One handed controller for disabled son

[bothebu]

I am not familiar with the Wii niunchuck. How would this work? is it a mod? can anyone do this if it is a mod? Thanks for the help and ideas! I would be willing to pay.

[XCVG]

Yeah, it's a mod, shove N64 controller guts into a Nunchuck. Considering sdh could barely fit NES controller guts in a Nunchuck, it would probably be pretty close to impossible.

My idea involves a larger controller section. You have a lot of choices, go with the one you think is best.

[smitty]

Well, it doesn't have to be a nunchuck... It could be, uhh... A wiimote!

[Mario]

I would be more than happy to do this for you, as cheaply as I can possibly make it. Shoot me a PM.

What games would he want to play? Just Super Mario 64? Or are there others, too? I'd really like to make this for your son.

[vskid]

I would be more than happy to do this for you, as cheaply as I can possibly make it. Shoot me a PM.

If you do this, I'll sell you any parts you need for what I paid for them+shipping. I have a few 3rd party controllers and other misc stuff (like this arcade Genesis controller, would be great for foot controls).
Hope this turns out good.

[runkillerrabbit]

hey pm me... i just finished a n64 portable and i have some extra parts maybe i can help!!

[jperryss]

Subscribed to this thread because I'd love to see this come to fruition but have the modding skills of an epileptic monkey.

[bothebu]

Hello all thank you for the wonderful help and suggestions. I have commissioned "Mario" to make a controller. We will keep you posted! Thank You. If you have any good ideas that might be helpful please post.

Thank you! Bob

[Mario]

I'll be posting the worklog here.

Here is my idea for the controller so far. For the case, take a regular N64 controller, and chop off the outer handles, leaving just the middle part. The A/B and C buttons will be on top, easily accessible. The joystick will be on the bottom, so you can place the controller on your leg to use it. Start and R will be on the sides somewhere. Z will stay where it already is. The D-Pad and L may not be included.
It will look something like this:

Please excuse the 5-minute photoshop. It will have the memory card slot intact, so you can use that if need be.
No jokes about its shape, please.

[limpport]

I know Mario is already working on this, but I had a couple ideas (please excuse the MS Paint):



This one would involve the L/Z and R buttons on a foot petal, either to be controlled by one or both feet. The thumb would control the control stick or D-pad. The pointer and middle fingers would control A and B, and the ring and pinkie would control the C-buttons.



This one would all be done with one hand. It would be controlled mostly the same, but the C-buttons would be controlled by the pointer and middle fingers, and LZR would be controlled with the ring and pinkie fingers. It would be concave on the bottom, similar to Ben's Access Controller.

I also had an idea of making the control stick a full sized joystick, with buttons on it (basically what Mario is doing, just with a base). I just haven't made a picture yet.

Edit: Now I have a picture!


This has no D-pad, so there isn't an L button. But if you're playing Super Mario 64, then there is no need.

[kylechu]

If you do that idea, make sure you know how big the person this is for's hand is.

[collinE]

I like the wii nunchuck-esque controller. Is it possible to make something that small and narrow contain all the internals? Maybe you could have the nunchuck just be an extension of the controller and just be a shell with buttons. That way you could have a separate unit with the extra buttons you don't normally use (D-pad and L button) along with a place for the memory card or rumble, and not need to worry about it ALL in the handheld portion. Just a thought. Good luck, Mario.

[XCVG]

I like the joystick style controller, but they are all good ideas.

[Mario]

Those are some good ideas. I really liked the joystick one. I even have a computer joystick that I figured I could use after I saw your post, but then found out it's right-handed.
The problem with the arcade style one is that you may need to be pressing a lot of buttons at once. You only have so many fingers, and a 5-year old's hand is rather small for so many buttons.

I added something to the design. I'll add a small port that you can plug some foot controls into. The buttons will also be on the controller, so the foot controls will be optional and/or for convenience.

[kylechu]

That's why I liked the nunchuck pilot stick thing. You could have most of the internals of the controller in the base, which you could make as big as you can. Then you can make the part that the user's hand is on as small as you need, for tiny hands.

Also, it seems like it would allow the user to jitter and move around more, which littler kids seem to like to do.