Current Shipping Board Version: V2.0

Want to get more use out of those SNES and NES Classic Controllers?

Want to have a more comfortable gaming experience, with the controllers you enjoy?

NullWiiCon is for you!

What is it?

NullWiiCon is a custom adapter that works with Classic Controllers and compatibles to make them act as a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller for use on a Nintendo Switch.

Additionally, it can act as an XInput device for games/software that do not work with Generic DirectInput Gamepads. (!)

(! XInput is only pre-installed on the Multi-Firmware Variant. The source is available, however, so you can upload it to your own board with the USB Bootloader. !)

Why did you make it?

At first I was wondering if it was even possible to have an Arduino act as a Switch-compatible controller, and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw progmem's Switch-Fightstick repo. I decided to try to use a SNES Classic controller with it, and I was hooked!

I made a PCB for it, tested it out heavily, then made another iteration that I feel is ready to sell/share with the world!

Is it any good?

And how did you test it?

I focused on lowering the latency as much as possible by limiting superfluous activities in the code. (Although I'm sure improvements can be had! Feel free to contribute! ^.^)

As for games I've tested it with, I beat the entirety of:

• AM2R (Linux via Wine)
• Towerfall (Switch)
• Shovel Knight (Switch)

And had great success with:

• Tetris
• Hollow Knight (until it required more shoulder buttons than the SNES Pad has) (Switch)
• Celeste (Switch)
• Link's Awakening (Switch) (!!)
• Mario Maker 2 (Switch)
• SNES/NES Games from Switch Online
• Tricky Towers (Steam)

(!! Link's Awakening does not allow you to control Link with the DPad. However, you can change the mode of the DPad to act as an Analog Stick in less than 5 seconds! !!)

What makes it special?

With the flick of a switch/press of a couple buttons, you can configure the NullWiiCon to work just how you like it!

Things both models can configure:

• Use Classic Controller's separate sticks and shoulder buttons properly
• Or ignore them in favor of just the DPad and L/R buttons present on the SNES Classic controller.

• In SNES Pad mode (aka Simple Pad), you can change the shoulder buttons to act as LR, ZL ZR, or both!
• You can also change if the DPad acts as a simple DPad, or emulates the Left Analog Stick

• You can use Select + Down to press the Home Button, and Start + Up to press the Capture Button (Switch mode only).
• And if you don't want to risk pressing those on accident, those shortcuts can also be turned off!

Special modes only the Slim model has:

• Swap the ABXY buttons to the Western Layout

• "Peek" shoulder buttons.
• You can set it so only L/R are active normally, but if you hold Select, it will include ZL and ZR. (Perfect for SNES Online where only ZL and ZR will activate the menu, but L and R are the ones that work in-game)

Compatibility?

What controllers and consoles does this work with?

Tested working controllers:

Official Wii Classic Controller
Official SNES Classic Controller
Official NES Classic Controller
8BitDo Retro Receiver (only DPAD works)
Some knockoff Wii Classic Pro Controller

Requirements for Switch Usage:

• Switch Firmware: Version 3.0.0 and newer
• “Pro Controller Wired Communication” turned on (tutorial in manual)

Requirements for XInput Usage:

• Operating system that supports it (pretty much everything)
• This will not work on XBox consoles.kdk

Additionally, if you use Retroarch on PC/Android, I recommend using the Switch firmware, as it will be automatically recognized and configured!

If it doesn't work immediately, redownload Joypad Profiles and/or reset that pad to default. :)

Who's code did you use to help make this possible?

The inspiration and majority of the Switch code was done by progmem (and their team) over on the Switch-Fightstick repository.

https://github.com/progmem/Switch-Fightstick

I used the fork by fluffymadness, as it was already set up for the Arduino IDE/Format.

https://github.com/fluffymadness/ATMega32U4-Switch-Fightstick/

But to interface with the controllers, I used dmadison's excellent NintendoExtensionCtrl library!

https://github.com/dmadison/NintendoExtensionCtrl

Additionally, dmadison also made the library to have an AVR act as a XInput device!

https://github.com/dmadison/ArduinoXInput

And for the models that have the switchable firmware, mihaigalos's miniboot is an excellent AVR bootloader for loading code off of external I2C EEPROMS.

https://github.com/mihaigalos/miniboot

I would also like to thank everyone at Arduino, Espressif, and Microchip (Atmel)!