DISCLAIMER: I've already published this on my personal blog, but I thought it might find an interested audience here.
Some time ago I had the notion of hacking a PS1 joypad and a Dragon 32 joystick into some sort of hybrid that might work for an emulator. I love playing games on the Dragon, but it's a bit of a bind loading tapes all the time and I'm not sure how long the hardware will last if I keep using it.
This is the results of that idea.
(And when I can figure out the difference between Blogger's html and RFGen's I'll get rid of the space below this paragraph)
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Removed the circuit boards from the PSX pad, a Woolworths branded knock off. Using a Dremmel I cut out the section of the pad that holds the right nubbin. |
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Removed the potentiometer from the Dragon joystick, and unsoldered the connections to the fire button. This button will directly activate the PSX pad circuit board. No damage to the controller, so I can always return the controller to it's pre-modded state. These things may not have a soul, but I do. |
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I tidied up the nubbin casing, and glued it into the Dragon joystick case. This will give me a secure mounting point for the actual analog control later. Sawed the nubbin circuit board in two, one to fit inside0 the Dragon joystick, the other to be hidden away in a project box. |
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I've got tons of old pc cables lying around, so I cut up an old RS232 cable, and salvaged a com port from my parts bin. I soldered the cable to the joystick end, and the com port to the main PSX circuit board. After testing all the connections for continuity I plugged it all together, retested and found that I'd swapped the connections between the plug and the socket, so I had to redo the socket end. Once I'd done that and retested it everything looked ok, so it was time for a test on the emulator.
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Bugger me, it all worked! Ok, so it wasn't rocket science, but this is my first project in about 20 years, and I did expect some major problems along the way. I've still to add a proper joystick to the controller instead of the nubbin, but this is how it looks so far |
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I've managed to get my boards into a project box now, and wire up the analogue on/off switch. This was all built from parts I had lying around, and whilst the box is a bit on the big side it does mean that I can add another board and sockets and have 2 joysticks. Or add an interface for something else.
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Not much else done, but I've cleaned up the box and added some authentic early 80's style labels
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 Chuckie Egg was released by A&F software on many platforms, but originally for the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro and the Dragon 32 in the first flush of the home computer era, way back in 1983. I first played this in my youth on the Dragon 32 and consequently I consider it the definitive version. Others may disagree, but to them I say 'tough!'. It's nothing amazing nowadays, just another platformer, but back in 1983 it was considered something special. From that damned Birdie Song theme tune, to the mad duck which pursued you in later levels, it was the home computer Donkey Kong of it's day.
 The platforming gameplay still holds up well, it's a frantic run around the screen avoiding the chickens which follow preset pathways, leaping on and off lifts, jumping gaps, seeking out the piles of birdseed that temporarily pause the ever present timer, all so that you can collect your dozen eggs. In the early stages the duck sits harmlessly in it's cage, waiting for the timer to run down to a preset value before it springs free, to chase you around the screen at it's leisure. You can move significantly faster than it, but it's all too easy to find yourself cornered between chickens and the duck and nowhere to go. In later levels it doesn't have the decency to wait for the timer, and it's chasing you from the off, not following pre-programmed paths, but actively seeking you out, like a duck with radar - a smart duck, the sort that would be deployed in wars, with trained commandos pointing laser guiders at your egg stealing ass in a bid to end your omelette making ideas prematurely,
There's not much more to be said of it, it has no aspirations over and above being a collecting platformer - get the eggs before the time runs out and you're gold, hesitate and there's a duck raping your face. I've wasted hours of my life playing this damned game, and I've still never finished it. I'm determined though, maybe in another 25 years I'll have honed my ninja egg stealing skills to the point where my arthritic hands can frantically navigate the fat collector around with enough agility to collect the eggs in time, and then it'll be time to learn how to make fritatta
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