Universal Arcade Stick System

[DinnerX]

I did this ages ago it works great. Except at most I think a stick only needs 15 pins so you can use either a db15 or a mini db15 like I did (svga plug). Great guide.

Since I wanted the adapters to support analog sticks and be usable with twin stick arcade controllers I needed a lot more wires for this project. I still need to build a twin stick controller.

[CRTGAMER]

I did this ages ago it works great. Except at most I think a stick only needs 15 pins so you can use either a db15 or a mini db15 like I did (svga plug). Great guide.

Since I wanted the adapters to support analog sticks and be usable with twin stick arcade controllers I needed a lot more wires for this project. I still need to build a twin stick controller.

You could jumper a two player controller where the Player Two Stick work the primary four face buttons of Player One. I found a quite a few games that benefit from this since the face buttons emulate a second stick.

I used a Nine Pin Plug to get four action buttons and the Dpad to work on a Wii Remote. Kind of went the same route with a breakaway cable that accepts a custom wired NES GamePad. Since the nine pin is a standard Atari 2600 connecter, any unmodded 2600 joystick also works.

[Ziggy]

Nice, DinnerX. I guess great minds think alike! I actually came up with pretty much the same exact solution for myself. I'm really not too great using sticks (for fighters) but even if I was, I wouldn't want to pay a hefty price to buy a decent stick for every console I own. Making a stick work for any console is definitely a money saver. After the initial cost of the stick, to play it on another console will only cost you the price of a controller for that console.

One thing I'd like to add... I always see pics of people jumping the contacts on a controller PCB, but they always do it from the button contact itself. On something like the NES controller, you can easily see that all the pads trace back to a leg on the IC. Why not just solder to the leg on the IC then? It's so much easier, since you don't have to scratch the pad up, and especially if you have a wire wrapper. And if space is a real concern for a project, you can just totally remove the IC and ditch the PCB.

Anyways, nice guide! Hopefully one day I'll get the time to do this for myself, only I plan to build the stick from scratch, so the project is on the back burning since it'll take longer.

[DinnerX]

One thing I'd like to add... I always see pics of people jumping the contacts on a controller PCB, but they always do it from the button contact itself. On something like the NES controller, you can easily see that all the pads trace back to a leg on the IC. Why not just solder to the leg on the IC then? It's so much easier, since you don't have to scratch the pad up, and especially if you have a wire wrapper. And if space is a real concern for a project, you can just totally remove the IC and ditch the PCB.

That is a very good idea! Some of the surface mounted stuff on later console controllers might be too small (for me at least) to work with easily.

I'll probably update the guide sometime over the weekend. Trying to reuse the controller cases was not a good plan. It makes the adapters a pain to store and I'm always in fear of yanking the wires out of the controller. I ended up using some plastic food containers as cheap stackable cases.

[CRTGAMER]

One thing I'd like to add... I always see pics of people jumping the contacts on a controller PCB, but they always do it from the button contact itself. On something like the NES controller, you can easily see that all the pads trace back to a leg on the IC. Why not just solder to the leg on the IC then? It's so much easier, since you don't have to scratch the pad up, and especially if you have a wire wrapper. And if space is a real concern for a project, you can just totally remove the IC and ditch the PCB.

I think it depends on the situation. For instance if a gutted PS1 controller PCB is used for a custom Arcade stick, the pads have a good solder point with less risk versus soldering near the controller chip. On the other hand if the NES gamePad is modded to use on say a Playstation then the Chip connection points are a better solder point as to not interfere with the NES Button Pads. However the NES Gamepad Chip will need to be removed and some traces cut to isolate the buttons from each other. I recently modded a NES Gamepad using this method, but at the Wii end the traces are too small so I had to utilize the button pads as solder points. Not a big deal since I was going the add on controller route for button controls.

NES Gamepad to Wii Remote mod: viewtopic.php?f=2&p=605853#p605853

[Ziggy]

That is a very good idea! Some of the surface mounted stuff on later console controllers might be too small (for me at least) to work with easily.

I'll probably update the guide sometime over the weekend. Trying to reuse the controller cases was not a good plan. It makes the adapters a pain to store and I'm always in fear of yanking the wires out of the controller. I ended up using some plastic food containers as cheap stackable cases.

Yeah, it all depends what you're doing and what your good at or comfortable with. It's just that I never see any one mention it, like the pads are the only way to do it.

It's very understandable that it might be harder to solder to a surface mounted chip versus a through hole one. But there's always many ways to do something. If space was a real concern for the mod, the surface mounted IC could be removed but then soldered to a SOIC/SOP to DIP adapter to make it easier to solder wires to or put on perf board. The model 1 Saturn controller has a surface mounted IC, but by design is already easy to solder to, and you're able to trim away about 50% of the PCB too.

Trying to reuse the controller cases was not a good plan. It makes the adapters a pain to store and I'm always in fear of yanking the wires out of the controller. I ended up using some plastic food containers as cheap stackable cases.

When I get around to doing mine, I plan to do the same exact thing (pretty much) that I did for my FC-NES adapter. I just got a project box from Radio Shit to house the wiring, and used grommets for a nice clean exterior look.

However the NES Gamepad Chip will need to be removed and some traces cut to isolate the buttons from each other.

Well it depends what you're doing. You had to remove the IC because you weren't using it on a NES console, you were doing the opposite. For what DinnerX is doing, you need the IC. And actually, you need only the IC. The rest of the controller is useless.

[CRTGAMER]

However the NES Gamepad Chip will need to be removed and some traces cut to isolate the buttons from each other.

Well it depends what you're doing. You had to remove the IC because you weren't using it on a NES console, you were doing the opposite. For what DinnerX is doing, you need the IC. And actually, you need only the IC. The rest of the controller is useless.

Oh okay, the reverse of what I did. Maybe the button pads would still have to be used as in the gutted PS1 controller I mentioned earlier? The NES Gamepad PCB has black "Resistor" traces connecting some of the buttons together on the button pad side. I suspect this gives the chip different readings to determine which button is pressed. I had to cut thru some of them to isolate each button since I was using the NES gamepad buttons to control a Wii Remote. In DinnerX's reverse situation, maybe the NES controller PCB or at least the part with the black traces and chip would be needed to maintain that resistor circuit?

[DinnerX]

Trying to reuse the controller cases was not a good plan. It makes the adapters a pain to store and I'm always in fear of yanking the wires out of the controller. I ended up using some plastic food containers as cheap stackable cases.

When I get around to doing mine, I plan to do the same exact thing (pretty much) that I did for my FC-NES adapter. I just got a project box from Radio Shit to house the wiring, and used grommets for a nice clean exterior look.

Hmm. I'll look at radio shack for boxes the next time I'm there. It certainly would be more tidy.

However the NES Gamepad Chip will need to be removed and some traces cut to isolate the buttons from each other.

Well it depends what you're doing. You had to remove the IC because you weren't using it on a NES console, you were doing the opposite. For what DinnerX is doing, you need the IC. And actually, you need only the IC. The rest of the controller is useless.

Oh okay, the reverse of what I did. Maybe the button pads would still have to be used as in the gutted PS1 controller I mentioned earlier? The NES Gamepad PCB has black "Resistor" traces connecting some of the buttons together on the button pad side. I suspect this gives the chip different readings to determine which button is pressed. I had to cut thru some of them to isolate each button since I was using the NES gamepad buttons to control a Wii Remote. In DinnerX's reverse situation, maybe the NES controller PCB or at least the part with the black traces and chip would be needed to maintain that resistor circuit?

Yeah, the pull-up resistors would be needed to avoid floating inputs. Hadn't been thinking about that. But those could be replaced with other resistors in a compact fashion.