Jump to content
IGNORED

Convert NES Zapper to SNES (FC Twin) controler port?


OPC Other peoples Consoles

Recommended Posts

Hello all, new to the site but I'm a serious old schooler at heart, having just resurrected my N64 and Dreamcast machines this past week. While talking about fixing them (minor solder trace corrections) a coworker asked me if it were possible to convert her NES zapper gun to the FC Twin (SNES style) controller port. She's provided me a dead controller (spilled pop into it) and the zapper gun. She really wants to play Duck Hunt and Hogans Alley and I'd love to be her hero (hey she's cute, what can I say!?) by making this happen for her. There's only 4 wires on the zapper gun and 7 for the FC Twin controller (which don't color match very closely to the SNES Pinouts I've found) so a yes/no/walkthrough would be wonderful. I'm an experienced tech but don't have most of my usual tools (volt meter, ammeter, etc...) handy at the moment but I'll save that story for another day, so any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

 

Josh in Sioux Falls

 

***edit***

 

Sorry for the dupe posting, my computer hiccuped right when I hit submit and I think I ended up hitting it twice in short succession!

Edited by OPC Other peoples Consoles
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if anyone's done it. There's pinout detail of NES Zapper on the internet but there's no pinout detail for the NES clones or NES/SNES twin clones.

 

It is possible NES Zapper can be hacked, but then again, the required pins on the FC Twin may not be present and NES Zapper games are not compatible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...
I don't know if anyone's done it. There's pinout detail of NES Zapper on the internet but there's no pinout detail for the NES clones or NES/SNES twin clones.

 

It is possible NES Zapper can be hacked, but then again, the required pins on the FC Twin may not be present and NES Zapper games are not compatible.

 

I know this is a VERY old thread, but I just discovered that you CAN use original NES accessories on the FC Twin. So far, I only got my NES brick, dogbone and NES Advantage controllers working, but can't get the damn Zapper to work just yet. Just felt I'd get your hopes up, as this will also be useful for owners of the RetroDuo.

 

By the way, anyone got the pinouts of the Super Scope or any Super NES specialty controllers? I think those could come in handy to properly wire the converter cable to get the Zapper working.

Edited by Ace_1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Coincidentally, I just built a NES adapter cable for my new RetroDuo. Works like a charm, but no zapper support. I don't think that is going to work, as the SNES super scope works differently than the zapper. So while you can tie the unused lines together (as I have) it's not going to do any particular good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Normal NES and SNES controllers use 5 of the 7 pins (power, ground, clock, latch, data). Rectangle, dogbone, advantage, uforce, and the four score use all the same pins.

 

Zapper uses the other 2 pins on the connector, completely separate from the controller (light sensor, trigger). Those 2 pins are frequently not even available on the NOAC chip. If you already have a working nes->snes adapter then it should take a minute to test those other 2. There is absolutely no reason to tie them together. The PowerPad also uses those 2 pins, so some of the buttons will not work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you already have a working nes->snes adapter then it should take a minute to test those other 2. There is absolutely no reason to tie them together. The PowerPad also uses those 2 pins, so some of the buttons will not work.

Right, I should have been more clear - I didn't mean tie them together on the SNES side, but tie them together with the NES side to wire straight through to the jack.

 

In this case that means passing SNES 5 + 6 through to NES 5 + 7, which I have done in both combos and does not provide NES lightgun functionality. But at least I can use my Messiah pad which is the best part of the NEX. :)

 

SNES (controller view)

| 1 2 3 4 | 5 6 7 )

7	Brown	GND
6	NC
5	NC
4	Red	Data
3	Orange	Latch
2	Yellow	Clock
1	White	+5

NES (controller view)

1
2  3
4  5
6  7

1	GND
2	Clock
3	+5
4	Latch
5	NC
6	Data
7	NC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I assume you tried swapping, so snes 5 -> nes 7? Also tried both port 1 and port 2? (However some games will only work with the light gun in port 2)

Correct, both combinations tried as well as port 2 with different games. No dice.

 

Oh by the way - the PowerPak works with the RetroDuo. Woohoo! :cool: :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...
  • 8 years later...

Well, i don't think the fc twin supports those pins for the light signals coming from both the super scope or the modded nes zapper,and even if it does, it probably will not work with nes & snes games,because the emulated hardware cannot process the registered light in time to match the crt light beam in time,because of timing differences between seeing & emulating the light, because those original hardware systems may accept a max time of 5ms, while the emulator inside the fc twin requires at minimum 10ms to emulate the nes & snes system, thus sending & processing a light signal from those light guns will be completely out of synch with what was seen on screen.

Maybe if a future supercomputer or quantum computer could emulate old hardware and process lightgun signals withing 3 ms could fix those timing issues but i am not sure about this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Neat.  I tore apart a SNES controller port, moved a couple pins into the missing pin positions for the gun, then wired the inside into a NES light zapper.  The only issue at first is that pointing the gun at a light pulled the trigger and vice versa.  A quick pin swap fixed that though.

 

But it's also nice to see a solution that doesn't involve breaking a SNES connector.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...