Well as some of my Amiga joysticks are getting worn out (Mostly the button(s)) and also some games works good with a gamepad I bought a few brand new Megadrive/Genesis gamepads.
So like many(all) of you know jumping in platformers or accelerating racing games on the Amiga is often done by pressing the stick up, and using a D-Pad that just don't feel right so I wanted to fix that.
This is an EASY mod, nearly anyone will pull it off and if you can't you might know someone who can do it for you.
Im just writing this for the few out there that want to do this but don't know how to do it.
Here is the brand new "SUPER PAD" I got for 3$ of the Swedish ebay.
Open it up, and if you as me has a cat who loves to watch don't let it near any components and don't touch it since she/he is a static bomb. (She knows she can watch as long as she do not touch anything and she knows I wont pet her).
When you have opened the controller locate the trace from the up button and the A button, there is two traces per button, keep in mind that one is ground and they all go tegether to the bigger trace, so don't touch that.
You simply use a knife and scrape of the protective coating from the UP trace, keep in mind to look at the top part of the case so the wire do not get in the way when closing the case.
Then Solder a wire from the UP trace to the chosen button, in my case A since B and C is used as button 1 and 2 on the Amiga.
I had exposed traces from the buttons so no need to scrape there, but some controllers might not.
Then just use a knife to cut the trace from the chosen button and remove a part to be sure.
Now if you feel you don't need to do more that is enough.
But I wanted to be able to switch the D-Pad up on and off since it's easy to touch jump by mistake when going left and right. But still keep the option to be able to use D-Pad up in games.
So you can do two things, cut the D-Pad up trace or cut and solder a switch, I did the latter.
First you need an on/off switch, any that will fit inside the controller will do.
I went for one of these.
Then I cut some on the PCB to be able to fit it where I wanted it. Be careful not to damage any traces while cutting in the PCB.
And it fits good
Then I made a cut in the plastic fitted the switch and glued it on place, then I cut the D-Pad up trace left of the button solder, then I soldered a wire left of the cut to the switch and a wire right(where the button solder is) of the cut to the switch and presto done.
And this is how it looks, 3 buttons usable and switch to turn D-Pad up off/on.
I will get a few other Genesis/Megadrive/master system gamepads of all types and shapes coming next week then I will take photos of when doing the same on them.
Edit: Orders checked, 1x Master system controller, 6x Genesis/megadrive controllers 1x original all others third party ones some cool designs. Also I just put down an order for 2x Arcade sticks I want to build for the Miggy for the games that must be played with joystick
Ill see what I can do with the worn out Amiga joysticks, the buttons are near dead but I hope to be able to fix them also