Hey thanks, I was 100% of the way there in fact, I guess I couldn’t believe finally they were working. Both are connected successfully.

I will leave a bit of info here for others that might be useful about 8bitdo SFC30:

When I was using hcitool scan to look for the controllers, I scanned for the controller numerous times pressing Start with a different key each time to see what the differences were between the MAC addresses in each mode.

THERE IS A MODE THAT IS NOT IN THE INSTRUCTIONS – START + RIGHT SHOULDER

This was the only mode that hcitool returned that it had found a “Joystick” type device. When I connected this way, I didn’t have to do any crazy half keyboard half controller business, it just worked instantly. Starting the Player2 controller in the exact same way (START + RIGHT SHOULDER) when you pair it, gives you 2 Player RetroPie Bluetooth Happiness.