Original retro controllers.
Zero latency. Real MiSTer.

MiSTer-DB9 is a fork of MiSTer FPGA that reads your real Sega Genesis, Atari, Neo Geo, and Saturn pads straight into the DE10-Nano USER_IO port — through DB9, DB15, SNAC8, and Saturn adapters. No USB encoder, no polling delay.

Get started Supported cores GitHub org

Cores auto-synced with MiSTer-devel every few hours · GPLv3

What the fork adds

Always free

Ships in every RBF, works with no key file.

  • DB9MD

    Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 3-button & 6-button pads.

  • DB15

    Antonio Villena splitter — Neo Geo / Supergun layout.

  • SNAC8

    Eight-pin direct cable, per-core lowest-latency path.

  • OSD from the pad

    Navigate the menu with Start + C / A / B — no keyboard or USB/Bluetooth gamepad needed.

  • MT32-pi safe

    Anti-contention double gate so MT32-pi and DB9 share USER_IO safely.

Key-gated db9pro.key

Present in every build, inert until a valid key is found.

  • Saturn 1P / 2P

    Digital pad over the 74HC157D mux adapter, both player ports — including the Saturn 3D Control Pad.

Install in three steps

  1. 1

    Add the ENCC database

    Point the MiSTer Downloader at the ENCC distribution DB to pull the DB9 builds onto your SD card.

  2. 2

    Plug in your controller

    Plug a Mega Drive / Genesis pad straight into the DB9 port, or connect your DB15, Saturn, or SNAC8 controller through its adapter — no soldering. Building your own adapter? See the pinout reference.

  3. 3

    Pick it in the OSD

    Open a core's OSD and set UserIO Joystick to your adapter. Drop in db9pro.key to unlock Saturn.

Full installation guide Troubleshooting