hardwarenintendo-64
Last night I bought an N64 Passport Plus from someone on eBay, as there's a bigger range on N64 games, and some that I just can't find in Australia.
While researching the Passport, I noticed that there are four revisions – N64 Passport, N64 Passport Plus, and N64 Passport Plus II and III.
Are there any differences in versions, asides from what wikipedia lists in terms of game compatibility, and the original Passport not having Gameshark?
So the Wii Joystick uses a Blue Tooth interface which is a little different than the N64 controller. As a result this answer deals more with the latter than the former.
The N64 controller uses a single transmission wire on which it encodes bits to send signals back to the N64 console. To accomplish this bits are encoded on that wire as follows:
This encoding can then be used to multiplex the connection and allow 32 bit communication. In the case of the N64 controller these bits are encoded thus:
0 A
1 B
2 Z
3 Start
4 Directional Up
5 Directional Down
6 Directional Left
7 Directional Right
8 unknown (always 0)
9 unknown (always 0)
10 L
11 R
12 C Up
13 C Down
14 C Left
15 C Right
With the remaining 16 bits being used for the Analog Joystick (providing 8 degrees of control).
More over, certain codes are transmitted for specialized function:
To Init: send 03 80 01 followed by 34 80's
To Start Rumble: 03 c0 1b followed by 32 01's
To Stop Rumble: 03 c0 1b followed by 32 00's
You can find more information in this vein here
The front USB ports are most likely split like a mini-hub. The Kinect doesn't seem to work with USB hubs either, most likely it needs the full speed of the USB connection to work and can't share with other devices.
Best Answer
Found this on Gamefaqs
Source
So it seems it's only a matter of tweaking and optimisation, comfort for the user. Just like when one is making an emulator, there are always some unnatended cases that makes you build a better product.