Sega Genesis Controllers On The Philips CD-i

The Philips CD-i was not well-liked upon its launch in 1991, and is barely acknowledged immediately. In the opinion of [MattKC], it had a very poor choice of controllers, too, and it’s typically onerous to seek out used examples anyway. To rectify this example, he whipped up an adapter to let him use Sega Genesis controllers instead.

The good thing about the Genesis controller is that it makes use of DB-9 connectors which might be available, and it’s bought a easy pinout that’s appropriate with the Atari joystick port, too. It makes interfacing the controllers supremely simple. Converting the controllers required utilizing a Arduino Pro Micro to learn the Genesis pad and translate it into one thing appropriate for the CD-i.

On the Sega controller facet, the microcontroller simply has to strobe one pin whereas studying the state of others to find out what all of the buttons are doing. The CD-i, nevertheless, expects a serial information stream from the unique Philips controllers. Thus, the microcontroller is about as much as ballot the Genesis controller, after which translate this into the serial instructions for the CD-i. It will get slightly difficult, as a result of the CD-i wasn’t actually constructed for recreation controllers, however mouse-like inputs as a substitute. But it’s not too onerous to get issues working when you perceive what the bizarre Philips console is in search of.

There aren’t actually any good video games on the CD-i, so this isn’t a mission that the retro gaming plenty will likely be flocking to. Still, you probably have a CD-i and also you wish to hook up some controllers on a budget, this would possibly come in useful. Alternatively, you could also try the BlueRetro project.