NES Controller D-Pad Issue?

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norminal
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Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2025 1:05 am

NES Controller D-Pad Issue?

Post by norminal »

Hello everyone! I’m new to both this forum and the MiSTer FPGA platform. So far, I’ve been having a great time exploring the platform and diving into the cores for some of my favorite consoles and computers from my childhood.

I’m running into a small issue—or maybe it’s not an issue at all—and I can’t seem to find a clear answer. I’m using a generic USB SNES controller with the NES core, and I’m struggling to explain this clearly, but I’ll do my best.

When I play The Legend of Zelda on the NES core, I notice something odd with the controls. If I’m holding the right direction on the D-pad to walk right and then tap the up direction while still holding right, the character doesn’t move up. I have to fully release the right direction and then press up to move upward. By contrast, when I play The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES core with the same controller, I can tap up while holding right, and the character moves up without issue. Plus, I can even move diagonally by holding both right and up, which makes sense since that game supports diagonal movement. It’s been a while since I last played The Legend of Zelda on the NES, so I’m not sure if this is just how the game behaves or if something’s off with my setup.

Does anyone know if this is the expected behavior for The Legend of Zelda on the NES? If it’s not supposed to work this way, any suggestions on how I might fix it?

Thanks for your help!

iamTeddyNL
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Re: NES Controller D-Pad Issue?

Post by iamTeddyNL »

I cannot reproduce with a Switch Pro controller. On NES Zelda, moving right and moving dpad diagonally up will make Link walk up.

By contrast, when I play The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES core with the same controller, I can tap up while holding right, and the character moves up without issue.

This does not sound correct either. If you tap up while holding right, Link should be moving diagonally and not up. I don't understand your post since you are stating this behavior and also mentioning diagonal movement also works.

To me it sounds like your controller has some priority issues with the dpad. The easiest way to verify its behavior in my opinion is to connect it to a windows pc, run joy.cpl and observe its behavior with diagonals. Investing in a proper controller is worth it tho

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