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A game console released in North America by the Nintendo Company in 1985, called the Nintendo Entertainment System, model NES-001.

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Connect 2 controllers into a single port?

Setup

I know this is an odd question, but I'm making an NES, bar-top arcade using 2 NES Advantage joysticks as the primary controllers. However, I thought it would be great to have the light-gun or classic controller available as well, but without having to manually un-plug one, then plug-in the other.

Question

Would it be possible to have multiple, controllers wired into a single port, or would it negatively affect the voltage to the point of not working?

┌── Controller 1

├─> NES (Player 1 port)

└── Controller 2

Update (05/15/2018)

After considerable research, it looks like there are two options ...

A 6PDT switch (since one connection is just a ground wire) -- Enabling controllers to be selected by flipping the switch.

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Or, have each wire split between controllers using a 2 input diode AND gate.

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Courtesy of the NesDev forum.

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Chosen Solution

@mangax going by the schematic you would have to modify the port to even accept a dual controller to a single port and then the firmware would most likely not read those as separate controllers.

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Update (05/15/2018)

Neither one of those options will allow you to use two controllers on one port. The only way to do it with that setup is by using both controllers in separate port and the switching from te controller to the light gun. so something like controller one in port one, controller two in port two, switch or diode in between controller two and light gun. That way you should be able to switch from controller to light gun, but not both at the same time

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2 Comments:

Thank you for the information.

The goal is to have 2 controllers capable of sending the same signal to a single port.

As an example, button A would register for player 1 whether it's pressed on the NES Advantage controller, or the NES classic controller.

Those schematics are really helpful. Thank you sir.

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U6 and/or U7 would get really confused by that. those are your CMOS IC's for the ports and they would have trouble understanding the input. This task will be extremely difficult without designing a new PCB and programming the CMOS. Without

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MangaX will be eternally grateful.
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