Portables With Companion Controllers

[Acronell]

A few months ago I had the thought.

We have all of these amazing Portables, but we can basically only play Single Player on them.

So, what if with our portables we made companion controllers?

For instance, there are a dozen and a mill N64 Portables, each basically smaller than the last. The N64, as well all know, is a 4 Player System. Some of the portables keep the extra controller ports so as to still be able to play some of our favorite multiplayer games, such as Mario Party 2, or 007 Goldeneye. But a lot of the 64 portables just don't have the ports anymore.

What if with the Portables we made the extra controllers?

Most of you who read this will say, "well we can always just plug a controller into the portable and play". Yes, that is true, but do you really want to all merge around a single portable with your normal controllers plugged in? Hardly being able to see at all? Or just plugging the portable into the telley so as to all play though it?

Of course not, that defeats the point of it being portable!

I'm saying, why don't we vacuum form some additional cases, and add some screens with these controllers?

This would make it so we could all plug into the one portable, but all have our own separate screen to play off of, so we avoid the merging together around the single portable and actually have some breathing room while we play, as well as being able to take it with us in a Car, or on the Bus, Train, Plane, or Boat.

With an NES, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, or Sega Saturn, this would be extremely simple to do.

You would only need to make a dual a/v out in the portable itself (preferably near the top of the portable), one going to the screen on the portable itself, and the other going to the screen on the extra controller (Also make the second player controller port next to the a/v out). And combine the a/v in cable from the controller with the controller cable, splitting only at the ends so as to make it so it's only a single cord going between the portable and the controller. Add a rechargeable battery to the controller w/screen and you're golden for two player games.


For any of the newer systems you'd have to do the same thing, only have a 4-way a/v out instead of 2-way.

What do you think of this?


Also for the entertainment of people though this is only loosely related: Kid Receives N64

[vskid]

Like dis?

[Acronell]

Like dis?

Well, no idea is ever original in these days.

But yes, something to the effect of that, the extra controllers as I've stated them, only have the screen and controller, no actual system is built into it.

You could also use the original ports and cables to simplify it.

[bicostp]

It would be relatively simple to do on the N64 using cheap Ethernet cabling, because the controller only needs 3 pins plus 4 or 5 for analog audio and video. Each unit could have an "uplink" port (receive video, send controller) and three "receive" ports (controller in, video out). The host system running the game would become Player 1, and the other units would be players 2, 3, and 4.

The only things you would have to worry about are splitting and amplifying the video signal so it's strong enough, and switching between client and host mode. (Maybe a leaf switch to sense when a cartridge is inserted? If no cartridge is present, it defaults to client mode.)

[hailrazer]

I have never even seen another modders portable. And almost every other person here who has made a portable have probably never seen another modders portable. And if you did you would probably see it once for a few minutes.

So when are we all supposedly getting together all the time to play these portables together.

[bicostp]

MGC of course!

More realistically, building several quick relatively inexpensive portables for their friends.

[hailrazer]

MGC of course!

More realistically, building several quick relatively inexpensive portables for their friends.

Yea I keep saying that I am going to go to MGC, we'll see.

LOL @ "building several quick relatively inexpensive portables for their friends"

Who does that again

[eagle5953]

You should be there, hail. It's awesome.

[bicostp]

Who does that again

People with far too much time on their hands?

I could see building a dedicated client handheld with just controls and a screen for portable two-player games, but realistically nothing more than that would regularly come from this.

[Acronell]

I have never even seen another modders portable. And almost every other person here who has made a portable have probably never seen another modders portable. And if you did you would probably see it once for a few minutes.

So when are we all supposedly getting together all the time to play these portables together.

Again, I'm not saying full portables, nor am I saying for all of us to get together, though that'd be fun to see.

I'm saying that when we make the portable, we make the extended controllers w/screens to go with them. I've seen a lot of the portables made here get sold to other people, so why not make the added controllers w/screens (make some extra cash off of it) for the people we sell to so that they can play with their friends or family?

I'm saying we have ONE (1) Portable System and for SNES,NES,GENESIS,SATURN,PSX,PS2, ONE (1) Slave (being the controller w/screen [no actual system in the slave])

I'm saying we have ONE (1) Portable System and for N64,GAMECUBE,DREAMCAST, THREE (3) Slaves (being the controller w/screen [no actual system in them])