Note:
The information provided on this page does not affect the upcoming Retrode 2, which comes with 2×2 game controller ports by default.
The Retrode supports the connection of up to 4 *SNES gamepads. Here’s how they have to be wired. Please note that there is not much space in the Retrode case itself, so a break-out cable solution might be best.
You need:
- Soldering iron and solder.
- Gamepad connectors, e. g. unsoldered from a multitap adapter.
- (per connector) 5 isolated wires with stripped ends.
- Phillips (cross-head) screwdriver.
- Tools for making a cutout in the case.
- Basic knowledge in using the above.
Procedure:
- Open the Retrode case.
- Identify the headers J5, J6, J7, J8, and locate pin 1 on J5 and J6 (see the layouts below to find pin 1). The gamepad connectors have pin 1 at the round end.
- Connect pins 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 of J5 with gamepad connector #1, and J6 with connector #2.
- (optional) Connect J7 and J8 with pin 4 of gamepad #3 and #4, respectively. Add pins 1, 5, 6, 7 from either J5 or J6 according to the schematic below.
- Come up with a clever solution for the mechanical mounting, and put everything together.
Finding the connectors
Depending on your hardware revision, the gamepad connectors may be located differently:
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v0.3 | v0.7 |
Schematic
Device configuration (optional)
The Retrode is a USB composite device with various different interfaces to the host computer. When SNES gamepads are connected as described above, they behave like USB joysticks by default. Alternatively, gamepads #1 and #2 can be configured to act as USB keyboards with user-definable key mappings. In order to define the behaviour of the Retrode’s gamepad interface, proceed as follows:
- Locate the file retrode.cfg in the Retrode’s root directory, and open it in a text editor.
- You are now free to edit the following settings:
- [keyboardMode] — when set to 1, gamepads #1 and #2 are mapped to USB keyboard strokes.
- [gamepad1] — Edit these 12 numbers to define the key mappings for gamepad #1. Details can be found in the configuration file.
- [gamepad2] — key mappings for gamepad #2.
- [nesMode] — allows for connection of NES gamepads instead of SNES ones.
- When you are done with the editing, save the file (please be patient, as writing to the EEPROM takes some time). The changes will become effective immediately.
- In order to restore factory settings, delete the first line in the retrode.cfg and save it.