At a glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Incredible price
- Hall effect sticks
- USB dongle included in the box
Cons
- Only works with PC and mobile
- R4/L4 programming didn’t work for me
Our Verdict
At $30 with a dongle included in the box and drift-proof analog sticks, this controller is better than the official Xbox pad at less than half the price. For gamers on a budget, it’s unbeatable.
Price When Reviewed
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Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$29.99
Best Prices Today: 8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless controller
In the ’90s and 2000s, there were plenty of third-party controller options available for gamers from companies like Mad Catz and Nyko. And pretty much all of them were terrible. While the official controllers were pricey, the alternative was getting a pad so bad that you were at an actual disadvantage, to the chagrin of younger siblings the world over.
In 2026, a new Xbox gamepad (the de facto standard for PC) costs $70. If you want a USB dongle for something faster than Bluetooth, add on $30 or so. Sony wants $80 for the Dual Sense, Nintendo wants $90 for the Switch 2 Pro controller. And Valve asks a cool $99 for the revamped Steam Controller (though to be fair, it does include a wireless adapter). It’s enough to make a frugal middle-aged gamer with bills to pay take a second look at the budget aisle, especially if they want multiple pads for multiplayer fun.
Michael Crider / Foundry
Enter 8BitDo. This company has been around for years, starting off with retro-inspired controllers for phones, but expanding into just about every way to play, including some pretty good mice and keyboards. And I bought a sliding mobile controller for travel that I’ve gotten a lot of use out of, including a full playthrough of Skies of Arcadia on my phone. (Sega, remaster this game, I’m begging you. It’s been 25 years.)
So when I saw that they offered a fully featured gamepad, complete with wireless and a USB adapter included in the box, for 30 bucks, I decided to give it a shot. The Ultimate 2C Wireless costs only a few dollars more than a whitebox design from one of the alphabet soup Amazon resellers. So given that it comes from a brand I’ve grown to trust, it seemed like it was worth the extra dosh.
Michael Crider / Foundry
And unlike most of the pricey official controllers mentioned above, this one comes with Hall effect joysticks (and triggers). That means that, at least absent any other hardware failures, it should be immune to the dreaded stick drift. That alone makes it more desirable than a lot of the official pads — Nintendo released a $90 controller in 2025 without this feature, and there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The design is bog-standard, with the only additional gameplay buttons on the pad being R4 and L4 (additional shoulder buttons) that can allegedly be programmed right on the pad, no extra software required. You also get a “Star” button and a “Mapping” button on the face, for activating features like turbo. There’s a wireless pairing button on top, and a switch for swapping between Bluetooth and the 2.4GHz USB dongle, which again, comes in the box.
I could write 1500 words on every little part of the controller, but that hardly seems necessary. It is a budget pad, all plastic parts, no swappable battery, no superfluous LED lighting around the sticks. But everything here is more than serviceable; I’d say just as good as the basic Xbox pad. Better, in a couple of ways — in addition to the drift-proof sticks, you get an oversized, Nintendo-style D-pad. I like the retro transparent plastic and green, very snazzy, but it comes in a handful of pastel colors too.
I only found two real downsides. One, the pad is ever-so-slightly narrower than the Xbox and PlayStation designs, making me hold my elbows closer to my torso in a natural position. I imagine I’ll adjust to that without too much issue. And two, I couldn’t get the R4/L4 mapping feature to work. I followed the instructions in the manual, updated the firmware. Nada. Not a huge loss, since without any extra software component, it only lets you move some buttons around on the pad itself. Or at least it would, if it worked. But since I bought this controller with the intention of replicating the Xbox pad, it’s no big loss to me.
Michael Crider / Foundry
The 8BitDo Ultimate 2C can operate in standard USB-C wired mode with no complaints, and it’ll pair fine to both Android and iOS tablets (or at least it did so for my Galaxy Fold 6 and iPad Air). Unfortunately, it’s lacking in whatever special sauce is required to get more persnickety consoles to talk to it. Neither my Nintendo Switch nor PS5 wanted anything to do with it. Again, not a huge loss, since I wanted it mainly for playing PC games. There is another version of the same design, “8BitDo Ultimate 2C Bluetooth” instead of “8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless,” that omits the USB dongle but works with the Switch.
Other users say it doesn’t work with the Xbox (ironically), and I’ll take their word for it, since I don’t have one handy. I’m not the only one.
For a “little brother” controller, this 8BitDo design really is fantastic. It’s an easy recommendation over the Xbox pad, at least if you don’t actually need it to work with an Xbox. And looking around for this post, I even found it in a few spots for just $25 USD. You really can’t beat it.
