Devkit Controller Ver.B

  • Manufacturing date around 2000
  • Rarity: A few thousands made
  • Four variants are known to exist.
  • Pictures for the DS4 3/4 Speed and DS5 3/4 Speed courtesy of Xe and Jeff.
  • RJ-11 plug or standard GameCube plug
  • 3/4 Speed and Full Speed

Description

Same shape as the Ver.A controllers, but with a standard layout. Very large main stick, blue A button and green bean-shaped B button. The handles are very thin and long, and the Z-button is a simple purple switch on the top right. The “Speed” refers to the hardware it was used on; early models ran on 3/4 Speed but was later upgraded to Full Speed.

Four variants of this controller were made. In order: DS4 3/4 Speed and DS5 3/4 Speed using a RJ-11 plug for the old DDH kits, and the DS5 Full Speed and NR Disc (Full Speed) using a standard GameCube plug.

The NR Disc is very unique as the contact pads for the B, X, Y, L, R buttons and all four directions on the d-pad are shorted with conductive paint. It is thought to either limit the use of the controller to the A button and stick, or so to input a normally impossible combination of buttons when the controller is plugged into the device, which would then maybe boot special software (not verified).

Trivia

  • Unlike the Ver.A, this controller was solely Indigo/Clear. It was also never shown to the public.
  • The sticker on the back of the controller reads “Ver.B IRD”. The acronym stands for Integrated Research and Development.
  • The serial numbers for those units run from between the low 1000’s to the high 5000’s, making it much more common than the Ver.A.
  • The DS4 3/4 Speed and DS5 3/4 Speed were used on the 3/4 Speed DDH (Dolphin Development Hardware) unit.
  • The DS5 Full Speed were most likely used on the late devkits like the NDPD GDEV or the late DDHs that were Full Speed before the retail controller was finalized and distributed to developers.
  • The NR Disc (Full Speed) were meant to be used on NR Reader units.
  • Some NR Disc controllers were sent to developers with some of the buttons missing. This was intentional.
  • There is a Nintendo logo hidden underneath the sticker on the NR disc controller’s front shell.
  • The DS4 3/4 Speed might be the rarest devkit controller, I’ve personally only encountered one.
  • Some variants may have a white or clear cord sheath instead of black. However, it is inconsistent.
  • If you want to have a good look of the internals, I made a tear down of my NR Disc controller here.

Variants

DS4 3/4 Speed. Picture courtesy of Xe on ObscureGamers.
DS5 3/4 Speed. Picture courtesy of Jeff.
DS5 Full Speed.
NR Disc (Full Speed).
NR Disc (Full Speed) with shorted contact pads for the B, Y and X buttons.
NR Disc (Full Speed) unit without the sticker
NR Disc (Full Speed) with the B, Y and X buttons and c-stick and d-pad missing. This is intentional. Picture courtesy of Developer Jeff.
Sticker on the back of the DS4 3/4 Speed, #1011. Picture courtesy of Xe on ObscureGamers.
Sticker on the back of the NR Disc (Full Speed), #4263. Owned by Kadano.
Example of a 3/4 Speed DDH that was operated with the DS4 3/4 Speed and DS5 3/4 Speed controllers.
Example of a NR Reader unit.