A modding enthusiast has managed to transform the Fisher-Price children’s toy controller (exact name Laugh and Learn) into a real gamepad and to demonstrate its functioning he used the least “child’s” game currently in circulation, Elden Ring.
The Fisher-Price “gamepad” is philosophically similar to toy smartphones and other product categories – it has buttons and analog sticks and all, but you can’t actually connect to an electronic device – pressing the buttons just produces sound effects and bright thanks to the hardware present in the gamepad itself.
here’s the Fisher Price Xbox controller in action!
let me know what games you’d like to see me play with it
and thanks to @Wario64 for the off-hand joke that inspired me to make this happen 😂 pic.twitter.com/3OETvcsEsI
— Rudeism (@rudeism) May 1, 2022
The wonderful thing is that the modded controller continues to produce the original sound and visual effects, and the contrast with a brutal murder in FromSoftware’s new masterpiece (or a 1 million point atomic combo at Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, as seen in another video) is just perfect.
The author is now a veteran and expert in this particular modding niche: Dylan Beck, known by the nickname Rudeism online – particularly on Twitch where he performs live streams regularly. Looking at his past, this could be described as an “average” project, considering that he managed to finish Dark Souls 3 with a “Morse code” controller equipped with a single button and built a sword controller. laser for Jedi Fallen Order with motion tracking.
Fisher Price controller vs. @tonyhawk Pro Skater
1 million pt combo? ez 👌👌 pic.twitter.com/sVz6jcHpow
— Rudeism (@rudeism) May 2, 2022
This doesn’t detract from the complexity of the new venture, however. Beck had to insert an Arduino Pro Micro clone chip into the gamepad body, a real two-axis joystick (instead of the original “analog stick” which was a simple button) and microswitches for the back buttons, which were not connected to anything. The gamepad’s factory functionality is maintained thanks to the fact that the Arduino is connected to the original board, not directly to the buttons.
Formally the controller is seen as an Xbox gamepad, even if some buttons are missing: there is only a couple of backbones instead of the usual four. However, thanks to the yellow switch on the front, it is possible to activate one or the other (and at the same time the four main front buttons activate functions such as Start, Select and so on). Unfortunately, no battery: the Arduino board takes up all the remaining space in the body, which is already little. Do you want to try your hand? Here is the starting point: