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It's april 2019 and a Sega Saturn controller fresh from the manufacture line makes it onto the market. Not an april fools joke. Disregarding that I may be wasting my money on a subpar junk controller I actually preordered this one. Just in case it's good, making sure I don't miss out. Now having tested this piece of modern retro hardware for a good hour there's nothing in the way of the me giving this a seal of approval.
Putting the differences in colors aside the new retro-bit looks and feels almost just like the original from the mid 90's. Almost because of very minor differences, and for some of them I'm honestly not sure my mind isn't making things up.
(1) The retro-bit controller feels very, very slightly bulkier than the original. My senses might be tricking me on this one.
(2) The start button and d-pad protrude slightly more from the shell. This may be because it's a new controller and the orignal I'm comparing it with has been used for god knows how many hours (probably days).
(3) The face buttons are somewhat mushier. The original's buttons have a very hard feel when pushed down.
(4) The d-pad feels harder, while the original's feels more mushy.
Now the L and R buttons feel very much the same. A slight point of disappointment because the loose shoulder buttons are the Saturn pad's only weakness. Whether this is a plus or minus depends much on the user. If you're looking for an authentic Sega Saturn controller, this is of course a big plus. While the face buttons feel mushy, they register just as well the harder buttons on the classic hardware. It's not a big problem. On the other hand I very much prefer the feel of the original pad's d-pad. While I haven't had any issues playing Sonic and Shooting games, the retro-bit's pad gave me some trouble when executing moves in Street Fighter. However I haven't played much with it yet, so that might just be due to a lack of experience with the pad. In every other game it's perfectly precise to play with.
So the retro-bit controller is not an exact replica of the original, but it's a good controller nonetheless. Note that I haven't been able to give the controller stress test. It plays well, but I can't guarantee that it does so for as long as the original pads do.
Personally I'm happy with my purchase. The original Saturn controller I was using up until now has issues with the L button sometimes not registering (it came with the original console sold in 1995 I think, it's been through a lot...) so chances are good I'll be using the retro-bit for my Saturn playing sessions in the future.
For more information check the manufacturer's website