Hi.
Lacking a working NES, I recently dove into Japanese Famicom territory and grabbed an NES to Famicom cartridge converter for my American carts. However, some of my games (particularly Vindicators) requires the second player to use the Select button to change weapons.
Seeing as the second controller on the Famicom lacks a select button... eh... we suddenly have a problem.
So I'm looking for an alternative. A way to hook up external controllers and use them as player 2 AND have Select working on player 2.
1) Do any third party controllers or any controllers period have a selection that allows the controller to decide which player it wants to be?
2) This adapter would allow me to use an NES controller
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320882450859&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123
However contacting the seller, he says:
"According with buyer´s experience, they only work for one controller, maybe the design is for a controller who need to the the two ports at once"
...so why would it have two controller ports? I know the Four-Score for the NES requires two ports, but if the pinout isn't right to support two ports to begin with, would a Four-Score still work?
3) Anyone know what exactly the Hori Twin Adaptor does?
4) Should I just look for a 4-Players Adaptor, or are they rare? I see none.
Just looking for the best option. :) Any suggestions would be wonderful.
Thanks!
Q: Do any third party controllers or any controllers period have a selection that allows the controller to decide which player it wants to be?
A: Not to my knowledge.
Q: [regarding a DB-15 to NES 7pin dual port]
A: To my knowledge, the DB-15 port on the Famicom carries both controller signals to player 1 and player 2, but the Famicom player 2 controller lacks Start and Select signals. I'm assuming this adapter you linked to would allow NES controllers to be used for player 1 and possibly player 2, but the NES Start and Select buttons would be unmapped for player 2. To my knowledge this was ONLY corrected with the release of the AV Famicom in 1992. No other model Famicom allows the Start + Select buttons to be used for Player 2 since they were missing in place of the microphone.
Q: Anyone know what exactly the Hori Twin Adapter does?
A: That's a good question...it seems to supply two controller signals. My guess would be that it does indeed supply controller signals for both players, but still not the Start and Select keys.
Q: Should I just look for a 4-Players Adaptor, or are they rare? I see none.
A: To the best of my knowledge there is no such thing for the Famicom, and even if there were, again, no Start/Select.
Back in the 80s when I got Super Dodgeball for the famicom, I was amazed that it supported up to 4 players. At that time there was no 4 player adapter yet for the NES. I recall that you had to daisy chain controllers in order to do so. Sure enough, I checked the manual of my original SDB and here's the pic.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/jviloria/IMG_0332.jpg)
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External controllers are generally wired to provide controller input for player 1,2,3, or 4. However, it is entirely up to the game software to determine how to handle them. For example, my "Hori Card" controller will function as player 1 in just about every game that I have. If I boot up Moero Twinbee (a 3-player game), however, it will act as a player 1 controller in 1-player mode and a player 3 controller in 3-player mode.
Yeah. Basically, multiplayer was much improved upon with the release of the NES. The NES controller standard is in many ways superior to the DB-15 the famicom used.
Would replacing the player 2 controller with a second player 1 work?