mtholking

iPad SNES controller is my first hardware side project. It isn’t the cheapest or the most polished solution, but it feels great to play games on my iPad with an SNES controller.

It works by using the teensy as a USB keyboard to send key events when buttons are pressed on the SNES gamepad. No jailbreaking is required, and without bluetooth pairing if you need to use the iOS keyboard you simply unplug the controller.

This project uses the iCade control scheme because there are already over 100 games on the App Store that support it, including classic games like PAC-MAN, Atari’s Greatest Hits, and one of my favorites from my Amiga gaming days, Emerald Mine. The iCade control scheme uses keystrokes to determine the current state with this key mapping (via iCade developer’s PDF)

Modifying the SNES Controller

Components:

• Original SNES Controller ($10-$20) or Generic ($5)
• Teensy 2.0 ($16)
• Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit ($29) or Generic ($6)
• USB Cable with mini-b connector ($3)

Open the SNES controller and detach the wire harness from the board.

Cut the SNES cable and strip the wire harness so it looks like the picture below.

Download and install the Arduino IDE, Teensyduino, and Teensy Loader

• Connect the Teensy to your computer and open Arduino IDE
• Choose “Teensy 2.0” as the board
• Set the USB Device Type to Keyboard
• Compile and upload this sketch to the Teensy: https://github.com/mtholking/ipad-snes-controller (recommendations for improvements would be greatly appreciated)

Solder each wire into the Teensy as follows:

Brown (GND)       ——> Teensy GND
White (VCC)         ——> Teensy VCC
Yellow (CLOCK)   ——> Teensy PB0
Orange (LATCH)  ——> Teensy PB1
Red (DATA)          ——> Teensy PB2

Before reassembling the controller, trim the USB connector for a better fit, and clip off some of the plastic supports on the back of the case to make room for the Teensy.

Then, close up the controller and plug the USB connector into the USB Camera Connection kit. Finally plug it into your iPad and start playing.

Making Compatible Apps

If you want to add iCade support to your own apps, check out this great tutorial from raywenderlich.com, which uses this github project. My first test app for the controller was this iOS app wrapper for Infinite Mario in HTML/JS.

Notes

- Occasional error will appear warning that the device is not supported, just dismiss it and keep playing.

- iPad only, does not work for iPhone/iPod Touch

- Android compatible through USB connection including apps like Super GNES

Credits/Thanks

https://github.com/johnburkert/YeOldeJoystick

http://pinouts.ru/Game/snescontroller_pinout.shtml

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It does not require a jailbreak, all functions of the built-in keyboard stay intact including splitting the keyboard.

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