Sega Genesis joystick controller pinout signals @ PinoutGuide.com

at the game console

Including adaptation for use with PC

The pinout should fit 1 devices/models. Click to list>

Sega Genesis used a slightly different approach in joystick connection than Atari. The Sega joystick pinout seems to be the standard 2-button joystick configuration where pins 6 and 9 are used for buttons which ground the pin when pressed. The only strange thing is that the joystick seems to also want +5V at pin 5. Sega has added a 6-button model in addition to its original 3-button configuration. The 6-button joysticks use essentially the same interface, but add more buttons by using extra circuitry that multiplexes the new button signals with the existing joystick signals, using the control bit in connector pin 7. The chip inside the controller is a 74HC157. This is a high-speed CMOS quad 2-line to 1-line multiplexer. The console can, with help of the Select pin, choose from two functions on each input. If pin 7 is left floating the controller defaults to this line being high.

Pin	Name (Select=GND)	Name (Select=+5V)
1	Up	Up
2	Down	Down
3	Gnd	Left
4	Gnd	Right
5	+5VDC	+5VDC
6	Button A	Button B
7	Select	Select
8	Ground	Ground
9	Start	Button C

How to connect Sega Genesis joystick to PC:

It is possible to adapt a joystick originally developed for Sega Genesis to be used on a PC. After connecting the joystick to the PCs parallel port, you must install a driver so the operating system recognizes the device as a joystick.

DB25                DB9
25 pin D-sub        9 pin d-sub
male                male
1--------------------------1
2--------------------------7
3--->|---|
4--->|---|
5--->|---|
6--->|---|-----------------5
7--->|---|
8--->|---|
9--->|---|
10-------------------------3
11-------------------------4
12-------------------------6
13-------------------------9
14-------------------------2
18,19----------------------8

->| means 1N4148 diode

The diodes should be soldered inside the DB25 connector. Joysticks with this cable will work only after manual installation of the drivers. DirectPad drivers for Windows 2000 or XP may be downloaded from http://www.emulatronia.com/reportajes/directpad/ntpad.zip.