Ok which Duo / PC Engine controller hack would you like to see next...VOTE

[Duo_R]

Ok - so I have done a NES to Duo hack, controller works great. But many are probably left wondering why bother. Well I could give you my reasons (one the dogbone NES is actually a nice controller, and two it is awesome for bench testing  your modded console) but this topic isn't about that. I now want to try something new (and something I haven't seen documented yet). I am going to hack a SNES controller to work on the Duo. The question is should I make it 3 button mode or 6 button mode hack for the SNES.

I know some games used the 3 button function, that might be cool for some of you. Or maybe you always wanted a 6 button controller for SF and the other Arcade CD games. You guys decide! You can post your other idea on what would be cool to use on the TurboDuo, but I am semi-set on hacking a SNES style controller. There is also a 6 button SNES that looks alot like the Duo-RX controller (and I am tempted to hack one of those).....

Thoughts???

[NecroPhile]

I vote that you mod a SNES controller for six button deliciousness, but don't use a standard controller.  All six buttons belong on the face, just as was written in the fourteenth commandment (Moses dropped a tablet and commandments eleven through fifteen were lost in the weeds).

[Alt-Nintega]

*knock knock*

Me thinks you should try to see if it is possible to use a Sega Saturn pad on a PC Engine

[Duo_R]

11th commandment: if thou shalt mod a SNES to Turbo Duo, thou shalt use this one...

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hmm....this would be a heck of a 2nd controller for

I vote that you mod a SNES controller for six button deliciousness, but don't use a standard controller.  All six buttons belong on the face, just as was written in the fourteenth commandment (Moses dropped a tablet and commandments eleven through fifteen were lost in the weeds).

[TR0N]

Bah i rather see a genesis 6 button pad hack for it 

[hoobs88]

The only controller that I have ever used on the NES was actually made by Hudson Soft. It is the Joycard Sansui SSS and it has a headphone jack built into the controller. I have a couple of spares that I would love to have hacked into a Turbo Duo pad if you could write up a walk through on the hack procedure.

[Duo_R]

headphone jack built into the controller. That would be one heck of a hack, don't think that is possible on a Turbo Duo. The NES didn't have audio in the cable, do you have pics of that? But I suppose I could run that headphone cable along the controller cable, and then just extend it to the headphone jack (for the Duo users, the TG-16 didn't have that feature correct?).

Cool idea but I could do that with a SNES controller (have my cake and eat it too).

Sega Genesis 6-button, I am going to have to side with the Saturn vote, but to sacrifice the Saturn pad would be sacrilegious...

[hoobs88]

Here's a photo of Hudson Soft's Joycard Sansui SSS with headphone jack that I would like to get hacked for the Duo.

[Duo_R]

Do you own one? Can you send a picture of the cable end that plugs into the Nintendo? There is a jack that plugs into the AV outputs correct? That looks like that would make an awesome Duo controller. Especially since it has turbo switches!

Here's a photo of Hudson Soft's Joycard Sansui SSS with headphone jack that I would like to get hacked for the Duo.

[hoobs88]

I own 4 of these! I'll post a photo of the plug in end tomorrow. I think it would perfect for the Duo especially since it has the Hudson bee logo.

When I first read about your controller hacks, I thought you might have been designing for a company that made the Playstation to Turbo Duo converters or the Playstation to Dreamcast converters. I'll post photos of these as well if you haven't seen them.

[Duo_R]

Cool - would you mind opening one up and taking a snap of the chipset(s) inside? Chances are it won't be the standard NES chips. There should be a total of 2 since the pad has turbo switches. Very cool, it would be awesome to get this to work exactly how it did on the NES (including audio).

[Duo_R]

found this posting on the web in regards to the Sansui SSS:

Assuming you're replying to me, yes. The controller has an RCA cable coming out of the NES plug (an actual Nintendo-branded plug, even!), which is just long enough to reach the AV jacks on the side of a toaster NES. Within the controller, the audio is amplified, sent through a volume slider, and split to "stereo" for the headphone jack.

Now, I haven't actually tested the headphone jack on my controller, so I can't tell you how good it sounds...

[hoobs88]

Here's another shot of the Sansui out of the box.


Here's the Joypad converter that allows you to use a Playstation controller on the Turbo Duo or PC Engine.



I didn't have enough time to locate my dreamcast controller converter but if I do, I'll photograph that with the inside of the Sansui.

[Ceti Alpha]

Here's the Joypad converter that allows you to use a Playstation controller on the Turbo Duo or PC Engine.

The question is, why would you want to?  But very cool, nonetheless. 

[Duo_R]

you know if that converter supported 6 button mode I would have bought one. Can you share your insight on how that works? I have never talked to anyone that used the version for PC Engine

[hoobs88]

Unfortunately, it doesn't support 6 button mode. I had one of the special Street Fighter II control pads for that reason. The 'X' and 'Triangle' buttons correspond to buttons I and II. The 'Circle' and 'Square' buttons correspond to buttons I and II with Full Turbo. The 'Left' and 'Right' buttons correspond to buttons I and II with Medium Turbo. It is unique and if nothing else it adds some extension to the short cords that the Duo and PC Engine made.

[Duo_R]

man that button assignment is goofy. The layout should be X & O is II and I, and Square and Triangle would be the turbos. I would mod that to have the correct layout if I had one...any idea if it works using the PS2 Wireless Controller? I know the Saturn version didn't work (I had the same brand).

[Zeon]

Why hack up an existing joypad, when you could just make your own pc-engine arcade joystick just as easily. Well unless you prefer a pad over a stick for certain games, which is understandable. However, weren't most if not all 6 button pc-engine games fighters? We all know playing fighting games with anything other than a joystick is just plain evil and wrong.

[rolins]

Here's a photo of Hudson Soft's Joycard Sansui SSS with headphone jack that I would like to get hacked for the Duo.

I remember using one these at my cousin's house many years ago. They're great gamepad about the same as the Nes controller, except slightly looser. Here's photo of the japanese box.

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[hoobs88]

I have a cordless multitap and cordless pads so I haven't tried a wireless pad with the converter yet. The guy that I bought it from seemed to think that it would work.

[Duo_R]

So I went with a NES controller conversion (I know, I know, I was going to go a SNES originally). This controller was too cool for me to pass up to convert. It features a audio jack which I intend to keep functional. Imagine sitting back in your chair with a nice long controller cable and plugging in your headphones into your controller.

Project Sansui SSS to Duo (I am thinking of calling this the Sansui TTI):

The updated guide (PDF):
http://www.geocities.com/duo_r@sbcglobal.net/NEStoDuohack.pdf
Note- I still need to finish section on how to add turbo fire


BTW - if you can pull this off I think you could be ready to a Region Mod for a TG-16. In some ways this project tested my patience more than the region mod since you are wiring up just as many wires but you have to add resistors, etc. The biggest difference or what makes region mod more difficult or intimidating is desoldering the pins from the PCB.

Should I post of how this looks under the hood?

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[Duo_R]

ok,

here is the final pics of the Sansui SSS to Turbo Duo conversion. I call it: "Sansui TTI edition."

Controller features functional turbo switches (wired up just like a Duo controller) and best of all, stereo jack on the bottom of the controller so you can plug in your favorite headphones to listen to  your Turbo tunes. The stereo lines are sent through the controller cable to a D-sub connector, where you then run a cable to your Duo headphone jack.

DIY instructions are on my website (need to update the section on how to add turbo functionality).

Here are the pics of the completed project:

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[MissaFX]

Convert a SNES Ascii-pad, they have turbo switches!

[Duo_R]

Missa - I had one of those and it was bad, I threw it in my wastebasket. After fixing some old PCB's by doing a wash, I dug it out and put it aside to fix. I might convert that later, however the thing that sucks is I think it uses a microcontroller instead of a normal CD4021 chip. Not impossible but more difficult to convert. Instead I was thinking of using an adapter to use that on the Wii for VC games (and the turbo switches would be handy).

[TR0N]

Missa - I had one of those and it was bad, I threw it in my wastebasket. After fixing some old PCB's by doing a wash, I dug it out and put it aside to fix. I might convert that later, however the thing that sucks is I think it uses a microcontroller instead of a normal CD4021 chip. Not impossible but more difficult to convert. Instead I was thinking of using an adapter to use that on the Wii for VC games (and the turbo switches would be handy).

There is a adapter that let's you use snes pads on a Wii for the VC games.
http://www.retrousb.com/index.php?categoryID=80
If you,are thinking of modding a snes controller do to so you don't have to.

[Duo_R]

Oh no when I say use an adapter I wouldn't be modding the controller. I have been considering getting a snes and n64 adapter for wii.

[Ceti Alpha]

So can you use the Wiipads for the VC? A friend of mine has the VC crack with all the games, but he doesn't want to play them because he has to use the GameCube controllers to play them? Is that just because of the crack or is that standard?

[Duo_R]

u can use the wiimote only with the NEC Turbo games, and NES Games (and maybe Genesis). Everything else u have to use Classic or gamecube controller. That is why I am going to get a converter from SNES and N64 to Gamecube. Of course I also have a Super Famicom Classic controller for the wii....

[TR0N]

Oh no when I say use an adapter I wouldn't be modding the controller. I have been considering getting a snes and n64 adapter for wii.

Ohh ok also if you didn't know even the,Hori Gameboy Controller for the gb player can be used on the vc.

[Duo_R]

The Hori wouldn't be a bad solution, but the button layout is a little funky and I  have one of these to use:



but for Turbo games, on of these would be the ultimate controller to use for the TG-16:

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triforcegamez com/store/images/nes/Beeshuzipper.jpg

Of course I would use a unmodded Sansui, with a (S)NES adapter, same Turbo layout, and even turbo fire switches. 

[Zeon]

While on the subject of controller mods, I just thought of a sweet candidate:

http://www.playmessiah.com/products/classics/generation-nex-wireless-arcade-stick.htm

or

http://www.playmessiah.com/products/classics/generation-nex-wireless-controllers.htm

Given that you can request a receiver so that they work on an original nes, how easy it is to adapt an nes controller to the pce, and now that they are making repro nes controller ports, you should be able to easily make an adapter so that they work on pce hardware. 

I don't have the fundage to try right now, but anyone else feel free to try. It would be sweet if it works, I don't see why it wouldn't unless they did something funky in the controller's design.

[Duo_R]

I have thought of the same thing, but this one would be trickier. I think u would have to make an adapter that converts from PCE controller port to NES port. What I have been doing is replacing internal circuitry inside a NES controller, but to make that work it would be external circuitry. It is possible but I wouldn't know where to start since I have never made an external adapter.

It is possible to convert the original NES advantage though (and there is plenty of room to work with inside one of those). I unfortunately sold all of mine but I still have a Turbostick.

[Zeon]

Ah i see the signals on the pce differ completely from the nes, So you basically replaced the nes's 4021 with a 74HC157 to get your controller hack working? That does make things more difficult, unless the playmessiah receiver is easy to dismantle, then you could do the same thing.

[Duo_R]

yes exactly, I replaced the chips exactly as you described. In the Sansui project I even replaced the NES turbo chip with a 74HC163 turbo chip so the circuitry is identicle to a Duo controller.

The main issue is taking 5 data lines and stepping up to 8, I don't think it is possible to get that to even work. Too bad because that controller rocks, but it would work in Wii using Gamecube to NES adapter!

[Zeon]

The only way to do that is with multiplexors and demultiplexors. Also technically there are 7 pins on the built in nes port we can utilize, the other two were used for peripherals such as the light gun. Though I am not sure how easy it is to extract the two normally unused pins.

[Duo_R]

I take it back, David Shadoff (old PCE guru) once stated that it is possible to do an external circuit adapter, but I am not smart enough to figure that one out.... 

[papa_november]

You should hack the SV-230 InterAct PC Propad. Although the built-in turbo may have to be sacrificed for the Select and Run buttons, it has the advantage of not being terribly valuable and can be found relatively easily for less (often much less) than say, an NES controller.

It's pretty hackable, I just modified one to work with my MSX and it's a fairly decent pad.