Team 14: Final Controller Concepts

For our final project, our team chose between Excitebike and original PunchOut!! arcade games. We chose these games because the arcade era around the time of these games’ creation was full of interesting and unique controller designs outside of a standard “joystick and buttons” approach, and we thought it'd be fun to create a controller that reflected the innovation of these times. Creating a unique controller for these games would also add a layer of immersion that games in this era strived for, due to low graphical fidelity.

Excitebike’s core mechanics revolve around controlling a motorbike to get the best times and to qualify for the next race. It has the following controls:

- leaning forwards and backwards ( A and D, “Left Arrow” and “Right Arrow”)

- changing lanes (W and S, “up arrow” and “Down Arrow”)

- accelerating at a slow and fast speed (Z and X)

Link: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_055-NES.php

Punchout!! core mechanics revolve around fighting unique individuals in a boxing match, dodging attacks and punching to lower the enemy's HP bar. It has the following controls:

- left and right punch (Z, X)

- left and right uppercut (Z and X while holding W or “Up Arrow”)

- left and right dodge (A and D, “Left Arrow” and “Right Arrow”)

- block (Down Arrow, S)

- super-punch (ENTER)

Link: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_771-NES.php

One major inspiration to some of these design ideas was trying to create a controller that reflected an equivalent action in game, both to add to immersion and to better reflect some of the more fun aspects of old-school arcades.

Questions:

How well does the arduino accept rotational input, such as turning while its flat?

How extreme can inputs be for the motion sensor? How fine does it “detect” motion?