Overview

I've used SNES9X for years, and it has evolved into a near perfect recreation of the real console. In fact, the only thing missing is the controller. I've tried to find good PC game pads, but they all feel funny or have compatibility problems or not enough buttons in the right places or something. If only they made a game controller just like the old SNES ones.

I tried searching for adapters that would let me plug my existing controllers into the game port on my PC or something, but I wasn't able to find anything. After that, the idea laid dormant in the back of my head for a while.

At some point I came across the idea of building a controller for my laptop so that I could control Winamp while driving without fumbling with a keyboard. Likewise, it'd be nice to close the lid so I wouldn't burn up precious battery life illuminating the display needlessly, but then you can't use the keyboard with the lid closed. So I figured maybe I could take a computer keyboard and rework it to have just five buttons (rew, play, pause, stop, fwd) in a much more compact case that I could easily use while driving. I didn't know much about electronics, but I did know how circuits worked, and a button is nothing but a circuit interrupted.

It worked quite nicely. From there, I began remembering my want of a SNES controller. This would be a bit trickier. There were more keys, and there was no way I'd fit that big keyboard circuit board inside a tiny SNES controller casing. Then I thought, well, if I put the circuit in a small box and then have a cord going to the controller that could work. There'd be no smarts in the controller, just wires and contacts. The more I thought about it the more I liked this solution. Not only would it solve the space problem, but it would allow me to attach multiple controllers, too. Each controller would simply use a different subset of keys. Excellent.

And so I got to work.

Next >>