DIYer puts some rumble into a NES controller

by David Hinkle on Oct 14th 2010 6:00AM

The problem with old technology is that it's ... well, it's usually pretty old, by definition. We get spoiled by the new stuff -- things like wirelessness, ergonomitude and tactical feedbackery. Well, in the case of the latter, it would seem we now have someone to look up to: Andy Goetz.

He's gone ahead and added rumble functionality to the classic NES controller, which you can see above. Sure, it's not the most efficient mod -- caveat: Goetz can't really control when the controller provides feedback, so it's not a perfect union -- but we applaud his entry in the Oregon State University Engineering Expo nonetheless. We've been trying to fix the past for years -- who knew trying to build a time machine and finding somebody named Kyle Reese who's willing to use it was the wrong way to go?

[Thanks, @kreese]

Via: Engadget
Source: Andy Goetz

Tags: diy, ds, nintendo, wii

Reader Comments (7)

How would the NES controller know when to rumble and when not to? The games didn't have rumble code included, didn't they?

@Esposch
maybe it just rumbles when you press a or b, so it would rumble on a jump with the a button. i could be wrong tho

@Decanus
He might have gone even simpler and just included a small chip to make it rumble at some random interval

Great, now I can play Super Mario Bros. 3 with random rumbles. YAY

This could be really cool if homebrewers could patch ROMs to tell the controller when to rumble. It would require everyone to have patched versions of games flashed onto their NES carts or to buy a Powerpak, neither of which are cheap. But it would be cool!