Description

I love Smash Ultimate on the Switch and also love the feel of an Original Nintendo Gamecube Controller, but there wasn’t a great wireless option I was happy about. Nintendo still somewhat supports the GameCube port but I think Bluetooth is the best way to future proof what many believe is one of the best controllers ever made. This is a great mod even for beginners, there’s just a little bit of soldering required to hack your own. And if you’re hardcore, the board files and firmware are available.

Details

How it works:

BlueCubeMod uses an ESP32PicoD4 on a custom board that fits perfectly inside your controller, allowing for USB charging and power to replace where the cable once was. Rumble is not supported in the mod, and a LiPo battery can replace the motor, or for larger batteries, placed in a handle. After soldering in the battery and data lines from the controller, the ESP32 communicates with the GameCube controller, requesting button reports. The device runs as an Bluetooth Joystick, which can connect to and control a variety of devices. All code and board files have been posted.

Heres some demos of Switch as well as Mac/PC support.

Files

BCMCap.stl

3D printable piece to secure mod in place

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 309.85 kB - 05/25/2019 at 05:47

Download

BoardFiles.zip

Gerbers + Eagle files

Zip Archive - 164.21 kB - 05/02/2019 at 20:05

Download

BlueCubeModRev2Schematics.pdf

Adobe Portable Document Format - 31.99 kB - 05/02/2019 at 20:04

Preview

BlueCubeModFirmware.zip

Zip Archive - 14.10 kB - 04/29/2019 at 10:46

Download

Components

1 × ESP32-PICO-D4 RF SoC

1 × STBC08 Power Management ICs / Power Supply Support

1 × 10K Resistor 0402

1 × 8bitdo Wireless Adapter

2 × 4.7k Resistor 0402

Project Logs

Collapse

v2 Switch Firmware & Kits Available Now
NathanReeves • 02/01/2020 at 08:02 • 0 comments

Hi hackers,
It's been a minute-
The new esp32 firmware with Switch support (no adapter) is available on the GitHub now
https://github.com/NathanReeves/BlueCubeMod
Theres also a small run of mod kits available on Tindie:
https://www.tindie.com/products/bluecubemod/bluecubemod-kit/

Have fun
Securing BlueCubeMod in place
NathanReeves • 05/25/2019 at 05:45 • 1 comment
If you’re reading this, thanks for supporting my hack!
To secure the BlueCube mod in place, I’ve designed a 3d printable piece that uses a 3/8" #2 screw to tap into the post that the cable used to wrap around. Works great. 3d model is available in files.
What I'm working on next:
- Step by step instructions
- Taking pictures and setup Tindie store
- Assembling 10 beta kits for Tindie
Don't forget to like the page for a chance to win a controller. You have 1 week left!
Make your own BlueCubeMod, added firmware & PCB files, battery design
NathanReeves • 05/02/2019 at 19:48 • 0 comments

BlueCubeMod firmware is now on GitHub: https://github.com/NathanReeves/BlueCubeMod

If you have your own esp32 dev board and a gamecube controller you can try this out right now:

I’ve added the PCB files which contain a few updates from the previous board:

-Onboard USB to UART programmer w/ auto program

-Blue LED tied to GPIO34

-Slimmed USB port

-New vertical switch

Battery Design:

The 700 mah batteries I could find didn’t fit well in vibration motor slot. For this to work, the battery needs to be smaller than 15x30x20mm.

Another idea I’ve been working with is putting the battery in the controller handle. This would allow a larger battery, at the cost of making the controller off balance.

Pros/Cons:

500 mah battery(9x30x20mm):

-4 hour battery life

-removes vibration motor

-balanced

1000 mah battery(10x35x30mm):

-8 hour battery life

-keep vibration motor

-off balance

I can offer both options for kits, let me know what you think.

What I’m working on next:

I need to create a mount that will help secure the mod in place. My idea is to 3d print a cap that screws onto the post that goes through the board:

Now that I have a final board design, I’ll be getting things ready for a small run of kits to sell on tindie.

If you like this project, don’t forget to hit the like button for a chance to win a modded controller. Winner chosen June 1st.

I would love your feedback, if you have something to say let me know!
Added Schematics, Wiring Diagram, Components
NathanReeves • 04/18/2019 at 23:08 • 1 comment

I added the current working version of the schematics. I've been testing these designs with no issues. I also added a parts list, here's a link to the project on the Mouser website where I get my parts:
https://www.mouser.com/ProjectManager/ProjectDetail.aspx?AccessID=a8b03ec8d2
Parts come in at $15.52 not including the battery
Here's a rough wiring diagram to give you an idea of how the mod works
The final battery is actually 700mah. With the current hardware I estimate a 6 hour playtime but haven't timed it irl. I currently can play a couple hours/day for 3-4 days before needing a charge.
Coming soon:
I'm making some final adjustments to the board shape so expect to see the PCB files soon. I get my boards from OSHPark, the design has been no problem to manufacture.
Stay tuned for when I release my code and my plans for manufacturing and distribution...

View all 4 project logs

Discussions

dannyboone81 wrote 05/06/2024 at 06:59

Could someone export this project and it's files to PCBWay?

Are you sure? yes | no

Billy g wrote 01/25/2024 at 09:52

Hey I also created an account here just to encourage you to pick this project back up now that we have drop in bluetooth options for the gamecube itself. I would buy at least four of these chips.

Though I would prefer to cut holes in my shells rather than have pcb hanging off the front. And usb-c would be nice.

Please come back, you were just too early for the demand.

Are you sure? yes | no

Evan wrote 10/09/2023 at 05:57

Would love if you started selling these again. I’d buy 4.

Are you sure? yes | no

Pranav Iyer wrote 09/09/2023 at 16:45

Any chance of this ever coming back in stock?

Are you sure? yes | no

Chad wrote 07/16/2023 at 00:05

I would like to modify the design of this so that it uses a type c connector and is mounted flush with the top of the controller. I'm confident that I can create a modified 3d print of the controller shell. Doing this it would be possible to retain both the battery size and the rumble motor as well. And potentially an even larger battery for longer than 8 hours of playtime. Maybe even creating a modified wavebird controller shell might be feasible, then we could use the battery tray to house the battery.

Would it be okay for me to modify your design? and what is the function of the switch that's mounted on the reverse side of the micro usb port? Also if you know of any potential limitations that I would need to overcome to make this work, that would be very helpful as well.

Are you sure? yes | no

jyanes83 wrote 09/10/2022 at 06:03

Any chance there are still kits available? They show out on Tindie?

Are you sure? yes | no

Florian Wille wrote 11/01/2021 at 21:21

i wonder what it needs to do that with an n64 controller got a couple laying around and really dont want to throw them into the trash, so any help appreciated

Are you sure? yes | no

nintendoswitchdude302019 wrote 07/10/2021 at 17:25

I may want to try this, but add in 2 coin vibration motors to each side, and get a TinyPico USB C board, Will that work with that?

Are you sure? yes | no

Jonasz wrote 05/14/2021 at 08:55

Hi. Will you make the kits avaiable on Tindle again? I don't have the means to design a PCB for Pico D4 chip and most (if not all) esp32 dev boards won't fit the GC controller.

Are you sure? yes | no

Rae Green wrote 01/08/2021 at 05:32

Love the project, I've been thinking of doing something like this myself. Can I ask why you went with the ESP32 Pico D4. I saw you said any ESP32 should work for this but I'd like your thoughts on why you went with that one.

Are you sure? yes | no

Luka wrote 04/21/2020 at 18:57

Amazing project!!! If I were to make it myself with an esp32 would that board need to be a esp32-pico-d4 or can it be any old esp32 like this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/ESP32-Dev-Board-NodeMCU-WROOM32-WiFi-WLAN-Bluetooth-Development/254138283456?epid=8029668576&hash=item3b2bd275c0:g:RKcAAOSwsq1ccpwE.

Are you sure? yes | no

NathanReeves wrote 05/23/2020 at 20:16

Hey thanks!
Any esp32 with bluetooth will work.

Are you sure? yes | no

Dimi wrote 04/05/2020 at 06:05

Truly amazing - may I ask though, do you think you could make a GameCube receiver to match it? I doubt many other people have to know how - no-one to date has made a Bluetooth compatible receiver for gamecube with rumble support.

Are you sure? yes | no

Edge Connector wrote 03/30/2020 at 00:29

I wanted to mention that BlueCubeMod Wiring.png is actually not correct. The wires are drawn connected to the wrong locations. Your other images have it correct but that one is off.

Are you sure? yes | no

NathanReeves wrote 03/30/2020 at 01:12

Thanks for finding that! I’ll have to fix the diagram, glad the image could help you, and that you were able to flash v1 on it :) so cool. Thank you so much for supporting the project.

As far as the dolphin issues go, I would try a couple different settings to see if it helps. If you run make menuconfig, you can tweak the clock rate of the esp, it might help to be faster or slower. A couple people noticed a short range on these boards ~6ft, which may be the issue. You could also mess around with how fast the reports are sent to the PC.
have fun

-Nate

Are you sure? yes | no

Edge Connector wrote 03/28/2020 at 22:46

Is that the Dolphin emulator you are using? I installed one of your kits and am having issues getting it to configure under Dolphin.

Are you sure? yes | no

Edge Connector wrote 03/29/2020 at 18:55

Realized your kits were sold for use with the switch. Should have paid closer attention! Can the kits be flashed to work with PC and Mac?

Are you sure? yes | no

Edge Connector wrote 03/30/2020 at 00:23

I was able to flash the version 1 firmware and get it working with a Mac and PC. Things don’t seem as responsive as the videos. I’ll be putting version 2 back on the esp32 and trying it on my switch to see how it performs. Any thoughts on the erratic PC/Mac performance.

Great project all around! Having fun learning the ESP stuff.

Are you sure? yes | no

Evocatorum wrote 08/17/2019 at 05:56

Instead of having a single 700 mAh lipo in one leg, why not pairing it down to 500mAh, splitting them to both legs and wire them in parallel?

I don't have access to my gamecube controller or my lipo's to explore the idea, but I know that there's several companies that even make cylindrical lipo's that may even work really well. Bose QC35's uses an 495mAh 11530 lipo that is cylindircal that may even be perfect if paired.

Thoughts?

Are you sure? yes | no

d wrote 06/20/2019 at 15:37

This is all awesome work! I’d love to have the option of haptics, even most people decide to put the battery where the vibrator is for simplicity. Personally I’d do a battery in each handle (although the complexity of two batteries is admittedly annoying) and use the extra juice to get the vibrator running with a small boost circuit from pololu that does 3.7 to 5v if that’s even needed. Does the software stack support vibration, and the limitation was simply the motor vs battery question? Or is there a more fundamental issue with the communication stack?

Are you sure? yes | no

Fares Delvalle wrote 06/05/2019 at 11:40

placing two batteries one on each handle will help the controller become more balanced and you can still keep the vibration with longer battery life.

Are you sure? yes | no

Clara Hobbs wrote 05/25/2019 at 12:32

Neat idea, but if you drop that controller, won't the USB connector tab break clean off?

Are you sure? yes | no

NathanReeves wrote 05/25/2019 at 16:31

Yeah it definitely could happen, with the right angle and drop height. I’ve dropped mine straight on the connector twice without issues

Are you sure? yes | no

ashwin.venkat wrote 05/11/2019 at 05:06

For the antenna I noticed that there is no tuning circuit, I want to do something like this but stopped after I realised that I don't know how to tune it. Your project gives me hope

Are you sure? yes | no

NathanReeves wrote 05/11/2019 at 20:21

Thanks! This antenna doesn’t require an external matching network which is nice

Are you sure? yes | no

ashwin.venkat wrote 05/13/2019 at 18:08

Awesome! Thanks for sharing this information

Are you sure? yes | no

BlueCubeMod: Bluetooth GameCube Controller Mod Kit

Description

Details

How it works: