i had an old nes in the basement and was thinking of making a pc case out the nes unit, but then i googled around saw there was a kit you could get to solder up a usb joystick for macs and pcs out ...

[MaZderMind] also captured data on an oscilloscope to indicate in detail the quirks of the joystick’s operation. Yes, it’s entirely possible to use a more modern microcontroller with a USB ...