Gamecube Analog Stick Replacements?

[blazingscorcher]

Hello to all smashers.

As we all know, our controllers are subject to constant abuse playing Melee, and because of this friction, the rubber grips on our analog sticks wear down over time. My question is simple--where can I get an analog stick replacement that's close if not equal in quality to Nintendo's originals? I've tried other third party sticks, such as the ones sold on Gaming Generations, but these wear down fast and also fit somewhat awkwardly in the controller, giving it more of a sticky, less fluid movement compared to a first party one. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ezzee]

There's a person here who sells custom controllers, and I believe he also sells individual parts like sticks. Also, I think PS3 and Wii Nunchuk sticks work as replacements

 

[blazingscorcher]

I've tried using the Nunchuck sticks, but they don't perform as well as the gamecube ones in my opinion.

 

[TerryJ]

There's a person here who sells custom controllers, and I believe he also sells individual parts like sticks. Also, I think PS3 and Wii Nunchuk sticks work as replacements

That would be GameCubeScrubb and me.

GCS sells some PS3 ones on his site, but if you're looking for close to stock ones I've seen them sold on ebay for pretty cheap though I've never bought them so I don't know about their quality.

 

[Frame Perfect]

a better option is to superglue your finger to the control stick. a little difficult getting used to everyday activities, but much better control imo.

 

[Kadano]

Hello to all smashers.

As we all know, our controllers are subject to constant abuse playing Melee, and because of this friction, the rubber grips on our analog sticks wear down over time. My question is simple--where can I get an analog stick replacement that's close if not equal in quality to Nintendo's originals? I've tried other third party sticks, such as the ones sold on Gaming Generations, but these wear down fast and also fit somewhat awkwardly in the controller, giving it more of a sticky, less fluid movement compared to a first party one. Thanks in advance.

I’ve read somewhere that glueing floor-protection stickers for chair legs works fine. Haven’t tested it myself, though. I personally would rather add an epoxy resin layer as thick as the rubber pad was and use sand paper to add friction.

 

[DRGN]

I recently tried getting some Gaming Generation's knobs. I haven't noticed wear-down yet.

I can say though that the mechanical part of the stick that they also sell is definitely not recommended. I was excited to try them, since those are pretty impossible to find at any parts store. So I replaced both my main and c-stick (again, the inner mechanical parts, not the caps/knobs), but the main stick broke after like a month or two. I suddenly couldn't do anything regarding down. And it wasn't a software or potentiometer issue; you can definitely feel that the thing is physically broken in there, lol.

Anybody else know where we can buy those mechanical portion of the sticks? I found these, but they're pretty pricey. I also haven't confirmed that the post will accommodate a GC knob.

 

[Kadano]

I recently tried getting some Gaming Generation's knobs. I haven't noticed wear-down yet.

I can say though that the mechanical part of the stick that they also sell is definitely not recommended. I was excited to try them, since those are pretty impossible to find at any parts store. So I replaced both my main and c-stick (again, the inner mechanical parts, not the caps/knobs), but the main stick broke after like a month or two. I suddenly couldn't do anything regarding down. And it wasn't a software or potentiometer issue; you can definitely feel that the thing is physically broken in there, lol.

Anybody else know where we can buy those mechanical portion of the sticks? I found these, but they're pretty pricey. I also haven't confirmed that the post will accommodate a GC knob.

I agree, GG stickboxes aren’t too good, unfortunately. I haven’t had one of them break yet, though.
I’ve been looking for other sources for about a year and still had no success, haha. I even emailed Nintendo, but of course they don’t tell me who oem’d it.
The best way to go I know is to buy Nintendo brand Nunchuks or fake Classic Controllers or Classic Controller Pros for type 2 (metal housing, soldered to pcb) stickboxes and Nintendo brand CC / CCpro for type 3 (plastic housing, screwed to pcb) stickboxes. Where I live, both second-hand good condition Nintendo CC / CCpro and new off-brand CC are about 10$ each so it’s cheaper than those you found, and like you wrote you can’t even be certain that those fit.

^Picture of Nintendo CCpro. In my opinion, these stickboxes (type 3) are the best. I don’t own fake CCs or Nuchuks so I can’t provide photos for them, but I’ve opened up one some time ago that had type 2 stickboxes that looked 100% like these found in GCCs:

It looked just like this one except it was black. Here is the fake Nunchuk that should have type 2 as well.

edit: ordered one of those Nunchus. Will let you know what’s inside as soon as I receive it.

 

[DRGN]

I tried getting a third party Classic Controller once specifically for the sticks. It was like $5, so I thought if it worked it'd be a pretty good deal. But after swapping them out and playing with them, they didn't feel very good. They just weren't as tight and responsive as new official GC controller sticks. Maybe just found really bad third party ones. I think I should try the sticks in an official Classic Controller or CC Pro. New official ones are still pretty cheap, especially compared to a new official GC controller. You said you found good fake Classic Controllers though?

 

[Kadano]

You said you found good fake Classic Controllers though?

Well, they looked good to me. A seller on a local listing service put up a picture of an official CC Pro, but when I got there, it didn’t have the Nintendo logo and clearly was a fake. I opened it up to see what stickboxes it had, and they looked just like those in the last picture in my previous post. I’d been looking for all-plastic ones, so I didn’t buy it. I don’t know if the stickboxes were as good as official ones, I just assumed so because they looked like it. Also, moving the stick around felt like it does on some official controllers.

So yeah, I don’t actually know if they are any good. I’ll review the Nunchuk as soon as I get it.

Also, I hope you do know that all-plastic stickboxes don’t fit interchangably with metal housing stickboxes?

(Sorry for the text being in German)

 

[DRGN]

Ah. So did you try them out in a GC controller? I'm sure we've all had bad experiences using third party controllers in general, so I'm just naturally afraid of them, even for parts.

I first looked for stickboxes many years ago, and just like you haven't been able to find any besides GG.

Yeah, I know. I've actually done a good amount of controller repair.

 

[Kadano]

Ah. So did you try them out in a GC controller?

No, not yet. I will post here as soon as I have.

Great, you certainly seemed like a controller expert, just wanted to make sure. WhIch stickbox type do you prefer? For me, it's the all-plastic one.

 

[Frame Perfect]

been working the stick too hard, always tearing rubbers

story of my life...

 

[DRGN]

No, not yet. I will post here as soon as I have.

Great, you certainly seemed like a controller expert, just wanted to make sure. WhIch stickbox type do you prefer? For me, it's the all-plastic one.

I kinda arbitrarily used to like the old metal housing types. I just kind of felt like they were more durable. Maybe it was just the aesthetics of the metal, lol. But I think I'm leaning toward the new all-plastic ones now, just because they're easier to replace.

You know the guide that the central post slides along, that relays the angle to the pot? Did you know PS2 controllers have metal ones of those (just the smaller top one, which I think typically wear quicker). I think that's really cool. First of all it's not going to wear down nearly as much, and second, even if it did you could just bend it a little and have it back to having no play in no time! The stick as a whole can still develop play underneath where the center post attaches to pivot, but at least that one piece made as metal is one variable taken out. This is why I hold the position that, although new official GC stickboxes are the best for GC controllers, I don't hold the utmost reverie that other people do for them, and think that Nintendo could do better. Even the other stickbox I think could be improved. Oh well.

 

[Kadano]

I kinda arbitrarily used to like the old metal housing types. I just kind of felt like they were more durable. Maybe it was just the aesthetics of the metal, lol. But I think I'm leaning toward the new all-plastic ones now, just because they're easier to replace.

You know the guide that the central post slides along, that relays the angle to the pot? Did you know PS2 controllers have metal ones of those (just the smaller top one, which I think typically wear quicker). I think that's really cool. First of all it's not going to wear down nearly as much, and second, even if it did you could just bend it a little and have it back to having no play in no time! The stick as a whole can still develop play underneath where the center post attaches to pivot, but at least that one piece made as metal is one variable taken out. This is why I hold the position that, although new official GC stickboxes are the best for GC controllers, I don't hold the utmost reverie that other people do for them, and think that Nintendo could do better. Even the other stickbox I think could be improved. Oh well.

Didn't know any of that, thanks for telling me! Also didn't know these terms for the parts, so thanks for that too.
Just two things I don't understand: pivot = plate attached to the spring? And which other stickbox do you mean?

Do those metal ps2 guides fit on a gc box?

Oh, and is there some kind of stickbox knowledge compendium somewhere?

 

[DRGN]

Well by pivot I just meant it as the verb, not a specific part. And I mean the PS2 stickbox I think could be improved, even though they're good already. You know pot is short for potentiometer, and which part I'm talking about for that, right?

No, I don't think so. PS2/Xbox360 stickboxes are wider than GC stickboxes. I'm kind of wondering if maybe it could be modified to fit. But I kind of doubt it.

For the stickbox knowledge compendium: sort of. What I'm thinking of is here. There are some weird things in there though. Like he mentions drilling out some of the screws during disassembly (uh, what's wrong with unscrewing them? lol), and using pliers to break apart the solder joints for the stickboxes with metal housings, rather than desoldering them. O_o

I've thought before about making a good thread for stickbox replacement. Unfortunately, since it's so hard to get good new ones I don't know how useful it would be. I should really try getting a new official CC.

 

[Kadano]

Well by pivot I just meant it as the verb, not a specific part. And I mean the PS2 stickbox I think could be improved, even though they're good already. You know pot is short for potentiometer, and which part I'm talking about for that, right?

No, I don't think so. PS2/Xbox360 stickboxes are wider than GC stickboxes. I'm kind of wondering if maybe it could be modified to fit. But I kind of doubt it.

For the stickbox knowledge compendium: sort of. What I'm thinking of is here. There are some weird things in there though. Like he mentions drilling out some of the screws during disassembly (uh, what's wrong with unscrewing them? lol), and using pliers to break apart the solder joints for the stickboxes with metal housings, rather than desoldering them. O_o

I've thought before about making a good thread for stickbox replacement. Unfortunately, since it's so hard to get good new ones I don't know how useful it would be. I should really try getting a new official CC.

Yeah, I used to think “potentiometer” included the stickboxes, but now I know it’s just the small soldered parts the current flows through.

Haha. I’m sorry, as a non-native speaker I often have problems explaining technical stuff I never learned expressions for in school well. I forgot to state you can simply desolder if you have a soldering iron, I just fixed it.

If you think there’s something else wrong with my thread, please tell me! Of course I’ll give proper credit.

 

[DRGN]

Oh shiii.... I totally didn't even notice at first that was your thread! Lmao!



What's also funny is that earlier today when I was looking around, I saw your sig in StrongBad's thread and realized I'd seen that thread before (yet still didn't associate it to THAT technical discussions thread, lol)! Forgive me, I'm tired. lol

Oh, English isn't your native language? I think you speak it pretty well actually. I wish I knew more languages.

 

[Kadano]

Oh shiii.... I totally didn't even notice at first that was your thread! Lmao!

I thought you were being sarcastic and was pretty amused by it. I write horrible posts when I’m tired too, so it’s no problem!

No, here in Austria everyone speaks German. Most people here speak terrible English (think Schwarzenegger), so I’m at least not that bad, I guess. Haha. Well thank you, it’s always great to hear that from someone who is really good at his language. (It always confuses me that the perceived half of the English-speaking population on the internet can’t distinguish between “your” and “you’re” and stuff like that.)

Edit: Also, when I asked for stickbox knowledge, I meant in a broader perspective than just on smashboards, like a Wikipedia article.

 

[DRGN]

No, I really didn't notice until later! lol!

Haha, yeah, most English speakers are terrible at writing English, lol. (And then there are those that are pretty scary when speaking it, too. XD) I'm not exactly sure what the balance is between being uneducated and just not caring.

In the past I've browsed several sites on GC & Wii modding and hacking for other purposes (which is where I would think they would be most likely to pop up), but I don't recall seeing another sort of stickbox compendium. I did just now find this, which it looks like you wrote.

 

[GCS Gaming Customs]

Look, if anyone here wants to buy regular OEM (I promise, lol) sticks, here is your answer : http://gamecubescrubb.storenvy.com/products/1832632-original-gamecube-analog-stick-replacement-part
Solved.

O yea, if anyone was wondering, both PS3 and PS2 sticks fit in the gamecube pot and controller shell, but sometime require some sanding to prevent binding. Don't try to put a whole new pot in there just for the dif stick, there really is no point (unless Im missing something?)

If your stick is loose, replace it with an old controllers c-stick. Don't try any of the methods to fix the stick, they don't work in the long period. And one important thing to note about loose sticks: if your character doesn't move around randomly or if the loose stick really doesn't affect your dashdance, there is no reason to replace it. The stick on my controller is a bit loose, but its only lowered the resistance of the stick movement, and has not affected gameplay whatsoever.

 

[DRGN]

For a second I thought you meant the mechanical portion of the joystick, not the knob, lol. I got excited for a second. XD

 

[dkuo]

i just learned how to use the stick with the rubber 100% worn off for the last 8 months or so

but this means i cant use normal sticks anymore, woops

 

[Kadano]

Don't try any of the methods to fix the stick, they don't work in the long period. And one important thing to note about loose sticks: if your character doesn't move around randomly or if the loose stick really doesn't affect your dashdance, there is no reason to replace it. The stick on my controller is a bit loose, but its only lowered the resistance of the stick movement, and has not affected gameplay whatsoever.

I’ve had several of my 10 controllers’ sticks loosen when I lent them out to randoms at a 64-man Melee tourney I held at a local anime convention (worst decision ever, I know). All of those with all-plastic stickboxes I managed to repair by thickening the main post and (in one stickbox that wasn’t centered) the base plate with epoxy resin. Why do you think that doesn’t work in the long period?

Also, in my experience and that of some other players I know, loose sticks make pivots much harder. Also, the effective range decreases, making your dashes, wavedashes and SDI (maybe other things as well) very slightly shorter. This is only true if the loosening is due to friction and not due to spring tightness loss, but I have never experienced the latter so far, only the former. (You can test this by using Mayflash’s GC→USB converter and moving the stick only within its loose zone before you feel the spring’s resistance while looking at the driver’s or Dolphin’s input display. If the values stay the same, it’s friction. If the values change, it’s the spring.)

 

[Frame Perfect]

i was about to buy the spongebob controller to let people borrow it when they ask

 

[GCS Gaming Customs]

I’ve had several of my 10 controllers’ sticks loosen when I lent them out to randoms at a 64-man Melee tourney I held at a local anime convention (worst decision ever, I know). All of those with all-plastic stickboxes I managed to repair by thickening the main post and (in one stickbox that wasn’t centered) the base plate with epoxy resin. Why do you think that doesn’t work in the long period?

Also, in my experience and that of some other players I know, loose sticks make pivots much harder. Also, the effective range decreases, making your dashes, wavedashes and SDI (maybe other things as well) very slightly shorter. This is only true if the loosening is due to friction and not due to spring tightness loss, but I have never experienced the latter so far, only the former. (You can test this by using Mayflash’s GC→USB converter and moving the stick only within its loose zone before you feel the spring’s resistance while looking at the driver’s or Dolphin’s input display. If the values stay the same, it’s friction. If the values change, it’s the spring.)

I guess I'm not speaking from much experience, every situation in which people have tried it as far as I have heard has not ended so well. Thanks for clarifying, its nice to know that you can actually retighten the stick with some epoxy, rather than buying a whole new controller.

I have not practiced pivoting too much, so I was not speaking in perspective of the pivot technique, thanks for filling that in. I guess it just feels more comfortable to dash dance with a loose sticker that seems to roll in the pot smoother with less resistance, just a preference, but really not beneficial in a hard metagame perspective. There may be pots out there which are looser/tighter and able to be modified to fit, to adjust resistance levels. A very advanced, but definitely applicable and requestable modification I may at one point consider...

 

[GCS Gaming Customs]

Can anyone explain from experience the best way to tighten these gamecube sticks? I know you use some glue between the plastic stick coming out of the pot, but what kind is recommended and is there any other pointers to know before trying it out myself?

 

[DRGN]

You can check out Kadano's Technical Knowledge Compilation thread. It's quite extensive, and there's a section in there about doing that.

Btw, pot is short for potentiometer, which are the electrical parts that sense rotation attached to the sides of the mechanical portion (i.e. the part under the knob that houses all the moving parts) of the joystick, rather than the whole thing. Of course, there's no official name for the whole mechanical portion, but we've just been calling it the stick box or stickbox. We don't call it joystick because I think people often confuse it with meaning the knob that sits on top. (I would consider the term "joystick" to mean the entire stick box + knob + potentiometers, but that may just be me.)

 

[jtm94]

Hey all! I'm a little tardy, but I have been pondering about several of the issues you guys have faced, as I am facing them too.

I ran across some random thread saying that you could replace metal GC stickboxes with xbox 360 stickboxes, you just don't use the 3D portion of it. How true is that? I saw it said that they are, "a bit wider?" Than the metal GC stickboxes. I have not compared irl and was about to order some at $1 a piece. They both have the exact same connection setup, but I guess size does matter here if it means the metal xbox stickbox won't fit.

I do think I saw that ps2/ps3 metal stickboxes will fit though? I am aware that the newer ps3 controllers have the 4 pin connectors for each pot instead of 3.

As for the new plastic stickboxes.... I have 0% experience with them and do not know how to replace them, take them off, what they even look like... I've just been playing around with old controllers. So far from what I've seen I think my best bet is to just replace my current stick when it dies with my other 2 GC controllers sticks.... Are all of the nunchuck and classic controllers of the new plastic variety? If I come across any cheap I may just cop them for parts.

 

[Kadano]

I ran across some random thread saying that you could replace metal GC stickboxes with xbox 360 stickboxes, you just don't use the 3D portion of it. How true is that? I saw it said that they are, "a bit wider?" Than the metal GC stickboxes. I have not compared irl and was about to order some at $1 a piece. They both have the exact same connection setup, but I guess size does matter here if it means the metal xbox stickbox won't fit.

Where do they sell at $1 a piece?

As for the new plastic stickboxes.... I have 0% experience with them and do not know how to replace them, take them off, what they even look like... I've just been playing around with old controllers. So far from what I've seen I think my best bet is to just replace my current stick when it dies with my other 2 GC controllers sticks.... Are all of the nunchuck and classic controllers of the new plastic variety? If I come across any cheap I may just cop them for parts.

Here is some information about GCC stickboxes.

 

[GCS Gaming Customs]

I do have about 6-7 pots of different stick box types laying around (with all LOOSE sticks)
If anyone is interested.
I could sell gamecube potentiometer on my store (Both tight/loose)[I get so many controllers to work with, so why not]… Would you all be interested?

 

[jtm94]

You can find them at $1 a piece on ebay, there are 2 variety, 1 has a white plastic and silver rocker for the pot, the other has grey plastic and a copper colored rocker for the pot. They're called analog sensors. they also have ps2/ps3 3-pin analog sensors, but they're $13 for 2.

 

[jtm94]

Has anyone ever tried out joypad controllers as seen here?
My buddy got a "Nintendo" controller, but turns out it was refurbished and replaced with a mainboard inside that has a "Turbo" and "Slow" button. It has what I believe are type 2 stickboxes and I believe to have identified it as a Joypad controller.

Please let me know if anyone has any experience with these.

 

[GCS Gaming Customs]

You can find them at $1 a piece on ebay, there are 2 variety, 1 has a white plastic and silver rocker for the pot, the other has grey plastic and a copper colored rocker for the pot. They're called analog sensors. they also have ps2/ps3 3-pin analog sensors, but they're $13 for 2.

I mean they are official pots, so most people would prefer these..

Has anyone ever tried out joypad controllers as seen here?
My buddy got a "Nintendo" controller, but turns out it was refurbished and replaced with a mainboard inside that has a "Turbo" and "Slow" button. It has what I believe are type 2 stickboxes and I believe to have identified it as a Joypad controller.

Please let me know if anyone has any experience with these.

I wouldn't count on this, third party brands usually never fail to disappoint..

I have a non functioning circuit board, which has multiple issues (both of the sticks don't work and only move in certain directions in game, many buttons are unresponsive) However, the pots are still tight and have a normal range of motion, they just don't work when I play with them on that controller. Do you all think it is just a problem with the board and the sticks are fine, or does the problem lie within the pots?

 

[jtm94]

As I said the $1 stick boxes are xbox so they have a click-in 3D function just like xbox controllers.

My guess would be the circuit board is bad somewhere, are the wires all connected? or is there a possible short in the cord?

If buttons are unresponsive too I'm lead to believe the problem lies away from the pots, are the button conductors clean and shiny or are they dirty?
I'd suggest takin' it apart to find out if you haven't already.

 

[DRGN]

I have a non functioning circuit board, which has multiple issues (both of the sticks don't work and only move in certain directions in game, many buttons are unresponsive) However, the pots are still tight and have a normal range of motion, they just don't work when I play with them on that controller. Do you all think it is just a problem with the board and the sticks are fine, or does the problem lie within the pots?

I'm still a little confused as to what you mean by pots. Specifically, pots (potentiometers) are the electrical parts (which each have three electrical leads coming off of them) attached to the sides of the stick box. They don't have any role in determining whether the stick is tight or loose. What determines that is the mechanical parts within the stickbox, and sometimes the spring that lies at the base of those parts. Over time the parts wear down from friction, causing the "dead zone" (the area where the stick inputs nothing) of the joystick to become larger and reduces the maximum angle range that the joystick can report to the game. If the joysticks feel nice and tight when you move them around, then at the very least you've got some good parts in the stick box. It's not common for the pots themselves to go bad, so yeah, the problems with that controller are likely on the circuit board.

If you hold a certain direction when first plugging in the controller does it keep inputting in that direction? If you're confident in your soldering skills you might try replacing the crystal on the board (labeled as Y1, to the lower left of the chip on the top side of the board). Might be quicker/easier than doing both the sticks.

 

[GCS Gaming Customs]

I'm still a little confused as to what you mean by pots. Specifically, pots (potentiometers) are the electrical parts (which each have three electrical leads coming off of them) attached to the sides of the stick box. They don't have any role in determining whether the stick is tight or loose. What determines that is the mechanical parts within the stickbox, and sometimes the spring that lies at the base of those parts. Over time the parts wear down from friction, causing the "dead zone" (the area where the stick inputs nothing) of the joystick to become larger and reduces the maximum angle range that the joystick can report to the game. If the joysticks feel nice and tight when you move them around, then at the very least you've got some good parts in the stick box. It's not common for the pots themselves to go bad, so yeah, the problems with that controller are likely on the circuit board.

If you hold a certain direction when first plugging in the controller does it keep inputting in that direction? If you're confident in your soldering skills you might try replacing the crystal on the board (labeled as Y1, to the lower left of the chip on the top side of the board). Might be quicker/easier than doing both the sticks.

Sorry for the confusion, I was talking about the potentiometer (just abbreviated it pot)

And when you talk about replacing the crystal, what exactly does that do? Would I have to take the "crystal" from other controllers to replace this one?

Or is there some sorta thread I could read about this ^

 

[DRGN]

Yeah, you'd have to take one from another controller to replace it. But you have tons of extra parts, right? The crystal is used in a timing circuit to create a clock pulse for the logic circuits on the board, and there are two kinds used depending on the version of your board. One kind looks like a big (relative to the other components), odd blue thing with three leads coming off of it, and the other kind looks like a silver, rectangular, aluminum case. They're located in the same place in either version. Look to the lower left of the main IC chip on the top of the board (and to the left of the start button); both kinds are labeled as "Y1" on the board. I don't know for sure if replacing that will fix it, but it might be worth a try (the blue kind are especially easy to replace, especially compared to doing two joysticks instead). I don't know of anywhere that talks about replacing it.

 

[GCS Gaming Customs]

Yea, Ill try this out, I got plenty of extra controllers.

 

[sdremix_troubleshooter]

GCS, what adhesive do you use to attach the rubber knob back onto the thumb stick? I have a few that peeled off and I want them to be as structurally solid as they were before.