This repository contains the KiCAD PCB project files for the Gamecube controller to Nintendo 64 adapter.
The associated firmware project can be found on GitHub at https://github.com/brownan/Gamecube-N64-Controller
Pre-assembled boards will be available shortly at Galvant Industries
This simple circuit board allows one to use a Nintendo Gamecube controller with a Nintendo 64 console. The primary motivation for this is simple: The Gamecube controller is far superior to the N64 one, especially the analogue sticks. As N64 controllers age, their analogue sticks become loose, eventually losing the ability the fully actuate which can prevent in-game characters from being able to run/preform tight turns/etc.
The board is a fairly simple design featuring an Atmel ATMega328 with the Arduino bootloader loaded on. Located beside each of the through-holes for the cables are mechanical stress relief holes to affix the cables down.
The best place to source the N64 and GCN connectors and cables will probably be to just buy an extension cable off eBay or something and cut the cable down. In addition, you will then need to map which conductor corresponds to which connector pin number, and thus which conductor goes where on the circuit board. A multimeter will be best for this as I found my extension cable did not have the same pin-cable colouring scheme as the official Nintendo controllers do.
The current firmware maps the X and Y buttons to C-left and C-right, and the C-stick straight maps to the C-buttons. This may be changed in the future in order to provide A-B turbo functionality to the XY buttons, while a Smash Bros specific buttons mapping could also be made to closer emulate the control scheme in Melee (ie C-stick for smash attacks, XY for jumping, etc).
Technically the firmware does support driving the Gamecube controller's rumble motor, but this is not really supported by this PCB. The reason is because, according to my research, the N64 is not able to provide enough power through its ports to drive it. The N64 outputs 3.3V while the Gamecube outputs 3.3V and 5V, with the 5V to drive the rumble motor. While I do understand that I can step-up the 3.3V from the N64 to the 5V for the rumble motor, I don't know if the N64 can handle outputting the required power. This is not something I particularly feel like testing as I don't want to accidently burn out my N64 controller ports.
A basic video of the adapter in action can be found on the author's YouTube channel.
This work is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or the included license/LICENSE.TXT file for more information.
All Nintendo trademarks are theirs, etc etc.