Review: 8BitDo Ultimate 3-Mode Controller For Xbox – Rare 40th Anniversary Edition – A New Gold Standard

8BitDo has certainly come a long way since the days of creating clones of NES and SNES controllers – it is now one of the most respected accessory makers in the world and has even produced officially licensed sticks and pads for the Xbox family of consoles.

The company’s latest offering – and its first wireless pad for Xbox – is the Ultimate 3-Mode Controller, and comes in a special Rare-themed design to mark the company’s 40th birthday. I’ve been fortunate enough to go hands-on with the controller, and the good news is that it sets a new standard in Xbox pads.

The overall design of the controller will be instantly familiar to anyone who has used one of 8BitDo’s previous ‘Ultimate’ controllers in the past. The controller feels somewhat smaller and more compact than the official Xbox pad, and while this takes some getting used to initially, I found that I actually preferred the design after a couple of hours of play.

Sticks are arranged in the ‘Xbox’ offset standard, while the cross-shaped D-pad is a big improvement. I also really like the shoulder triggers; it feels like there’s less ‘throw’ on them when compared to the official pad, which comes in very handy when playing games like The Finals or ARC Raiders.

The Hall Effect sticks are also brilliant, and come with a set of Rare-themed caps. After getting drift on multiple official Xbox pads (including my beloved Starfield one), it’s tremendously reassuring to know that this controller shouldn’t go the same way.

Finally, there are two additional buttons on the rear of the pad which sit just beneath your fingertips, meaning you have even more input options on the table, should you want them. You can tweak such elements of the controller via the 8BitDo Ultimate Software X application, which is available for Mac and PC.

As the product’s name hints, there are three connectivity modes included here. You can use the aforementioned 2.4G connection to link with your Xbox or PC, while the Bluetooth setting is for playing on a smartphone or other compatible device. Somewhat confusingly, you’ll need to set the switch on the rear of the pad to ‘PC / 2.4G’ and not the ‘Xbox’ setting if you want to connect it to your console using the supplied dongle – the ‘Xbox’ setting is for when you’re using a wired USB connection.

The internal rechargeable 1000mAh battery lasts for around 20 hours of playtime on a single, four-hour charge, and there’s a charging dock included in the package. The charging dock conceals the all-important 2.4G dongle, which, as I’ve already mentioned, is used to wirelessly connect the pad to your Xbox. This might be slightly annoying for some people – the blue dongle sticks out like a sore thumb – but you get used to it pretty quickly.

All in all, this is a brilliant pad for your Xbox system – and comes with the added benefit of working with other platforms, too. While the Rare design might not be to everyone’s tastes, as a long-time fan of the British studio, I couldn’t be happier with the way it looks.

At £70 / $90, it’s not cheap, but in my opinion, the additional cost over a standard Xbox controller is more than worth it; not only does 8BitDo’s offering perform and feel better, it has its own charging dock, drift-free sticks, pro-level paddles on the rear and the ability to connect to other devices via Bluetooth.

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