PSX Genesis pad (and PS2 saturn pad)

ReKleSS · Post by **ReKleSS** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 7:00 am

So, I figured it would probably be possible to cut up a PSX pad and jam the insides into a Saturn pad. Then I realized I had a genesis 6 button pad kicking around, and decided to try that first. It's fiddly and kind of troublesome, but it worked in the end.

The "compacted" PSX controller (original PSX one, non dual-shock).

PCBs tied together and ready to cram in.

Everything stuffed in. I don't think it was completely necessary to cut out the top of the genesis PCB, but I did it to reduce the chance of anything shorting out. It's annoying to cram everything in, and I don't want to have to do it any more than necessary.

All done. The start button had to go because there's not enough space inside the casing otherwise. The 'mode' button on the shoulder is mapped to start, and the rest of the buttons map the same way as the PS2 saturn pad. A select button would be nice...

My advice to anyone who wants to attempt this: Use good wire. The stuff used for mod chipping works well - thin, strong, single strand. PCBs are very brittle, so they can be shaped by snapping very carefully with pliers. Be careful not to damage the tracks.

By the looks of it the saturn pad has a bit more space vertically but less horizontally, so it will probably be necessary to cut the cord off the PSX pcb and reconnect the wires a bit closer to the encoder chip. Shouldn't be too different otherwise. The pad in the photo is my only saturn pad, so I'll wait until I get my hands on another one to do that mod.

I also modded the dpad in much the same way as a PSP one, because I found it to be too floaty. Now it's too twitchy (diagonals way too sensitive), but it's not bad.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:14 am

Nice mod, and good idea!

I just have 6-button pads to NeoGeo pinout, but that only supports 4 buttons + Start.

Then I thought of going to some DB-25 connector and making various swappable adaptors from there, but it's still not as clean as this. Nice work!

edit: also, why the missing Select button? I just wonder since it would make sense to me to map Mode to Select, and Start to Start...

ReKleSS · Post by **ReKleSS** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 5:54 am

I had to cut off the support under the start button to make room for the PSX board. Otherwise it would be pressed up against the genesis board and nothing would fit.

Anyway, on to more interesting things:

Loads of space. The question is whether I want to work on this controller, or wait until my spare arrives...

ReKleSS · Post by **ReKleSS** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:04 am

I finished this a while ago, but have yet to find any real use for it. The controller PCB in the previous pic was unfortunately a piece of shit and I had to pull the one from the genesis controller. It mostly fit, but I had to cut up the cable connector and solder the wires closer to the chip to make it fit. Annoying, because those wires are really weak and kept breaking. The select button is kind of crap, but it works. It's a clicky switch like the shoulder buttons.

azmun · Post by **azmun** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:56 am

The trouble we all have to go thru to get our beloved pads running on PS2. I always wished someone would make an adapter that would let us use Mega Drive, Saturn or Dreamcast controllers on Sony's machine.

D · Post by D » Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:17 pm

Great idea! I have a butchered saturn pad around, now to butcher a psx pad.

Hm... what about a official wireless sega Saturn pad for the ps3?
Will those USB ps2 pads even work on a ps3?

ReKleSS · Post by **ReKleSS** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:27 pm

For MD and Saturn at least, it wouldn't be too hard to program a cheap microcontroller (PIC _should_ be feasible, Arduino shouldn't be a problem) to handle it. Neither Saturn nor PSX require many IO ports. Saturn doesn't have any speed requirements, and PSX protocol isn't too hard to do. DC is another problem entirely, because the bus runs at 4mhz... it would take a fair amount of effort to make that work. Why would you bother, though?

I'll add this to my list of stuff to do next time I get bored. Might be a good way to get started with microcontrollers.

D: It would be difficult to do this mod with anything other than an original PSX controller, because anything newer requires a bunch of support circuitry. These older pads are just a single chip, so you can chop off most of the PCB and still be ok, as long as you have something to solder wires onto. You could even chop the chip off the board and wire everything on directly, but you would be insane to do that.

The lazy way to do it is to run wires to the pad the normal way, and then put your other PCB (PSX or whatever) outside the casing. There are no space issues this way, but it's kind of ugly, and you'll need a fairly thick bunch of wires if you want all buttons connected.

EDIT: Forgot about this, someone's already done it, see here.