My new genesis arcade controller.

[war2thegrave]

I just finished building my genesis arcade controller.
The offical sega 6-button joystick is nice, but it's a far
cry from the real thing, so I decided to build my own.

I started out building a controller to use on the jamma
supergun that I had planned on building, but I gave up
since I couldn't afford it.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i212/war2thegrave/PC080066.jpg

I had planned on making it both neo geo and jamma+ compatible
which is why the button layout is set up like that.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i212/war2thegrave/PC070068.jpg

The box that I used was a carrying case for my psp.
I thought that I was a decent size for an arcade stick
so I removed all of the crap that was inside and cut out
the joystick and button holes.

Once I stopped working on the supergun. I thought I could
still use the joystick on my genesis since it already had enough
buttons to use a a 6-button controller.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i212/war2thegrave/controller.jpg

The controller I sacrificed for this is a 6-button performance
superpad. It took a while to find a good 6-button controller,
but this one worked perfectly.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i212/war2thegrave/top.jpg

I swapped all of the colored buttons for black buttons except
for the green one, which if for the mode button.

The joystick I used is a sanwa jlw. It can be switched to be
either a 4-way or an 8-way joystick by turning the restrictor
plate on the bottom. This joystick has a nice feel to it and is
very responsive. I used this joystick on my arcade cabinet
when I was running both my tetris and tetris plus boards.

Most of the buttons are from happ except for 2 which are
x-arcade since I ran out of black happ buttons.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i212/war2thegrave/back.jpg

On the back is a 9-pin d-sub connector since I decided to make
the cable removeable. There is also a 3-way switch which controls
normal, turbo, and slow mode functions on the controller PCB.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i212/war2thegrave/cable.jpg

This is the removable controller cable. It can also be used as an
extention cable with a standard genesis controller.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i212/war2thegrave/inside-1.jpg

The inside, showing the bottom of the joystick, buttons,
the controller pcb, and all of the soldering.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i212/war2thegrave/bottom.jpg

Finally the bottom.
I moved the feet that were located on the end of the case
and mounted them on the bottom.

Now, I'm gonna test it out on a few games and see if it works
like is should.

[gamegenie]

I like how you modeled the layout after the MK3 arcade http://www.systemwars.com/forums/images/smilies/love.gif

[TjN001]

Impressive! That would be really neat to have.:D

[17daysolderthannes]

I like the suitcase idea, I had been thinking about what would make a good arcade stick case without having to make one myself out of wood. As an added bonus, if a button/joystick direction ever stops working, you can just open it right up and fix it without having to tear the thing apart.

Just a few things to mention though:

1) you say it took you a while to find a good/working 6-button controller, you know most stick/unresponsive controllers are due to years of wear and dirt on the silicon membranes, right? Usually the PCB is all gravy, it just may need some cleaning.

2) Also, if you are encountering any problems/glitches, that particular 6-button you used has toggle switches for turbo and ?slow? (I've personally seen that pad a few days ago, but I don't remember what the switches were for), remember that those traces need to be bridged or the controller won't work. I had to do this on a Hori NES pad that had a broken switch from the previous owner, I sacrificed the useless "slow" function to fix it.

*small edit* I see you addressed that with a toggle switch, but thought I would leave this for others making one.

3) Don't forget that the joystick switches are wired backwards, in other words, pushing the joystick "up" activates the bottom switch and pushing the joystick "left" activates the right switch. If you are getting signals reversed, there is your problem.

You may already be aware of and/or corrected these problems, but I thought I would mention them anyway if someone wanted to replicate this joystick and didn't know.

I do have a question though: I see you only soldered to one side of each button, aren't all video game controller PCB buttons a signal and a ground and when you push the button it grounds out that signal? In other words, you can just connect all the switches to a common ground when making the joystick? I know you can solder to each side of every button, but using a common ground would be much faster and technically a little less risky since the less soldering=less chance of damage.

edit: I just noticed another handy feature of using a suitcase: portability. Now you can take your own custom joystick to a competition even more easily. Just detach the external cable, throw it in the case, and grab the handle and go. Much less bulky than fiddling with a 9 foot cable and a 3X3 foot chunk of arcade cabinet like most high end joysticks. This would be a good solution for a 360 owner since Microsoft only allows a select few to make official 360 joysticks and the only good one is the SF IV stick (which NO ONE can get) and is actually pretty overrated IMO.

[Jesse813]

it looks awesome ;)

[Chameleon86]

Cool controller.

[The Sports Guy]

Balls deep, bro! (thats a good thing).

[Samamo]

I don't really like it i'd prefer a normal one but great effort looks tricky.

[war2thegrave]

Well, it doesn't work.

It seems that the cable was pretty messed up, so I need to replace it.

I have a couple of 3 button genesis controllers that I can steal a new
cable from, but the color coded wire pinout on the performance controller
is different than the pinout for the sega branded controllers.

I'll have to figure this one out.

SEGA CONTROLLER PINOUT:

PIN - WIRE COLOR

1 - brown
2 - red
3 - orange
4 - yellow
5 - green
6 - blue
7 - grey
8 - black
9 - white

PERFORMANCE CONTROLLER PINOUT:

PIN - WIRE COLOR

1 - yellow
2 - brown
3 - green
4 - blue
5 - white
6 - grey
7 - black
8 - red
9 - orange

Well, I guess i've got some work to do.

[17daysolderthannes]

psssst, get a real Sega 6-button. Problem solved.

[war2thegrave]

If I had found one, than I would have.

I did find another sega six button joystick, but I don't feel
right about destroying one of those just so I can have an arcade stick.

It's a different story when it comes down to third party
and 3 button sega branded controllers though.
Nobody really gives a shit if I tear those apart.

[17daysolderthannes]

I hear you, that's why I'm thinking of buying a Sega 6-button from a friend that has the "c-button" membrane all fucked up from apparent previous owner abuse in case I ever want to turn it into a full blown arcade stick.

[sketch]

Using a case for a joystick is both brilliant and hilarious! Nice work...

[gamegenie]

there are plenty of Sega 6-button arcade sticks for Genesis on ebay. I personally prefer the 6-button arcade pad controller instead.

[Chris]

Cool controller, nicely done

[KillerBean2]

Just finished building myself a 6-button arcade stick. I have tried to make a stick that reflects my thoughts on how the official stick should have looked like if it was more hardcore. But it still has so much "homemade" feel to it, that Sega (hopefully) won't sue me :D

http://www.mastersystem.dk/stuff/stick/top.jpg

http://www.mastersystem.dk/stuff/stick/front.jpg

http://www.mastersystem.dk/stuff/stick/back.jpg

http://www.mastersystem.dk/stuff/stick/guts.jpg

[Yfrid]

aweosome! looks really solid. i will make one someday, but more like this:
(i've edited your pic :p)
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/779/paste1.jpg

[KillerBean2]

Cool, but in my opinion it won't feel comfortable to have the stick and the buttons placed like that. Trust me :)

[Christuserloeser]

Just finished building myself a 6-button arcade stick. I have tried to make a stick that reflects my thoughts on how the official stick should have looked like if it was more hardcore. But it still has so much "homemade" feel to it, that Sega (hopefully) won't sue me :D

http://www.mastersystem.dk/stuff/stick/front.jpg

Okay, now that is awesome! :D

[beigemore]

Can never go wrong with SF2 style 6 button layout for anything.

[N.Saibot]

This is awesome, but why did you switch the buttons? A, B and C should be on the
bottom, not the top! Or is it to match the layout of SFII in the arcade? I never played
those ones.

[Christuserloeser]

^ heh, I didn't even notice that.

[17daysolderthannes]

where did you get that case? or did you make it? I really like the simple/clean black box look of it.

[KillerBean2]

Can never go wrong with SF2 style 6 button layout for anything.

I think Capcom placed the buttons on straight rows:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9811

I'm just using a standard Japanese layout :)


but why did you switch the buttons? A, B and C should be on the
bottom, not the top!

It just feels most natural to me. On an arcade stick you don't use the thumb to hit the buttons, and the top row therefore have the most relaxed position for the hand, I guess.


where did you get that case? or did you make it?

I hired a blacksmith to make me the case out of 2mm iron and painted it myself :)

[beigemore]

I mean 3 buttons on top of 3 buttons in general will get you the most playability. :)

[OldSchool]

I wish I had the patience to learn how to do that.


:rock: on:!:

[OldSchool]

Just finished building myself a 6-button arcade stick. I have tried to make a stick that reflects my thoughts on how the official stick should have looked like if it was more hardcore. But it still has so much "homemade" feel to it, that Sega (hopefully) won't sue me :D

http://www.mastersystem.dk/stuff/stick/top.jpg

http://www.mastersystem.dk/stuff/stick/front.jpg

http://www.mastersystem.dk/stuff/stick/back.jpg

http://www.mastersystem.dk/stuff/stick/guts.jpg

Damn... that's clean.

Can you make me one for PS2 with Arcade quality parts? :p

[17daysolderthannes]

I hired a blacksmith to make me the case out of 2mm iron and painted it myself :)

http://ibexinc.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/shocked-face.jpg

iron really isn't the best choice, though, as iron rusts (I can already see a little in that photo of the inside). I would've gone with stainless steel personally. CNC cut aluminum and then bolted together would've been a nice choice too, but it wouldn't look the same.

[fatboy]

@War2thegrave:
That is a really slick idea, using a carrying case as the body of an arcade stick! As others have said, it'll be dead easy to service/repair it down the road.

@Killerbean2:
That is super-sexy! I think that's My new favorite homemade arcade stick!

[KillerBean2]

iron really isn't the best choice, though, as iron rusts (I can already see a little in that photo of the inside). I would've gone with stainless steel personally.

I know :( I might give it some lacquer later.



Can you make me one for PS2 with Arcade quality parts? :p

Sure, but I'll have to charge you a ridiculously large amount of money for it :D

[fr@ser]

aweosome! looks really solid. i will make one someday, but more like this:
(i've edited your pic :p)
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/779/paste1.jpg

If you move the stick to where you have it,you might find you get an ache in your wrist from it hanging over the bottom of the case,a bit like what you get with a keyboard.

[T2KFreeker]

Man, those sticks look awesome. The idea of the iron used for the base though is cool too. It won't rust if it is taken care of. Awesome.

[Duane Dibbley]

Those are pretty cool. How much did they cost to make?