Raspberry Pi Pico Converts Retro Game Controllers To USB

n the 1980s and 90s the 9-pin D-Sub connector reigned supreme across the home computer scene. Atari, Commodore, Sega and many more used the ubiquitous connector for joysticks and pads. These controllers are our interface to the retro games that we love; and that’s why there’s nothing quite like implementing vintage hardware in your Raspberry Pi project. This project was originally from NickZero over at Instructables; but we saw this via maker and developer Lee from More Fun Making It. The project relies on a Raspberry Pi Pico to convert a 9-pin D-Sub interface to USB in order to use an old-school joystick with his Raspberry Pi 400 Amiga project.

If you’re new to More Fun Making It, you’re in for a treat. Lee specializes in retro gaming and vintage tech—building arcade cabinets and pinball machines as well as repairing retro hardware; as the YouTube channel name suggests, just for the fun of it. This Pico-powered adapter is just one of many in his portfolio of projects and definitely one of the most useful when it comes to retrogaming.

Like many Pi projects, this one was born out of necessity. After setting up his Raspberry Pi 400 to run Pimig; he realized that his Atari-ready Zipstick joystick had no way of connecting. To remedy this issue; he delved into this project that uses the RP2040 board to convert 9-pin D-Sub input to USB.

Read more: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/raspberry-pi-pico-d-sub-to-usb-adapter