12 Buttons - USB Gamepad

In the circuit, the ATmega8 MCU is programmed with a HEX file to function as a gamepad. This can be done through the ISP pins in the circuit. The fuse bytes of the MCU must also be set to the correct values, if not, the MCU may be damaged permanently. The design has also 12 control buttons for the user to interact with a game. The four of these 12 buttons are reserved for directional functions; the up, down, left and right. The remaining 8 are for other in-game functions depending on the game being played. The project uses a USB cable that features the 1-1734028-1 USB plug from TE Connectivity. The 1-1734028-1 USB plug is a USB 2.0 industry standard, which is widely used nowadays in many devices. Its contacts have a plating of a gold flash over a palladium nickel and a thickness of 0.76µm.

The game emulators can be installed into PCs to run classic games that are played through joysticks and gamepads. The design can be used directly into the PC without requiring drivers. The design uses Human Input Device (HID), which allows the user to tell the computer that the USB connected device has a joystick with 2 axes.