Converting a PS3 controller into an arcade stick

[Essential J-Balls]

Hey,  I'm interested in tearing apart a couple wireless PS3 controllers to build a couple arcade sticks for Street Fighter IV and any other games I want a stick for.  I was hoping there might be some plans of some sort on this forum and there just may be, however I can't find anything.  Anyone know how to do this or knows the link to how?  Thank you very much.

[justinjstark]

This is the inside of a playstation one controller which, if I'm not mistaken, works with a playstation 3.



All you need to do is solder the joystick and pushbuttons to the blue and red points.

[Jack Burton]

A PSX controller will not work directly with a PS3.  You will need a PSX>PS3 converter.  I don't recommend these because they are expensive and add input delay.

I highly, highly recommend the Cthulhu line of PCB's.

http://www.lizardlick.com/Toodles-ChimpSMD_p_584.html

Cheap, durable, well tested, and easy to install.

If you need wireless then I recommend the AXIS adapter. 

http://www.lizardlick.com/Toodles-Axisdapter-Board_p_538.html

[Essential J-Balls]

A PSX controller will not work directly with a PS3.  You will need a PSX>PS3 converter.  I don't recommend these because they are expensive and add input delay.

I highly, highly recommend the Cthulhu line of PCB's.

http://www.lizardlick.com/Toodles-ChimpSMD_p_584.html

Cheap, durable, well tested, and easy to install.

If you need wireless then I recommend the AXIS adapter. 

http://www.lizardlick.com/Toodles-Axisdapter-Board_p_538.html

That AXIS Adapter is perfect!  Thank you for the link I appreciate it.

[orchidius]

I've been wanting to do the same thing. Buttons are not a problem, D-pad is also not a problem since it works like buttons (simple ground/button, add a button in the middle), but what about the analog...? :s How do you convert the 4-microswitch arcade joystick input into the analog input such controllers require?

[Jack Burton]

You don't.

When doing a pad hack you usually just leave the analog controls alone and use only the D-pad and buttons.

In some instances it's necessary to short the wires on the analog stick to disable them.  You have to do this on some Xbox 360 pads.

But overall it's a non-issue.

Now, as far as getting the analog stick on the controller pcb to function as an analog arcade stick, I have no clue.

[orchidius]

I'm mostly interested in a N64 pad-hack. Try playing any N64 game without the stick :s

[Jack Burton]

What N64 games would you say are cab worthy?  The only ones I can think of can be played with only the D-pad.

[orchidius]

The N64 is the only console I really owned during my whole childhood, so it has a great nostalgic value to me. And I like almost every game I every played on it, but that's just me ofc. And so the question remains...

[Jack Burton]

Well I can tell you that playing most N64 games on a cab is not going to be any fun.  Even if you could figure out some way to use an analog arcade stick it would have nowhere near the finesse or feel of an N64 analog stick. 

They do make little analog nubs for some non-arcade applications that might be interesting to look at, but it would be a pain in the ass to get them to work.

The way I would go about it is to install an Ultimarc Ultrastick 360 into my cab and use it to play N64 games via emulator. 

[orchidius]

I have a little selfmade gizmo system in my cab to allow for regular N64 controllers to be plugged into the cab and used as controller input for the Ipac, but only if I can get around the analog problem... I'll get back to it once I posted the whole thing in project announcments when it's completed.