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The projects on this site are all about modifying normal consumer products into high-quality controllers. This page lists the products you can (and can't) safely use as the basis of your projects.

Playstation Controllers

These game pads have all been verified to be kosher for a Playstation joystick-building project. Do not pay more than $20 for a Playstation game pad! In fact, if you look around you can probably get one for less than $10.

• Mad Katz (Apparently everywhere)
• High Frequency (Toys R Us)
• EA Sports GamePad (Babbages, $7.99! It also has an 8' cable.)
• Performance GamePad Colors (Babbages, $7.99!)

Here are some photos of the cheap Babbages products.

• Product Boxes -- To help you find them at your Babbages or other game shop...
• Performance Guts -- A shot of the PCB inside the Performance GamePad. Vast tracts of copper!
• EA Sports Gamepad Guts -- Another interior shot.

Special thanks to Matthew Waterman for finding and photographing the cheap Babbages controllers! Here are some of his words on what he saw:

Well, I went and opened up the two PSX controllers; they're both well suited for the project. I found it interesting that although there are no extra buttons on the face, the EA controller has three extra copper connections for something inside. I guess they use this same board in multiple controllers, and just leave off buttons. I'm assuming that the functions are slow-mo and turbo fire.

I believe Matthew is exactly correct about the missing buttons in the EA gamepad.

Dreamcast Controllers

Sega's Controller

The inside of the Sega DC controller is similar to the inside of the Sony PSX controller -- there are no easy points to make connections to. Sega even uses the same black crud on the traces under the buttons.

• Inside the Sega Dreamcast controller

The bottom line is that you'll need an aftermarket controller to modify for your joystick project.

Astropad

The Astropad is $25, though you may be able to find coupons for places like Beyond.com to get it for less. Karl Fritz tells me that there are easy spots inside to solder to, so this should work fine as the basis for a joystick.

The Quantum Fighterpad

Again, Matthew Waterman pitches in. He was kind enough to send me some photos and commentary on the Dreamcast Quantum Fighterpad. In short, it looks like a good candidate for the basis of a Dreamcast joystick.

Matthew's commentary:

...I took apart my Interact "Quantum Fighterpad" for Dreamcast. Lots of info for you here. First off, the layout is much more complex than PSX. There are a total of four PCBs, one for the buttons, one for the controller, one for the program buttons, and one for the VMU. The PCB for the VMU is slightly larger than a PSX PCB. That enough abbreviations for you? The VMU connector is soldered right onto the board, so you are not going to be able to separate them, which means a VCR tape case is too small. I wanted to put both the PSX and DC boards in one case, but now I need a separate case. If you're going to stick this case inside your box, you may have to leave a VMU card inside with it. I think it may be difficult to make it external on the joystick. There is a small buzzer glued to the inside of the casing. I just cut the wires. Since the controller is programmable I may want to find some other buzzer to use. Maybe I'll use some loud, irritating sound. It would be possible to salvage the analog triggers and stick too, but I don't think I will.

And here is the GOOD news for you. The copper connections for the controller and buttons inside are HUGE. At least two, maybe three times bigger than the PSX ones.

I found this especially interesting: 

Well, I hear that a generic DC controller that has no analog stuff on it is coming out soon. It's supposed to feel like a Japanese Saturn pad.

And for those of you who already have PSX controls you like:

Also there is a thing you can get that lets you turn a PSX controller jack into a DC jack. It costs $30, so you could save the effort of Solder and all.

(You can find this product on the Links page.)

And here are the photos he sent:

• Quantum Fighterpad PCB -- This controller has several PCBs linked together.
• Underside -- The other side of the PCB, exposing the VMU header and the wires which drive the built-in buzzer.
• Button PCB -- A closeup of the PCB for the 6 buttons. The ground and control lines are easy to spot; it should be a piece of cake to make a joystick out of this gamepad.
• Directional controls PCB -- As above.
• Start PCB -- Closeup of the PCB which houses the Start button.

Light Guns

The only light gun project on the site adds a foot pedal to Namco's GunCon. You should easily be able to adapt the project to adding a pedal to any other light gun you have, should you wish.

There are a number of light guns which are GunCon compatible these days. That wasn't the case back when I got into Time Crisis. If I had it to do all over again, I might choose a GunCon compatible product like the Super Cobra light gun. You can get it at the site's V-Store.