I've always wanted a controller with dual D-pads

[MaximRecoil]

Preferably a Nintendo-manufactured one, since they make the best D-pads in my opinion. When I was a kid and I heard that there was a version of Karate Champ for the NES, I thought how great it would be if they had retained the dual joystick control scheme from the arcade, and included a special dual D-pad controller for use with it.

And much later on, after discovering MAME, I again wished I had a dual D-pad controller, not only for Karate Champ, but for other dual joystick games like Robotron and Smash TV.

I just happened across a picture of a Virtual Boy controller. It has dual D-pads, and it is made by Nintendo. I don't know how I missed that for all these years.

Any ideas for getting a Virtual Boy controller to work on a PC? Does it use a unique plug, or does it share a plug with any other Nintendo systems?

[HaRuMaN]

Hack it to a USB gamepad...  or to an iPac... 

It can be done.  I've modded a SNES controller to be used on an Xbox before.

[Jack Burton]

It can be done.

http://www.goliathindustries.com/vb/download/vbpar.txt

http://arcadecontrols.com/Mirrors/www.csc.tntech.edu/~jbyork/default.htm

Personally if you want a dual d-pad NES controller this looks promising:



This is an X68000 controller, and according to the thread here:

http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/386

it uses the same chip (and I think the same port) as a Genesis/megadrive controller.

Maybe, just maybe you plug it into this thing and it will work.

http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=69

[MaximRecoil]

Personally if you want a dual d-pad NES controller this looks promising:

http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/X68000-CCpad.png

I like the looks and simplicity of that thing; never seen one before. However, I have a strong preference for Nintendo-built D-pads; others have never seemed quite right to me.

About the parallel port + SNESKey hookup, I'd rather do it through USB, so I can have two controllers hooked up at once, and be able to plug/unplug them easily and while the PC is on.

However, I'm not sure how to go about connecting one to something like a USB keyboard encoder, because they don't have a 1:1 switch-to-wire thing going on like with arcade controls; there are only 6 pins in the plug, but there are 8 switches just for the 2 D-pads alone, plus several others for the buttons.

[ahofle]

I like the looks and simplicity of that thing; never seen one before. However, I have a strong preference for Nintendo-built D-pads; others have never seemed quite right to me.

IMO the Nintendo Wavebird D-Pad is one of the worst D-Pads ever.  Maybe it's just me though as I have never been a fan of D-Pads in general.

[SavannahLion]

MR I think he meant to pull the chip out of a D pad and wire it directly onto the traces itself. Then bundle the wires and route it through and out with a whole new connector.

Otherwise you'll have to get the corresponding ic to deserialize the data stream. IIRC it was a clock signal too? A simple timer might do the trick. Otherwise.... so on and so forth. You get the idea.

Pick your poison I guess.

[opt2not]

IMO the Nintendo Wavebird D-Pad is one of the worst D-Pads ever.  Maybe it's just me though as I have never been a fan of D-Pads in general.

They're practically the same as the NES d-pads, which were by far the best d-pads ever made.

[Gorotsuki]

Nah,
Whether you like the console or not,
Sega Saturn had the best D-pad ever.

[Beley]

Dual D-Pad AND made by nintendo

[ahofle]

IMO the Nintendo Wavebird D-Pad is one of the worst D-Pads ever.  Maybe it's just me though as I have never been a fan of D-Pads in general.

They're practically the same as the NES d-pads, which were by far the best d-pads ever made.

They sure don't look or feel practically the same. 

[Jack Burton]

Personally if you want a dual d-pad NES controller this looks promising:

http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/X68000-CCpad.png

I like the looks and simplicity of that thing; never seen one before. However, I have a strong preference for Nintendo-built D-pads; others have never seemed quite right to me.

About the parallel port + SNESKey hookup, I'd rather do it through USB, so I can have two controllers hooked up at once, and be able to plug/unplug them easily and while the PC is on.

However, I'm not sure how to go about connecting one to something like a USB keyboard encoder, because they don't have a 1:1 switch-to-wire thing going on like with arcade controls; there are only 6 pins in the plug, but there are 8 switches just for the 2 D-pads alone, plus several others for the buttons.

well, there is always the option to perform a pad hack on this controller, then run it to an external project box enclosure containing a USB encoder such as an I-pac.  The actual pcb will not be plugged in, but the traces on it will serve as wiring for your encoder. 

There is a guide to pad hacking here:

http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/pcb_wiring.html

In this case you would want to leave the matrices under the buttons alone and locate solder points on the PCB that will not interfere with the operation of the controller.  

[SavannahLion]

IMO the Nintendo Wavebird D-Pad is one of the worst D-Pads ever.  Maybe it's just me though as I have never been a fan of D-Pads in general.

They're practically the same as the NES d-pads, which were by far the best d-pads ever made.

They sure don't look or feel practically the same. 

Maybe he was talking about the Wii Classic controller?