New option for replacing a worn out N64 joystick

We’ve all come across the frustration of wobbly joysticks at one point or another. The reason why this happens is because the internal components of the joystick mechanism became ground down over time due to pressure and friction. However, ENKKO has come up with a solution to this problem – make new parts to replace your old ones!

There have been a lot of options for replacing joysticks – but they all seem to be quite expensive and not very good. They would usually involve replacing the entire joystick case with a new 3rd party one. These are more often than not quite shoddy in quality since they require soldering in the connections or they use potentiometers instead of the light-sensitive sensors to measure tilt on the joystick.

Anyways, the big problem with most joysticks is that the internal bowl and stick wear out from use, causing a large gap between components and making the joystick loose:

It also happens (but to a lesser degree) to the horizontal and vertical gears:

So the big challenge with this project would be to be able to make these replacement components with the same industrial precision that the originals were made. Since the stick and bowl are quite big, they will be easier to make compared to the two gears who have small teeth that are very difficult to reproduce, though they are in the pipeline for a later release date.

As of now, the crowdfunding is complete and they will be shipping the rewards for pledgers at the end of May. They are also in the process of talking to manufacturers about getting the moulds for the gear pieces done, but those will be released at a later date.

I for one wish I would have remembered to pledge something so I could get one of the dank rewards, but I forgot to do it. 🙁

 

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There is now another option for people looking to modify their controllers to not have such a floppy joystick by replacing the worn out inner parts.
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