GC- Is a Miniature GameCube Controller

Hacker and electrical engineering student “senoravocado” has gotten into the “portabilizing” world, creating a Wii laptop that can be played on-the-go. As cool as such a system is, the stock controller is a bit bulky, which often meant simply pulling out a phone when the gaming itch struck.

After considering making an embedded controller, senoravocado instead opted to make the GC-, designed as a f GameCube controller (compatible with many Wii games) that is still comfortable to use. While there would be many ways to implement such a hack, ‘avocado started with the Game Boy SP as a starting point for the hack, and set out to make a full featured GameCube controller, minus the rumble functionality.

Portable Nintendo hardware served not just as inspiration, but as actual hardware for the build, as a broken Nintendo DS Liteportable console was used as a donor device for the buttons, shoulder triggers, and the directional pad. 3DS-style sliders were used as analog joysticks, and the controls were integrated into a nice compact 3D-printed chassis.

Processing for the unit is provided by a Microchip PIC18F25K22-I/SS microcontroller on a breakout board, where lines from the buttons/joysticks are fed in for interface. A 3.5mm headphone jack is included with a custom cable to connect to the gaming system itself. The result is a compact custom device that looks like a lot of fun to use!