailh Box White V2 switches, a traditional layout with the addition of those two programmable buttons. Even the volume and connection dial looks appropriately retro. It's a functional piece of hardware, but the Dual Super Buttons are what make it memorable.
There's a reason Netflix reportedly pays millions to get its button on TV remotes, and why Samsung spent years pushing the Bixby button despite widespread indifference. Buttons capture attention. They make you want to press them. Most keyboards already allow extensive remapping and macro support—Razer, Corsair, Logitech, and countless enthusiast boards running QMK firmware all offer these features. But they're buried in settings, easy to ignore, easy to forget exist. By making programmable buttons impossible to miss—by making them enormous, red, and shaped like childhood memories—8BitDo forces the question: what could I do with this? The buttons stop being a feature and become a provocation. You find yourself wanting to justify their presence on your desk, wanting to discover uses that match their playful design. That's the real product here: not the buttons themselves, but the permission they grant you to experiment.
Notable Quotes
You buy a functional, understated device like the Stream Deck because you have a use for it. You buy the Dual Super Buttons because you want to find a use.— The Verge's assessment of the design philosophy
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