Hacking arcade controls into a NES controller

[otterizer]

Hey I have been working off and on building an arcade cabinet, I'm using the dimensions for a Defender machine I found on another site. I have come to the point where I need to decide what kind of machine I want inside. Originally I wanted to do the keyboard hack and use a computer running an NES emulator. However I have now decided that I just want to use a regular NES system. I have a couple top loaders, so I'll use one of those to avoid the blinking screen and 'blowing into the system' problems. My question is how exactly does one hack a bunch of arcade controls into an NES controller? There was another site I went to that outlined this for a playstation, and they recommended buying a certain kind of controller that had excess exposed copper to solder the wires to. I opened up an NES controller and there wasn't much copper to be found. Does anybody know if there are certain kinds of NES controllers that would be good to use? Any 3rd party cheapo brands that may not have quality standards as high as nintendo, and maybe left lots of copper exposed? Any help is much appreciated, thanks!!

Chris

[paigeoliver]

I did a Nes cabinet once (I have since sold it). Don't use original Nes controllers, use aftermarket ones. I used a pair of them called "Quick Shot" that were really funkily shaped.

The reason you want to use aftermarket is that the original ones are hard to solder onto.

Basic idea is that you just crack open the joystick and solder wires onto the joystick PCB and hook those wires up to switches in order to get the button presses and joystick action going.

It will make more sense once you open up a joystick yourself. But really, go with an aftermarket one, MUCH easier.

[otterizer]

Which one of these are you talking about? I searched ebay and all these came up:







If so, what do the buttons on the top look like inside? Do they have wires running down that you can tap into?

Thanks for your help!

[paigeoliver]

The ones I used weren't like that, but those would probably do just fine. The top buttons have wires running to them, so your work is already done there.

[otterizer]

Cool, thanks man. I totally appreciate your help. I'm gonna try and pick a few of these up and experiment with them.

[armad1ll0]

When the copper is covered by that black conductive stuff, I just use a dremmel tool and a small wire wheel to expose the copper underneath. With a fine tip solder iron you don't need much copper to get a solid contact.

J~

[JamesMolloy]

Quickshot used make brilliant sticks and pads. They were damn near indestructable.