Wavebird Rumble Restore Project almost done
I had an idea to fix the only issue with the best controller ever made. I am working on a small drop in pack that will fit inside the battery holder of the wavebird that will double as both a rechargeable lipo battery pack to power the wavebird but also have a rumble motor to restore rumble to the controller. That way it is an easy mod with no soldering required and simply plug and play. So far I have been able to capture the rumble outputs form the GameCube with an esp32 and send the rumble signal to a second esp32 wirelessly. This was a bit tricky because the GameCube will actually ask for a controller ID when a controller is plugged in and when using the wavebird receiver, it essentially tells the Gamcube “I’m a wavebird, don’t send any rumble commands”. So first I had to patch that so when the receiver was plugged into the GameCube it responds to the GameCube ID request with a normal “wired controller ID” and send the rumble commands. After that it was pretty easy to isolate and capture the rumble. In the video I am testing the rumble capture by charging the glider on Kirby air ride while the first esp32 captures it (the blinking blue LED to the left in the video). The second esp32 is powered by a battery and receiving that captured signal causing the red LED to light up. When it’s all done the first esp32 will fit into the wavebird reciever itself and the second will fit inside the battery pack for the wavebird and trigger a Wii rumble motor instead of a red LED. The proof of concept itself is done and I’ve already started 3d printing some prototype packs to get the fit just right. So now I’m about 70% done and am just waiting on some smaller components to come in to make the first working version. If anyone is interested please let me because depending on that I might end up making a limited run of these once it’s all said and done.