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Arcade Stick for NES, made out of a NES controller Help first time builder

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thatpurplestuff:

--- Quote from: RussLyman on November 15, 2013, 11:30:30 am ---Thanks for all the info guys and the warm welcome. To answer some of the questions

Are you planning on making a panel that plugs into a real NES or are you planning on using a PC for emulation? - I would like for it to plug into the actual NES

Depending on what you want to build, there are many other vendors that are worth looking into.

What size/form factor are you thinking about?  Full cab?  Bartop?  Standalone panel/fightstick?  Cockpit?  :lol For right now I just would like a standalone fight stick

1-player or 2-player? 1 player

What types of games do you want this build optimized for? (different sticks are better for certain types of games) Manly for Shooters, since there are not too many fighters on the NES that I play. I do enjoy platformers as well. So those are the two type of games I will manly play

Do you have a preference between ball-top and bat-top sticks? I would say ball top. I think it looks cooler.

Closing thought: It might be easier (and cheaper) to design a weighted base that attaches to the Advantage via the two exposed screw holes in the bottom, rather than doing a whole new panel build. Yes I suppose I could do that but I love custom stuff, and I would really like to give the box a sweet paint job.

This will be a nice start off build. My main goal will to build a small table top cabinet that a TV can just slide into from behind. I'm getting married in April and would like to set up the arcade machine at the wedding with Mario Bros on it. I would make some custom art for the side with me and my fiance' dressed up. long story short I do car shows with my custom Mario car. We meet, went to a car show in AR that I attend each year and proposed there. When we got back home I surprised her with a Princess Peach themed car



--- End quote ---

Haha that's awesome man!  My wife isn't as into video games as I am, but it was her idea to have Mario and Peach on top of our wedding cake so at the very least she tolerates my love of retro gaming.  Sounds like you found a keeper!

In regards to the logistics of this, you can get NES controllers on eBay for really cheap... no matter what condition they are in, the internals are most likely pristine and perfect for modding into an arcade setup.  Build your controller housing, then it's just a matter of soldering the joystick and arcade buttons to the gamepad controls and you should be ready to play!

There are also things called "USB NES RetroPorts" for $18 that allow you to connect an NES controller to a PC, so once your arcade NES controller is done you can always have the option of using it with your computer as well.  I'm sure there are cheaper options out there, but the connectors from RetroZone are the only ones that I have used and they are great.

thatpurplestuff:
Just for ideas, here's an image created by jdbailey1206 of a potential design for a control panel ->
His thread with other ideas is here -> http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129071.0.html

The NES gray color and strong distinct lines make for a lot of great design possibilities... excited to see what you come up with!

404:
hate to half way hijack this thread but personally i would use a dinky third party controller but if you happen to be in the market for a nes advantage stick, i have one that's been sitting here for a while.  ;D

RussLyman:
thanks for the ideas.
I do have 2 advantage joy sticks and a bunch of NES controllers. I paint them and put custom over lays on them so I have extras.

The over lay design is pretty sweet. Not sure why it has 4 red buttons though? Def cool.
I have seen the adapters for the NES-Pc pretty neat. We sell them at the game store I work at.

I am just trying to figure out what parts to get.
I did find some cool led buttons on one of the sites. Not sure if I can wire that to the controller to light up though. it said they have them in 12v and 5v

PL1:
The single color LED buttons should work.

PROTIP: Buy the 12v LED butons and power them using 5v from the NES controller connector.

They won't be quite as bright as running them on 12v, but they will draw less than the usual 20mA current, making them less likely to cause trouble for the NES.   :cheers:

If they draw too much current, you can add another current limiting resistor in series.

On my portable/modular panel lighting setup, an additional 11 ohm resistor reduced current draw to ~3.7mA per button according to my wiring diagram/measurements here.


Scott

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