Turn an old NES controller into an all-in-one USB hub, memory key, and portable emulation station

There are several how-to guides available for turning old NES controllers into USB hubs or flash memory keys, and even some for making a plug-and-play emulator gadget.  As such, I don't claim originality for any of the components of this how-to, only the fact that they have all been merged into one.  In this guide, I'll show you how I turned an old NES controller into a combination USB hub, 4Gb memory key, and all-in-one emulation station that will work on any PC.

Step 1: What you will need.

You will need a few parts and tools for this project. 

Parts:

1. First, and obviously, an old NES controller.  If you don't have one that you are willing to modify, try a thrift store.  The one I used here cost $3 or so. 
2. A non-powered USB hub.  The one I chose has three ports on the front and one on the side, which is ideal. 
3. A USB memory key, as small as possible.  The Verbatim Tuff N' Tiny key is perfect.  I got a 4Gb key on sale for $15.  

Tools:

1. Screwdriver (Phillips).
2. Rotary tool (aka Dremel)
3. Glue gun

Comments

[smoak]

Next time rather than cutting the hole and putting in the panel from the laptop you could just mark with a ruler and drill 3 holes. Would look a lot cleaner. But great 'ible none the less.

[promotions]

This is an excellent way to use your old Nintendo controllers, but if you visit some of the other instructables or take a look at www.nintendorepairshop.com you will find out that these controllers can also be repaired and used to play fun games again.

[thatnerdguy]

I'm thinking about making this, however, I don't want to go and buy too little/ much memory. How much space would you reccomend for a nes emulator, the menu, and all the NES roms I can get my hands on? (that's about 800 for the record)

[Hackademic]

For just NES and all the games?  You could get by with 256Mb if you can find one that small!

[northernmagnet]

with my opinion go with all the roms you want about 1 gb then get 4 if you do newer games there huge ssbm is 1.36 gb thats big for what the game does

[cancer sucks]

I'm going to make one too. I'm making a nes pc and instead of front usb ports, I can just make this and it might even be easier for me to figure out. Thanks for the Instructable

 

[ac1D]

I like it.
You go to your friend house, you plug your nes remote on his computer and you tell him:
Look, we will play mario!
Then he grab the controller and say:
Me first!
But then you must tell him:
Oh noes, you use the keyboard to play, the nes controller is just an usb key in a huge casing.

[Hackademic]

It's a bit of a trade-off.  If you convert the controller into a USB controller, only one player can use it at a time.  If you convert it into a USB hub, multiple controllers can be plugged in but it becomes "USB controllers sold separately".  :-)  I prefer to have the games and the ports all right there, and to use controllers that will also work for SNES and other emulators.

[xiao_haozi]

 Could always just make two USB NES controllers then.  And you can add a usb device inside one that still houses any software you want.

[Hackademic]

I think you would need two wires coming out of it, then.  One would be hardwired to the controller, the other would contain the USB key.  (But then, why not just bring a USB key?).  It's two different projects, essentially.  An NES controller you can play, or a port that can use any sort of controllers -- in this case, it has NES on it but also SNES, MAME, etc., and you can't use NES controllers for those.

[willrandship]

Why not just have two wires merged into one? there's already 6 in each NES wire anyways, right? so put in the other 4 and cover it with some parallel cable shielding or something.

[xiao_haozi]

 Well for most of MAME things you could use an NES controller.  Most JAMMA games used 2 buttons (with the occassional third - C button in which case you would have to remap a bit)....

[ac1D]

Yeah I seen the point :-)
It would still be cool to be able to use it :)