Amiga CD32 joypad - or modding a Sega one

[Rybags]

I've searched and found conflicting info everywhere on this subject.

 

Got myself a nice Amiga CD32, but it came without PSU, joypads or anything else.

 

Made up a cable to take care of the power issue, but now I need a joypad. On one forum I read that a Sega Genesis/Megadrive pad can be made to work by moving 2 wires and adding a resistor.

On at least 2 other sites I read comments where people had tried and it hadn't worked.

 

Does anyone know the real deal here? My understanding is that the joypad uses a select line which allows potentially 2 sets of 7 inputs to be selected, which allows the several extra buttons possible.

 

I've found what seems to be the right pinout diagrams for the CD32, but it would be nice to know what IC is used, and how. Even got an old PC joypad or two which I could potentially mod, although that could be a long shot.

[+remowilliams]

I've got a load of CD32 controllers. If I get the time (and remember) I'll take one apart.

[Jess Ragan]

I'd kind of like to know how the Amiga CD32 controller works as well, although I very rarely use mine. I find that emulation is actually MORE reliable than the actual system, which is an unflattering reflection of its quality.

[+remowilliams]

I find that emulation is actually MORE reliable than the actual system, which is an unflattering reflection of its quality.

I have no problems with either of my CD32s (the hyper expanded one, and the stock one). Most issues are in the PAL/NTSC area, or caused by trying to burn ancient ISOs on modern hardware.

[Rybags]

Are there any major pitfalls in the creation of burned CDs for the CD32?

 

Got a ton of stuff here in ISOs, just haven't bothered to do any copies yet.

 

 

remo: would be great if you could at least tell me what IC is inside this thing. Pics would be even better. Schematic would be the best.

 

Looks like I've got 3 paths to follow - mod an existing PC controller, obtain a Sega one and mod it, or buy a CD32 controller.

 

The machine is extremely rare here - don't even know if they bothered to market it new. I got mine fairly cheaply at $40 including postage, the alternative fuller system bundles I've seen listed come from Germany and would have been nearly $150.

Edited May 23, 2008 by Rybags

[+SpiceWare]

I find that emulation is actually MORE reliable than the actual system, which is an unflattering reflection of its quality.

Most issues are in the PAL/NTSC area, or caused by trying to burn ancient ISOs on modern hardware.

Same here - I just mark the CD cases PAL if I need to boot up in PAL mode for that game, and I've had lots of issues trying to burn ISOs for it.

[Warriorisabouttodie]

are there many games that use the extra buttons on the cd32 controller? Most Amiga games use oith ne fire button and you could use a Genesis gamepad without any modification.

[Jess Ragan]

You can't play Putty without a CD32 controller. However, I played the Super NES version of the same game and am starting to think that it wasn't much of a loss.

[Warriorisabouttodie]

You can't play Putty without a CD32 controller. However, I played the Super NES version of the same game and am starting to think that it wasn't much of a loss.

 

Couldn't you just play the regular version of Putty for the Amiga then you wouldn't need a second button on your controller. you can download cd's full of Amiga games, I think you could easily get away with using a cd32 without a cd32 controller nowadays right? There were so few cd32 games compared to Amiga even compared to AGA Amiga games (which are few compared to the ECS compatible) that I dont see how it would be a problem and since most cd32 games are conversions why would a second button be added, come to think of it what does the second button do in putty anyway?!?

[Ze_ro]

are there many games that use the extra buttons on the cd32 controller? Most Amiga games use oith ne fire button and you could use a Genesis gamepad without any modification.

One of my pet peeves about the CD32 is how poorly most games use the controller. There are TONS of games that completely ignore the rest of the buttons and force you to press up to jump, which was fine using a joystick on an Amiga, but does not work well at all on a gamepad.

 

Battletoads is especially awful on the CD32, using only one button. How do you manage to attack and jump with only one button? Well, let me tell you: NOT TOO WELL!!

 

--Zero

[ulao]

I know wthis thread is old but some may find this helpful.

 

http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/cd32faq2000.html#controllers

[Jess Ragan]

are there many games that use the extra buttons on the cd32 controller? Most Amiga games use oith ne fire button and you could use a Genesis gamepad without any modification.

One of my pet peeves about the CD32 is how poorly most games use the controller. There are TONS of games that completely ignore the rest of the buttons and force you to press up to jump, which was fine using a joystick on an Amiga, but does not work well at all on a gamepad.

 

That never worked well on anything, except versus fighting games. The fact that Commodore saddled the Amiga, a cutting edge 16-bit computer designed for heavy duty gaming, with a pathetic one button joystick makes me mad enough to spit nails. They could have made a two, even a three button joystick for the system without changing the design of the Amiga even one iota.

 

A one button joystick absolutely massacres the gameplay of dozens of otherwise well designed games... there was a Strider knock-off called Assassin that could have been very fun to play, if it weren't for the fact that up makes your character jump and climb on walls. Want to jump while you're clinging to a wall? Tough luck... you're stuck there until you reach the top, or you're killed by monsters. Screw that.

[oky2000]

Are there any major pitfalls in the creation of burned CDs for the CD32?

 

Got a ton of stuff here in ISOs, just haven't bothered to do any copies yet.

 

 

remo: would be great if you could at least tell me what IC is inside this thing. Pics would be even better. Schematic would be the best.

 

Looks like I've got 3 paths to follow - mod an existing PC controller, obtain a Sega one and mod it, or buy a CD32 controller.

 

The machine is extremely rare here - don't even know if they bothered to market it new. I got mine fairly cheaply at $40 including postage, the alternative fuller system bundles I've seen listed come from Germany and would have been nearly $150.

 

Don't buy an official Commodore controller, they are really crap. Find a 3rd party one made by Competition Pro (looks like a 3 button Megadrive controller).

[dreamcastrip]

Yep, I have a CD32 Competition Pro Joypad for my Amiga CD32 and have no complaints with it whatsoever.

[Ze_ro]

I have no complaints about the stock CD32 controller. I have three of them, and they all work perfectly fine.

 

The Competition Pro goes for a lot of money on eBay... I'm not too sure why either, since they don't seem all that rare (There's always at least one or two listed).

 

--Zero

[ulao]

Ok, all in case there is anyone wondering this, I figure it out.

 

First of in lame terms, the cd32 is capable of running in two modes. Atari and serialized mode. In Atari mode its up,down,left,right,button1, all normal switch like circuitry ( works for sega master and genesis, as one of the pots show a button 2 ) . In serialized mode its more like a simple clock based shift register. You still need to get the up,down.left,right from the atari mode, but the button data is done with a alternating clock.

 

pins..

PIN	DESCRIPTION
     P1:	Button UP
     P2:	Button DOWN
     P3:	Button LEFT
     P4:	Button RIGHT
     P5:	POT X
     P6:	Button Fire
     P7:	VCC (+5V)
     P8:	GND
     P9:	POT Y

 

 

 

Atari Mode

pin 5 is set to high, the shift register is then always in load , blue and red are tied to thats registers and seen as the button state are ( high or low )

 

serialized Mode

pin 5 is set to 0 this puts it in clock mode and first is set to high to load the register. Then with every rising edge on ping the button data is shifted to pin9.

Pin 5: LOAD/SHIFT	1	0	0	0	0	0	0 	0	0	0	0	0	0 	0	0	0	0
pin6: CLK	        LOAD 	1	0	1	0 	1	0	1	0	1	0 	1	0	1	0	1	0
pin9: BLUE                      BLUE    BLUE	RED	RED	YELLOW	YELLOW 	GREEN	GREEN   topRght topLeft PAUSE	PAUSE	1	1	0	0

Edited August 25, 2009 by ulao