Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Boz on April 30, 2007, 10:42:47 pm

Title: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Boz on April 30, 2007, 10:42:47 pm
I shudder to think of the responses and flames I might get to this question. I'd like to use old school controllers to play the non-Mame emulated games I have (NES, 2600, Sega Genesis, etc.) from my Mame cab. I found the site for hacking an NES controller into USB, but would rather purchase plug-in adapters for these controllers instead of ripping them apart and soldering.

Links appreciated.
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Justin Z on April 30, 2007, 10:45:35 pm
I bought my parents a USB NES controller and a USB SNES controller for Christmas a couple years back.

http://www.retrousb.com/usb.html (http://www.retrousb.com/usb.html)

They work great and are very authentic.  If you have your own controllers, you can go with the port option and just plug them in via USB.
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Boz on April 30, 2007, 10:52:37 pm
I bought my parents a USB NES controller and a USB SNES controller for Christmas a couple years back.

http://www.retrousb.com/usb.html (http://www.retrousb.com/usb.html)

They work great and are very authentic.  If you have your own controllers, you can go with the port option and just plug them in via USB.

Aside from the fact that the link you provided was exactly what I was looking for, you just said you bought these for your parents.






I feel old today for the first time in my life.




May you burn in hell.  ;D



EDIT: I think the joke should be obvious, but to make sure. I'm joking with you. Made me laugh.
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: shorthair on April 30, 2007, 11:40:52 pm
Ah, you let yourself be old. And, hey, are you aware of the C@C meet on the 19th?
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: SavannahLion on April 30, 2007, 11:42:48 pm
You're never too old (http://oghc.blogspot.com/).
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Boz on May 01, 2007, 12:31:26 am
Ah, you let yourself be old. And, hey, are you aware of the C@C meet on the 19th?

Uhhh... what meeting?
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Goz on May 01, 2007, 12:37:56 am
The BYOAC meet at Castles and Coasters. All the cool kids from Phoenix and Shorthair will be there
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Boz on May 01, 2007, 12:44:02 am
Mmmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: bfauska on May 01, 2007, 01:06:09 am
All the cool kids from Phoenix and Shorthair will be there.

Which one of the descriptors in the first part of that sentence makes the AND necessary before Shorthair?  Cool, Kids, or from Phoenix?  The way I read it is the funniest option.  You can guess which way that was, and I will neither confirm nor deny any guesses.

The NES adapters at that site are a good way to go for the NES controllers.  I was going to hook a GPWiz up to a DB9 connector for the 2600, I think that the pin-out could be figured out to just use the existing switches in the joystick as the buttons.  I don't know about the other controllers but anything w/o a chip inside may be a good candidate for this approach, the advantage being that you only need to pay for the connectors and then you could have it hooked up so that the console controller just duplicates the buttons on your panel.
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Boz on May 01, 2007, 01:26:42 am
Any ideas if the USB adapter will work with FCE Ultra? The documentation for this emulator is pretty spartan.
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: bfauska on May 01, 2007, 01:44:16 am
Any ideas if the USB adapter will work with FCE Ultra? The documentation for this emulator is pretty spartan.

All I know is that it makes the computer see the NES controller as a Joystick in windows.  If FCE allows joystick input then the NES adapter should work.  I don't have FCE so I can't test it with my GPWiz, but I know that Nestopia works with a joystick.
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Goz on May 01, 2007, 02:21:33 am
All the cool kids from Phoenix and Shorthair will be there.

Which one of the descriptors in the first part of that sentence makes the AND necessary before Shorthair?  Cool, Kids, or from Phoenix?  The way I read it is the funniest option.  You can guess which way that was, and I will neither confirm nor deny any guesses.

You read it correctly.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Justin Z on May 01, 2007, 02:57:09 am
Aside from the fact that the link you provided was exactly what I was looking for, you just said you bought these for your parents.

I feel old today for the first time in my life.

May you burn in hell.  ;D
Haha.  Don't worry.  They're the original "cool parents."  They just happened to like console RPGs when I was a kid, and actually still do (they're playing a PS2 one right now at the ripe old age of 56).

By the way, the thread that made me feel old was "What is DOS?" <grin>
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: Extreme8 on May 01, 2007, 08:37:38 am
Any ideas if the USB adapter will work with FCE Ultra? The documentation for this emulator is pretty spartan.

FWIW
I created my own Nintendo-USB conversion by hacking a usb gamepad and it works just fine under FCE Ultra.
Title: Re: Old-school controller adapter(s)
Post by: steveh on May 01, 2007, 11:59:45 am
Any ideas if the USB adapter will work with FCE Ultra? The documentation for this emulator is pretty spartan.

 yes it should work with out a problem.  I have used the retrousb kits on a few genesis controllers and they work well.