Well, after the inexplicable apparent death of my Colecovision mother board, I'm shelving that project for the time being.

Here's what I'm working on now.

My daughter is a Duck Hunt junkie. Given that I'm cannibalizing one of our Super Joy mechanisms, I had the idea that a neat semi-portable would be one crammed into the little light pistol that comes with these units.

I cannot find a screen small enough to actually incorporate this into the project, so this will be akin to the NOAC in a controller posted in one of the other threads.

As you can see, the NOAC board itself, with the cartridge connector removed, fits in one side of the rather empty pistol with room to spare.

I'll be cutting down the other board to provide control logic for P1, which will be incorporated into the pistol itself.

The controls will be on the left side of the pistol. Think of orienting it with the left side facing "up" and in the shape of a "V" or reversed "L" -- hope that makes sense. In this way, you won't have to point the light gun at yourself or anyone else to play the non- light-gun games.

The directional pad will be on the grip , and the buttons will be where there are already some button shaped features. The "start", reset and select will be close by.

I confess that had a temptation to cut the "hammer" off of the pistol, and to utilize it as the extension for the power switch to turn the unit on and off. Cock the hammer to power it up, as it were.

Power will be via either some N cells, though it looks like three AAA (or maybe even AA) batteries will fit easily. Most likely AAA, I think.

I've debated whether to try and wire a 72 pin cart connector. This would run along the right side of the pistol along the flat part of the "slide so it wouldn't interfere with either use of the light pistol, or regular play with no cart.. Several complications, I think. First, nothing can impede the front part of the barrel internally -- anything in front of the LED shaped light receiver. Second, it would need to stick out a bit and would be unsightly and I'm going for as "clean" a design as I can here. Finally, since this is a "TV" connected game, I'm not in any hurry to add cartridge capabilities as I've got a perfectly good YOBO for that!

When it's done, it will be painted using the original FAMICOM color scheme, but with the bright orange barrel thing. Mainly, I want it to look a lot MORE like a toy than it does now.

So here's a pic, just to wet your appetite...

(For clarification, I guess this is more of a plug and play, no screen included, than a portable. No one makes a screen small enough for this one. Plus, of course, it needs a TV for the light gun games).

DONE!

(Well, except maybe some external painting. Maybe. If if feel like masking and getting the airbrush out. A more "non-realistic paintjob probably is called for, eventually).

This was a fun one.

I got the idea when I saw the guy who put a "Nintendo on a Chip" (NOAC) in an original NES controller. Pretty nifty.

My daughter loves to play Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley.

So I was looking at the light gun that came with a Super Joy III I had laying around, and on opening it up I was delighted with all the room inside.

Here's what I did. The entire NOAC setup is on the "left" half of the pistol.

Its designed so that when you hold it the way it appears in the photo below, its like holding an odd shaped NES Controller.

The Start and Select buttons are just long tactile (tac) switches coming out of features already molded to the light gun.

The "B" and "A" buttons are the same, except that two of the original Super Joy buttons were ground down and customized, then epoxied to the extended tac switch surfaces. I've mashed on the buttons pretty good, a full game of Contra to the end (yes, I used UUDDLRLR BA ST to get 30 lives), and they did not loosen or come off.

The "Reset" button is set up countersunk so that you have to sort of give it a good "push" down into its hole. This is to keep from accidental in-game resets.

The internals from the light gun are mounted straight to the Player 2 port off the Player 1 controller. The light gun features have their own pins all the way back to the NOAC, and do not need a logic chip.

The other half of the light pistol was set up for 3 AAA batteries. They fit flush from the back side, just barely so -- as do the NOAC guts on the other side. To remove and replace the batteries, take out one screw from the "grip panel", lift it off and replace the batteries.

The D-Pad is wired through the original Super Joy's controller "blob", which I trimmed way down. It does use the "squishy" switching from the original. The D-Pad itself was ground down, a center pivot re-added, and a thin piece of plastic in a diamond shape hot glued to the back so as to retain it in the pistol by way of the removable grip panel.

I did include the DC adapter power in. The "power" switch is a small single pull, double throw. But the common pole was wired to the NOAC, whereas battery and DC adapter power pins were tied to the other poles. As a result, you turn "off" the batteries by turning "on" the AC adapter, and vice versa. As long as its not plugged in to the adapter, switching to A/C adaptor turns it "off". Simplistic, but since I'm using regular alkaline batteries, I did not want to have to deal with a circuit or diode kludge to isolate the two power sources.

I did include an LED for power "on" purposes, so you know to either unplug it or turn it off. I doubled the resistance, but its still way too bright. I may change that.

It plays awesome. The control is actually much more responsive than the D-Pad was when it was as Super Joy. I think that this is because, as originally configured, the super joy's D-pad is not an isometric part. Its offset and lopsided, which is probably one reason it does not give good control.

Finally to the main point of its existence: If you want to play a light gun game, you scroll to it on the menu, hit the start button, and then use the controller in its originally intended orientation!

This project was never intended to have a cartridge slot, so you're left with the original games. If you used the really fine wire they include in the 80 conductor IDE cables, you probably could ware a cartridge connector along the other side of the pistol just opposite the buttons... but I'll save that for a portable on which I can actually fit a screen display.

Here are some pictures:







All in all, an enjoyable project, quite a bit of fun, and it works great.

I'm toying with the idea of painting it white and adding some "Duck Hunt" graphics. But for now, its getting too much play time.

what a great idea! i would steal it, but i unfortunately have no tvs that a light gun will work on...

I didn't know the light gun didn't work on certain tvs. Which ones?

Won't work on anything that's not an old fashioned Cathode Ray Tube.

awesome nintendo portable light gun
well done job

i just got this game system for my son and the plug came off the light gun can you tell me the configuration of where the wires go by color?

First, don't bump old threads. Secondly, if you read the thread you would know that he MADE it.

Anyway, the Super Joy can be had from Amazon.com I think, and probably lots of sleazy flea markets. Then you can build your own device.

That things sick! The controller looks comfortable too. I'd love for someone to mass produce these and sell them. I'd love to have one. Nice job.

facepalm for both of you.

Are you guys seriously incapable of spotting spambots that have revived an old thread? Don't play their game!