8BitDo Celebrates Tomb Raider's 30th Anniversary With Two Lara Croft Controllers

8BitDo marked the 30th anniversary of Tomb Raider on October 24 by releasing two officially licensed controllers built around Lara Croft's 1996 debut: the Ultimate 3 Controller for Xbox, Tomb Raider 30th Anniversary Edition and the Pro 3 Bluetooth Gamepad, Tomb Raider 30th Anniversary Edition. Both pads are on sale now through 8BitDo's own store and Amazon, landing the same week Xbox Wire revisited Lara Croft's three-decade history with Crystal Dynamics.

Two Pads, One Anniversary

The $119.99 Ultimate 3 is the Xbox-licensed flagship, built for Series X|S and Xbox One over 2.4GHz wireless or a wired USB connection, with Windows, Android and Apple devices supported over Bluetooth. It ships with 8BitDo's wireless charging dock. The $79.99 Pro 3 trades the dock for broader native reach, connecting to Switch 1 and Switch 2, Windows, SteamOS, Android and Apple hardware without an adapter.

Both controllers use the same anniversary theming but lean on their own console identities: the Ultimate 3 keeps an Xbox button layout, while the Pro 3 ships with swappable magnetic ABXY buttons that switch between Xbox and Nintendo layouts.

A Tribute to the Lost Valley

8BitDo built the design around the Lost Valley, the ruined jungle level from the original 1996 Tomb Raider. Both pads use sandstone tones and weathered wall textures, with creeping vine graphics worked into the shells. A golden circular motif on each controller is meant to recall the tomb puzzles and relics Lara spends the level solving, and the Pro 3's joystick caps come in two Tomb Raider-themed designs plus two plain ball-top alternates.

The Ultimate 3's most visible nod to the franchise is its D-pad, a zinc-alloy piece finished in gold-colored plating. On the Pro 3, the magnetic ABXY buttons carry Atlantean symbols instead of standard letters.

Specs Built for Precision Platforming

Underneath the theming, both pads carry 8BitDo's current flagship internals. Their analog sticks use TMR (tunnel magnetoresistance) sensors rather than potentiometers, which 8BitDo says resist the drift that wears down older sticks over time; the Ultimate 3 pairs its sticks with an adjustable-tension Dual Force Ring and a soft-stop silicone ring, while the Pro 3 adds a 12-bit ADC sampling chip for finer resolution. Both triggers use Hall-effect sensors with switchable travel modes.

Extra inputs carry over on both models: two remappable back buttons, extra remappable L4/R4 bumpers, and 6-axis motion control. On the Ultimate 3, motion control and a 1,000Hz polling rate are PC-only features, with console connections capped at standard Xbox polling. The Ultimate 3's battery is rated for roughly 20 hours of play from a 4-5 hour charge; 8BitDo did not publish a separate battery figure for the Pro 3 on its product page.

Price and Availability

Both controllers went on sale October 24 in the US through 8BitDo's own eShop and Amazon, matching the price split 8BitDo set when it first detailed the collection. European retail listings point to a slightly staggered rollout, with some storefronts not showing stock until mid-November; shoppers outside the US should check a retailer's own page for a firm local date before ordering.

Part of a Bigger 30th-Anniversary Push

The controllers arrive inside a wider wave of Tomb Raider anniversary content. On October 24, Tomb Raider's official site published a lo-fi remix album covering the series' 30-year history alongside new commemorative artwork, timed to a TR30 fan event in Derby, UK, where Core Design originally built the franchise. Crystal Dynamics has also been previewing Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, a reimagining of the original 1996 adventure built with Flying Wild Hog, which is due February 12, 2027.

For background on the original game both controllers are themed after, Wikipedia's entry on the 1996 Tomb Raider covers its development at Core Design and its legacy launch across PlayStation, Saturn and PC.