NES D-Pad and Buttons in 360 Controller

[cheato]

Yes, this is my first post.

After having some frustrating moments with the d-pad on the 360 controller (mainly during Spelunky), I began wondering about possibly modding a 360 controller with an NES d-pad. Sure enough, I was nowhere near the first to think of or try this--RDC did it several years ago. I thought it about replying to that thread, but since I'm all finished now and since that thread is old, figured I'd start a new one.

I play a fair amount of platformers that require really precise directional controls and knew that this mod would be worthwhile. Did this with a wireless CG2--the only CG controller I have! The rest are are all Matrix.

- Sanded down the inside of the 360 controller shell where the d-pad goes
- Cut the NES controller shell around the d-pad hole, sanded the circular part down some so it would fit in the 360 shell, and spray painted it black
- Cut the back part of the 360 d-pad (with the 2 notches) to mount the NES controller PCB to--this made it much easier to size everything and get it lined up--and cut a small groove in the side for the wires
- Cut the membrane and hot glued it to the NES controller PCB--I probably should've used something else, but it was pretty well "pinched" in place
- Soldered L, D, and R to the vias, but there is no via on the back for U--soldered it directly to the contact; didn't feel as worried about doing this because there was quite a bit of extra space behind the d-pad backing

For the buttons, just cut off the top of A & X, and then glued the NES buttons on top. Unfortunately, I had to send them down some so they'd be free inside of the shell, and they still feel kind of rough. Need to fine sand these some to smooth them out. I kind of wish I had left A & X in place, but having the NES buttons in there seems like a much nicer touch (at least visually at this point...).

Should have taken more pictures. I had been taking my time to make sure everything stayed working, and by last night I was ready to wrap this thing up. Sure enough, on my first playthrough of Spelunky last night, got my best score ever and finally broke the 500k mark (I am not joking)

Tools I used, some of which I had to purchase specifically for this project, and aside from the obvious like multimeter and soldering iron:
- T8H
- Grinder and diamond wheel Dremel bits
- 30awg wire
- Ideal Industries Stripmaster (these things are incredible)

RDC--thank you for all of the very helpful information you've posted, especially the traces!

[RDC]

Welcome. Thing is like a completely different controller with any other D-pad in there.


For any future one you might make or if you do a button redux on that one. - You can sand out the inside top of the shell where the buttons are, versus having to hack on the buttons themselves. There is a little bit of a 'lip' there at the top, and that's where most of the size difference comes from. The buttons still need to be trimmed down, but not as much as you've had to do there if you open up the shell instead. It's also best to have a brace from the bottom of the NES PCB to the 360 one instead of just relying on the hot glue to hold it in place. If the controller is ever left anywhere too warm, like inside a car all day long on a warm day, or you get into a heaving gaming session it could start to sag. That said I've done some that were only hot glue and they're still working, but I started bracing them after the first one I saw that did that.

The last one I did, 4 years ago now, I went from more of a Nintendoie controller look and did all 4 ABXY, then swapped the Sticks, tail piece and other buttons for black ones. The NES buttons in it haven't been touched on the top half of them, just opened up the shell instead, so they still look/feel the same.

[cheato]

Thanks for the recommendation--and I actually considered going that route for the A & X buttons, grinding the shell instead of the buttons. Didn't realize that modifying the buttons would have that much of an impact on feel, but that was a naive decision. I filed it down some on the edges to get a smoother feel, and that made a huge different. Just need to do a bit more, and then it'll feel great. And Yes, I couldn't agree more about having a new d-pad in place. Controls wonderfully now versus the stock.

I'm now realizing that I forgot to mention some steps taken during the mod--I actually used Loctite plastic epoxy on the 360 d-pad backing and secured that to the 360 shell. Basically from top-down it's:
- membrane -> NES PCB - hot glue
- NES PCB -> 360 d-pad backing - tacked with super glue, then epoxy
- 360 d-pad backing -> shell - tacked with super glue, then epoxy

Definitely saw some advice from another thread and made sure everything was held very well in place.

[RDC]

Plastic epoxy will definitely keep it solid, but you'll hate that when the membrane fails and needs replacing.

Not saying the method is bad or anything, just giving some pointers from 'down the road' when doing that type of thing.

With a spacer, you only need to make sure the top part is secured good to the shell, then a few dabs of hot glue to hold things in place and then just having the controller together keeps everything solid.

I also made up a PCB for this kind of thing awhile back, though it's geared more for the DS3 D-pad as that one was more popular, but it could also be done for the NES D-pad layout. It has the contacts isolated also, not fixed in a common layout, so it could be used on a Matrix board if it had to be.

http://s50.photobucket.com/user/RDCXBG/library/36D%20PCB?sort=3&page=1