Ah, the controller....that's a different story.
It's definetly worth a shot to hook up the famicom controller and see what happens. Otherwise, your best bet is to identify the main wires; ground and +5v....then just mix and match the in between wires and see if something works then.
As for the site, yeah it's kinda dead right now...so very depressing how its slowed so much

There's still stuff going on, but it feels a little sporadic at times. My last projekt took me like 3 months cause I'd work on it for a few days, then set it aside for a month, then go back, then another month and so on lol.

The answer to 1984 is 1776!
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato