I’m wondering, has anyone ever successfully modded an NES Advantage with authentic arcade parts? I like everything about the NES Advantage except for the big red B and A pushbuttons. They don’t have the nice quick soft response of sanwa parts I’m used to on other sticks, and worse, they often get stuck. Idealy I’d like to replace them with some sort of actual microswitch buttons. The problem as I see it is in the casing - its so shallow it can’t accommodate the iceburg-like nature of every microswitch button I’ve ever seen. Does anyone have any advice?
- Take measurements. Button Holes, depth ect.
- Do not force modern Joystick into the advantage’s case if you do not have too.
If the Joystick is loose, try replacing the spring, re-lube and if it takes it standard micro switches. - This is no way a beginners project. If you don’t have many mods under your belt and your are unsure, look else where for a project.
- When in Doubt, make a more modern stick NES advantage themed
You could try Seimitsu PS-15, they’re a bit shallower than OBSF-30.
Smallest commercial stick I know of is the Seimitsu LS-33, but even that is pretty big.
Looking at the Advantage’s PCB (http://www.instructables.com/id/The-NES-AdPAD/)
You would have to probably CAREFULLY dremel (not drill!) out the area of the original membrane contacts, then solder to the PCB.
I don’t want to replace the stick, I want to replace the two big red B and A buttons. From the looks of it, Seimitsu PS-15 buttons will be WAY too long. I need something that’s about half of that.
Never seen a Korean nor Japanese button that small then.
It’s easy enough to padhack a NES controller if you want a dedicated NES stick. I did a dedicated Genesis/SNES stick a few weeks back.
yeah I know that I could just padhack an NES-004 or a MAX or whatever, but I strictly want to mod the NES Advantage itself using the NES Advantage board with the NES Advantage shell. I just want to put in better buttons. that have a depth below the casing of around 15 mm maximum.
You’re gonna have to build a bottom shell extension…
Everyone is right, from the looks of it the Advantage is too shallow to take any existing arcade parts as is.
A later run joystick would be a better project for a mod. A Capcom Power Fighter Stick, for instance.
Besides, does the NES Advantage Stick really have enough buttons to be useful for most fighting games let alone Capcom fighters???
That’s the problem with many pre-Agetec Dreamcast joystick cases. Just not enough room or real estate space for decent arcade parts. There’s only so much you can cut or attempt to fit in before a project becomes pointless.
If you can’t even fit in PS-15 pushbuttons(!) – those are the thinnest 30mm buttons any Japanese companies carry; Korean buttons are at least as thick as OBSF-30’s and PS-14-G’s --, there’s no chance anything else that’s not OEM will fit into the existing arcade stick case shell.
If you know how to work with fiberglass this would be a very simple mod just make a deeper back panel and you could keep the original faceplate its the same concept as how people make their own custom speaker boxes for cars.
That’s true. A guy made a new enclosure for the Blaze twin stick a while back to get it additional height.
George - I don’t think he’ll be playing too many Capcom fighters on the NES. 
In my eyes, a big part of the appeal of the Advantage is it’s solid-tank feel due to the bottom plate, so try to retain it.
Yeah, tell me about it!
On the other hand, somebody did a bootleg port of SFII to NES way long back…
Maybe he’ll find a cart or ROM of that version of SF to play! :lol:
Wanted to do a NES Advantage overhaul for a long time. Maybe next year…?
-ud
Digging this one up out of a three year grave…(sowwy, didnt wanna make a new thread for a work in progress)
Reason being, I am currently modding an Advantage to except Sanwa parts (JLF n obsf-24’s). Im about 75% thru modding the case n pcb. I was wondering if neone has attempted this? If so I was wanting to see others take on extending the bottom of the case. Im using 5/16" lexan n making 3 panels (1 as a new bottom panel n the other two as spacers to accommodate for stick depth).
This is just a mock up to show inside clearance with two pieces of scrap lexan. The actual spacers will be same dimensions as og case, with the top spacer having a groove cut into it to sit inside the case slightly. So it sits on the mounting points of the stock bottom panel.
Attempting to retain most stock functions of stick, and to change the 1/2p switch into a console toggle switch between nes n famicom. Still have to wire in switch n FC cord.
I wish I knew how to mess with fiberglass for the bottom panel, but the thick lexan adds a decent amount of weight to the stick at least.
Really good stuff here @dponwakeup . I’ve seen a TON of NES Advantages lately and passed on all of them just imagining the bullshit I’d have to deal with. Seeing you do the project makes me want to give it a try now.
@FrankCastleAZ thanks man. Its been a challenge but its one Ive always wanted to atleast attempt. Had an Advantage growing up n really liked it back then (aside from getting shocked by it all the time for some reason). If u do decide to do one, itll be interesting to see your take on extending the bottom of the case.
Update:
Got the bottom spacer cut n cleaned up. The top spacer of the two will be 1/4" wider towards the inside of the stick on the bottom n buttons side, to help keep the pcb in place once it is all assembled. Ive done some test fitting of the components n pcb, and it’ll be just enough room for everything to fit (have to bend the contacts on the OBSFs). I will be keeping the turbo switches fastened to the pcb in the stock locations. They will have to b accessed from the bottom side of the stick, but the stock buttons n the lexan r the same thickness so the buttons will mount flush. No accidental activating of ze turbos. Ill also be filling in the holes for the start, select, slow motion, and turbo buttons, to help give it a cleaner looking CP.