Revisiting the Hyperkin Cadet Controller (NES)

Back in July, I reviewed Hyperkin’s Cadet Controller, a controller in the style of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) controllers; depending on which model you purchase, the controller is designed with different cables for use on the official NES and compatible clone consoles, the NES Classic Edition (Wii connector), and computers (USB connector). I posted both a detailed video unboxing the Cadet, trying it out, and opening it up, as well as a written summary with pictures. TLDR: I loved it.

I was surprised, nay shocked, given Hyperkin’s terrible RetroN 5 controller, and the track record of third party controllers in general–typically, the main thing companies fail at is in replicating Nintendo’s D-pad. No matter how faithful the recreation (I’m looking at you, 8Bitdo), they just can’t get it right even though it’s a little piece of plastic that has been around for more than 30 years. On the other hand, most companies can’t manage to fix the same audio, video, and compatibility problems plaguing “Nintendo-on-a-Chip” knockoff consoles that have been around for decades either.

What’s the problem with the D-pad? It seems the biggest issue is the size and shape of the pivot in the center of the D-pad. Without one, you can press the D-pad down and trigger every direction at once. With a crappy one, you will still trigger unintended diagonals, which is devastating to your performance in games requiring precision, i.e., pretty much NES game that isn’t an RPG, sports title, or board game adaptation–particularly in platformers and shmups that have tight controls. My usual test: Can Mario slide under blocks in Super Mario Bros. 3 easily?

The Hyperkin Cadet controller I reviewed in July, which I still use regularly, passed that test with flying colors. I liked the design, which is comfortable in my hands, and the A and B buttons are also snappy and responsive. When I opened it up, I found that the PCB was much higher quality than virtually every other third-party controller out there; where most use glob top on their board, that controller had an actual chip. I loved the controller so much, it actually replaced the Hudson Soft Joycard Sansui SSS as my favored NES controller, for a time. The only issues I had with the Cadet were the tight fit of its plug in an NES (it fits fine in a Hyperkin RetroN 5, which sounds about right), and the buttons were a little louder, which is only a problem when I’m live streaming.

Then a few weeks ago, user zedeighty commented on my YouTube video that the Cadet controller packed in with their RetroN 1 (Grey) didn’t work, and upon tearing it down they discovered it had a different board with a glob top!

I wish I had something positive to say about this controller but unfortunately the pad I got with my Retron HD was broken out of the box. I can’t get it to work with the clone it came with or a genuine NES (weirdly, the select button works but nothing else). Interesting thing is, I took one apart for curiosity’s sake and found that the circuit board inside mine is totally different to yours (it even has a glob top instead of a proper chip).

They linked me to a YouTube video that showed a PCB from another controller identical to theirs, posted by Gam3Tat0 on July 3, 2017, a couple of weeks before I posted my video. (So much for being the first!)

Source: Gam3Tat0 (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dUT90-qr8QQ4Ck_QAZc_Q)

No black glob here! Just a real chip and a pretty clean looking PCB.

The PCB from my first Cadet controller.

Note the glob top and different circuits on the button pads! It seemed clear that there were different production runs on the controller or a change in manufacturing. Perhaps the pack-in controllers with the consoles were cheaper versions for some reason, or earlier production models, or they’re made in different factories…???

But no. I happen to have a second Cadet controller; I had liked the first so much, I was planning to buy the black model when it was released in August, but then I won a contest on Twitter so Hyperkin sent me one for free! When it arrived, I had no reason to believe it would be different from the first one, so I didn’t do another teardown, and in fact I didn’t even bother testing it and didn’t have a chance to use it. So, inspired by all this new information, I cracked the seal on the black controller, opened it up, and discovered it does not have a glob top! It has a chip just like my first Cadet controller; however, it has an entirely different D-pad from my other Cadet. :-o

At first, everything looks okay and consistent with my other controller…

This is perhaps even more significant, because when I reassembled the black controller and finally tested it, I found it performs completely differently from the first controller: The D-pad on the black controller is so awful, it is basically unusable. Not only did it fail the slide test in SMB3 miserably, but I couldn’t even hold the Down button to make Mario duck for long. He kept walking to the right instead! That’s no good.

D-pad from the black Cadet controller. Note the extremely narrow pivot in the center.

D-pad from the black Cadet controller, received for free from Hyperkin. Note the rounded pivot in the center, which actually looks like the one in an NES controller, and most third-party knockoffs.

D-pad from the white Cadet controller, produced at least a few months earlier and purchased from Castlemania Games. Note the narrower, almost pointed pivot. This is definitely a different mold.

Silicon conductive membrane from the black Cadet controller.

Silicon conductive membrane from the white Cadet controller.

Side-by-side comparison of the the two D-pads.

The fix for some of the third-party controllers with bad D-pads is to simply swap it with a D-pad from an OEM NES controller*. This is how I fixed my 8Bitdo controller, but it isn’t a viable solution for most people unless you have a broken NES controller to source parts from or are willing to sacrifice a functional one. (But why would you need a third-party knockoff if you have the real thing?)

I had a Famicom controller that was in very poor shape; the parts are interchangeable with NES controllers, so I swapped the D-pad into the black Hyperkin Cadet controller (but not the silicon membrane), and just like that, the controller works better! It feels a bit mushier than the white Cadet controller, but it passes the slide test. While I was at it, I swapped in the black buttons from the Famicom controller, and black Start and Select buttons from a repair kit, and it looks even nicer now:

Total Goth.

This week, another YouTube user, pennilessgoldfish (awesome username!) also commented on my post and shared pictures of their teardown which shows a third, completely different PCB with a glob top and different contacts, and they report it also has a crappy D-pad, which is subtly different from the “good one” above.

What the hell?!

I got the USB version, also different board, also crap Dpad (unreliable diagonals, plus down doesn’t register sometimes!). The sticker looked like it had been both cut and applied by someone very drunk.

So like, what is even going on here? It’s bizarre to see this much variation in a product, right? At the very least, it makes it impossible to recommend the Cadet controller because currently you have a 1-in-4 chance of getting a good controller–and that’s only the controllers designed for NES consoles. I haven’t seen any PCBs from controllers designed for the NES Classic or USB — who knows what you’ll get?

I had been hearing reviews and comments from people who had gotten bad controllers with their RetroN 1, but I had given Hyperkin the benefit of the doubt and assumed they were outliers — rare instances of faulty controllers, an “acceptable” amount of lemons you might expect from any new product. Instead, it seems the functional controllers may be the exception. (I’ll also mention that people have complained about the decal on the front of these controllers, which are sometimes unevenly applied or coming unstuck. My controllers are no different and have some weird indentations that while cosmetically unappealing, weren’t deal breakers. Still, they’re another indication of the wide range in quality you can expect instead of a consistent, reliable controller that should be identical to every other one manufactured and sold.)

This is extremely baffling and disappointing, because that first controller I got is great and I was happy to recommend it. It seems I was one of the lucky ones. I had even been considering picking up one of Hyperkin’s new “Scout” controllers for the Super NES. But now I have to warn you that you’re taking a chance when you pick up one of these, since the quality is inconsistent and quality control must be sporadic or nonexistent. It’s possible that as more people open these up, we may be able to find identifying markers on the controllers or packaging that may help you find a good one, or maybe we can get Hyperkin to comment (I haven’t reached out yet myself).

Or maybe we should just stick with 30-year-old original hardware.

Please comment below if you have anything to add, whether your own experiences with the Cadet controller, teardown pics of your own, or other observations and insights into the manufacturing process for these things!

*12/4/17, updated to add: Actually, not so simply. You have to snip out some plastic tabs from the circle inside the controller shell to fit the replacement D-pad, or cut away sections from the D-pad (which seems more destructive and difficult), in order to get it to fit. And the D-pad was too mushy and kept missing inputs when I hit down until I swapped in the silicone membrane from my 8Bitdo NES30 (which had previously been swapped for an OEM NES D-pad and membrane). So that’s not really a “fix” most people are going to want or be able to attempt.

cadet, controller, hyperkin, NES

Brandon

06/06/2018

Following this, I have just purchased 2 new Cadet controllers to see for myself what has changed.

I too have an early run Cadet that I consider to be one of the best newly made stand-ins for an original NES controller. Heck… as soon as I opened and tested it, I started Battle Kid and continued to exclusively use the Cadet through the process of beating the game for the first time (at least a month long process). I then started Battle Kid 2 with the same controller and made it about half way through before my son was born. The controller performed nearly flawlessly. There are rare occasions with the diagonals are slightly too sensitive on the D-pad, but I could always adjust right away and it never bothered me enough to reach for another controller at the time (of which I do have a two recently purchased new old stock NES-004E controllers from E-bay. And if those controllers aren’t really oem and brand new, then they’re the best refurbs/knock-offs I’ve ever seen.) Point being, my originally bought Cadet is fantastic.

Flash forward to today when I brought home two new Cadet controllers and they turn out to be as terrible as everyone has been saying. The D-pad registers diagonals for days. Especially while trying to hold up or down. The select and start are somewhat mushier, but whatever, they work.

I have not opened them yet to take a peak inside and honestly am not sure if I will even keep them to do that. However, I have noted some physical differences that may or may not help identify a bad Cadet. Most important may be the item number change on the package and sticker on the back of the controller. The new is M07246/1022P08 and the old is M07246/0564P08.

I have gone back through a few of the early glowing reviews and confirmed that (at least a few that I could pause to see) show the same M07246/0564P08 item number as my originally purchased Cadet. I may not be on to anything new here, but it would be nice to know if this number means anything.

I have inquired to Hyperkin about what changes in manufacturing/part supply/quality control might have happened throughout the past year. Again, it seems like the great Cadets came from an early run. My email was nice and long so I expect to get no answer from them. We’ll see.

I did also purchase two GN6 6 button genesis controllers at the same time. And the quality control for that model doesn’t seem to be much better than the recent Cadet. Again the D-pad is where they seem have the worst design. One controller is actually pretty good, but one has a D-pad that stands what seems like twice as high as the other and can be pushed in like one big button. This registers all directional buttons at once (yikes). The other controller has a perfectly serviceable D-pad with what feels like a decent center pivot. All other buttons on both Genesis controllers feel pretty OK if not a bit stiff (the kind you can only hope to “break in”).

I forgot to mention that both new Cadet controllers have the exact same flaws and feel almost identical to each other. These are from what I’m considering for now a bad batch (M07246/1022P08).

It would be nice to be able to track down some of the good Cadet controllers as I too find it somewhat important to have newly available replacement controllers as the old originals die out.

I loved the first Cadet I bought so much that I didn’t rush out and buy another one immediately…

Perhaps when the NES Classic is re-released at the end of the month, Nintendo will supply enough of those 10 dollar extra controllers so we can all stock up for controller board swaps…

e.c. myers

ecmyers

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