LabsLand N8 Controller Tutorial

Introduction

This tutorial provides a method for using the N8 controller input on LabsLand, which is a simulator of the Nintendo N8 controller:

A Nintendo N8 controller

Web Interface

You must select the "Full experience with N8" user interface, which also includes VGA output and audio input/output. The "Configure" button will allow you to upload audio files if you intend to use the audio features of this interface.

The LabsLand interface, with a live feed of the FPGA and its display on the left, and the controls (the keys, switches, and N8 controller) on the right.

Each of the 8 buttons (up, down, left, right, select, start, B, A) are clickable on the image of the controller using your mouse. However, the mouse does limit you to clicking a single button at a time. To overcome this limitation, there is also a keyboard interface for the controller buttons:

  • AWSD for left (A), up (W), down (S), right (D).
  • HJKL in the same order as in the controller: H (select), J (start), K (B), L (A).

Using the N8 Controller

Provided code

  • serial_driver.sv — A generic serial driver for communicating with the LabsLand FPGA management system (a Raspberry Pico).
  • n8_driver.sv — The driver that converts the serialized data from serial_driver to the N8 interface (i.e., individual button signals).
  • n8_example.sv — Example code that uses n8_driver to read the button inputs and then show any asserted values on the DE1-SoC outputs. Intended to be a starting point for your own project.
  • n8_display.sv — Helper module to display N8 signals on the HEX displays. Not needed if you plan to use different output methods for your project.

Driver Ports

module n8_driver (
  input clk,
  input data_in,     // connect to V_GPIO[28]
  output reg latch,  // connect to V_GPIO[26]
  output reg pulse,  // connect to V_GPIO[27]
  output reg up,     // outputs for the corresponding button
  output reg down,
  output reg left,
  output reg right,
  output reg select,
  output reg start,
  output reg a,
  output reg b
);

Tutorial developed by LabsLand and modified by Justin Hsia. Code supplied by LabsLand.