Back in November of 2021, SHIRO! reported on some exciting work in progress by two individuals (Drew Kenaz & Izzi Patrick) to make Saturn’s 3D Analog Control Pad completely wireless. After nearly 8 months, significant progress has been made, and here we’ll bring folks up to speed on how all of this came together from the start…
At the very beginning of the pandemic (around May of 2020), Arthrimus created a new edge connection PCB for the Saturn’s 3D Control Pad (famous for it’s detachable cable, originally intended to accommodate several add-on peripherals).
Bob from RetroRGB did a write up on this, reaching console-hacking tech-tinkerer, Drew Kanaz (aka HexFreq), who was inspired to pair it with an Arduino Nano, in hopes of finally “cutting the cord” on the 3D Control Pad…
Drew’s project quickly began to take shape, successfully getting wireless Bluetooth link working…
This exciting progress in turn inspired Izzi Patrick (aka GamingNJncos) to try their own hand at a wireless Bluetooth solution with a very ambitious set of goals…
It was at this point that SHIRO! became aware of these 2 simultaneous projects, and we wrote up an informative article covering the extent of what they had accomplished and what they had planned. (see below…)
Soon thereafter, we would see further progress on Izzi’s side, with proof of successful wireless input in this short video demonstration. While there did seem to be a fair bit of input lag, this was still a huge step forward…
Just days later, we would also see Izzi’s display attachment (obviously inspired by Dreamcast’s VMU) showing customizable boot logo, mode switching and battery stats readout!
As of June 12 both Izzy & Drew were working together, making progress on the Bluetooth Low Energy solution, and shouting Arthrimus for the PCB that made all of this possible.
Fast forward just a couple weeks to the present, and now we see the input lag has been at least somewhat reduced…
Here we see a video demonstration of NiGHTS into Dreams.., a game with such nuanced control that relies very heavily on quick and precise input. If you watch the thumb rotation in contrast to the character movement on screen, you will observe that there is still a significant degree of latency. It’s still amazing to see this game being played wirelessly, and we have high hopes for further improvement in regard to the issue of latency…
We don’t currently know if there are any plans for a 2.4Ghz implementation of this mod, though with low power efficiency at the core of these designs, it may not be practical. That said, lower latency might be achieved by going that route, so perhaps it’s something the creators may consider down the road. Drew had also mentioned interest in seeing if it was possible to get this working with the Brook Wingman Adapter, so that’s another possibility that we will be following up on in the future…
When asked about the potential availability of this mod as a consumer product for sale, Izzi had this to say…
Izzi gave us further information regarding future plans for the project:
“In terms of what’s new (it’s kind of minimal, but equally big at least to me) is that it works with BlueRetro now. So using a wireless 3D Control Pad on DC, Gamecube, N64, Jaguar (tempest 2000 may be sweet!) are all possible now.
This is something I’d like to demo in a longer video… That in particular was a big undertaking, as the other gamepad library I was using & BlueRetro did not get along and took an excessive amount of debugging HID to identify what ended up being a relatively simple fix.
There is one down side with BlueRetro specific to Saturn though that I do want to call out… Unfortunately “Mode switching” ie. Analog <-> Digital switching via controller isn’t something BlueRetro can do natively from a controller input – its configured within BlueRetro settings. So while both modes ‘work’ on the controller and PC for example, on Saturn you have to rely on the BlueRetro interface to go back and forth.
I plan to release code, PCBs (one for controller, and one for Saturn receiver), and 3D print STLs all at the same time. I’m not great with 3D CAD stuff so the enclosure itself has taken some time and might be an area someone from the community might be able to help with.
In terms of commercial sales, it’s not an area I’m familiar with… I want to get these out there for people to play with and start polishing the codebase. I’m not opposed to them being sold, but its not something I can handle, personally. I’m more concerned about vendors ripping people off for what is relatively cheap hardware. Its all esp32 based on both sides.
There are still a few gremlins in the code I’d feel terrible to slap a price sticker on at the moment. However, I would consider assembling a couple of dev units on my own dime, if I could find some vetted coders in the community willing to aid feature dev and bug fixes.
We will be sure to keep folks updated as more information becomes available…
One thing is for sure… This community has a way of individuals inspiring each other to make great things happen, and this is a good example of that. What all started from a clever PCB design made available to the public, has taken shape into something many folks might have thought to be impossible. We will continue to follow this project with great anticipation.
One thing is for sure… This community has a way of individuals inspiring each other to make great things happen, and this is a good example of that. What all started from a clever PCB design made available to the public, has taken shape into something many folks might have thought to be impossible. We will continue to follow this project with great anticipation.
A massive Saturn fan since Christmas ’96, Dave is enthusiastic about growing the community and spreading Saturn love and knowledge to fans old and new. Co-founding the SEGA SATURN, SHIRO! podcast back in 2017 and creating the SHIRO! SHOW in 2020, he seeks to create interesting and engaging Saturn-related content for the community. Dave’s interests circle around game preservation, and he is a huge fan of game magazines and developer interviews.
