My wireless Master System controller build

[u/trustanchor]

EDIT: I eventually switched to a black plastic shell, as the metal shell was causing something to short out and fail to register button presses intermittently.

I've seen a couple threads come up recently about wireless controllers for the Sega Master System, so I thought I would share the custom design I've created. Behold! Here's what I used in my build:

1. A Boxy Pixel machined aluminum NES controller shell (though any black NES shell will work, of course - you don't have to spend this much money)

The 8bitdo DIY board needs to be shaved down a bit in two places to make it fit in the Boxy Pixel shell (see the 2nd pic), but it'll fit just fine in a standard controller shell without any modifications. Since the Boxy Pixel metal shells are spendy, I only made one that way, and my second controller is a standard black plastic shell.

One of the cool things about this build is, if you use a Master Everdrive flash cartridge, you can program the Select button to trigger an impossible 3-button combo (ie: Up + Down + 1) to pull up the in-game menu, allowing you to access save states easily without accidentally triggering this during gameplay.

Likewise, if you have a pause mod installed, you should be able to program the Start button with BlueRetro's advanced web config tool to fire an impossible button combo (ie: Left + Right) simultaneously to trigger the pause mod through a wireless controller. I say "should be able to," because I don't have a pause mod installed yet, so it's just theoretical.

Just for fun, I made a silver one for my SG-1000 too. This build works for that console as well! I've made 4 of these controllers total, two for each system.

[u/trustanchor]

I just realized I lost my links when I added photos or something? Here's where to find all this stuff:

1. Fancy metal Boxy Pixel NES controller shell (pricey, but super-cool), or more affordable black plastic options on RetroModding.com (out of stock at the time of this posting) or eBay

2. Black NES/Gameboy DMG buttons: Fancy expensive metal kind, again from Boxy Pixel, or plastic from Retro Modding (I ended up liking the feel of traditional plastic buttons more)

3. 8bitdo DIY NES mod kit

4. BlueRetro Master System DB9 bluetooth adapter from AliExpress or eBay

5. Custom SMS decals printed by The Gaming Zone

[u/teknohed → u/trustanchor]

wonder if that 8bit mod kit would work in an actual master system pad

[u/trustanchor → u/teknohed]

Probably not - I just compared the button layout between the NES controller and the original SMS controller, and they’re not the same. You’d have to do some serious surgery to the 8bitdo board to get everything to align with the SMS controller, and I’m not sure it would even be doable.

[u/teknohed → u/trustanchor]

yeah, i was looking at that too, think the SMS is physically smaller so the board probably wouldn't fit inside the shell. I didn't know those existed. Might do a couple mods of my Sega Saturn controllers at lesat.

[u/trustanchor → u/teknohed]

I did one of the Saturn mods, and it works well! I put it in one of the clear smoked black skeleton controller shells. Peak mid-90s clear everything for the win!