For those of us who can’t be bothered to dig out or N64 whenever we want to play Ocarina of Time or our NES whenever we get the urge to play Battletoads, emulators are a godsend. There is a problem, though. A keyboard doesn’t provide the right experience as a the classic NES ‘brick’ or the N64 tritopus controllers. Enter the Funtendo, a breakout box that converts all your well-loved controllers to USB.
The Funtendo uses the Gadget Gangster Propeller Platform with a terminal block module. Putting together the electronics is fairly easy; just strip the ends of the controllers and screw them down to the terminal blocks. N64, NES and Wii Classic Controllers are supported by the Funtendo. Going for the Classic Controller over a Super Nintendo controller reduces the complexity of the build. The Classic Controller can play SNES games and uses an I2C bus, making it easier to wire.
For interfacing the controllers to the computer, the Parallax Propeller Tool, Parallax serial terminal, and PPJoy convert button mashing into readable buttons for the emulator. The build may take more time than pulling an NES out of the attic, but even with a large project box it takes up much less space.
Check out the demo of the Funtendo after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEHj2ExjhK0&w=470]
I’ve always that it’d be classier to salvage the controller connectors from a broken system. That way, you don’t need to destroy the controllers to use them on your computer.
In the link it shows him using controller extension cords instead of cutting the original controller. He even has a tip about plugging the controller into the extension cord so you know which end to keep.
You don’t, just look around. http://www.bliss-box.net/Bliss-Box/KS.php
ok but can you make a supernintendo chalmers?
@Zuul,
There is actually both room on the Terminal Module, and some Propeller Spin code for the Super Nintendo controller. (In otherwords, I could add it easily enough) For sake of simplicity for the project, I opted to use the newer “Supernintendo-like” Wii Classic controller.
Hey Jeff,
Could you perhaps provide some extra details? I’ve just ordered the parts and would much prefer to add a SNES controller (it’s my favorite system) instead of the wii classic controller. This is my first build so bear with me =]
Now does the N64 Controllers support rumble?
What, no VirtualBoy support? That’s three whole games being emulated without the original controller.
It’s actually a pretty fantastic controller…
IIRC, it really wasn’t. 2 D-pads sounds cool but I’m sure I remember they were really stiff and terrible to use.
I’ve been using mine all year and I love it :P
Definitely feels like the missing link between the SNES and N64 in controller evolution.