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Atari 7800 / 2600 / SMS NES style controllers V1.2


DanthWader

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I have an oddball question. I have a NT Mini. It was originally designed to be a high end NES clone. That means it has 4 NES controller ports on the front. The system has been jail broken and has cores for the A2600 and A7800. Wondering if it is possible to convert A2600 paddles to a NES connector. Or even an adapter. Would it be difficult? I know there would be a niche market for this.

NES Paddles (Vaus / Arkanoid controllers) are fairly rare and obscure, but I do own one.

 

Atari paddles are dirt common, and you can easily remove the jitters if you take the time to disassemble the controller and spray compressed air and contact cleaner into the pots, followed by vigorous swiping. Once you clean the dust and grime out, they are good as new again.

 

Brian Parker of RetroUSB had a schematic for a Atari to NES Vaus adapter for Atari paddles, but never released it because "no demand."

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Yes I have, i'm just not entirely sure I personally could pull it off. It would need to be a simplified xbox/ps controller. I can do this with an snes controller where the 4-buttons can act like a directional pad, but it is not real comfortable. dual d-pads or toggles would do the trick. I personally couldn't afford get custom shells made, ATM i just get NES controller shells in black and slightly mod them(aftermarket shells are not identical OEM).

I can attest to this. The SNES pad for Robotron like games is not ideal. I have played the Spook-O-Tron NES homebrew with SNES pads but it could use improvement.

 

For starters, the buttons are too far apart. I think it would be more viable on a DS or Joycon though. The Joycon buttons are placed close enough together they make a remarkable substitute for a Dpad. The SNES diamond is nearly twice as big and just doesn't work as well in that capacity. That said, the SNES pad is infinitely more comfortable than Joycon for action type games.

 

Size does matter. I've got an SNES/Atari Spook-O-Tron/Robotron arcade controller sitting on the back burner right now. Just haven't gotten around to finishing it.

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The SNES pad for Robotron like games is not ideal.

 

For starters, the buttons are too far apart.

This... It is a larger spacing which makes it a bit uncomfortable. Other then designing a new controller from the floor up i'm not sure what controller would be the perfect fit for the 2600/7800.

 

I put some more goodies in the shop. check it out.... http://www.itsallgeek3d.com

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Got mine this morning and wanted to say THANK YOU! Love the cart shells and the controller is outstanding! I'll definitely be ordering more to have spares when friends come over. The buttons and pads have really great action on them and it is the best feeling controller for the 7800 I have.

The cart shells also look great and assembles easy. My loose 2600 Mouse Trap pcb went in easy and my 7800 Centipede has a new home.

 

My only question about the cart shell is the two screw holes near the label end keep 7800 Supercart pcbs from fitting. If the screw wells/basins were shorter the pcb could still fit if the user left those two screws out. Is that change practical, or would it cause other problems?

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My only question about the cart shell is the two screw holes near the label end keep 7800 Supercart pcbs from fitting. If the screw wells/basins were shorter the pcb could still fit if the user left those two screws out. Is that change practical, or would it cause other problems?

A v2 design with the post in the center may fix this. I would still like to see the screw hole face opposite the label so that it can be opened without damage. Nintendo did this with NES and later cart based systems. You would meed at the very least rear hooks to keep the shell stable with one screw. Original Atari/Sears branded 2600/7800 shells snap together fairly well with no screws at all.
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My only question about the cart shell is the two screw holes near the label end keep 7800 Supercart pcbs from fitting. If the screw wells/basins were shorter the pcb could still fit if the user left those two screws out. Is that change practical, or would it cause other problems?

This plastic is very malleable, easy to trim anything doing with an xacto knife. I personally would try to keep all four screws in. shoot me some photos of the effect and I can alter the model.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I will on the next one; I already epoxied this one. :) The supercart pcb was a Donkey Kong . I think Commando, BallBlazer, One on One and a few others are also on this pcb. Basically I think its the Pokey games.

I've got another cart on the way, I need a good above view and side view shot to edit the model a bit. I wont need super exact measurements, more of a general understanding.

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post-30305-0-84231100-1531397091_thumb.jpg

 

post-30305-0-52123600-1531397166_thumb.jpg

 

I hope this helps. The Supercart pcb was for the games that may or may not use Pokey, but they all have this T design. You can see here where the pcb overlaps the end label side screw wells. For Supecarts to fit and maybe others the back (thinner half of the cart shell) needs the top screw wells lowered so the pcb can lay flat on top of it and the shell can still be closed around it. I circled the problem area in the top photo.

 

post-30305-0-07154900-1531398234_thumb.jpg

 

Also, just wanted to share the results of my first two shells. I had a nekkid Frogger and DK7800 that had to have a new home. DK lost his shell to my Double Dragon/Rampage multicart years ago and Frogger's was destroyed when I found it in a yard sale.

Parker Bros pcbs don't fit anything btw. To get him in his new home took a cradle of LEGOs and a little epoxy, but I think the results look nice. Maybe Atari should have went with more colorful cart shells back in the day. It was the 80's after all. :)

 

Just wanted to share and say thank you!

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I finally opened my bubble mailer containing the overlay. The silver logo on black will go perfect with my beige nes/7800 converted controller. I wanted to say that while the texture appears ripped in photos, is is silky smooth on the topside. I just need to find a suitable glue. Superglue causes white crazing marks on certain plastics sometimes so I don't wanna risk that.

 

Darthwander also gave me two samples of "factory seconds". One was a black text on silver with a defect in the filament causing light to shine through cracks through the black Atari logo. The other was a slick looking green on black, but the green are very transparent. I think the backside would need to be painted white to make the green area truly opaique.

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I've come up with a pretty good solution, but i'll label that version as 7800 only. I'm going to extend the cart a bit so the board doesn't interfere with the top screws.

 

Still need to figure out a way to have you make a 7800 cart shell design to accommodate the Mateos 16 in 1 so those getting them these days don't have to hack up the carts themselves. Or at the least make the shell so it is open on the top like what is needed for the earlier versions and mine that I redid to slim it it down to fit.

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I just need to find a suitable glue. Superglue causes white crazing marks on certain plastics sometimes so I don't wanna risk that.

I have had good luck with contact cement for like counter tops with oddball flat stuff

 

You can get a small bottle at the big box hardware store by the rest of the glue

 

Another thing might be 3m trim tape at the auto store as its silly strong and thin

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Those labels on the carts look incredible! I'll have to adjust the screw holes up top for sure. what about the middle part where the PCB sits on the plastic, does that deter installation at all?

attachicon.gifpost-30305-0-52123600-1531397166_thumb.jpg

 

 

You need clips on the end pieces, then you secure it with two screws instead of four and everything fits.

 

You shut down your shop? :_(

It happens. People get full time jobs. Other hobbies. Births / Deaths / Marriage / Divorce / sickness in the family. Living arrangements change. Mortgage / bills happen. Or maybe they just need extra time for bowel movements. :P

 

As an example, I still have unfinished joystick woodboxes sitting in piles in the garage. Now my hobbies are shifting (I recently acquired a kiln) and I'm building and firing ceramics on my patio.

 

Also PMP just went AWOL again... :sad:

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It happens. People get full time jobs. Other hobbies. Births / Deaths / Marriage / Divorce / sickness in the family. Living arrangements change. Mortgage / bills happen. Or maybe they just need extra time for bowel movements. :P

 

As an example, I still have unfinished joystick woodboxes sitting in piles in the garage. Now my hobbies are shifting (I recently acquired a kiln) and I'm building and firing ceramics on my patio.

 

It was a bowel movement. Its moved now.

But yes a situation happened and I now have two full time jobs, I'm getting "overtime" at both as well. Needless to say I've been hammered, I've had three days off in two months now. It will all be worth it in a few months but I wont be very active. in about 4-5 months I'll be right back on my original schedule and start making more controllers. On a bad note, I had a shipment (albeit small) of 10 "prototype" controllers... they were the same controller, just fully assembled in china. I hadn't come up with packaging yet, I may have sold a few but they truly were for testing. They went missing during shipment, I decided to cheap out and send it by sea to save $$$ on shipping. It takes a month or two to arrive, if it arrives. The printed labels were garbage though, nevertheless money I didn't want to lose.

I may try and get some PCBs printed in the meantime. You can buy black nes controller on ebay and build the thing, might not be cheap, but its something right? ;-)

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When DW was first talking to me about using my files as a starting point I had mentioned something along the lines of it becoming another job so have at it... it takes a lot of time and tedious dull repetitive work to be a 1 man factory, then yea life or something

Edited by Osgeld
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When DW was first talking to me about using my files as a starting point I had mentioned something along the lines of it becoming another job so have at it... it takes a lot of time and tedious dull repetitive work to be a 1 man factory, then yea life or something

It got pretty serious too! I think my total was around 200 controllers sold. I think I sold around 40 DIY kits as well, after putting together kits i quickly realized it takes about the same time to just assemble the damn thing :woozy: .

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