Forty years after the Nintendo Entertainment System stormed into North American living rooms and rewired what a home console could be, 8BitDo has launched a deliberately nostalgic tribute: the NES40 collection, a trio of limited-edition peripherals that dress modern hardware in the iconic black, gray, and red of the NES era and pack a few contemporary upgrades for today’s players.

8BitDo’s NES40 collection includes three products: an N40-themed Ultimate 2 controller bundle, a compact Retro 68 mechanical keyboard in N40 trim, and an updated Retro Cube 2 speaker N Edition. Each piece leans heavily on the NES visual language while mixing in the company’s existing engineering and feature sets.

Ultimate 2 Bluetooth Controller — N40 edition

The Ultimate 2 N40 is mainly a cosmetic rework of 8BitDo’s flagship wireless controller, rendered in NES-style black-and-gray with bright red face buttons and a matching charging dock that recalls the original console’s palette. Physical touches include four swappable joystick caps and grip printing that lists launch dates tied to notable Nintendo and 8BitDo products. Under the skin, the controller retains the same feature set as the standard Ultimate 2: TMR joysticks, Hall effect triggers, a color-changing LED ring around each stick, reprogrammable bumpers, two extra rear buttons, and broad platform compatibility that includes Switch, Switch 2, and Windows devices. The bundle ships with 8BitDo’s Retro Receiver for pairing with an original NES and a 2.4GHz adapter for lower-latency wireless play. The Ultimate 2 Bluetooth Controller – N40 is available for preorder at $79.99, is limited to 1,985 units, and is slated to release in mid-November 2025.

Retro 68 Keyboard N40 edition

Where the controller’s changes are mostly aesthetic, the Retro 68 N40 is a substantial hardware reimagining. The keyboard shrinks the footprint from an 87-key layout down to a 68-key compact form and trades the earlier keyboard’s ABS construction for an aluminum-alloy shell, keycaps, and buttons. Switches have changed from clicky Kailh Box White V2 to linear Box Ice Cream Pro Max switches. Battery capacity jumps to 6,500mAh for dramatically longer wireless runtime — 8BitDo advertises up to roughly 300 hours between charges — and the oversized programmable “Super Buttons” accessories are now wireless rather than tethered by a 3.5mm cable. The new Retro 68 is noticeably heavier at about 2,200 grams and carries a much higher price than 8BitDo’s earlier entry-level mechanical offering; preorder pricing begins at $499.99 with shipping expected in January 2026.

Retro Cube 2 Speaker N Edition

The Retro Cube 2 preserves the small, cube-like NES aesthetic of 8BitDo’s original speaker while introducing modern audio conveniences. The N Edition gains dual stereo drivers with separate music and gaming modes, a built-in microphone, a larger 2,000mAh battery for up to about 30 hours of playback, and a bundled 2.4GHz dongle to switch from Bluetooth to a lower-latency wireless link. Charging moves from Micro USB to USB-C, and a wireless charging dock is included for convenient top-up placement. The Retro Cube 2 is priced at $49.99 for preorder and is scheduled to ship in December 2025.

The NES’s 1985 North American launch didn’t just revive an industry after the early-’80s crash; it codified the home-console experience for a generation and established visual and physical motifs that persist in gaming culture today. That cultural gravitational pull is precisely what 8BitDo is tapping into: these are products for people who want the look and tactile memory of a classic era while keeping modern wireless standards, latency-conscious adapters, and programmable inputs that satisfy contemporary players and collectors alike.

Collectors should note the limited run on the Ultimate 2 and the premium materials and weight of the Retro 68, which both push these items more into the enthusiast and collector tier than into impulse-buy territory.

8BitDo’s NES40 line is a tidy case study in retro-forward product design: paint a familiar silhouette in the right colors, keep the ergonomics and modern features players expect, and add just enough novelty to make the pieces feel like commemorative objects worth owning. For anyone who still keeps an original NES in a closet or whose first controller had a gray face and red buttons, this collection will be less about raw innovation and more about a sentimental, well-engineered wink to 1985.