It seems like every hardware you can imagine has a modding community full of enthusiasts keen on sprucing up their hardware with all sorts of cool new features. Today we’re jumping into the world of fight sticks to show off this cool modded Mad Catz TE1 that a maker known as Frawstybawls has enhanced with a couple of Raspberry Pis.
The biggest change to this TE1 fight stick is the decision to remove the joystick entirely. This makes it more suitable for certain types of games but requires a bit of tinkering to pull off. In addition to the new layout, Frawstybawlz has also added some custom artwork to the top that features the classic racing anime and manga Initial D. According to Frawstybawlz, the artwork was printed by Focus Attack arcade shop.
As we mentioned above, there are two Raspberry Pis used in this mod. A Raspberry Pi Zero is used to handle the button input for the new buttons that replaced the joystick. A Raspberry Pi Pico was thrown into the mix to add some cool LED effects to not just the new buttons but the existing ones that were upgraded to match the new design.
All of the buttons on the fight stick are now Crown 202c buttons. These are translucent arcade buttons that are easy to mod with LEDs. The Pi Zero handles the input while the Pico operates the LEDs so they operate in tandem. The new buttons are also accompanied by a replacement USB compartment door developed by Buttercade.
The software used for controlling the LEDs was created by a developer known as DaoraDio. The code can be found over at GitHub for anyone to use and is known as Fight Lights Pico. According to DaoraDio, it’s designed to be easily adaptable for makers to totally customize their arcade button LED projects. You can make them react to button presses or even display cool idle animations.
If you want to get a close look at this Raspberry Pi project, you can check it out over at Reddit where Frawstybawlz also shared a link with a demo video of it in action.
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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
