Posted By
Spektro
on 2014-04-09
21:25:41
 |  Gamepad modification
Hello,
I managed to modify a brand new Sega Genesis compatible gamepad for Plus/4. The gamepad may have worked with a C64 joystick adapter but I played safe and disconnected the chip inside the gamepad and connected a Commodore 1341 joystick lead directly to the gamepad buttons. The pad looks quite nice and it works perfectly.
All the 7 buttons (A, B, C, X, Y, Z, and START) act as a fire button.
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Posted By
George
on 2014-04-10
03:59:54
 | Re: Gamepad modification
Great modification.
With a rainbow-colour Sticker of the plus/4 series it would be perfect..
Question:
If commodore would have designed a game-pad in the 80's in the style of that series . How would it looked like? Any suggestions?
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Posted By
MIK
on 2014-04-10
05:43:22
 | Re: Gamepad modification
Spektro,
Nice!
I take it you went with the Sega Genesis version of the pad as it was all black and you didn't fancy the Mode button as fire having 7 already? 
Personally I would of put a classic Atari 9 pin style lead on the end that would of been used for a C64 or Amiga as then you could of used it on anything that was compatible... that's if you have a host of other machines that can make use of it which I would.
The Megadrive 6 button pad has the best D-pad ever made and the pad to hold as a whole is one of the most comfortable in my opinion. Job well done to have one of these running on C16/Plus4 safely without the TED being damaged in the process!
George,
It took someone like Sega to really understand how a pad should of be used and held. Even a SNES pad is like holding a block of wood and this is a problem with all pads that came before it.
Here is an Amstrad GX 4000 pad, it's actually mine as I have one of these machines lol. The pad is too small to hold for long periods of time and the D-pad is much smaller than Sega's, it's too small for the average thumb to work with... again small is a major problem with most pads from the late 1980's such as the PC Engine and even Atari made one for it's 7800 console. Commodore would of been just as bad with the pad design as everyone else I believe, even if the Plus/4 joystick was superb to use but not made to last as we know...
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Posted By
George
on 2014-04-10
05:44:42
| Re: Gamepad modification
MIK,
i know about the historical facts of the gamepad. My question was more for fun for starting some fantasy.
After rethinking about it, commodore was one of the first who arranged the cursor-keys in the the diamond shaped, realized somekind of a "game-pad".
They would take this styling, put a red button next (perpaps in square form) the rainbow sticker.
Maybe like the first nintendo-gamepads in black.
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Posted By
MIK
on 2014-04-10
06:15:52
| Re: Gamepad modification
I know, I was just thinking out loud.
This is what it might of looked like if they made one with the Jack Tramiel connection we have. The colour is good and matches the C16 nicely.
Atari Jaguar pad.
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Posted By
George
on 2014-04-10
16:14:14
| Re: Gamepad modification
LOL
never liked the Jaguar Controller...One of the most ugly Controller hin gamehistory....
Look how huge this thing ist. Three C116 fit in this thing..
EDIT: I guess more like this:
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Posted By
MIK
on 2014-04-11
10:56:41
| Re: Gamepad modification
Ah I see now, not an official one but a remake from the original mold. Still good though and saved you messing up what would of been a very expensive pad as the official 6 button ones are kind of sort after with Sega MD fans.
Good price as well so having 2, one in each port will not cost much and save you unplugging.
I might have to look at doing something like this my self. For a while I've been thinking about making a custom joystick that uses a real Swana Arcade stick & button. It's finding a nice box for it to go in is the main problem so has been on hold as the stick and buttons are easy to get. This MD 6 button pad idea might be easier and less messy over all. No big box required and I like pads for some types of games. Cheers!
George,
That Plus/4 pad molded off the 1341 is not bad and could of worked.
At least Commodore fixed a mistake with the 1341 that they made with the Vic20 stick, your base holding hand thumb rests over the Commodore badge and wears the silver off over time on the Vic stick haha! And another thing... the 1341 is a "pad" that uses a stick, has to be the first ever stick that used rubber contacts like pads still do to this very day!
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Posted By
George
on 2014-04-11
11:31:55
| Re: Gamepad modification
Mik: The photobase was a vic 20 paddle, the black ones. my photoshop skills are not the best. The pad could have looked like this.
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Posted By
George
on 2014-04-11
11:31:56
| Re: Gamepad modification
Mik: The photobase was a vic 20 paddle, the black ones. my photoshop skills are not the best. The pad could have looked like this.
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Posted By
MIK
on 2014-04-11
17:46:42
| Re: Gamepad modification
Just did a google, Wow in all my years I didn't even know those Vic20 paddles existed!! I can see where our 1341 came from now.
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Posted By
George
on 2014-04-11
18:07:55
| Re: Gamepad modification
Yeah, i know what you mean. I had the same thought. The paddles would have been a perfect addition to the 264 series with its black, gray and red color. But they don't work on our system.
The paddels are in our hardwaresection:
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Posted By
MIK
on 2014-04-11
18:14:18
| Re: Gamepad modification
Not sure why they have been added as we don't use them like you say... Strange.
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Posted By
George
on 2014-04-11
18:24:54
| Re: Gamepad modification
Its good that they added them. Otherwise we wouldn't know about this black beautys. LOL
If i remember right, somebody built a little box , that allows using them on a plus/4.
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Posted By
Litwr
on 2014-04-12
06:51:10
| Re: Gamepad modification
I have to note that modern gamepads and joysticks look like cursed by some evil and powerful wizard.  Do you remember that we used right hand to set the direction and left hand to fire? All today's devices are for left-handers! It looks like that almost all ppl do not notice this...
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Posted By
MIK
on 2014-04-12
12:29:28
| Re: Gamepad modification
The only problem adding stuff that might not of been for our system is that if for any reason it's been modified so it does not damage TED then it should come with a warning if it would other wise, or not be shown at all.
I've modded a pad that would kill TED with it's autofires and flashy lights so it works safely on C16/Plus4 as a simple joystick/pad but if it was added as a device that runs and people don't know what's been done to it then they will damage the machine unintentionally. I'd rather it was not added so people don't make mistakes.... it's not listed any way but you get my point.
Just have to be a little careful is all for those that don't know better...
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Posted By
Retro76
on 2014-04-15
21:32:42
 | Re: Gamepad modification
Yeah we really need to be cautious guys about what we put into the 264's !
I wouldnt even risk the vic20 paddles as those TEDS are so damned precious.
The worst design of a joystick for me was the speedking intended for the c64. I think i broke two of them when i was a kid playing Speed King (same name) motor racing game. I would be cautious about adding gamepads with multiple buttons as well. BTW i can't recall too many games with the option of using more than two buttons.
I know many 16-bit platforms use multiple buttons but can't remember 8bit games with similar uses.
Maybe someone can enlighten us ?
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Posted By
MIK
on 2014-04-16
01:55:50
| Re: Gamepad modification
Obviously flight sims always use more keys but that's expected such as ACE for C16 & Ace +4, and then there is Thrust, Mercenary and so on but these don't count as it's more the arcade style games we are after...
Hard to think what arcade style games might use the keyboard as well as joystick when playing in-game on C16/Plus4. Top of my head is Phantom, uses Space to clear the screen if you have picked up an ectoblaster. Quality title!!
Your better off playing the first Jet Set Willy on keys for our system as there is a glitchy bug when the character walks which doesn't show up as bad when using keys, using joystick slows this game down so it shows up more.
Molecule Man says in the instructions it supports joystick, but was officially keys only. This was a shame back in the day as it's a fantastic title for our system that's never been played properly by most of us because of that! Was wicked to see such a C64 game on C16/Plus4 back in the day though!!
One of my favs, Myriad, uses Space.
I'm cheating now and looking at the covers and the letter "A", worth a mention any way even if it's not what we are looking for...
Aliens keys only.
Arena 3000 allows 2 joysticks when playing solo.
OFF TOPIC:
A lot of games on C64 use Space bar and many other keys such as the F-keys and SHIFT ect..., but one game on C64 I know requires 3 buttons so the keyboard has to be used making it a bit difficult to play. That game is NARC.
NARC uses 2 keys on the keyboard as well as FIRE, and another 2 on the keyboard if played in 2 player. Some people don't like NARC for that very reason. If you can get a stick stuck down to the table with fire button on the thumb or trigger finger then that would free up the other hand for pressing keys. Some people are not that clever to think of that and may of missed out.
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Posted By
Retro76
on 2014-04-16
22:27:58
| Re: Gamepad modification
Just a little off topic here but here goes :
I remember a flight sim or two taking up to 12 different keyboard keys.
And Gateway To Apshai was another one of my childhood favourites to use all the 4 F Keys & had a scrolling select feature allowing up to 10 different functions during gameplay (weapons, spells etc). I remember u sending me a link for myraid & only had it working briefly on an emulator but will be sure to add it to my sd2 list along with the other titles if they arent in there already. BTW just obtained an original Tape of speedking for the c16 & will test it out soon. Hope it works & rejuvenates me after quater century LOL 
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Posted By
MIK
on 2014-04-17
12:22:52
| Re: Gamepad modification
Cool, if the tape does not work give me a shout. I could send you another as I have a big old box of spares.
Not played it for a while, if I remember correct you need to push the stick to the corners to select one of the 4 tracks before you press fire. Remember, all Sout aka Shaun Southern titles use joyport 1.
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