SNES portable buttons

Anyone notice this. . . . · Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:00 pm

I was playing DKCountry last night on a SNES portable I got from Ben and realized a possible issue I wonder if anyone has realized. I was playing the mine cart level, you know, the one where you are in the mine cart and have to jump tracks, etc. Well, there is a part where you have to jump a distance to get to the other part of the track. Well, I must have tried about a dozen times and just couldn't make it to the other side of the damn track. So, I pulled out my snes unit and connected it to the tv and played the same level. I was able to pass it on the first try. I soon realized that the buttons on the snes, at least for this game, don't know about others, but the button reacts to how hard you press the button. if you tap the button lightly, the cart jumps only a little, but if you press the button hard, the cart jumps it's max height. This all didn't seem to take place on the handheld which ofcourse uses tact switches. Is this correct? If so, could be a real bummer for games that require small or large jumps at specific times in a game. Any thoughts?

JackFrost22 · Post by **JackFrost22** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:16 pm

yeah you lose the analoug functions of the buttons

NeoGoldenBoy · Post by **NeoGoldenBoy** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:24 pm

JackFrost22 wrote:yeah you lose the analoug functions of the buttons

Well, as I understood for what he asked is that Bens controls of the SNESp (tact switches) are working like analog, because he said he had to press them hard to make the jump, and if he pressed a little DK only jumped a little (at least thats what I understood, I may be wrong).

And also SNES controls arent analog, are they?

And, are there some analog tact switches?

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:29 pm

No, actually the real SNES controls allowed for small or large jumps depending on how hard the button is pressed. The SNES portable does not do this.

Post by **gannon** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:03 pm

But if that's the case shouldn't it seem like you're pressing the buttons hard all the time to the snes?

Post by **Gamelver** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:13 pm

hmmm....maybe they're only slightly analog, like there's two levels

...the first level is all that's needed for most functions and the second is for cases where you need an extra boost or something

.....it's a good thing I've decided to use the original controller in my SNESp I'm working on

.....oops, did I say that out loud

?

Post by **gannon** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:16 pm

Gamelver wrote:oops, did I say that out loud ?

yep, you did

Post by **Gamelver** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:16 pm

actually, techinally I didn't say anything

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:17 pm

Well, you would think. Jumping in games using the SNES portable seems to be random at best- some jumps are bigger than others. When the button is pressed, the SNES probably just interprets whatever it wants wether it be a large jump or small jump- it's unpredictable.

eo32 · Post by **eo32** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:38 pm

The snes uses a 8 parallel to serial 4021 register chip which regularly samples the status of each button and outputs it as a digital signal along the 4th pin on the controller so there is (afaik, I did my A level project on snes controllers) no analog state, its either activated or not activated.

goodie · Post by **goodie** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:21 pm

The height of your jump is determined by how long the button is held down, not how hard you push it. If you tap the button real quick, it will be a short jump. If you hold it down longer, you jump higher.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:19 am

Same difference, the problem w/ the handheld still exists. The button is either pressed or not pressed- you can't vary your jump height by holding down the button longer.

G-force · Post by **G-force** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:23 am

No, I think goodie is right. Think about it, there's no way for the SNES controller to be analog, the button is either on or off. The only way to get a larger jump height is by pressing it down longer than you would for a normal jump.
I don't see how there could be a problem with the SNES portables controlls when they are essentially the same as a normal SNES controller.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 12:54 pm

I'll give it another shot, but like I said, I could not make the jump with the portable on the mine cart level, whereas playing on the SNES unit, I was able to do it first try. I'm no electronics expert, but a tact switch vs the controller board in a SNES controller are quite a different deal.

electromaster64 · Post by **electromaster64** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 4:07 pm

The Tact switches and the buttons on the SNES controller are all the same they are all Normally Closed Momentary Switches. Meaning that when you press them current flows through the circuit. The SNES measures what to do by how long the electric signal is. For example how hard you press the controll pad does not change how fast your character moves (this is why you have analog controll sticks now). All buttons on the SNES are digital and cannot tell how hard you press them only the duration for which you press them.