Emulating U-Force

Nocash's technical description looks simple enough to implement, but mapping U-Force's sensors to the keyboard and/or mouse is problematic. Has anyone come up with a control scheme sufficient for U-Force Power Games, the unreleased prototype cart and the only cart that uses the analog mode?

Motion controllers are common enough these days. A Wii remote, PS4 controller, or Steam Controller can approximate physical position.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still studying devices capabilities, but from what I've seen so far, it's quite limited. A mouse is likely sufficient for the analog stuff.

As for one of the digital modes, take a look at this guy's YouTube channel.

Since the output of the U-Force is the same as a standard NES controller when in any of the digital modes, it can be used against any emulator with an NES-to-PC adapter.

The U-Force has switches that enable the user to toggle through at least 5 different modes (A through E). Each mode assigns the sensors to different controller buttons. Unfortunately, neither Kevtris nor Nocash fully documented how that mapping happens. But from that video, at least Mode E (flat mode) is clear: The 4 circular sensors across the bottom are mapped to left, right, B and A, from left-to-right respectively. The rarely used up and down buttons are mapped to the sensors at the center edges (far left = up, far right = down).

Some of the modes appear to map multiple sensors to the same button. For instance, in Mode B, which is designed exclusively for Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, 2 of the sensors appear to map to Down (duck).

For emulation, the sensors could be mapped to a grid of keyboard keys, similar to what is done for the Power Pad. It could be up to the user to map the keys on that grid accordingly. But, if you think about it, it's really pointless; the U-Force is just a very messed up standard controller layout at least in the digital modes. However, in that U-Force prototype cart, not only do some of the games use analog mode, for the digital modes, they actually take advantage of the spacial layout of the sensors. For instance, there is a whack-a-mole like mini game in there in which you hit the sensor that corresponds to the "mole's" position.

I added U-Force support to Nintaco based on the technical information and controller mapping suggestions in Nocash's doc. The single prototype game that supports the U-Force analog features is not worth playing, but for those who want to try, I put some details here.

For those not fortunate enough to own the actual device, I recommend playing with those automatic paper towel dispensers, automatic faucets and automatic soap dispensers that you find a modern public bathroom. They're based on the same technology and they're a lot more fun than this crappy peripheral.