8BitDo has a new mobile controller accessory that clips onto your smartphone, and makes it look like there’s half a Game Boy snapped onto the bottom third of your screen. It’s called the 8BitDo FlipPad, and it’s up for preorder for just $30.
There are a few accessories like this, and while I’ve used a couple, they don’t really work for me. I thought I’d like the little button-having plates that only work with that company’s specific phone case, but figured out I have strong phone case preferences they don’t meet. And while I think there are some great sandwich-style mobile controllers out there, I want something that’s easier to carry around with me.
The FlipPad might address that by being a little button-faced puck that sits on a hinge that plugs into your phone’s USB-C port, and lets it fold around behind your phone when you need to do, you know, phone stuff. Since it’s powered by USB-C, there’s no need to fuss with Bluetooth pairing, and response time should be near-instant. Also, there’s no battery life to worry about (except, I suppose, on the phone itself). And I love the idea of unplugging it and just sliding it into my pocket. Clean!
The FlipPad’s layout and color scheme hint at the original Game Boy (Assuming you get the “G Classic” version; there’s also a black one) but the button layout is more modern. You’ll find four shoulder button stand-ins in a row along the top, and below that a d-pad, ABXY buttons, and start and select, plus the heart and star buttons you’d find on other 8BitDo controllers. I assume those are home and turbo, respectively, but I couldn’t immediately suss that out on the 8BitDo site.
The FlipPad looks like a great, pocketable way to play games on your, uh, bespoke classic gaming library software. That said, two things: First, one of 8BitDo’s images show a person playing with the FlipPad while behind the wheel of an automobile. I love gaming, but what? Please do not encourage people to game and drive! I’m cycling here! Thing number two: its look kind of makes me want a Game Boy clone of a shell I can just drop my phone into (especially after seeing it next to a Game Boy in the lead image on The Verge article where I first saw this news), with software that only displays my game inside its little green window. Alas, for now, perhaps the FlipPad will have to do. According to 8BitDo’s site, it starts shipping July 30th.
Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom’s Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn’t be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.
