Retro Fighters Defender BT Review | PS3 | PS4 | PS5

In this episode, we unbox and test out the Retro Fighters Defender BT, a Bluetooth-enabled controller designed for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 featuring Rumble and Sixaxis motion control.

Retro Fighters continues to expand their lineup of controllers, starting first with the Brawler64 for the Nintendo 64, the Striker DC for the Dreamcast, and others. Their most recent controller, the Defender, is designed for the PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3. It utilizes dongles to connect to any of these systems and it works amazingly well. One issue with the PlayStation 3, however, is the Defender does not work with Sixaxis motion controls. It also does require separate dongles and it does not wake the console from sleep. Their designers went to work to address those issues and more, and that is where the Defender BT was created from. The 2.4 GHz transceiver has been replaced with a Bluetooth one, which makes it possible to connect to the PS3 and PS4 without a dongle. Motion control sensors have also been incorporated

Pairing to the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 is fairly easy. Simply power on the system, connect the USB-C cable that the controller comes with to the USB A port on the front of the system, hit the home button on the controller and you should be good to go. One thing of note is that you cannot connect to a PC wirelessly, it does require a physical connection via a USB cable.

We fired up some original PlayStation 3 games to play, and I was instantly impressed. I could not tell you the last time that I played Street Fighter 4 on the PlayStation 3, but man, the Defender BT did a fantastic job. I was able to pull off all of my moves in mere seconds, there was no adjustment required for me to get used to the responsiveness on the controller. I will say rather quickly I did find myself preferring to use the analog stick over the d-pad. The D-pad is okay, but I do feel like it is a little bit mushy and not quite as clicky as I would like.

I moved on to test other games with the PlayStation 3, Bubsy, WRC5, DuckTales Remastered, and Ratchet & Clank. The one thing I found interesting is not all of the games recognize the analog throw of the L2 and R2 triggers, but this seemed like it was more of a game designer's choice versus any compatibility issue with the controller.

Moving over to the PlayStation 4, still weird to think that that's a last-generation system, but there is one major difference of notes over the DualShock 4 controller. The Defender does not feature the touchpad on the face of it as the DualShock 4 does, and while that's not a major deal, for some games it might be. I've never really found a need to utilize this in my gameplay, so it's not a major issue for me. If anything, the main thing is knowing that the share and capture buttons are replicated by two other face buttons on the Defender BT.

The first game I drove into on the PS4 was Gran Turismo, and man this game is beautiful and so good. I do agree it is short, but what's there is fantastic. I delved into one of my favorite tracks, the Daytona road course, and this proved to be a much better test with the analog throws of L2 and R2. It seems like there's quite a bit of dead band in the initial throw on these triggers, something I wish that I could tighten up a little bit to give me a little bit more precise control. It seemed I had to travel about 15% of the throw to be able to get to where the trigger was responding.

Much like on the PlayStation 3, on the PlayStation 4, I was able to play everything well with great control. I even managed to log into my PlayStation 5 remotely and played some Spider-Man Miles Morales. So while it does not directly advertise that it is compatible with the PlayStation 5, I'd say you could consider this a possible option. I have not had a chance to check and see if it would pair directly to my PS5, but at least via remote it worked perfectly.

Why it RoX:
- Perfectly replicates the Sixaxis control scheme
- Built-in rumble which is very strong
- Macro key
- Very smooth analog sticks
- Great button presses
- Works with PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, and PS5 through remote play

What could be improved:
- Only two color options
- Not many games utilize Sixaxis
- No Bluetooth pairing button
- D-pad is a little mushy

Should you buy one?
Retro Fighters has been doing some amazing work in recent years, and the Defender BT is another great example. Is it perfect? No, but it is super good. I thought the analog sticks in the buttons felt great, and well the d-pad felt okay it's definitely playable. I do wish that it was the same price as the standard Defender, but I also understand that including Bluetooth means they have to pay for that license. This is perhaps the finest third-party controller I have ever used for the PlayStation 3. Well done Retro Fighters, well done indeed.

#playstation #retrofighters #defender #PS3 #DualShock #Sixaxis #RatchetAndClank #PS4 #PS5 #Playstation4