Retro Nintendo

Post edited 1:35 am – July 24, 2009 by Jeromy

Warning: The following documentation is intended for educational purpose only, and if followed, WILL permanently alter your equipment. I cannot be held responcible for damage done to any of your equipment, for any reason, including, but not limited to: Tools, controllers, control decks, cartridges, television set, or person. This project is to mod a Nintendo controller to make a backlit logo when the system is turned on.

What you will need for this project:
1 Nintendo controller
1 Phillips-head screwdriver
1 Soldering iron
1 Razor knife or box cutter
Solder
1 Red LED (2.2-2.6 volt)
1 100Ω resistor
1 small length of wire or wire jumper
1 Black permanent marker
2 hands
Several fingers
At least one working eyeball
Safety glasses would be good too

First off, remove the screws from the back of the controller.

Next, remove the PCB, carbon connectors, buttons, and D-pad, and you should be left with an empty front plate.

Now, take your razor knife and carefully remove the plastic decal from the front of the controller (it should be good and sticky underneath!). If you happen to make any scratches in the black part of the decal, don't worry; we can fix that later with the black marker.
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Okay, if you hold your faceplate at the correct angle, you should see a rectangle with the word “Nintendo®” embossed in the adhesive where the logo on the decal used to be. Take your razor knife and gently score the embossed rectangle. Continue to carefully cut deeper and deeper into your scoring, until you cut a rectangular hole all the way through the plastic, directly behind where the logo used to be.
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Now you will want to take your black marker and color in any scratches you may have made in the black areas, and also color in as much of the red area of the logo you can, without touching the lettering. Replace the decal (you shouldn't need to worry about glue. The existing adhesive should be enough to keep the decal in place).
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Now on to the soldering!
If you look on the top right-hand side of the PCB, you will see two holes, as if something is missing from the circuit. This is where you are going to tap into the 5volt power supplied from the white wire.
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First, insert one of the resistor leads into the right [positive] hole, from the back side, and solder it into place. Now, flip the board over and solder the positive lead (the long one) of the LED to the free lead of the resistor. On the ground lead of the LED solder your jumper wire (to keep the LED even on the board), and then in turn, solder the jumper wire into the remaining [ground] hole of the PCB.
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(Alternatively, as brought to my attention by wooster241, you can leave out the resistor, and use two LEDs. Just solder jumpers to one to lengthen it, and wrap it over the top of the PCB. This will give better lighting from both sides, illuminating the entire logo evenly.)

Carefully wrap the LED around to the front of the PCB, making sure not to touch any other connections, or cross the leads (you can use small pieces of electrical tape to prevent this if you wish).
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Finally, reassemble your controller, plug it into your NES, and have fun!
-Eltanin
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(Special thanks to SAG26 and wooster241 for their interest, review, and input on this project. And to mike and jeromy for hosting my article on retronintendo.com)