Stupid DB9-Controller tricks

[tripletopper]

For my first trick: I can operate most Colecovision games with a 7800 joystick or joypad.

 

The only caveat is both buttons can't be pressed at once. In most games that makes little difference, but Tutankham would be severely hampered by the lack of a "Genie Wish Bomb".

 

For my second trick: I can operate a 3-button Genesis game with a Colecovision Super Action controller.

 

But there are 2 caveats. One, you can't press pause. And two, one button is the top button on the Super Action Controller. The other 2 buttons are 2 opposite directions on the Trackwheel. Good luck starting and stopping when you want, and forget pressing both at the same time. ( I forgot what mapped to what.)

 

You can do these stupid DB9-controller tricks if you have the proper equipment, too. Nothing special about mine.

 

Maybe someone who is more tech-heady can scientifically explain the reason for this behavior.

[Jess Ragan]

Probably just coincidental pinouts. The pinout for the ColecoVision keypad is a damn mess, full of complicated logic gates. By contrast, the Atari 5200 just uses a matrix for its own keypad, keeping things relatively intuitive. A and B on the Genesis controller probably use the same pins as the dial, although I can't say that for sure since I don't have a pinout sheet handy for the Super Controller.

 

One thing I noticed is that you can speed up Cabbage Patch Kids by spinning the Super Controller dial. You have to keep spinning it to get the desired effect, and it's not like the game needed to be faster, but it's a goofy little trick.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Here's another fun/silly trick to try out. Most Atari fans know that you can use a Sega Genesis controller with the Atari 2600, but it also works the other way around. For Sega Genesis games that only use one button for everything like Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3 and Sonic & Knuckles you can plug an Atari 2600 joystick into your Genesis and play your games perfectly well with it, you just won't be able to pause. A few years back I did a full play through of the original Sonic the Hedgehog with a CX-40 joystick just for fun.

[carlsson]

Supposedly you can use the Genesis controller on the Atari 8-bit computers too without too much worries to damage anything. It is not recommended on Commodore computers though, for the reason the Genesis multiplexes signals and one mode might involve accidentally sending 5V straight into the paddle inputs which at least for longer term could damage the SID chip. The Amiga might be slightly less vulnerable but ideally one doesn't use Genesis pads on that as well. SMS pads are fine though, as they're simpler and don't multiplex.

[Eltigro]

I've seen several of the NES Classic clones with DB9 connectors... wonder if anyone's tried different controllers on those to see if anything works.

 

[carlsson]

Those tend to be using a serial protocol, entirely unlike all Atari/Commodore/Sega controllers, also entirely unlike TI-99/4A, Vectrex, Odyssey^2 and all the other formats using DE9 with varying pinouts.

 

Actually I think it is more likely to make an adapter to use a genuine NES controller with the clone systems, than adapt a DE9 based controller from another system as you would have to convert the up, down, left, right, fire into a serial signal with a clock pulse on the side. A very good example of same connector != same signal.

[tripletopper]

Probably just coincidental pinouts. The pinout for the ColecoVision keypad is a damn mess, full of complicated logic gates. By contrast, the Atari 5200 just uses a matrix for its own keypad, keeping things relatively intuitive. A and B on the Genesis controller probably use the same pins as the dial, although I can't say that for sure since I don't have a pinout sheet handy for the Super Controller.

 

One thing I noticed is that you can speed up Cabbage Patch Kids by spinning the Super Controller dial. You have to keep spinning it to get the desired effect, and it's not like the game needed to be faster, but it's a goofy little trick.

 

Antarctic Adventure can be sped up by rolling the speed dial too. Of course the timer and music goes faster too. That would be an interesting speed run game. Would that be considered cheating?

[Newsdee]

Here is a trick of my own device for these controllers.

 

If you have a 2 button joystick, you can add a switch to it so that one button is wired either as an Amiga second button, or as Up.

 

That will convert those many games that use Up as jump into a "post-Nintendo" control scheme.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Newsdee