Ask Mr. Chewing Guy

Mr. Chewing Guy sez: No, and it says that right on the front page. I still get a lot of emails asking me this, though. I just don't understand why.

Your Question:Please send me pix of this and such controller which is not featured on your site.

Mr. Chewing Guy Sez: Uh.... no. There are like a thousand different brands of controllers out there and I just don't have the time to take apart each one. I don't have any other diagrams other than the ones that are here now. Just study the controllers that I have up now, and you'll probably be able to figure it out. It's not THAT difficult. Also check out some of the info in the Links section, there are some other similiar projects there.

Your Question: How much will it cost me to make one of these?

Mr. Chewing Guy sez: That depends on how many times you screw up, and what tools you already have. I figured that the first 2-player stick I built cost around $200 because of the number of mistakes made, took a couple of hours to build and paint, and about 8 hours to solder. I was more experienced when I did the 1-player model, so the soldering time was just around an hour, with $60 for parts in the Dreamcast version. You can make a PSX version for about $40 in parts now, since the pads have gotten so cheap. You can save money by getting used pads at a place like Funcoland, for example.

Your Question:Will you make one for me?

Mr. Chewing Guy Sez:Sorry, I'm currently not accepting orders until I get a larger workshop.

Your Question:Will this Fry my system????

Mr. Chewing Guy Sez: If you do everything correctly, and don't work on anything while it's plugged in, nothing bad should happen. A couple of important things, though. With multi-system wiring, don't have more than one system turned on at once. That might do something bad. Also, though you can drill into most PSX pads, don't try to do that with a Dreamcast pad. There're just to many electronic bits on the opposite side. If you cut any of those you could burn out your control ports. Been there, done that.

Your Question:Can I be electrocuted?

Mr. Chewing Guy Sez: Once again, do not work with anything plugged in, you should be reasonably safe.

Your Question:Why do you use Control pads, can't you just wire directly to the control ports?

Mr. Chewing Guy Sez: With some older systems before Genesis, like the Atari 2600 you could, but on all modern systems you can't. The control pads contain a tiny microprocessor that translates button pressess into digital commands that the computer can understand.

Your Question:Why did you choose the MadCatz Dream Pad?

Mr. Chewing Guy Sez: The pads that come included with the system have soldering points that are just far too small, and when you stick wires to them, they can break off easily. This is the case with every pad that comes included with any system. Sony brand Playstation controllers are near impossible to do. I especially like the DreamPad because of the little holes that you can stick wires in. It's extremely easy to work with.

Your Question:Can you recommend any other Pads for other consoles/PCs?

Mr. Chewing Guy Sez: I can recommend using something CHEAP. Usually the cheap stuff has larger areas to solder to. But I also have a list of other pads that can be used right here.

Your Question:How can I wire a keyboard hack and a game pad simultaneously?

Mr. Chewing Guy Sez: What makes you think I know anything about this? Just kidding. You can, but it's really difficult! They don't work the same way. A game pad uses a hot/ground connection, and a keyboard uses a hot/hot connection. In order to make this work, you'd have to attach a switch somewhere along every wire going to your buttons and joysticks, and then it *might* work. Daisy chaining ground is not possible if you attempt this. If you have success with this, let me know, ok?

Your Question: How did you get into building arcade controls?

Mr. Chewing Guy sez: The story is HERE.

Questions or comments? E-mail me at CD_Vision (at) hotmail.com.