So, I have Retropie 3.0 running on a Raspberry Pi 2. My wife bought me two 8BitDo NES30 controllers for my birthday last week so we can play together. We want to utilize the controllers’ bluetooth capabilities because our couch is some distance from our TV, too long to use with the USB cables comfortably, and I want to put the Pi on the back of the TV with some velcro dots or 3M Command strips so it’s out of sight when not in use.

I am at my wit’s end trying to get the controllers set up. There is no shortage of articles and forum threads about this topic, and I have read every one I can find, and none of them bring me any closer to success. Most of them are at least several months old and all seem to differ in the configuration options described compared to what I see on my Pi.

This was the most promising looking tutorial I found: http://forum.8bitdo.com/thread-328-1-1.html Until I get to the step requiring “317 Register RetroArch Controller,” which seems to no longer exist in RetroPie Setup (317 is now something completely different). Nevertheless I managed to get one controller connected using this tutorial in gamepad mode, but then only the D-pad is recognized in the EmulationStation configuration and none of the buttons, or I got it connected in keyboard mode with Start+B but then only the buttons are recognized and not the D-pad. Then for no apparent reason it stopped connecting at all, which brings me to where I am now, which is the point where I throw up my hands and accept that I have to ask for some help.

All I want is:

1: To be able to connect both of my NES30 gamepads to my Pi so my wife and I can play together.

2: For both controllers to auto-connect when I press the appropriate button or buttons (Start, Start+B, Start+B+R, whatever, as long as it’s reliable)

3: To not have to muck around with the console ever again once I complete the initial setup of the two controllers.

Is this possible? It must be. It doesn’t seem like I’m asking for that much.

I’m sorry for the long-winded, ranty post but I just wanted to make it clear I’ve read I’m not asking for help before trying my level best to get this done on my own. Is there anybody here who has achieved the three goals above and done it recently who would be so kind as to give me a detailed rundown of the steps they took? I would be forever grateful, and my wife would be more so since it would save her birthday present to me from being a bit of a bust.

Edit: should have mentioned I have this JBtek Bluetooth adapter: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L08NCPQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00