Xbox 360 Live Arcade Robotron and Real Arcade Controls

[Zeosstud]

Has anyone built a controller that allows real arcade sticks to be used with Robotron on the Xbox 360??  Just wondering, I dont even own a 360 yet, and wont, if I have to play Robotron with a regular controller.

Zeosstud

[RetroJames]

To my knowledge no, problem is MS has a security code in place now that prevents 3rd party controllers.

There is one out there that works but it is a 1 player fighter (joy and 6 buttons) though I think it is discontinued. I'll see if I can find it.

Someone really needs to hack an existing 360 controller to get this to work I think.

[leapinlew]

This may be interesting to you...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=57402.0

[Stingray]

To my knowledge no, problem is MS has a security code in place now that prevents 3rd party controllers.

 

-S

[ArcadEd]

I have built a 360 controller as well, and had thoughts of making per order.  The problem is, like mentioned above, you have to hack gamepads to do it. 

It would be awesome to hack a pad to dual stick, which is the next problem.  The dual stick would require hacking the right analog stick to a 4 microswitch gamepad.  I'm not sure how that would be done, and don't really want to bother enough to try .

here are a few pics of mine.  It's wired, so can be used as a PC controller in XP as well.

[Zeosstud]

What if you hacked it like I used to hack gamepads.  You hack one joystick to the digital pad, then hack a second joystick that is just parallel with A B X Y.  Could you then remap the controls for robotron to match the right joystick.  Please remember I dont have an xbox 360 to know if remapping the keys is even an option  just asking.  That is also a pretty sharp controller you made in case noone else has told you that.

             up                                         a
                                  a  b  rb
    left     J    right                          x    J     y   
                                  x   y  lb
           down                                      b


Zeosstud

[ArcadEd]

Thanks Zeo, you know it's funny.  I actually meant to check smashtv and robotron to see if you can configure the controls.

I know it won't work well with the new games like mutant storm and possible geowars as they depend on the analog stick for true 360 degree shooting.

I'll check those others tonight though.  I don't know why I forgot .

[Zeosstud]

Ed,
       Well, at least you have the option to check, I will most likely be getting an xbox 360 around the holidays, IF, robotron works with an arcade stick like we are talking about, I will most likely have it before I actually have the 360.

Zeosstud

[ArcadEd]

Well, we are in luck.  I just checked both smash tv and robotron.  By default, both games are setup withe buttons to fire.

Y-Up
B-Right
X-Left
A-Down.

[NIVO]

good lookin controls ed. boy, gears of war aint too far off 

[ArcadEd]

good lookin controls ed. boy, gears of war aint too far off 

Yeah, looking forward to it and a few other games very soon.  Right now, I pretty much use my 360 for live arcade.  I own kameo and rent a game here and there, but nothing has really knocked my socks off yet.  Though I don't have a lot of time to give to games anymore, so games like GRAW and Oblivion I just can't give the attention too that they probably deserve .

[Zeosstud]

Thats good info...  Guess I will start working on the controller layout next.  It does confirm the fact that I will be getting an Xbox 360 around holiday season.  Looking at the games that are available for xbox live arcade, I am thinking a controller with eight ways on the left and right, buttons in the middle and a dedicated 4 way in the middle top should about cover it.  Thanks for the great news guys.

Zeosstud

[ArcadEd]

Thats good info...  Guess I will start working on the controller layout next.  It does confirm the fact that I will be getting an Xbox 360 around holiday season.  Looking at the games that are available for xbox live arcade, I am thinking a controller with eight ways on the left and right, buttons in the middle and a dedicated 4 way in the middle top should about cover it.  Thanks for the great news guys.

Zeosstud

I will say this, I played some pacman with the 8-way and it works really well.  I don't know if they altered the game a bit to work better with modern controls.  Just something to check out before you go wasting the space on a 4way if you don't need too.

[GoPodular.com]

Has anyone built a controller that allows real arcade sticks to be used with Robotron on the Xbox 360??

Check our website:
www.gopodular.com

Look at the Combat Minions (tm) for an example of dual-joysticks.  I don't think any pics are up yet, but the button layout stuff is there.

[Zeosstud]

kinda hard to picture without the pictures :-)  Seriously, Your Robotron layout, with 6 Street Fighter buttons between the sticks and a 3rd button below the player 2 button would be about right I would say.  With the Xbox 360 cartridge (which I am pretty sure should plug right into a pc with windows xp) should come in under $300 delivered wouldnt you agree.

Zeosstud

[GoPodular.com]

The dual-stick pics aren't up yet, but there's other panel pics for an idea of what it looks like.  I keep saying I'll get more pics up but never seem to find the time.  Anyhow, you can check the pages for each encoder to see the "typical" button assignments for the various panels.  Here's the Xbox 360 one.  I also have a small picture gallery of a couple hi-def miscellaneous pics.  Those should give you an idea of how everything looks.

That's about right for the price, but I'm not sure about the layout.  I've never tried one with 6-buttons between the sticks, but I think they would have to be in an arc in order to physically fit.  A button between the P1/P2 and the joystick probably won't happen unless that was offset in an arc as well.  Out of curiousity, what would you want a third button in that area for?

The X360 cart works great on XP.  If you can use hatswitch inputs for the game/emu, it's plug-n-play.  If you want the joystick to be a "joystick", use custom drivers.  If you're good with computers, it's pretty simple to do the driver setup.  We don't "officially" support the X360 cart on a PC because I've been around computers so long that I'm no longer user-friendly.  If someone that barely used their computer wanted to do the custom driver thing, I'd have a really hard time explaining how to do it without confusing them more.

If you want, I could grab a picture of a graphic overlay for a dual-stick panel with a few buttons laying on it.  That would give you an idea of how tight the layout would be.

[ArcadEd]

GoPod, I see you ran into the same problem I did with the headset jack.  Stupid MS Headset.  My plan was to just use a 2.5mm extension cable and mount the plug.  But I found out the little plastic pins (that do nothing) were in the way.

The I decided that know one probably wants to hear all of you buttons and joystick clicking all the time anyway LOL.

I could still do it that way though. 

Zeo, check your PMs

[GoPodular.com]

LOL.  Whoever came up with that plug design needs to be shot.  I'm still trying to come up with a workaround for it.  It's bad enough they did a up-down curve, but there's also the side-to-side curve that makes it even more difficult.

I've tried:

• Datel adaptor = completely wrong, should have looked closer before ordering it.
  Vaccuum forming a plate = radius too complex for the small size.
  Warping the cart itself = plastic pile.
  Custom cartridge housings = 10k minimum order.

I thought about making a "new" end for the existing headset that didn't have the curve, but then you'd have to cut a piece out of the "old" end of the headset to remove the cabling, so I abandoned that idea.

I'm thinking of making my own extension cable, but the female sockets are tough to find.