Introduction

Mad Catz has had a reputation of sorts, hasn’t it? It’s a shame that we have not covered the brand during its early years, as we only have a single review prior to the brand’s return in 2018 and the massive rebranding exercise in 2020. Indeed, the Mad Catz of 2021 is quite different from before, with new personnel galore while retaining the IP over all previous designs to where all recent products, especially the mice, share a lot of DNA with the older R.A.T. designs. Since then, we have reviewed multiple mice and headsets, and now that I am done with my long pilgrimage, it is time to get Mad Catz into our keyboard reviews database as well. Thanks again to the company for sending a review sample to TechPowerUp!

I will admit that I too mostly associated Mad Catz with other things beyond keyboards, be it the mice or even controllers and arcade sticks. Now, there may or may not be an arcade stick set with the Mad Catz logo on it, but that is a story for another time. Did you know that S.T.R.I.K.E. is the company’s keyboard equivalent of R.A.T. mice? Me neither! There have already been S.T.R.I.K.E. keyboards in the past, and it hasn’t stopped since with the company website currently listing the S.T.R.I.K.E. 2, 4, and 13. The S.T.R.I.K.E. 13 was the one I saw in person at CES when the company effectively re-launched in 2020 and showcased several new peripherals to the media. It is also an interesting take on the rare 90% keyboard form factor with somehow even fewer keys. So what better way to check out our first Mad Catz keyboard than with the S.T.R.I.K.E. 13, henceforth referred to as the STRIKE 13 in this review for convenience?

Specifications