I need an original (OEM) NES controller

MaximRecoil · October 20, 2015

I've been having bad luck with these. I have a few here, and they all have poor diagonal response (you have to push hard to get the diagonal directions to respond), and a couple of them have torn rubber switches. I just bought one from eBay and it had both torn rubber switches (the D-pad switches) and poor diagonal response. Fortunately, he promptly refunded my money. I think a lot of people don't notice poor diagonal response on well-worn NES games because a lot of NES games (including the most common one: Super Mario Bros.) only use 4 directions or less.

The only used NES controller I have that has good diagonal response is one I converted to an Atari 7800/2600 controller a few years ago.

So I'd like to buy one that has already been taken apart and inspected for tears in the rubber switches, and has also been tested with an 8-way game to make sure that the diagonals respond just as well as the 4 cardinal directions.

By the way, the main cause of poor diagonal response seems to be the black coating on the PCB's switch pads wearing thin, which not only increases resistance, but also slightly increases the distance between the PCB's switch pads and the rubber switches. I do know of a sure-fire fix, but I don't like the side-effects of it. First, scrape off all of the remaining black stuff from the PCB's switch pads, down to the bare copper. You would think that this alone would make it work better, because bare copper has practically zero resistance, while that black stuff has about 80 ohms of resistance; but it doesn't; it makes the diagonal response even worse, probably because of the increased distance between the pads and the rubber switches. Then, add little mounds of solder to each pad. This builds their height, and the diagonals become super-responsive; too responsive if you make the mounds of solder too big (i.e., it becomes easy to hit diagonals unintentionally). If you get the mounds of solder just right, you have ideal diagonal responsiveness, but the side effect I don't like is it makes the D-pad movement feel weird; the "throw" is too short and stiff. So I'd rather just have one that hasn't been used to death yet, like the one I converted to a 7800 controller.

Edit: I don't see any option to delete this post, but I don't need an NES controller anymore. I had an idea, tried it, and it worked beautifully. I used a flat file to file the tops of those mounds of solder flat, in order to decrease the height without creating low spots like if you just made smaller solder mounds in the first place. This controller is now perfect; excellent diagonal response and the D-pad feels fine.

Edited October 20, 2015 by MaximRecoil