NES Controller - Dreamcast

[Slope]

I've read enough of the articles to realize that I need to get a setup of NES entension cables, or Atari cables, or something else that has 7 wires in them to hook my NES pads up to my Dreamcast.  I get that.  What I don't get is:

The NES pad has the D-pad and 4 buttons.  The dreamcast has the D-pad, joystick (which I don't need for my purposes), 4 buttons, and 2 "triggers".  So, how are people wiring up the NES to the Dreamcast without loosing functionality....specifically when the Dreamcast is put in an old NES case (as there have been many examples of late).

Again, thanks in advance.

[spiffyshoes]

Most People that plan to put a DreamCast into a NES don't plan on useing it for playing DreamCast games.  They use it strictly for playing NES games so they don't need the extra buttons and analog stick.

[Slope]

Right.  I'm not playing any Dreamcast games on here (might get a second one to do that...it seems like a cool system, especially for it's day).  I mean, some buttons are obvious right?  A is A, B is X (I think, don't have the controller in front of me), start is start.  The problem, when using the emulator, you can turn autofire on and off (need to have an L button), if you need to change options or save games you need the R button plus Y and Z.  I think to quite the game as L+R+Start??

You see what I mean though.  Do people live with the limitations are is there something I'm missing?  For example, is there a way to wire the "select" button on the NES pad to be L+R+Start?  Are they hidding the extra buttons needed somewhere?

[mmmPeanutButter]

Right.  I'm not playing any Dreamcast games on here (might get a second one to do that...it seems like a cool system, especially for it's day).  I mean, some buttons are obvious right?  A is A, B is X (I think, don't have the controller in front of me), start is start.  The problem, when using the emulator, you can turn autofire on and off (need to have an L button), if you need to change options or save games you need the R button plus Y and Z.  I think to quite the game as L+R+Start??

You see what I mean though.  Do people live with the limitations are is there something I'm missing?  For example, is there a way to wire the "select" button on the NES pad to be L+R+Start?  Are they hidding the extra buttons needed somewhere?

I made one and haven't hidden any buttons.  The "select" button is supposed to be wired to the L + R (if I recall correctly) so that it will reset.  I took a little break on mine and haven't got the reset feature to work... yet.

But the one thing that I noticed was that I preferred the old version on NesterDC.  I found that there were a lot of features in the NesterDC SE that needed the other controller. 

If you were worried... you could just as easilly, splice in a DC extension cable to the console on the inside and make it into a port on the back of the NES.  That way you could use it for settings purposes.

[Setabs]

Go here to see how to hack the controllers.

It is a 9-wire cable that you need
1. up
2. down
3. left
4. right
5. select
6. start
7. A
8. B
9. Ground

Find some Sega Genesis controllers on ebay and cut them up or buy an extension for sega genesis controllers.
BIG NOTE!!
If you are using NesterDC SE the way you "reset" the game your playing to go to the main menu is different.  You press the dreamcasts left analog and and start buttons to bring up an in-game menu were you can choose to go to main menu.

There are two ways to wire this extra connection.

Using the reset button on the nes,  run a wire to ground, left analog and start on the dreamcast pad.
or wire another button on the nes controller to two buttons on the dreamcast pad.  An easy one would be wire the select button to X on the dreamcast and the have a small wire going from the left analog to the wire used on the select button.  That way to get to the in-game menu all you have to do is press select and start at the same time.  I do not believe any games require you to press both buttons at the same time please tell me if I am wrong because this is how I plan on doing mine.

Here is another picture of soldering points for the dreamcast.


Just in case you haven't been here.  This site has a full tutorial on modding the nes w/ a dreamcast.

If you have any more questions please ask.

[mmmPeanutButter]

Go here to see how to hack the controllers.

It is a 9-wire cable that you need
1. up
2. down
3. left
4. right
5. select
6. start
7. A
8. B
9. Ground

Find some Sega Genesis controllers on ebay and cut them up or buy an extension for sega genesis controllers.
BIG NOTE!!
If you are using NesterDC SE the way you "reset" the game your playing to go to the main menu is different.  You press the dreamcasts left analog and and start buttons to bring up an in-game menu were you can choose to go to main menu.

There are two ways to wire this extra connection.

Using the reset button on the nes,  run a wire to ground, left analog and start on the dreamcast pad.
or wire another button on the nes controller to two buttons on the dreamcast pad.  An easy one would be wire the select button to X on the dreamcast and the have a small wire going from the left analog to the wire used on the select button.  That way to get to the in-game menu all you have to do is press select and start at the same time.  I do not believe any games require you to press both buttons at the same time please tell me if I am wrong because this is how I plan on doing mine.

Here is another picture of soldering points for the dreamcast.


Just in case you haven't been here.  This site has a full tutorial on modding the nes w/ a dreamcast.

If you have any more questions please ask.

Would what your saying give me full function on NesterDC SE?  I tried it briefly, but ultimately scrapped it.

Oh... I remember one thing I didn't like... I found it really slow to scroll through the games (cause on NesterDC you could press right or left to page-at-a-time).

Am I wrong?

[Setabs]

It would give you the ability to go start games go to the ingame menu which has options to load game, save game, reset game, enter game genie(i think) and return to main menu.  For me this is fine.

I only played on the nesterdc for maybe 10 min. and I didn't like it to much.  SE has alot better front end and the ability to have the game manuals if available.

My best advice would be to Find that disc you had and try it out for an hour and notice what buttons you use.