Sega Genesis Controllers on Colecovision?

[Trent555]

Question, im looking at an alternative joystick, joypad etc. to use on the CV. I know the Atari 2600, Commodore, etc will work on the CV, but I also read someplace that the Sega Genesis controllers are wired the same way??

 

Can anyone confirm this? I find the CV controllers are quite uncomfy and Im not super sold on the Super Action Controllers.

[cybercylon]

Yes, they will for games that need only one fire button.

 

You still need to use the keypad on controller #1 to get the game started. Then you have to hot swap, which I don't recommend since the controller ports are not the highest quality. Maybe one of the experts out there can tell us if a Y adapter works.

 

Just to try, I used a 7800 proline controller for 2 button games, and it worked, so I imagine a 7800 joy pad would work. To get two buttons working with a genny pad, I suspect a rewiring has to be done.

Edited July 31, 2009 by cybercylon

[Jess Ragan]

Personally, I just installed a 9-pin D-shell connector in a standard ColecoVision controller. It makes a great Genesis controller adapter, although regrettably, you're still stuck with a single button on the Genesis joypad.

[Trent555]

Thanks for your input guys. Its unfortunate that the Genesis pad will only allow for 1 fire button.

 

Cyber.....Just to confirm, are you saying that you can have 2 "working" fire buttons on the CV using a 7800 proline stick/pad?

 

Apparently if you keep an original CV in port 2, you can use that numeric pad for game selection levels, pause etc.

[cybercylon]

Thanks for your input guys. Its unfortunate that the Genesis pad will only allow for 1 fire button.

 

Cyber.....Just to confirm, are you saying that you can have 2 "working" fire buttons on the CV using a 7800 proline stick/pad?

 

Apparently if you keep an original CV in port 2, you can use that numeric pad for game selection levels, pause etc.

 

Yes, both fire buttons work with a 7800 controller. I only tried Cosmic Avenger, but I was able to fire and drop bombs.

 

Mind you, I think the 7800 controllers are the worst along with the intellevision and the original US saturn pad. I only did this to see if it is worth picking up a 7800 joypad for my Colecovision. But I won't get one:

 

Keeping an original CV in port 2 does not fully work. I have to keep one in port 1 to select any one player games, and then hot swap. I don't like doing that as my CV has enough issues, and I don't want to add a broken controller port to the list.

[Video]

It wouldn't be to hard to build a splitter and plug a CV and a (second) controller into one port. I'd get one of the 7800 pads then. If they really just work, it'd make my CV useable again (wait, wonder about the dyna controllers, horrible system, and while cheap feeling I actually like the controller)

[Trent555]

I thought about that too, using a splitter in port 1 with the 7800 plugged in with a CV joystcik.

 

Cyber, i agree, both pads are horribly unfomfortable, but you can still get new 7800 controllers on line, whereas i think my CV controllers have seen better days (they seem to be harder to find new and are made cheap). It would be nice to get a new controller with nice response on the directional pad and fire buttons.

 

Its damn tempting to buy a 7800 and see how she feels. Basically, i just want a new pad/stick that will actually work with a CV so i can recapture the fun of the system...haha

[tripletopper]

I've go a 7800 joystick a 7800 joypad, 4 DB9 Y-Apapters (2 of them are the Gemini "wye" adapters, which has a function of plugging 2 single paddles of the Gemini controllers into one of 2 ports, but the other 2 are designed to have an 2600 joystick and coleocvision pad plug in together) I'l try it with a 7800 and y adpater and many different coleco games with 2 buttons.

 

Also as a side note, the speed roller on the super action controller maps to buttons on the Genesis. I have to play Golden Axe (3 button), Street Fighter New Challengers (6 button) and Shadow Squadron (uses the mode button as an actual function other than enabling 3-buton mode) to get a clear mapping.

[hardhat]

I can confirm that a Y splitter for the joystick port works fine, and so can be used for choosing levels and so on.

 

As to whether you could remap buttons into the ColecoVision format, I'm not sure. You'd think it would be possible with a little rewiring at least, perhaps even with just a custom cable although you might require a little extra logic to make it all work.

[AtariLeaf]

Or you could have a buddy rewire a genny controller for you

 

[sqoon]

Another consideration is the 7800 proline controller. Not too many hand cramps with that one.

[tripletopper]

I just did the first thing I said I would, I tried a Colecovision 2 Button gasme with both a 7800Pro-Line and a 7800 Joypad. They both work with ONE caveat. This is evident in Tutankham. You can shoot left by pressing the left button. You can shoot right by pressing the right button. But you CAN'T use your smart bomb by pressing both buttons together. It didn't work with joypad or 7800 joystick, but the colecovision joystick plugged in at the same time let me do smart bombs by pressing both buttons. And the reverse is even worse. Neither button works on a Coleco Vision controller plugged into a 7800.

 

If you want a more comfortable controller, do what I do, take a functional joystick/pad, use it as a sacrificial circuit board, and have a "custom joystick builder" wire your joypad or arcade style joystick into the actuators, kind of like how Street Fighter players make custom joysticks. If you're able to remap the wires, you could make an ambidextrous joystick, and because in games like Tutankham where the concept of left fire and right fire is important, when you swap the joystick to be right handed, you can manually swap the buttons too. You can even use your controller buttons actuate the 1,2,3, and 5 buttons for Mouse Trap. In my case, you'd use a colecovision controller sacrificed for Colecovision games, and a 7800 Pro Line sacrificed for the 7800 games to work with my Sanwa joystick.

[tripletopper]

Hey Hardhat,

 

First of all, it depends on the Y-apapter. Some are designed to hok up a coleco joypad and a 2600 stick. That will work with a 7800 as long as you don't have to press both buttons simultaneously. To Confirm it, I tested it with Space Fury. With A CV controller I could thrust constantly and pump to fire. With a 7800 controller I had to either thrust or fire, not both at the same time.

 

But other Y adapters are designed to work with the Gemini to hook up 2 Gemini joysticks to a single port for paddle games, because each Gemini controller has one joystick and one paddle together on one stick and there's only 2 ports.

 

Finally I'm not suggesting you can remap a Super Action to a Genesis game. I just noticed playing a Gernesis game with a CV Super action the roller was automatically mapped to 2 different buttons, one when rolling it one way, another going the other. I'm not suggesting you can control the mapping. It's just that playing with the controller has interesting effects. I haven't tried it with a 6-button game. I should test that tomorrow.