There’s something about translucent color plastic PC peripherals. Not everyone appreciates the aesthetic, but for those who do love it, nothing else hits quite the same. When 8BitDo released a keyboard and mouse in colorful translucent green plastic that paid tribute to the original Xbox, interest was high. For those who don’t want a new keyboard, but would like a pop of 90s color (early 2000s in this case), there is now a happy compromise.

The 8BitDo Retro 87 mechanical keyboard uses the same form factor as 8BitDo’s other mechanical keyboards, but instead of the beige of the Commodore 64, or the Red and Grey of the NES, it is resplendent in translucent green, with an extra pop of color provided by the four directional keys which are the vivid red, yellow, blue and green of the Xbox face buttons.

For an entry-level mechanical keyboard, the 8BitDo Retro 87 is quite reasonably priced at $118. However, it is fairly large, especially when the big macro buttons are taken into account. Some users might not have the space for this size of keyboard. Others might be fairly happy with their current keyboard, but still crave a little bit of that late 90s color.

Only the arrow keys

For those who don’t want to buy the full keyboard but are admiring those translucent keycaps, there is a solution. 8BitDo has now made the four arrow keys available as a keycap set. Priced at only $5.99, it can give a bit of retro flair to your standard mechanical keyboard.

Unfortunately, unlike the other 8BitDo retro keyboards, only these (the arrow key) keycaps are available separately for the Xbox keyboard. If you want the full classic green translucent experience, you will need to shell out for the full keyboard. 8BitDo does sell its alternative ‘retro keycaps‘ as a full set if you prefer, at least.

The 8BitDo double-layered Crystal Arrow keycaps are available directly from the 8BitDo website.

About the Author

Rebecca Hills-Duty

Writing and journalism experience at VRFocus, UploadVR, The Escapist, HTC, PC Gamer, Tech Radar+ and Dexerto. Can sometimes be found playing with retro tech.