Post by CkRtech on Aug 18, 2006 21:58:47 GMT -5
Hey all. I am going to post this info on my myspace blog, but they are having issues as usual. I had planned to mirror it here, anyway....so here goes.
After the release of Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting for the Xbox 360, a coworker and I got to talking about the lack of a good arcade controller to use with the game. I own the Dead or Alive 4 arcade stick made by HORI, but it doesn't work as well with Street Fighter 2 as it does with Dead or Alive 4. Not only are the two games different in regard to how you play a fighting game - they are specifically different when it comes to the moves that you use on the arcade stick. DOA 4 uses circular motions and multiple button presses. SF2 uses circular motions, linear motions (hold down for a second & then go straight up), and uses one button at a time for attacks (more or less).
So we thought - Why not MAKE an arcade stick for the Xbox 360? Creating a custom controller would be great for use with Street Fighter 2 and other Arcade games released on the 360. It would also be a great hobby project. I owned some arcade games during college and made a hobby of repairing them. The thought of a custom controller has been done before - and you can find some details out on the 'net - however this concept is fairly new. We decided to get as close as we could to build it from scratch. No pre-existing box would be used. The box for the arcade stick is going to be made using wood. For the joystick and buttons, we are going the route of "authentic arcade controls." I ordered parts made by Happ controls. Parts made by Happ are considered to be some of the best out there for arcade machines. You pay a bit more, but it is worth it. The "control board" would be build using a pre-existing wireless Xbox 360 controller. Why not make a controller wireless if you are going to make your own, right?
Original materials needed:
(will probably be changed later)
Box:
Wood (Aspen) plank - high quality wood
Screws
metal L brackets for stability
Saws, drillpress, etc for building
Electronics:
Xbox 360 wireless controller
Solder & soldering iron
Wiring (18 gauge)
Electrical tape
Torx T8X20 driver
Multimeter
Female disconnects (18 to 22 gauge)
8-way competition joystick
10 competition buttons (4 white, 3 red, 3 blue)
Potential issues (addressed):
Problem: How will we make the changing of batteries easier than having to open the arcade stick?
Solution: AA (x2) Battery holder (from Fry's)
Potential issues (semi-addressed, guesswork, and not addressed):
- Can the trigger buttons be wired up?
- Can we figure out a way to connect the headset/microphone?
- Should the wireless sync button be easily accessible?
- Will the wireless transmission be affected by a box of solid wood?
- What alterations might we make to the box (if any)?
First - a bit of background. The Xbox 360 controller.
The controller probably seems like an extremely awesome, complex device from this brand-spanking new era of consoles. It's not. It is actually quite simple. Or at least - it is made up of a large number of simple items and electronics.
The insides look like this:
Bottom:
Top:
The "cut" circles are how the buttons and directional pad function. When you press the buttons, they press against a rubber pad with contacts on the bottom that look like this:
When those contacts touch the green board, they "bridge" the two half circles. At this point, the button is "pressed." I am essentially going to connect wires to the half circles and connect the other end of those wires to the arcade buttons. More on that later.
The box (created by my coworker) looks like this:
Some of us joked about it when he brought it to work to give to me. We thought it looked like some sort of Atari prototype controller. But then since we can't drop thousands of dollars in order to create a plastic mold for a single arcade stick box.....wood will do fine. We still joked about putting an Atari logo on the top of it. This controller will be for my coworker, so he elected to stain it.
Well I want to get to work on it. I'll keep adding updates, information, and pictures as they become available. The point of this first entry was to show the primary things we are using to make the arcade stick - a wireless Xbox 360 controller & some wood.
After the release of Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting for the Xbox 360, a coworker and I got to talking about the lack of a good arcade controller to use with the game. I own the Dead or Alive 4 arcade stick made by HORI, but it doesn't work as well with Street Fighter 2 as it does with Dead or Alive 4. Not only are the two games different in regard to how you play a fighting game - they are specifically different when it comes to the moves that you use on the arcade stick. DOA 4 uses circular motions and multiple button presses. SF2 uses circular motions, linear motions (hold down for a second & then go straight up), and uses one button at a time for attacks (more or less).
So we thought - Why not MAKE an arcade stick for the Xbox 360? Creating a custom controller would be great for use with Street Fighter 2 and other Arcade games released on the 360. It would also be a great hobby project. I owned some arcade games during college and made a hobby of repairing them. The thought of a custom controller has been done before - and you can find some details out on the 'net - however this concept is fairly new. We decided to get as close as we could to build it from scratch. No pre-existing box would be used. The box for the arcade stick is going to be made using wood. For the joystick and buttons, we are going the route of "authentic arcade controls." I ordered parts made by Happ controls. Parts made by Happ are considered to be some of the best out there for arcade machines. You pay a bit more, but it is worth it. The "control board" would be build using a pre-existing wireless Xbox 360 controller. Why not make a controller wireless if you are going to make your own, right?
Original materials needed:
(will probably be changed later)
Box:
Wood (Aspen) plank - high quality wood
Screws
metal L brackets for stability
Saws, drillpress, etc for building
Electronics:
Xbox 360 wireless controller
Solder & soldering iron
Wiring (18 gauge)
Electrical tape
Torx T8X20 driver
Multimeter
Female disconnects (18 to 22 gauge)
8-way competition joystick
10 competition buttons (4 white, 3 red, 3 blue)
Potential issues (addressed):
Problem: How will we make the changing of batteries easier than having to open the arcade stick?
Solution: AA (x2) Battery holder (from Fry's)
Potential issues (semi-addressed, guesswork, and not addressed):
- Can the trigger buttons be wired up?
- Can we figure out a way to connect the headset/microphone?
- Should the wireless sync button be easily accessible?
- Will the wireless transmission be affected by a box of solid wood?
- What alterations might we make to the box (if any)?
First - a bit of background. The Xbox 360 controller.
The controller probably seems like an extremely awesome, complex device from this brand-spanking new era of consoles. It's not. It is actually quite simple. Or at least - it is made up of a large number of simple items and electronics.
The insides look like this:
Bottom:
Top:
The "cut" circles are how the buttons and directional pad function. When you press the buttons, they press against a rubber pad with contacts on the bottom that look like this:
When those contacts touch the green board, they "bridge" the two half circles. At this point, the button is "pressed." I am essentially going to connect wires to the half circles and connect the other end of those wires to the arcade buttons. More on that later.
The box (created by my coworker) looks like this:
Some of us joked about it when he brought it to work to give to me. We thought it looked like some sort of Atari prototype controller. But then since we can't drop thousands of dollars in order to create a plastic mold for a single arcade stick box.....wood will do fine. We still joked about putting an Atari logo on the top of it. This controller will be for my coworker, so he elected to stain it.
Well I want to get to work on it. I'll keep adding updates, information, and pictures as they become available. The point of this first entry was to show the primary things we are using to make the arcade stick - a wireless Xbox 360 controller & some wood.