Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1nrNX-IMAU
Your Feedback And Tips From Episode 1 - OJTRTA Part 1.1
Introduction
One Joystick To Rule Them All!
In this mini episode I address some feedback from episode 1 and add some more tips to hopefully make this project a little bit more useful for anyone following along at home. Thanks so much everyone for the great feedback and suggestions - they’re really appreciated and I’m taking them all on board to make this series even better!
All Episode Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLJ-Nv_tKpJnpKGb3LmNxHop7dFVMd7ZM
Thanks to Todd’s Nerd Cave: https://www.youtube.com/user/mathemabeat
This is a series so subscribe for more adapters as I figure them out, and if you have an idea for a system you’d like to see the Neo Geo stick hooked up to, let me know down in the comments!
Script
Hey everyone, I just wanted to share a quick update and some feedback I’ve had on the first video in my Neo Geo joystick series. Nothing negative at all, just a couple of clarifications and comments I’ve had that I thought would be important to anyone wanting to follow along at home. Incidentally, this won’t make much sense if you haven’t watched that video yet so I’ll put a link up top and down in the description below.
So the first thing I want to talk about is how I cannibalised the cable from an old joystick in the previous video. The cable was damaged and needed replacing anyway, but I’ve since rebuilt the adapter using the 9 pin breakout adapter I was originally intending to use. You’ll probably recall that I had some problems getting the breakout connector to plug into anything. My original intention was to use it with a joystick extension cable, which can be found very cheaply on ebay. I was actually waiting for it to arrive in the post when I filmed the video. Of course, inevitably it finally arrived the day after the video went out.
I can definitely recommend this method of construction as it means there’s no need to sacrifice an old joystick. The 9 core cable was a little harder to track down, so in the end I decided to use an old SCART cable. This one’s composite only so it was no use for my video captures anyway.
On the subject of construction, I had a comment from Josh Malone over on Twitter about tinning the wires, which I showed in a very short clip. It’s a habit I’ve gotten into when doing any kind of soldering but it turns out it’s actually better not to do this when the wires are going to be used with a terminal block. So don’t do it. Thanks for the feedback, Josh, it’s genuinely appreciated.
The second bit of feedback was from Todd of Todd’s Nerd Cave. Todd’s been a follower of mine since the very early days and even gave me a shoutout in one of his videos, so it’s good to finally return the favour. If you like my channel you’ll definitely be interested in his so I’ll put a link up above and down in the description.
Anyway, Todd commented that the later kidney bean shaped Neo Geo stick and the Neo Geo CD controller actually require 5 volts to function. I don’t own either of these controllers so I wasn’t aware of this, although I do have one making its way from Japan now for testing.
Thankfully, a very helpful commenter by the name of Durk Hutmacher (and I’m really sorry if my pronunciation is a bit off there) pointed out that this could be achieved by connecting pin 7 on the Atari side to pin 8 on the Neo Geo side. I’ll be doing this going forward so that the adapter will also work with these controllers, but if you’re using the older stick like mine it isn’t necessary. There’s certainly no harm in hooking it up anyway as it won’t damage anything.
Finally, I had a question from Jim Wood in the comments asking where to buy these connectors. This was in my original script but didn’t make it to the final video somehow, so apologies for that. I actually bought them on ebay, and the search term for the Neo Geo connector specifically is “male db15 breakout”. On the Atari end you’ll need either a joystick cable like I used, or a “female db9 breakout” with an extension cable. I’ll make sure to clarify that in future videos.
Anyway, thanks for watching and thanks for all the great feedback on the first video. I see a few people have put these adapters together already and had a lot of success with them which is really fantastic to hear. I’m just putting the finishing touches on part 2, where I’ll be covering the Amstrad and MSX computers as well as the Sega Master System and Megadrive, so stay tuned as that should be along shortly.
So thanks for watching, and I’ll hopefully see you all soon!
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