The controller

I bought a pair of those unusual Super Famicom controllers that were part of (or for use with) a Super Famicom modem kit. I had a bit of fun figuring out how they work and this page is the result.



I naturally made sure to implement support for this controller in my SNES to USB adapters. While very few (if any?) games support those extra buttons, in some emulators it should be possible to bind them to special functions (Fast forward, savestate control or cheats).

How it works

To learn how an ordinary controller works, see: Super Nintendo Entertainment System: pinouts & protocol.

The NDK10 controller works like an ordinary controller, bit 16 extra clock cycles are required to retrive the additional button bits. As the waveforms and table below illustrates, the 12 first buttons are equivalent regardless of the controller type. But the difference at bit 13 makes it possible to detect the NDK10 controller.

SNES/SFC standard gamepad:


NTT Data Keypad:

Bit	NDK10 Button	Standard controller button
0	B	B
1	Y	Y
2	前ページ (Previous page)	Select
3	次ページ (Next page)	Start
4	Up	Up
5	Down	Down
6	Left	Left
7	Right	Right
8	A	A
9	X	X
10	L	L
11	R	R
12	(Always 1)	(Always 1)
13	(Always 0)	(Always 1)
14	(Always 1)	(Always 1)
15	(Always 1)	(Always 1)
16	0
17	1
18	2
19	3
20	4
21	5
22	6
23	7
24	8
25	9
26	*
27	#
28	.
29	C
30
31	通信終了 (End communication)

Game(s)

The only game I know supports this controller is JRA PAT. At startup, the software checks if a NDK10 keypad is present in port 1. Here is the error screen when the controller is not connected:

機器の接続に不具合が発生しました。スーパーファミコンの電源を切って、最初からご操作下さい。

コード 398310009999
キーパッドが正しく接続されていません。

A problem has occured with the wiring of the accessories. Please turn your off your Super Famicom and startover.
Code 398310009999
The keypad is not connected properly.

And when a controller is connected:

機器の接続に不具合が発生しました。スーパーファミコンの電源を切って、最初からご操作下さい。

コード 398300009999
通信モデムの電源が入ってないか、正しく接続されていません

A problem has occured with the wiring of the accessories. Please turn your off your Super Famicom and startover.
Code 398310009999
Communication modem not powered or not connected properly.

Disclaimer

I cannot be held responsible for any damages that could occur to you or your equipment while following the procedures present on this page. Also, I GIVE ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY on the correctness and usability of the informations on this page. Please note, however, that the procedures above have worked in my case without any damages or problems.

Now you cannot say that I did not warn you :)