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Win the Multi-System Retro Game Controller Built in Episode 260

 

element14 presents started as The Ben Heck Show and Ben was famous for his gaming mods.  In this episode he built the ultimate retro gaming controller using an ESP8266 WIFI Module, a transmitter controller, and a receiver on the game console. Universal support includes Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega, and Atari.

 

Yes, it's retro and wireless.

 

We're going to give this project away to the Community member who has the best story about wires.  Some community members may remember when there was only one phone in the house - and it had a short cord, hanging on the kitchen wall.  How did we survive that?  Some members may remember when all game controllers were wired to their consoles.  Were you able to sit a safe distance away from the television?  Did it matter?  Design engineers may have memories of creating prototypes where the wiring got. . . maybe a little confused?

 

If it's a story about wires, it goes in the chat.  The Community team will pick the best story and award that author this one of a kind build.

 

Episode 260:  Multi-System Retro Gaming Controller - watch now

 

This contest is closed

Anonymous
  • in reply to maharisc

    I mean yeah, but don't you want to win it?

  • Interesting build, need to try this one, create a remote, and tie it to a Pi. I have an old PS2 and Xbox to try out as well.

  • Our Colecovision was connected to the basement TV, which lived in a custom-built cabinet in a corner of the rec room.  One wire lead out to the Colecovision, which sat in the middle of the floor, not far from a plug for power, but the wiring behind the TV was another matter.  Thankfully, there was a full-size door beside the TV to get in behind to manage the rat's nest of cabling for the TV cable (paid by the drop, back in those days!), VCR (no single HDMI cable, back then!), antenna, antenna splitter (or two) and game console.  When my younger siblings added that NES to the mix...  There may have been a cable box wired in there, too, at some point.

  • Wires?  Oh yah, I forgot...

  • One of many reasons to love RP, to make many projects in this pandemic era, keep safe and survive, thanks for all this wonderful hardware, long live yo RP and all the crew      

  • My early days of gaming started with the cartridge card game. Usually, I would be playing with my younger brother. Since at that time the controller is wired we would be sitting quite near to the tv. And the funny part is that I would be moving my hand and body to left and right while playing the game. My first wireless controller was using the IR concept. I can't really remember the name but it uses IR technology. Basically, the controller and the console need to have a sight of the line, if there is any obstacle in between, the controller can't be used.

  • oh wow i didnt see this episode before. bloody cool!

  • This is not an entry in this contest, it is simply an on-topic story to add to the narrative.

    Way back when VCRs were just becoming the latest (very expensive) tech fad, Sears was having a scratch-and-dent sale featuring VCRs at spectacular prices.

    I couldn't afford a new VCR so I stood in line overnight to try and buy a floor demo unit, and ended up with a Fisher like this:

    Because it was a demo unit, it did not come with a remote control. I sent away for the shop manual to see if I could build a remote. (Sears was always good about providing manuals) It had schematics for the main VCR and provided a few clues about the remote, but not a schematic.

    I eventually figured out that the remote was wired to a 3.5mm jack with just 2 wires. After deducing that the remote buttons should implement a network of resistor dividers, I built a remote pod with a bunch of buttons and resistors that correctly performed all the remote functions and wired it to a 3.5mm jack using a long length of speaker wire. All parts were obtained from Radio Shack. That VCR was a game changer in how we watched TV and it saw heavy use - It was programmed to record late night movies every night, so we could watch them at a reasonable time and fast-forward through the commercials.