Hack Controls Android Emulators With NES Controller
By Jared Newman
If you’ve got an Android phone, you know that the thrill of loading it up with classic console game emulators is quickly tempered by the difficulty of playing games with a virtual keypad or tiny QWERTY keyboard. So here’s a solution from Sk3tch, who gets bonus points for the extreme hacker name. A classic Nintendo Entertainment System controller is rigged up to an Arduino controller board and a BlueSMiRF Bluetooth module. Button on the controller are translated to keyboard input, which the emulator in-turn translates back to button presses.
This solution is ideal for HTC Android phones, with which the familiar Wii remote hack is incompatible. It’s even better for HTC’s Evo 4G, which has a 4.3-inch screen and — my favorite part — a kickstand, so you can lean back as you game. Sk3tch says the project is in alpha now, but head to his github page if you want to see how it’s done. You will, of course, need some technical know-how and a bunch of new hardware. [HackADay via Engadget]
