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When I played Sonic Adventure 2 some time after it launched in 2001, I never would have expected that it would spawn official merchandise more than 20 years later. And yet, trendy mechanical keyboard maker Higround has teamed up with Sega to produce a pair of licensed mechanical keyboards in 65 percent and 75 percent form factors. These are the Basecamp 75+ "Escape From The City" (featuring Sonic the Hedgehog) and Basecamp 65HE "Radical Highway" (featuring Shadow the Hedgehog).
The danger with licensed peripherals is that they can be a bit one-note - it's easy to print a set of custom keycaps or slap a graphic on a mousepad and call it a day - but the final product here is special.
First, the keyboards themselves are actually great, with some of the best out-of-the-box sound signatures I've ever tested: deep, bouncy, melodic. The multiple layers of sound dampening, carefully chosen switches, thick PBT keycaps, an aluminium plate and factory lubrication make typing at speed sound similar to a rainstorm, with that "thocky" character that mechanical keyboard enthusiasts love. This is a bit more prominent on the 75+, which uses traditional mechanical switches (TTC Neptunes), versus the slightly twangier 65HE - but both are still extremely pleasant to operate.
The 65HE model also features Hall Effect magnetic switches (Gateron KS-37Bs), so you can access competitive-focused features like SOCD, rapid trigger and so on. These can be adjusted via a web app; the 75+ is an older vintage and requires a download for customisation purposes.
Second, the printing for the keycaps has been done to an incredibly high standard. Unlike most keycaps, which normally have legends on the top only and come in a single colour below, on these ones the printing extends to every side of the keycap - even the back side that you'd never normally see. The result is a coherent image no matter which direction you're looking at the keyboard from, whether that's a very shallow angle in front of the keyboard, directly above or from either side.
I also like the fact that the graphics are very plainly of the era. Higround didn't select key art from the period; instead for the 75+ they chose an image that reflects the in-game assets, complete with amusingly low poly-count geometry that's particularly obvious in Sonic's not-quite-round eyes and unwittingly pointy shoes. The rest of the board features a classic Sonic logo and some swoopy shapes, which fill up the space nicely and give the board a red, white and blue colour combo that always looks pleasant. It's a similar idea with the 65HE, with a Shadow image on the left side that blends into dark purple (almost black) keys.
The graphics also meld nicely with the low-profile chassis, which for the 75+ includes blue semi-transparent plastic, and for the 65HE it's the same but black. There are Higround and Sega logos on the space bar, but the rest of the keyboard is thankfully unadorned. There are no extra features here - just a USB-C port, no extendable legs, no switches to access other modes - but that makes for quite a nice streamlined appearance. Key legends, always useful for compact boards with slightly unique layouts, are printed on the front. These blend in a bit more nicely in the Shadow model, where on the Sonic model they make the board look a little busy.
The only real downsides to be aware of are the limited availability - these are all limited edition models that are only available on the used market - and the lack of any kind of backlit keycaps, as you might expect. That means the RGB is around the keys largely for vibes, rather than for actually illuminating the various buttons, so the keyboards aren't a great choice if you plan to use them in darker environments - at least until you memorise the board layout, which isn't too challenging but may take time depending on what you're used to.
Overall, it's great to see a pair of licensed keyboards that are actually just as good to use as they are to look at. They rank alongside the Keychron Black Myth: Wukong and 8BitDo Retro Keyboard as the nicest options in this category in terms of aesthetics, and beyond both in terms of typing dynamics and overall feel. Well done, Higround.
The Higround 75+ and 65HE review units were provided by Higround.