Playing Helldivers 2 with a Nintendo Power Glove
Leif Theden turned a Power Glove into a controller for use with Helldivers 2.
Helldivers 2 is currently the hot “must-play” video game and Leif Theden was battling it out in the wasteland when he noticed something interesting: player avatars punch in codes on a wrist computer that bears a strong resemblance to the Nintendo Power Glove. Thus, an idea was born and Theden turned a Power Glove into a controller for use with Helldivers 2.
If you aren’t familiar, the Power Glove is arguably the most infamous video game console accessory in history. Released in 1989 for the NES and Famicom, it was a wearable controller in the form of a super dope glove. It became well-known after being worn by Fred Savage in 1989’s The Wizard, creating high expectations that it never lived up to. Only a couple of games were created with the Power Glove in mind and so it was never very successful.
On the wrist of the Power Glove, there were several control buttons and the player could simply press those like a normal NES controller. But the Power Glove could also receive input from sensors in four of glove’s fingers (each of which could detect four finger positions), as well as position data from ultrasonic speakers and microphones. The glove had ultrasonic speakers that would emit pulses and microphones places around the TV would time those to detect the glove’s position and its yall/roll.
Theden doesn’t own the microphones, so he could only utilize the physical inputs. He chose to take advantage of the D-pad and tied those buttons to W, A, S, and D. Contracting all four fingers sends the CTRL key, so the player can enter codes by making a fist and “typing” on the D-pad.
This is possible because an Arduino Leonardo development board is acting as an adapter. It reads the inputs from the glove through the standard controller cable, then sends a corresponding key press to the computer via USB. The Leonardo’s Microchip ATmega32U4 microcontroller can be configured as a standard USB HID, so the computer just sees the input as coming from a regular old USB keyboard. The player can use that alongside their normal mouse and keyboard while gaming.
I would normally write something about this increasing immersion or whatever. But really, we all know the truth: this is a silly project that Theden did for giggles and that is what makes it so fun.
