Building the Coolest SNES Controller EVER - new PCB, DIY Cable, new Paint Job, LEDs, Custom Buttons

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The PCB taylormadeak.b...
The Shell www.printables...
The Plug Opener www.printables...
Fires Custom Controller firescc.com/
Music by ‪@fahrlaend‬ and me.
#supernintendo #controllermod #retromodding

[@bobtaylor2821]

Holy crap! First ever video featuring my replacement controller PCB! Amazing work, man. What a gorgeous end result.

[@littlemodshop]

Thank you so much for sharing your hard work with us! You deserve all the praise! 🔥👌🏻

[@bobtaylor2821]

@@littlemodshop I'm just happy to contribute something that the community finds useful.

[@GLXY23]

wow this pcb you made looks cool, glad this video exist, because i was just looking for something like this.

[@donwilson]

Have you considered adding low profile micro switches for the dpad, abxy? And L/R? Similar to what extremerate does with their clicky buttons? I play a lot of Mario kaizo and tactile switches would be game changing imo

[@bobtaylor2821]

@@donwilson I designed the board to be a drop-in replacement that reproduced the feel of the original as closely as possible. The project is open source; if you want to modify it for some clicky buttons, fork the repo and go nuts!

[@j7a1k1e]

It would be really cool to have LEDs in red blue green and yellow under the buttons. Maybe even addressable rgb throughout.

[@bobtaylor2821]

Addressable LEDs require a MCU and are not possible with my PCB design. Different colored LEDs are totally possible, though, with the small caveat that their brightness relative to each other likely will not be the same.

[@beat_avenger]

I would do violet and lavender like the US one

[@bobtaylor2821]

@@beat_avenger might be a bit tough with colored LEDs. I got a pretty good result by casting my own translucent colored buttons (using almost exactly the same method demonstrated in this video) and sticking with white LEDs.

[@beat_avenger]

That makes sense I imagine that would look better too. Maybe colored leds with like a foggy button.

[@CrystalENVT]

The name of the little metal connectors from the controller port are called "Dupont Connectors" or "Dupont Pins". You can order a set of Dupont Crimpers + a roll of the pins for a good value (about $40)

[@littlemodshop]

Thank you for sharing! 🤗

[@CrystalENVT]

@@littlemodshop of course! Happy to share & spread the knowledge :)

[@someguy9175]

what size tho?

[@Decrypt-Kryptonian]

Okay that was .... really insane transparent controller + LED white buttons and arrowPads

[@spitt0110]

that is a clean awesome looking build!! keep that retro stuff alive and looking better!

[@exaviestivalet3393]

this looks like something that would've been released , id buy one

[@hollenwanderer]

Hey mate, nice work, only thing I would do differently is spray some matte (or gloss depending on your preference) topcoat on your painted parts to better protect them, especially those shoulder buttons that your fingers will be coming into contact with.

[@gbamck]

Now following on Insta too. Cheers for the heads up. I could watch this kind of modding and narration all day - superb video, thanks! The clear gear is the best, eh?! 😊

[@fgmenth]

Now you need to make a full PhobGCC custom build

[@littlemodshop]

With the recent developments i will def build one in the future! 😍😍

[@nubianprincessqueenofsaba2342]

Pretty sure looks better than it feels...

[@janiorb]

I love how everything looks in the background

[@harryknapper1133]

This is exactly how these projects should be done fully disassembled and painted not partial and masked off like people did years ago when I was younger on KZbin very good throughout

[@TimothyTimPSP]

Wouldn't "the coolest controller" have an option for a wireless connection? With that being said it is very cool. I like it a lot. Is it stiff?

[@littlemodshop]

Sure, but then you don’t have the pleasure of having a custon braided cable. 🥹

[@SHAGANGBANG]

[@littlemodshop]

thank you for taking your time and watching my video. Being good at cGCC's is a dream i am working towards. 💪🏻

[@anarchyoverlandoutdoors6245]

This is excellent!

[@MrOpz]

That looks quite nice, the white parts and the transparent shell look awesome. I just do not get why anyone ever would want LEDs in their controller, but to each his or her own opinion though.

[@n0refuge]

Sick bespoke controller! You have inspired me. I'll tackle this project some day.

[@user-vd4ew9fg8l]

カッコいいですね！思い入れがある コントローラーなら 好感持てました Switchのコントローラーも 挑んでみては？

[@-Gothicgirl-]

Mmh i have one clear controller from snes times and it has a display with programming button kombinations

[@doubleHLabs]

Great vid. Love modding retro gear ❤

[@littlemodshop]

Thank you, glad you enjoy my vids! :)

[@ike-2357]

does this shell work with oem pcb's? i melted my snes controller shell on accident during a retrobrite attempt and i am looking for an alternative instead of throwing it all away

[@littlemodshop]

Yes, as it is a drop in replacement. I found the files a little tight but it will fit just right as you can see in the video. Hope that helps! :)

[@ike-2357]

@@littlemodshop thank you for saving me here. i am going to have this printed out soon

[@AllanAdamson]

whats the latency versus an og controller

[@ZombieFBody]

Very cool! Is there any issue with paint rubbing off the plug? That would be my main concern.

[@littlemodshop]

Sure the paint will come off at some point on the inner side, as the paint rubbing against the plastic. But nothing to worry about imo. :)

[@ernestoramirez4285]

nice job. where did you buy the button membranes?

[@littlemodshop]

I got them from Retro Six UK :)

[@shawnmichaelis1609]

Best part is, inmates could use it too

[@littlemodshop]

didn’t thought about that, but true lol 😂

[@SynthCatSpot]

This may have already been answered. Did you have to optimize the power you were given with the new PCB? Or Possibly filter out any LED noise in the signal. I’m guessing there’s plenty of power going to the controller, to borrow from when adding LED’s. I’m guessing they’re in series. I’m over complicating it, but this becomes an Intrachol part of moding that few people talk about. Thank you and I love this build

[@bobtaylor2821]

I can answer this one. The 5v line on the SNES/SFC controller ports is directly connected to the system power rail, so care must be exercised to not draw so much power that you blow the system fuse or starve the processors for power. There's still a lot of power available, though, enough to drive the a multi-tap and five controllers with no issues. Call the theoretical max 250mA, just to have a safety margin. I estimate that the total power consumption of my board design with all components populated comes in at about 160mA.

[@SynthCatSpot]

@@bobtaylor2821 Thank you so much. You two did an amazing job on this build. I had been looking at a clear track ball mouse from the 90’s with LED’s right before seeing his video. Lol. I believe 5v is pretty standard for many 5 pin midi devices of that era as well. 3.3v is the newer midi/usb standard. Enough to allow for somewhat passive thru box accessories and what not. I appreciate you taking the time. Having enough milliamps for everything to pull from as needed is probably the most important factor to take into account. I’m interested in the overlap between music gear and video game moding. I appreciate your contribution. Many thanks

[@SuperLuigiGuy64]

Beautiful Snes controller. 👍

[@Keaton.]

I'd love a clear switch pro controller with octagonal gates (like N64/GCN's)... lol

[@spoolstring1853]

God tier, led snes logo please

[@kid.dracula]

Whats the name of the cable used on this mod?? Amazing job tho!!

[@littlemodshop]

You mean the type? This is a 28AWG 5 Core Cable i got from aliexpress. The sleeving part i did myself as you see in the video :)

[@uropig]

try making mechanical switches instead of membranes

[@kojimayoshiyuki2728]

anoyone know if its possible to get the shell printed in that transparent neon yellow/green anywhere?

[@Reaperman4711]

'could have just painted a regular snes controller with clear paint. 😜 (👍)

[@littlemodshop]

😂

[@beat_avenger]

If it don’t got two concave buttons and two convex buttons I don’t want it lol

[@axelkusanagi4139]

I need SNES buttons that are neon red and blue like the Nintendo Switch

[@ZidaneTheTribal]

Man i wanna do this but my solder "skills" are at replacing GBC/A Pokémon batteries 😭 I love all the 3rd party wireless options that exist but wired is just king.. 😢

[@littlemodshop]

Thank you! Yeah it is REAL hard to do micro soldering, but what helped me was buying a cheap microscope to verify connections. Also there are a lot of great creators out there who teach soldering right to the core elements, @voultar for example. You’ll get there i am sure! :)

[@ZidaneTheTribal]

​@littlemodshop man thank you so much for replying and giving that bit of encouragement, and yeah he's great! I'll tackle this job somepoint this year!

[@Pabletex91]

Awesome project! Where did you get the new rubbers? Because I ordered some from AliExpress in the past and the diagonals doesn't work

[@littlemodshop]

Hey there! :) the rubber i bought from RetroSix UK. They are alright, but nothing special.

[@Pabletex91]

@@littlemodshop thanks a lot! My Snes jr. controller needs new rubbers

[@ommy5801]

Like you said, the big issue with these is that the dpad pretty much won't do diagonals without jamming down really hard which is totally unacceptable. I tried a few things and believe the issue is that the rubber is deeper where the contact pads are than the OEM ones, needing further travel of the button to turn it inside out and make contact. What i did to improve it was to gluestick little pieces of card stock on the back of the dpad plastic where it touches the top of the rubber to tighten it up. All it took was just one single thickness of card stock to see a significant improvement.

[@Pabletex91]

@@ommy5801 wow this is useful. Thanks a lot

[@Some_D0nkus]

Nicely done!

[@STANI420]

suuuuuuuper clean

[@littlemodshop]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@stevenbeshures6962]

That would be so cool to have for playing my super Mario world ROM hacks. I’m using really old controllers that really aren’t the greatest building things from scratch isn’t quite my forte so winning that controller would be life-changing. Good luck to everyone.

[@cosmicrdt]

Really nice build. Would have been perfect if you didn't have to butcher an original controller.

[@littlemodshop]

nothing will be thrown away here. Already reassembled the controller and just wait for the connector pins to arrive.

[@adrianoc17]

no wireless!?

[@Tahnvalas]

You, sir, are awesome!

[@littlemodshop]

Thank you, i’m humbled. 🙏🏻

[@ENNEN420]

Fun fact about those open source GC controllers: sm*sh players hate those and open source projects because they spend hundreds on controllers with soldering jobs that look like they were done by a 5 year old. Board burning, blob cracking, oversoldering, loose wires (if it needs one) and then get surprised when it breaks. They fear doing anything tech related themselves. The smash player is a beast that runs only on pure instinctive desire for fast food, osteoarthritis and children so you have to forgive them, though.

[@SuperLuigiGuy64]

True lol, I love my phob gcc. Built it myself, thanks phob community. 😁👍

[@juan666restauracionmexical5]

pa good snes controller transparent try color blue trixie lula moon transparent snes controller next video 👍👍👍

[@Retroman8077]

Don't think the speedrunning community gonna like this

[@bobtaylor2821]

The Super Metroid Speed Running community endorses and uses this PCB for some of their custom controllers. Their feedback has informed a number of changes and refinements to the design, like the hardware SOCD filter circuitry included on the back of the board.

[@mirabilis]

Cute!

[@ellstration]

🔥🔥

[@gwen4557]

Woohoo

[@PabloGil.]

Nice ❤

[@littlemodshop]

Thanks 🔥

[@Lazy943]

see through electronics are overrated