While playing Mario 64 on the Wii with a gamecube controller I was wishing to play with the original controller. Just like when I play a game of Sonic The Hedgehog I really want an original Sega Genesis/Megadrive controller. The Wii-mote just isn’t good enough for a real retro experience!

So I started a search on the usual search engine, and found the company called Raphnet Technologies. They make all kind of adapters, but that means I would have to buy multiple adapters…

I searched some more to see if somebody already attempted the same and I found one! Bruno successfully created the Wii Retropad Adapter and the best thing he made the source available! Yihaa!

Download the source. If you would like to just buy one you can do so at Bruno’s website

The following is what I did to build a Wii Retropad Adapter myself:

I made a lot of mistakes in the process, I will not go into that here;

what you will need;

Hardware:
1x USBASP AVR Programmer
1x Arduino Pro Mini 8Mhz 3.3V

Software:
WinAVR
ArduinoIDE (for AVRdude)

Some wires to connect everything, If you are planning to build different adapter cables I recommend using a DB9 Male connector and female DB9 connectors for the adapter cables and of course a PCB to mount everything.

If you like to tinker even further (like I do) you can edit the source to use your favourite controller for other games. For instance I changed the source code to use the N64 controller with Mario Kart Wii. When I connect the N64 controller adapter with D-pad Down pressed. It will map Z to “use item” and C-down becomes jump/trick/wheelie. Just imagine how much time you can improve on your time trials!