It would definitely be possible to make more changes to the controller board. Removing the chip from the upper part of the board would be a big start, and could even be used to give a connection point (albeit a small, tough-to-solder one) for each button and cut down on the need to spiderweb connections across the board. I put a drop of hot glue on the repositioned capacitors for the USB hub to prevent them from shorting out, and some clear nail polish in the cut traces on the controller board to guard against anything causing them to short together. So, which controller in our round-up is the best? A is always the case, the answer to that question depends on what you need. That includes the modern controllers you already have, but they have a major flaw that makes them less than ideal for retro gaming. Specifically, they tend to have mushy D-pads.

The Retro-Bit Official Sega Saturn USB controller is a reproduction of one of the most respected controller designs in history. The original Genesis six-button controller was already well-loved, but the Sega Saturn version refines it into something even more comfortable. So whether you want to play Genesis or Saturn games, the Saturn controller is the best choice overall. Full credit for the general idea goes to this howto for a similar project with an NES controller. My brother inherited my NES from me, so all I had to work with was an SNES controller... and since it lets me play a wider variety of games it seemed like a perfect thing to do. The project ended up being a bit more difficult than I expected, and I tried to document as much of the process as I could. Ditto on finding a smaller one. It would also be possible to cut off a strip from the bottom of the connectors to shrink it, and depending on how brave one is with the soldering iron it could be cut all the way down to the white line leaving only the thin traces to connect to. There might be a danger of connections snapping off from tension when putting the controller together if you went to the extreme with that, however. Some of the best retro game controllers can be Nintendo Switch retro controllers that offer replicas of gamepads for the NES, N64 and GameCube; these are perfect for playing retro games on Switch. Some of the best upcoming Switch games include retro remakes, and some of the best Nintendo Switch games include games that make use of retro controllers, such as Super Smash Bros Ultimate. It's probably possible to find cheaper parts than I used, especially if you shop it around online. Just be aware that there's always the possibility that a part may not fit the available space, and try to evaluate what you're buying as much as possible ahead of time. Smaller is better, though your soldering skill may factor into it as well. If you use different parts or have a different controller (see below) then you'll have to improvise your own methods, but the general ideas I used should cross over.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System Controllers

The feel of the controllers are sturdy. They’re lightweight, but the buttons are responsive, springy, and do not seem to have any dead zones. The start and select buttons are made with a durable rubber material that is a bit difficult to tell when it’s fully depressing, although that was an issue that the original NES controllers had too. Starting with the AGPTEK Wireless Classic Controller, these controllers are an excellent choice if you want wireless retro gaming. The wireless signal is strong and the battery lasts for a very long time. You can charge them while you play so you never really have to worry about running out of batteries. These controllers can also be used as a generic gamepad for playing PC games on a client like Steam. I then carefully removed the USB connectors. They're hard to remove because of the soldered tabs on either side, when I tried to heat those tabs up while lifting up on the connector the whole pad underneath the tab delaminated from the board and broke off. After that, it was just a matter of either desoldering the connector's pins from the board or snapping them off, I recommend keeping the pins on at least one connector so you can use it in later steps to map the pinout of your usb cables. Finally, I connected one of the USB hub's connectors to the keyboard controller's usb cable, and using the multimeter mapped out which pins of the keyboard controller connected to which pins on the connector. I then removed the cable and soldered a short piece of ribbon cable between the keyboard controller and the first port on the hub, matching with the pins that the usb connector would have been connected to.

Whatever you do, don't rush it. It took about an hour of fiddling with this before it all came together for me. Emulator controllers plug directly into your computer and let you play for favorite games like they were meant to. Players who favor the traditional 2 or 4 button layout and d-pad on the left will probably feel a lot more comfortable playing with an emulator controller. The best emulator controllers have a similar layout to the original controller and mimic the feel of playing with a classic joypad.The Suily Retro controllers are also a good choice because they are cheap and are wired so they have a fast response. The Suily controllers are again designed specifically for the NES so you’ll be limited in which games you can play but they are very sturdy, made out of a durable ABS plastic with heavy-duty buttons that can stand up to use. I tried to keep the controller board as unmodified as possible, so this is just a matter of cleaning off traces that you want to solder to and cutting traces that you do not want connected together. Make a map of the traces, and try to find points close to the outside edges that can be used to connect the buttons to the correct keyboard connectors. Make sure you have everything laid out before you cut any traces, once you cut these it's possible to repair but not easy. While making connections I stopped at several points (after connecting pairs of wires) to test the buttons that should be enabled. This will prevent you from getting everything connected up before realizing there is a problem. One of the rubber button pieces from the shoulder buttons worked to complete the button connections for testing. If you snap pins off, you can clean the remaining bit off the board by lightly dragging the soldering iron tip with a small blob of solder along the length of the pad, the pin should come off on the iron. It's a good idea to do this on the rest of the pads as well to clean them up and make a nice, shiny pad for later soldering.

Going a little more extreme, it's easy to imagine cutting an entire rectangle out of the top of the board, removing the chip area completely and giving a lot more vertical breathing room for parts to fit in. This would make for a lot more smaller traces to solder, however, and you would need to be careful how much of the board was removed above the select and start buttons.For the retro purist, the ideal way to play via an emulator is with a system’s original controller. Fortunately, there are some low-cost adapters available that can make that possible. Mayflash offers adapters that allow you to connect your SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, PS2, and Saturn controllers to your PC via USB. For the most part, these work just like using an Xbox One controller and can be easily configured across emulators. Your gamepad not being recognized can be fixed with a simple adjustment of the power management settings in Windows 10. The Suily gamepad is likewise designed with only two face buttons. AS such, you’ll only be able to play games that have a 2-face-button layout. For example, you won’t be able to play Super Nintendo games with these controllers, but you’ll be able to play games for the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color. The buttons and power LED all need to go into the front of the controller, followed by the controller board. You need to keep this part of the controller as flat as possible, as the shoulder buttons are prone to slipping out of place and falling out at the worst possible moments.

dremel - I did need to modify some of the circuit boards. There's a lot of possible substitutes for this, but you'll need something you can make precise cuts with. So if you’re a gamer who likes classic titles, then you can benefit from having a retro USB controller on-hand. Some models are wired and others are wireless. Wireless models typically require a USB dongle attachment but some brands have Bluetooth compatible controllers. If you have a Bluetooth controller then your computer or smartphone will have to be capable of Bluetooth connectivity. I've also seen mention of being able to wire two usb devices together as a "passive hub", but haven't found any information on doing it. If it's possible, it would allow the hub to be left out altogether and a lot of space would be saved.Having a wireless controller is a nice modern convenience, but the best latency and responsiveness are still to be found with wired controllers. Many of the wireless controllers you can buy also let you use a wired connection, but if you're only going to use it in wired mode, why pay for a battery and Bluetooth radio you'll never use? The case of the hub I used was held together with a single screw, the case lifted apart to reveal a single board. Since I already had the hub's LED fed to a long piece of wire, I decided to put it on the front of the controller. I don't have a drill press or anything similar I could use as a replacement, so I ended up very carefully using the dremel to drill out progressively larger holes until the LED fit. I ended up stopping at a size smaller than the LED and carefully pulling the bit around in a circle to widen the hole, so I wouldn't be left trying to prevent a larger bit from making an even larger and misshapen hole. The original SNES controller design was already great, but the SN30 manages to maintain what made it special while giving it the right amount of polish for modern gamers. The old-school semi-transparent plastic is a nice touch. Suily made a few minor controller modifications, specifically by adding etching to the red "B" and "A" buttons. Of course, the biggest change is the somewhat short 5.6-foot cord, which ends in a standard USB-A plug for compatibility with Raspberry Pi, Windows, Mac, and Linux. You'll have no issue diving into your classic NES library, and enjoying favorites like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Ninja Gaiden, and so many more.