Buying opinions: 8 gold deluxe vs 9 gold

[NuY]

Looking for some opinions chaps. I'm in the market for a new Flashback and fancied gathering some opinions on which model I should go for.

Desires:

1. Paddles
2. Wireless joysticks
3. SD card slot
4. Easy "hackability"

So of course wireless joysticks limits my choice to 8G or 9G, and paddles limits to 8GD. 8GD is available in UK at a fairly reasonable price, 9G, well, isn't, but is importable from Amazon without too much fuss.

Paddles aren't a deal breaker but they would be nice to have. SD card versus "hackability" - well, SD card is obviously much easier (I already have a Legends 2018 and Megadrive 2018), but I don't know how involved the modding of an 8 is.

Things I'm not sure of: are the wireless joysticks from 8 & 9 pairable with any other device at all? Are they bluetooth for example? How is the emulation on 8 compared to 9?

Paddles - same question as above for the Blast ones, can they be paired with anything but the dongle?

Finally, X is out of the equation - the thing looks great but wired joysticks for me is a deal breaker.

Ta

Edited October 31, 2019 by NuY

[atarifan88]

Based on what you are saying, the FB9 would be the best option.  You can easily load games and play from an SD card after you upgrade with firmware.  You can't use the paddles with it, but I've gotten used to it as I only cared to play about 5 paddle games.  I don't miss them much as I play the arcade games more anyway.

[Redjac]

In my personal experience, the FB8 wireless controllers have just a touch of lag, just enough to ultimately ruin the gaming experience for me. I don't notice any lag with the FB9.