It is important that there is absolutely no space in between the acrylic and the front of the controller-and to ensure this I filed down the edges of the perforation. The vaseline ensures that the epoxy does not bound to the acrylic. I first taped a piece of acrylic with the side facing the controller slightly lubed with vaseline tightly to the front of the controller. To fill the remaining hole in the controller case I used regular epoxy glue. It is easy to cut out the part with the perforation in place. To remove the section around the unwanted Select and Start buttons, I used a small hand drill to make a perforarion around the section surrounding the buttons. As the buttons Select and Start doesn't have any functions in this scenario, I want to get rid of them. The control becomes less accurate that way and my plan to remedy this is to give button B on the NES controller the same function as up on the D-pad. One thing that I find annoying playing games on the C64 is sideways control when the stick simultaneously must be used to perform jumps. Modifications to the caseīecause the NES controller has four buttons besides the D-pad, three of them won't have any function by default. The plastic is a bit less blueish and more of a redish gray, wich I view as a good thing-it is going to blend in better with the rest of my Commodore 64 gear compared to an original NES controller. I found one called RetroLink wich really looks and feels like the real thing. I used it alot as a kid-this is the controller I want to modify.Īs I don't want to trash any of my existing NES controllers and the fact that it is nice to have a new one, I started to look for brand new USB gamepads. It does not have a ton of buttons, it feels nice and it is from roughly the same time period as the Commodore 64. The idea was to buy an USB gamepad and make it Atari compatible.
It was time to take the matter in my own hands.
One of them has a (bad) physical lock and all buttons are ridiculously tall. The three buttons on the left all function as fire. On mine two directions on the D-pad made a harsh type of sound when pressed while the other two where pretty silent and had a more tactile feel to them. It has a totally cheap, light and flimsy feeling to it. Sadly this gamepad is a complete piece of crap. I was however able to find another gamepad currently in producion-namely the Matt Boomerang, whereupon I ordered one. But I have learnt that they might do damage to the computer when connected to a Commodore 64. My first thought was simply to get my hands on a new Sega Genesis controller. My finished NESsy gamepad next to the RetroLink! Existing gamepads A gamepad is in my opinion superior to a joystick in all aspects they are more responsive, have better ergonomics and are cheaper to produce. One thing that I really can't get through my head is why joysticks continued to be the main game controller type for these computers for such a long time after NES and SEGA Master System entered the scene. If you on the other hand, are looking for a gamepad-you are pretty limited in your options.Īvailable or not, I really wanted a good gamepad to use with my Commodore 64. If you are searching for an Atari compatible joystick for your classic computer you have plenty of options at your hands. Sunday, August 21, 2016 Gamepad for retro computers