NES30 PRO Controller works great on the Amazon Fire TV, 2nd generation without root. This great Bluetooth controller can be remapped for multiple games and programs.
Getting it to work was a bit tricky at first, but once you see how easy it is to pair this controller to the Amazon Fire TV, you too will be able to enjoy the classics!
I spent a good hour searching for how to pair the NES30 PRO Controller to the Amazon Fire TV. I kept finding articles that claimed it worked without any tricks for the Amazon Fire Sticks and first-generation Amazon Fire TV. I own a second generation Amazon Fire TV, and it was not able to see the NES30 PRO Controller from the pairing window.
People suggested updating the firmware (download NES30 PRO Firmware v4) on the NES30 PRO controller to make it work with my Amazon Fire TV. That didn’t help. The device still refused to even acknowledge the controller’s presence. Note: my Android phone saw it immediately.
While browsing, I came across a manual for the controller that did not come with it – this was on 8bitdo’s website. Pairing the controller with the Amazon Fire TV ended up being very simply!
How to pair the NES30 Pro with the Fire TV 2nd Generation?
I had to power the controller on in iCade mode by holding the power button and the A button at the same time.
Who would have known?! The moment I did this, the Amazon Fire TV 2nd generation detected the controller immediately. No rooting required. No weird package-pushes to the device.
Two Player MAME Using 8bitdo Controllers on the Fire TV
So after getting the first controller working as needed, I thought to myself, “Now that I figured this out, adding support for a second controller will be a cakewalk!” … it was not.
Getting Amazon’s Fire TV to recognize the second controller was simple. The problem is that the buttons and D-Pad binds in MAME end up being the same as the controller for player one. This lets you control both player one and player two using either controller – not good!
The trick to getting the Amazon Fire TV to properly recognize the inputs from controller #2 as their own identity is to add the controller as a Bluetooth keyboard, instead of telling Amazon that it’s a gamepad. This changes the key’s binding identifications, allowing you to enjoy MAME with a friend, using Bluetooth controllers and an Amazon Fire TV. This is the same for Android phones and tablets. You can add one as a gamepad and the second controller as a “keyboard” to get around common issues with MAME controls.