The NES has two general-purpose controller ports on the front of the console, as well as a (rarely used) 48-pin expansion port underneath.
The Famicom's standard controllers are hardwired to the front of the unit, and a special 15-pin expansion port is commonly used for third-party controllers. The AV Famicom, however, features detachable controllers using the same ports as the NES.
The NES and Famicom have a set of I/O ports used for controllers and other peripherals, consisting of the following:
Device | $4016 D4 |
$4016 D3 |
$4016 D2 |
$4016 D1 |
$4016 D0 |
$4016 CLK |
$4017 D4 |
$4017 D3 |
$4017 D2 |
$4017 D1 |
$4017 D0 |
$4017 CLK |
OUT2 | OUT1 | OUT0 | /IRQ | AUDIO | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Joypad1 (NES Four Score Joypad 1 & 3) |
x | x | x | [1][2] | ||||||||||||||
Joypad2 (NES Four Score Joypad 2 & 4) |
x | x | x | x | ||||||||||||||
Joypad3 (Famicom) |
x | x | x | |||||||||||||||
Joypad4 (Famicom) |
x | x | x | |||||||||||||||
Lightgun Zapper (NES P2/Famicom) |
x | x | [3] | |||||||||||||||
Lightgun Zapper (NES P1) |
x | x | ||||||||||||||||
Family BASIC Keyboard/Subor Keyboard | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
Arkanoid controller (NES P2) |
x | x | x | |||||||||||||||
Arkanoid controller (Famicom) |
x | x | ||||||||||||||||
Exercise Mat Power Pad (NES P2) |
x | x | x | |||||||||||||||
Exercise Mat Power Pad (Famicom) |
x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
Famicom 3D glasses | x |