Imperium Solo – SEGA MD/Genesis

Imperium Solo USB is an adapter to support modern day USB game controllers (&mice) on retro hardware.
Today I am happy to announce that I added support for the great SEGA MegaDrive/Genesis console.
It was not all trivial, due to the SEGA 6 button mode, which is now fully supported by Imperium Solo USB, granted you have enough buttons on your controller, check the database at the Imperium Solo infosite.

Furthermore SEGA choose to use VCC on another pin than the “atari-standard”, thus existing Imperium Solo PCB’s are not able to support it. However it was added as configuration option in PCB rev. 1.0.4.
External power can also be applied via a USB micro socket (standard mobile phone charger would work), if extra power is needed. Options are configurable via jumpers.

Here’s a short video demonstration:

Notice that I made a seperate site for Imperium Solo, here:

Where you can see the database of tested Game controllers and mice, along with their button mapping.

6 thoughts on “Imperium Solo – SEGA MD/Genesis”

  1. Hello! Is it possible to remap buttons when playing C64 and Amiga? I would like to use a button for jumping instead of up on the d-pad.

    David

    1. Currently it is not possible.
      I will probably add this feature some time soon.
      Like HOLD up&down for 5 secs (there is a button for that) to swap UP and fire 1 or something.

      1. This would be perfect, as I have one of these for my Amstrad.

        Please allow a button for ‘up’, and another button for ‘down’.

        So many games suffer from a lack of buttons, and put functions on up and down that should be on the buttons instead.

        If, by any chance you’re able to map keyboard keys to the additional buttons, that would also make this an essential accessory. ‘Space’, ‘Enter’, ‘P’ (pause), and ‘ESC’ would be ideal, and on a modern twin stick pad, having the cursor keys on the d-pad would be fantastic – maybe even the numeric keypad on the right analogue stick.

        Those upgrades would make it unmissable for those who wish to game on the Amstrad with a modern controller.

        1. The feature to swap “FIRE” and “UP” was implemented in firmware v1.1.5 -> http://www.spinpoint.org/imperium/

          To map the buttons to other keyboard codes on Amstrad is unfortunately not possible. However there exist a large library of games patched to work on GX4000 with gamepads.
          These games also work on M4 board if you have one, simply |cd into them and cat, run as usual.
          You can find the patched games here, maybe you can find what you need:
          https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Converted_GX4000_Software
          Also you will have the benefit to use “Fire 2” in many of these.

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