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Super Nintendo Controller Replacement PCB rev5j
About This Project
This is a replacement PCB designed to fit the original controllers used with the Nintendo Super Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Famicom. It's possible that this design may fit recent third-party clones of this device, but I have only tested it with the OEM controllers.
Project Goals
- Create as close to a "drop-in" replacement PCB as is reasonably feasible.
- Use modern equivalents to the original components wherever possible.
- Use common, inexpensive, easy-to-source components.
- Build at least a modicum of ESD protection into the design.
- Make the design accessible to anyone without requiring expensive tools or a great deal of soldering experience.
Design Features
The PCB design I offer in this project implements the following features:
- "Drop-in" replacement: This board has the same physical dimensions and shape as the original Nintendo/Mitsumi design, so it should fit inside every SNES/Super Famicom controller that Nintendo ever produced (and possibly a fair number of third-party designs as well) with no modification required.
- Double-sided PCB with plated vias.
- Large ground plane fills on both sides to increase the likelihood that any ESD shocks will go directly to ground.
- Uses modern Texas Instruments CD4021B shift registers, which are readily available and have built-in ESD protection in the form of diode-clamped inputs.
- Individual pull-up resistors for all 16 data lines.
- Surface-mount components to ensure the assembled PCB fits inside the original controller housing without modification.
- Hand-solder friendly SMT pads and sizes.
- Second wire-to-board header footprint for re-using the original connector harvested from a dead SNES controller.
- Optional LEDs for lighted buttons!
- Optional D-pad input filter logic circuit to prevent simultaneous opposing cardinal direction (SOCD) inputs (requested by the speed runner community)
Story Time
I have a confession to make: I still play my Super NES. A lot. I also live in Alaska, where it's cold and very dry for much of the year. Cold + Dry = Static Electricity.
After my wife and I fried two SNES controllers in a week, I realized I had a problem to solve.
Here's the thing: original SNES controllers aren't made any more, and the after-market ones you can get now? Well...they're not great. Sure, I could have fixed this OEM controller by ordering a Mitsumi V520B chip from Ali Express (as much of the community does), but those are also not made any more and the design flaws of the controller PCB just mean you're going to fry the dang thing again.
You know what I'm talking about, right? The original PCB was designed to be cheap. Single sided, no ground plane fills, and no clamping circuit. This kind of design is just begging for an ESD event, so it's little wonder when exactly that occurs.
In all fairness to Nintendo and Mitsumi, this PCB design lasted for over 30 years in my house before finally dying of an ESD event. Here's the thing that really chaps my ass: 90% of the original controller is still usable! The cable, shell, buttons, button membranes, they're all fine. Why replace the whole controller for want of an obsolete shift register?
I prefer to keep this stuff out of the landfills and in gamer (read: my) hands, if at all possible.
I dug around in the Internet Tubes and was quite surprised to discover that, while there are schematics for the SNES controller to be found (which all use the 74xx165, for some reason), no one seems to have released a PCB design for public consumption.
So, here we are.
Full Assembly Instructions
Full detailed assembly instructions are available on my project website.
Additional Considerations
- This PCBWay Shared Project was created to be an easy way for the community to order this board pre-populated, if they choose to do so. As such, the wire-to-board header has deliberately been left out of the BOM. This is to allow you to decide if you want to re-use the connector from the original Nintendo controller (recommended if you're repairing a broken controller) or build a new controller cable using the Molex mini-SPOX connector.
- If you're building a completely new controller, you will want a couple of these shoulder button daughter boards.
Super Nintendo Controller Replacement PCB rev5j
*PCBWay community is a sharing platform. We are not responsible for any design issues and parameter issues (board thickness, surface finish, etc.) you choose.
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Engineer Feb 06,2025
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