I searched the forum but couldn’t find anything on this..

Is there a tutorial somewheer to create a SNES controller that works on the Virtual Boy?

Here’s the Project VB page:
http://www.projectvb.com/mods/controllers/ninadapt.html

I’ve got a few SNES controllers I can use for donors, what else do I need to use?

Ideally I’d ike to make a straight SNES controller with a VB adaptor on the end (as opposed to a combi like the image above)…

Custom controllers for the VB suffer the same problem as the link cable: proprietary connectors. You have two basic choices:

1) Get a VB pad and swap cables with an SNES pad.
2) Build a copy of the VB controller’s plug.

(In either case, you’ll obviously have to include some provision for powering the VB and switching it on/off).

I’ve made a passable VB controller socket using the socket from an NES. The SNES connector is basically an unfolded NES connector, so it may be possible to use parts from an SNES (or NES) plug to build a VB-compatible plug. I’ve never heard of anyone doing it, but that’s probably where I’d start, if you don’t want to use a donor controller.

As for whether to modify the controller or build an adapter, I’d say build an adapter.
1. the SNES pad remains stock, and can be easily replaced when worn out.
2. You can swap it out for a wireless pad, arcade stick, etc.
3. If you use an SNES extension cable to get the female connector for the adapter, you can use the male end of said cable on the donor VB pad, plug it into the adapter, and still use it. (You could even plug the modded VB pad into an SNES, but I’ve heard there may be compatibility problems with some games).
4. It makes the power-supply and switching problems easier to solve.

Attached is a photo of one I made. The black blob closer to the SNES end is a lamp switch. It’s made to be wired in-line with the lamp’s power cord. Besides providing the power switch, it doubled as a usable (if a little cramped) housing for all of the wiring connections. Power is supplied through a standard barrel jack.

Attachments:

1. 

   snes_pad_adapter.png
   

Thank you, thank you for these points and the FAQ of sorts, I really do appreciate it.

Trouble is, I really don’t think I can make one of these, and to top it I was hoping to make two.

Is there any chance I could commission one from you or someone else on the board? I’d love to be able to play with one of these.

Making it isn’t too difficult, you just need a donor controller (for the cable) and a donor socket (SNES extension cord)… plus a power connector. It uses the same communication protocol as the SNES, so it’s just a matter of connecting the power, ground, clock, data, and latch pins from one to the other.

But just FYI… it’s not all that useful. The controller mapping has overlap, but obviously the VB has more buttons than the SNES. And IIRC, the A and B buttons aren’t connected, and instead, A/B/X/Y are the equivalent of the right D-pad. That really limits the usefulness.

DogP

That might be really simple to you DogP but I already got lost when you got to ground, clock, data etc…

Is there any chance you’d consider making one or two for me if I sent the bits and paid you for your time? It wouldn’t have to be right away or anything, but I’d really, really appreciate it.

If not I could try myself but I have tried things like this in the past even with 1:1 controllers and I just made a balls up of it.

DogP wrote:
But just FYI… it’s not all that useful. The controller mapping has overlap, but obviously the VB has more buttons than the SNES.

Finally somebody mentions this! I was thinking this might be a problem, but couldn’t find SNES documentation in time before my brain popped this thread from the stack.

L___E___T wrote:
That might be really simple to you DogP but I already got lost when you got to ground, clock, data etc…

Basically, you would need a little adapter board that converts from SNES to VB format for you. Depending on the maximum clock rate of the VB joypad chip (BU3613F?), you can
[list]
[*]oversample the joypad
[*]sample way faster than the original VB[/list]

A little ATtiny would be able to do this trick, for instance.

cYa,

Tauwasser

Wah, that’s well outside the realm of how far I can get with this 🙁

Essentially, I would just love to play some VB games with a SNES controller – can someone help me out? I really do need (or least would be super grateful for) someone to help me out here.

I am def willing to pay for a commission on this, I really hope someone can help me out – I have zero electronics knowledge and what’s more I can barely solder, sorry it’s not my forte.

I’m good with artwork and really good at some things, but this isn’t one of them 🙂

L___E___T wrote:
Is there any chance you’d consider making one or two for me if I sent the bits and paid you for your time? It wouldn’t have to be right away or anything, but I’d really, really appreciate it.

Sorry… I don’t have the parts on hand, nor the time/desire to do it. :/

Tauwasser wrote:
Basically, you would need a little adapter board that converts from SNES to VB format for you. Depending on the maximum clock rate of the VB joypad chip (BU3613F?), you can
[list]
[*]oversample the joypad
[*]sample way faster than the original VB[/list]

A little ATtiny would be able to do this trick, for instance.

The VB already talks the same protocol as the SNES, so there’s no need for another MCU. The problem is just that when the VB reads the SNES pad, the mapping has the left D-pad, L/R triggers, and Start/Select correct… but rather than A/B, it has A/B/X/Y as the right D-Pad. So, there are no A/B buttons. If you pulled apart the SNES pad, you might be able to fix it by jumpering some wires… depending if it actually has a chip with all the inputs exposed, or one of the 3rd party controllers with the epoxy glob (but then it’d no longer be usable as an SNES controller).

DogP

No prob DogP, if anyone can help me out I will make it worth their while – I have donor controllers set up to run with, just don’t have the skills.

This is only going to be used for one demo in particular but it’s worth it in my eyes to play it that way as an alternative.

It’s ultimately the power that confuses me – having that separate cable makes it complicated.

[Tauwasser]

DogP wrote:
The VB already talks the same protocol as the SNES, so there’s no need for another MCU. […] If you pulled apart the SNES pad, you might be able to fix it by jumpering some wires…

Well, I’d imagine the different inputs doing different kinds of debouncing, maybe even different hold states (i.e. report pressing start only once, while D-PAD is reported continuously etc.)

So I’d say it’s a pretty big jump from “might be hot-wirable” to “no MCU required”. An MCU will definitely work. Also, you could do cool settings like “mirror right D-PAD onto left D-PAD”, have the battery monitoring right etc.

@L___E___T wrote:
Wah, that’s well outside the realm of how far I can get with this 🙁

It’s not as hard as it sounds. With a little initial investment you can rig something up, learn some electronics in the process and have a great time!

EDIT: While I’m not in any position to take on additional work or even commissions right now, I would like to point out that qwertymodo over at byuu’s site has some experience with the SNES protocol as well as hardware engineering.
Check this out. I remember him selling a few of his boards, so maybe he’d be willing to take on a commission on this SNES2VB adapter board.

cYa,

Tauwasser

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Tauwasser.

Tauwasser wrote:

DogP wrote:
The VB already talks the same protocol as the SNES, so there’s no need for another MCU. […] If you pulled apart the SNES pad, you might be able to fix it by jumpering some wires…

Well, I’d imagine the different inputs doing different kinds of debouncing, maybe even different hold states (i.e. report pressing start only once, while D-PAD is reported continuously etc.)

So I’d say it’s a pretty big jump from “might be hot-wirable” to “no MCU required”. An MCU will definitely work. Also, you could do cool settings like “mirror right D-PAD onto left D-PAD”, have the battery monitoring right etc.

Yeah, you certainly COULD use an MCU… I was just saying that it’s not at all necessary. With no MCU it definitely will work, just with no A/B… and there are plenty of fairly simple workarounds to get A/B working. The OP was already overwhelmed by simply cutting and splicing wires like the adapters that RunnerPack and I have made… I don’t see a need to confuse things by adding an MCU and writing code to get just a bit more functionality (like those programmable controllers that always seemed like a great idea when you bought them, but never ended up using any of the extra functionality). I used an MCU to control a VB with a Playstation 2 controller and Wii nunchuk… but obviously those require translation, since their protocols are completely different, unlike the SNES.

From a quick image search… it looks like OEM SNES controllers have a V520B IC… I’m not sure if it’s actually only 12-bits, or if just has the other pins unused. It’s a 20 pin chip, like the BU3613F, so you may even be able to swap the BU3613F directly over from your donor VB controller, if you can’t use the stock V520B.

DogP

Why would anyone want to use something other than a VB controller? It’s one of the best one Nintendo ever made. Nice big handles, clicky but not too clicky d-pads and buttons and good triggers.

Besides, the SNES controller doesn’t have enough buttons. Sure you could omit the right d-pad, but why bother then?

3DBoyColor wrote:
Why would anyone want to use something other than a VB controller?
Besides, the SNES controller doesn’t have enough buttons.

Short answer – to use specifically for the Hyper Fighting demo.

The SNES / SFC controller was designed with Street Fighter 2 significantly in mind, so I’d like to try Hyper Fighting out again on VB with a Super Famicom controller.

You’re right the VB controller is great and is unique – charming even, but I’d really like to test the demo out with the SFC controller.

So just for that one experience, not as a replacement, but as an option. I have someone who’s helping me be able to do that – so a very big thank you to that person, I super appreciate it and can’t wait.

You’d be better off with a Genesis 6-button controller, now that was designed for Street Fighter and the like. The SNES controller is weird having some of the buttons moved over to triggers.

3DBoyColor wrote:
You’d be better off with a Genesis 6-button controller, now that was designed for Street Fighter and the like. The SNES controller is weird having some of the buttons moved over to triggers.

Now that would require the use of a microcontroller.

3DBoyColor wrote:
You’d be better off with a Genesis 6-button controller, now that was designed for Street Fighter and the like. The SNES controller is weird having some of the buttons moved over to triggers.

On the contrary as much as I love Genesis (for me it’s MegaDrive) I don’t think the 6 button pad is as good. It has 6 buttons on the face but I find the SNES pad’s L/R buttons easier to twitch press than the extra 2 on the front of the SEGA pad.

Add to that, that the VB and SNES both being Nintendo consoles feels like a more apt fit, the easier build methods and also that I first played SF2 on a SNES pad many moons ago, I wouldn’t consider another controller for this little fix.

Maybe the ideal is a Saturn pad, as it has those 6 buttons plus shoulder L/R. I never had nor played a Saturn though so not considering it.

You might be surprised that overall my favourite 16-bit console port probably is the MegaDrive though, it’s amazing with the 6 button arcade stick and with a good pair of headphones, on an RGB CRT.

I didn’t realize you’re in Great Britain, I would have said Mega Drive then.

Well, that’s fine if Hyper Fighting plays best with that.

If you mean the Mega Drive port of Street Fighter II, no I’m not surprised. It has better music than the muddy SNES version and has a better resolution than both the PCE and SNES versions. The only thing the MD version lacks in is the voice sampling.

Funny you say that, did you see the patch that fixes that? You can see it and grab it here:

And the full details are here:
http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?28108-Street-Fighter-2-new-Z80-PCM-sound-driver-project

So after that the only downer if you consider it one is the colour range. Ironically I prefer the Megadrive’s jucier palette – it has charm while the SNES version looks a bit like a watered down CPS2.

Some info that I will be using to make my own snes pad to VB.

Virtual boy pad wire colours:
Yellow – data
Blue – +5v
Brown – latch
Orange – clock
Black – ground
Red – battery supply voltage

Snes pad:
Red – data
White – +5v
Orange – latch
Yellow – clock
Brown – ground

Thanks for the added info, that’s a helpful share thank you 🙂

Trying to identify what size power socket I would need for building a VB to SNES controller

My plan is VB controller cable to a RadioShack project box that will house the snes port and power socket.

I should only need to solder the cables like mentioned a few posts above, correct? and then solder Power and one ground to the power socket, correct? No need for a controller?

This will be used for HF demo and games like Bound High.