The Memphis Makers and Creators, a University of Memphis student organization, has constructed what is potentially the third largest Nintendo Entertainment System controller in the world.
Engineering technology major Shawn Westcott is president of Memphis Makers and Creators, although he credits the idea to make the giant controller to fellow Makers and Creators member Joseph Williams.
"Put a bunch of nerds on something that is really awesome and it happens," Westcott said.
Unlike other engineering groups on campus that are professional organizations, Memphis Makers and Creators, started by Westcott last fall, is a hobby and engineering group that focuses on skill building and having fun.
"Our main goal is to make something that even a beginner could understand," Westcott said. "Lots of people in the group are not in engineering. If you want to learn a skill, we will find somebody who knows it."
Five Makers and Creators members completed the project just under their $300 budget, which was funded by the Crews Center for Entrepreneurship.
Measuring 2-foot 5-inches wide, 5 foot 5 inches high and 768 inches tall, and 13.5 times the size of a normal NES controller, its sheer size makes it almost impossible for just one player to operate.
"Our original dimensions were even bigger but people were joking that we were making a coffin, so we decided to make it a little smaller," Westcott said.
The structure of the controller is made out of decking plywood and pine boards held together with a piano hinge, the only hardware sturdy enough to hold its liftable lid.
Inside the colossal box are "tactile switches wired to a teensy development board that pretends it's a USB controller" and the same basic push buttons that one would find on a traditional Nintendo controller, only much larger.
"Planning was the hardest part," Westcott said. "You can't plan for everything that could go wrong, and a lot goes wrong."
Initial planning for the project began last fall and the actual construction started in February.
Although the fully functional controller is not finished, the group celebrated by holding a gaming party last week in the University Center Bluff room. Around 30 people attended the party and played Mario, Kirby and Punch Out on the giant controller.
The controller currently has to be hooked up to a monitor, whether it is TV or a laptop.
"We are going to put in a video out and it will be a Nintendo and everything," Westcott said. "There will be switches to change your game on the side."
The giant NES controller is the group's first big project, something Westcott intends to implement in the group every year.
According the Westcott, talk for next year's project is leaning towards a remote control helicopter.
Students interested in viewing the giant NES controller can see it where it currently resides in the lobby of the Crews Center for Entrepreneurship on Walker Avenue.
