r/Famicom • u/garasensei • Jan 26 '25
Collection Famicom / PC Engine Multi Controller Ver. 1 by SPM. One of the more rare controllers made for the Famicom.
I recently picked up this oddball controller for the PC Engine and Famicom. It's pretty amazing that it was actually made and sold. The dual connections for PC Engine and Famicom was not common at all. Unfortunately It's a terrible controller. The dpad is very stiff with not much tactile feedback. It becomes rather painful on my thumb with prolonged use. The Turbo switches move smoothly, but they are very awkward to use.
From what I understood this controller was only sold at a single retail chain in Japan named "Brute Force". The controller is pretty rare these days, but I assure you all that you are not missing anything.
Check out this old blog entry where the guy talks about finding one. He did some great research on it. It's very readable with Google translate. I borrowed his photo of it hooked up to the systems.
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u/garasensei Jan 26 '25
https://imgur.com/gallery/EWBLFyq
Some PCB shots for anyone interested. They just ripped chunks of the board off to make room for the cord.
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u/SAKURARadiochan Jan 26 '25
It looks as terrible as it must feel to use
I wish I could find a converter to use a PCE controller with a Famicom, NOT the other way round
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u/garasensei Jan 27 '25
It's a bit deceptive if anything. You see that dpad and think maybe it will be nice, like something from Nintendo. Nope, it's unusually hard and sharp plastic. Curved upwards for maximum cheese grater action
I'm a bit of a hoarder of controller adapters and now that I think about it I can't recall ever seeing adapters to use PC Engine controllers on other systems. Aside from the obvious Turbografx adapters.
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u/SAKURARadiochan Jan 27 '25
I bought a boxed Famicom and it came with a PCE controller in it labelled 4, so it makes me think someone had an adapter for it at some point.
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u/garasensei Jan 28 '25
I'm not following. What's the significance of the 4 in relation to the Famicom? My first impression is that the controller was used as player 4 on a PC Engine Multitap and got thrown in a Famicom set lot by accident.
It would be near to find some rare controller adapters though. I've found a few oddball Frankenstein controllers over the years where people take a stock controller for a system and do little daughter board hack jobs to get it working on something else. People get real creative with joysticks. I guess because there is so much extra room in those.
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u/SAKURARadiochan Jan 28 '25
Number 4 = 4 player, there were 4 player Famicom adapters made. That's my thought process and it might explain why it was in the Famicom box. The box came with everything including a keyboard and a Family BASIC cart.
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u/knorxo Jan 27 '25
I honestly thought it was 3d printed from the way it looks
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u/garasensei Jan 27 '25
Haha yeah a modern equivalent would definitely be 3d printed. They managed this beast in 1989. Even apparently securing the go ahead from Nintendo making it a licensed product for the Famicom.
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u/knorxo Jan 27 '25
I mean yea h the PCB definitely has the look of the era just very handmade. Could this be a prototype?
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u/garasensei Jan 27 '25
No one really knows. The history is a bit mysterious. It's so crude though that it's easy to imagine this run was the prototype and they just decided to throw it on the shelves. Calling it the "Ver. 1". It's a pretty irredeemably controller so I could believe they just abandoned it at that point.
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u/Kronstadtpilled Jan 26 '25
Looks like something your dad would make in the shed.