Request: Please hear me out before you laugh and scorn!

Being the owner of numerous GC controllers, a Hori Digital Pad, and a GC controller extension cord, I didn’t see the need to purchase a VC Clasic Controller when I was in the US a few months back. I had my Wiimote for NES classics, my Hori pad for SNES games, and my GC pad for N64 titles. I was all set.

Then I downloaded my first SNES VC game, Super Mario World. Simply put, the game is impossible to play with the GC button setup, as jump and run are relegated to the B and Y buttons, way too far apart to press in tandem. Completely, totally borked. I thought about running out to Yongsan to try and track down a Classic Controller, but I was enjoying a rare work-free day at home, and didn’t feel like taking the two-hour trek to get there.

After staring at the Hori pad for a few minutes in frustration, it hit me: glue gun, plastic fork, tape. Bingo. Close-up pic and detailed instructions after the break. Enter at your own risk.

Yes, it’s a monstrosity. But it works! Here’s the deal:

First, you need to make a massive hot glue mountain that touches START’s T. The most important part of the whole ‘mod’ is that this mound needs to be very high; without enough leverage, Y requires so much effort to press that playing feels totally unnatural.

Next, take a nice, solid plastic fork, and break off two of its prongs. Tape them together at the same curve but opposite directions. Now you’re ready to build a bridge between Y and the mound of glue.

At this stage, you have to work very fast. Apply a nice spot of hot glue to both the hardened mound and the Y button, then immediately secure the ‘bridge’ in place with its arch facing up. Now take the glue gun and ‘lock’ both ends in place by sealing them on top. As long as you’ve built your mound high enough, you should be all set.

You’re now faced with another challenge, however, as you need to get the B button up to the same height as the Y button/bridge. This is best done in steps, as it just doesn’t work if you try to do it all at once. Apply a spot of glue, wait until it starts to cool off, and then smash it down with your finger to make it ‘pressable.’

Keep doing this until it’s flush with the bridge. As you can see in the pic, it’ll get gradually wider as you build it up; that’s a good thing, but you need to make sure it doesn’t fuse itself to the bridge. Once it gets high enough, try pressing both the Y bridge and the B button at once, as you’ll be doing in the game to run/jump, and see if it feels comfortable. If not, use a match to melt the glue on top of the B button and remold it until it feels right.

Finally, you’re going to need to get the A button, used for the spin jump, a little higher as well. It doesn’t need to be flush with the others, so just a couple levels of glue, pressed down, should do the trick.

There you have it! If you own a Hori Digital Pad and haven’t yet purchased the Classic Controller, you now have a perfectly viable money-saving solution for SNES VC games (or for SMW, at least!). I tried and dismantled at least fifteen configurations that day, but finally hit the sweet spot. It may not look very nice, but trust me, it feels just right :)