NES Advantage Stick Gets Bluetooth Upgrade

Aaron has given a classic NES Advantage arcade stick from 1987 a modern makeover—and Hackaday reports he pulled it off without touching a drill. The original stick, which brought arcade controls to living rooms decades ago, now works wirelessly over Bluetooth with contemporary consoles and computers. The clever part: Aaron managed to preserve every original control, including Turbo and Slow Motion modes, without adding new buttons or cutting the case open. A custom circuit board replaces the original cable, housing an ESP32 microcontroller that reads the stick's original electronics and broadcasts them over Bluetooth. The stick can emulate a Switch Pro Controller for Nintendo's platform, act as a standard gamepad for PC and mobile devices, or still work with a real original NES if you pair it with an adapter. It's a neat reminder that retro hardware can have a second life with a little creative engineering.

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