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Sunsoft Pachinko

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shany edited this page Nov 1, 2026 · 4 revisions

Sunsoft Pachinko

Sunsoft's Hissatsu Pachinko Controller is a dial for Super Famicom pachinko games. It plugs into controller port 2, with a normal joypad in port 1 for the menus. Turning the dial sets how hard the balls are launched, and a button on its side stops them. SuperSnes9x emulates it:

Sunsoft Pachinko controller
  1. Turn on Input > Sunsoft Pachinko > Connect to Port 2. Joypad #1 stays on port 1.
  2. Set its keys in Input > Input Configuration, on the Sunsoft Pachinko row: Stronger, Weaker and Stop (E, Q and W by default). Holding a key lights its part of the picture, and clicking a part of the picture edits its key. Auto-Assign puts Stronger and Weaker on a gamepad's shoulder buttons and Stop on A.
  3. Load the game, or reset it if it is already running.

On Qt and GTK the menu is the same. The keys are in the controller settings: pick Sunsoft Pachinko in the controller list of Qt's Controllers settings, or in GTK's Preferences > Joypads.

In the libretro core, set port 2's device to Sunsoft Pachinko. R or D-pad Right turns the dial stronger, L or D-pad Left turns it weaker, and A is Stop.

The games look for the controller only when they start, so connect it first or reset after connecting. Ganso Pachinko Ou stops at an error screen if it finds a joypad in port 2: connect the Pachinko, or leave port 2 empty.

Stronger and Weaker turn the dial. A tap moves it one step, and holding a key moves it every frame after about a quarter of a second. The dial stays where you leave it, like a hand resting on the knob.

In the controller settings, the picture shows a POWER gauge round the dial, from 0% each time the settings open. Hold Stronger or Weaker there to watch it fill or empty at the game's own pace: about 2.3 seconds from 0% to 100%.

Balls keep launching at the dial's strength unless Stop is held. Ganso Pachinko Ou launches them even with the dial at rest; Pachio-kun Special 3 launches nothing until the dial is turned.

Savestates, rewind, run-ahead and movies keep the dial's position. Netplay doesn't carry it.

Games that read it

  • Ganso Pachinko Ou
  • Hissatsu Pachinko Collection
  • Hissatsu Pachinko Collection 2
  • Hissatsu Pachinko Collection 3
  • Hissatsu Pachinko Collection 4
  • Pachio-kun Special 3

This list comes from the games' own code: each one checks port 2 for the controller's ID. A search of 4,891 Super Famicom games found no others.

How it talks to the console

After the usual strobe the game reads 32 bits from $4017 (first bit first):

Bits Meaning
1-8 always 0
9 Stop button, 1 = held
10-12 always 0
13-16 ID 1110 ($E)
17-24 ID 01110111 ($77)
25 0
26-32 dial, 7 bits, most significant first, inverted (all 1s at rest)

Bits after the 32nd read 1. The auto-joypad read of port 2 ($421A) gets bits 1-16: $0E, or $8E with Stop held.

The Coconuts Japan pachinko controller is a different device: it plugs into the Famicom's expansion port and only Famicom games read it, so it has no Super Famicom equivalent.

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