The Smash Box is an incredible alternative to a keyboard or fight stick on PC. Not only can it be used for a variety of genres like platformers and unique games like Rocket League, but the Smash Box is a fantastic controller for fighting games. This post will act as a guide to set up your Smash Box for PC and take advantage of its strengths.
Overview:
- Compatible adapters
- General setup
- Steam setup
- Dolphin setup
- Additional compatibility
Using an Adapter
The first thing to do is to ensure you are using an adapter that is compatible with a Smash Box. The following adapters are what we recommend to use (other adapters may not work):
- Hit Box GC Adapter
- 4-port Mayflash
- Official Nintendo
With the Mayflash adapter, both USB cables must be plugged into your PC for the Smash Box to work.
[In addition, these adapters will output as Dinput on the PC which some games such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear Strive, and Soulcalibur VI are not compatible with. For the games mentioned above, and for any game you have trouble playing on after going through the Steam instructions below, please go to the "Additional Compatibility" section at the bottom.]
Note: If you have a Gen2 Smash Box you will not need an adapter. You can follow the most of the instructions below, or use our other post: PC Mode on Smash Box.
Testing with Joy.cpl
(This portion is not applicable to the Official Nintendo adapters.)
Next is to test if your Smash Box is being read by your PC. To do this, open up joy.cpl on your computer.
Next, plug your adapter into your PC and move the switch on the back of the adapter to "PC." Four lines of "GameCube Controller Adapter" should appear in the window - these four lines represent the four ports on the adapter.
Once your adapter is showing up in the window, plug your Smash Box into the first/left-most port in the adapter, then double-click on the controller. This is where we will check to see if inputs are being read by the computer.
Press the buttons on your controller to see if they are being read by the program.
If your Smash Box is not being read by joy.cpl try these in order:
- unplug and plug your Smash Box back in
- use another adapter port
- use another USB port on your PC
- unplug other devices that send inputs to your computer, then plug in your adapter and Smash Box (plug in your other devices after confirming that Smash Box is working or not working)
- restart your PC and try the above again
- if your Smash Box still is not being registered, please contact us: support@hitboxarcade.com
Once you have confirmed that your controller is working and interacting with your PC, then it can be used on gaming programs on your PC.
If your Smash Box is not showing up in joy.cpl or its inputs are not being registered, please contact us: support@hitboxarcade.com.
Steam
(This portion is not applicable to the Official Nintendo adapters.)
Notes:
- If you are trying to play games like Rivals of Aether or Rushdown Revolt on Steam, you will most likely not have to follow these steps below since these games have native adapter support.
- The adapter will output as Dinput on the PC which some games such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear Strive, and Soulcalibur VI are not compatible with. For the games mentioned above, and for any game you have trouble playing on after going through these Steam instructions, please go to the "Additional Compatibility" section at the bottom of the post.
First, let's ensure that your adapter is set to "PC mode." When Steam is open, go to the "Steam" menu at the top left of the window, and go to settings. Then go to "Controller" and then "General Controller Settings."
Once you have that open, you should see the adapter being read at the bottom of the settings options. Turn off all of the "configuration support" options to help ensure Steam's compatibility system doesn't interfere with the adapter.
To map your buttons you will have to select the opposite adapter port that you selected in joy.cpl - if your Smash Box is in port 1, select the bottom port in Steam; if your Smash Box is in port 4, select the top port in Steam.
From here you can map all of the buttons in Steam. Once you are finished, select "Save" at the bottom of the window.
Now you should be able to play games on Steam!
Notes:
- If you are trying to play games like Rivals of Aether or Rushdown Revolt on Steam, you will most likely not have to follow the steps above since these games have native adapter support.
- The adapter will output as Dinput on the PC which some games such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Soulcalibur VI are not compatible with. For the games mentioned above, and for any game you have trouble playing on after going through these Steam instructions, please go to the "Additional Compatibility" section at the bottom of the post.
Dolphin
(This applies to all adapters mentioned in the "Adapters" sections above.)
For more instructions regarding Slippi specifically, please use our other blog: Smash Box and Slippi Netplay.
Will will need to download and install Zadig to use the adapter for Dolphin. To properly install, be sure to go to "Options" and select "List All Devices." Ensure your adapter is in Switch/WiiU mode and plugged in, choose "WUP-028" and then install.
- GC-to-USB
- Set to Switch/WiiU mode
- Zadig downloaded and installed
- If using Mayflash with a Smash Box, plug both USBs into PC
Once Zadig is installed, your Smash Box should be ready. Open up Dolphin and select the "Controllers" option.
Within that menu, select whichever port your Smash Box is plugged into and choose "GameCube Adapter for WiiU" (or something similar). Dolphin will read the Smash Box natively from here, so all of your mapping and buttons should be set up and ready to go.
Once you have set up your controller configuration in Dolphin, you are ready to play your favorite emulated games!
Additional Compatibility
Some games are not compatible with Dinput - the default output of the adapters for Smash Box. To ensure you can play on as many games as possible, you may want to use an input wrapper to improve compatibility on your PC. Below are the two most use input wrappers among Smash Box users - if you have any questions regarding these, we recommend going into our Discord and posting in the #smashbox-discussion channel.
- X360CE: Emulates an Xbox 360 controller.
- https://www.x360ce.com/ (Includes links to latest downloads and tutorials)
- If you are using this method, follow our Hit Box on Steam blog to get everything working on Steam.
- AntiMicro: "Graphical program used to map keyboard buttons and mouse controls to a gamepad. Useful for playing games with no gamepad support."
- Joy2Key: "Enables PC game controllers to emulate the keyboard and mouse input, so that windows applications and web games can be controlled with your favorite joysticks!"
If at any point through these instructions you were not able to solve your issue, email us: support@hitboxarcade.com. Please include your name, order number, a link to this post, and a description of where you stopped in the instructions.