Let's Refurb - Ebay Junk - SEGA SG Commander - Master System Mystery 

I've been watching your vids for a while now and they inspired me to get into electronics repair. I've actually gotten quite handy with this sort of thing and it's a really fun hobby. So, thanks!

To help clarify: This controller was produced by Hori under license to Sega. The controller was also developed for the Famicom, under the Commander name. Interestingly enough, the styling is identical except for the branding. I suspect they utilized the same boards and modified them for use on the master system.

It's made by Hori then!!! Interesting, they make all the third party controllers for Nintendo now.

I just took apart and cleaned a disgustingly filthy GBA and restored it back to working order, and I owe it all to this video. Thanks a bunch for a the wisdom!

man where was this when I needed an auto-fire pad for Astro Warrior?! And so that WAS what happened, they just recycled the design for a HORI Famicom controller but for the SMS/SG 3000. I thought something was up when they hid the slots for start/select under the plastic like that...

Fascinating find, Martin! I enjoyed the sleuthing and reporting you did on the origins of the piece, especially after seeing that start/select molding hidden away inside the controller. Wonderful tip, too, on the bit with cleaning off the membranes using a scrap of parchment. I'm grateful you shared that! It's a testament to the quality and pride of craftsmanship in that era that with a little bit of TLC (and WD-40), the controller so easily breathed life again. Keep up the fine artisanship, and bless us with another video sometime soon! :)

Everytime I watch your videos, whether they be new or old, I always learn something. Thanks for the contact pad on the paper tip!

M8. Your awesome at repairing/refurbishing stuff. Very impressive. I love the Scottish. Keep up the good work!

I am always delighted to see new repair videos from you :)

Just wanted to give you compliments on your videos. In particular, I enjoy the repair videos. Originally came across your channel because I was looking at installing a Region Free BIOS in a Saturn, which then spiraled into watching your various eBay repairs. Very fun and interesting to watch. I love to tinker with stuff, including repairing and cleaning my consoles and controllers, and you inspired and instilled me with enough motivation that I went and ordered some broken stuff off eBay (for what I hope is a deal lol) and am excited by the challenge of fixing them. Most of my own hardware is in great shape as I typically get all my hardware new when they come out and have taken pretty good care of them, so I had to resort to finding other peoples broken stuff! Thanks again. It's a shame you don't do more videos ;)

He is back!!! :) awesome video Martin! Missed your repair videos!

That's a beautiful controller. Must be a dream to play with. Never liked the original master system d-pad, so this is excellent. Great find!

Always enjoy these videos. Keep up the great work. Hope to see more soon.

I had one of these 30 years ago. Thanks for reminding me! :)

Great find, it cleaned up really nicely!

Very nice find. Interesting controller design.

You inspired my friend and I to pick up a broken genesis and attempt to fix it. We managed to get it working :) Love your videos!

Excellent repair video, I have learnt a lot. I am now very tempted and pretty confident to clean all my retro pads. I know how to solder too so if I have an accident..... :-S. Going to look up videos for specific consoles so I know to watch out for tricky components. Awesome and thanks.

That's amazing I had one for my master system as a kid, had no idea it was also made for the Famicom.

Hey Martin. Thanks for the video, I had no idea bout cleaning the black part of the rubber contact before, just managed to save myself a few old Megadrive controllers I was ready to throw out :D

Any chance on making any more videos any time soon? I totally understand though if things are going on in other aspects in life that take priority though, just miss seeing your vids regularly is all.

Whoa! I had no idea Hori had been in the controller game this long! I have a really nice fight stick made by them!

Nice find and great refurb work! I just finished bringing a Master System back from the dead, so this is relevant to my interests! :) It's a shame that the SEGA/Hori SG Commander controllers aren't more common.

Great video buddy that controller was a really good find.

It'd be cool if this was just a really well done modification of a Hori NES controller. A 'make my Nintendo controller a Sega controller' mod.

Those button contacts look just like what you would find in an NES controller!

you are saver for my psp, your method with paper really work!

Love the videos retro... I'm quite the electronics geek myself... Just wish I had more time to do projects like this.. Keep the vids coming. Thanks.

I have more half-completed projects than I can count at the moment. I thought I had seen that design somewhere before.

great video! i love your ebay junk videos, it makes me wanna start buying stuff off ebay to fix.

That's a pretty cool looking controller. I've never seen one like it. Hori is top tier controllers.

WD40 is fine to use also 3 in 1 oil (bicycle oil) works also, the only thing to note is WD40 will mess with some adhesives / glues so can lead to labels lifting(not all but some) cool controller, I assume Hori made it for SEGA as a licensed product, and probably made a similar one for the NES / Famicom hence the start/select spaces

Dude thank you for this video . i purchased one of these today at a carboot sale just outside of Liverpool for 50 pence. i didnt recognise it apart from the Sega , and as a collector i thought "ooooo official and unrecognisable". i am gonna clean her up and stick her in my collection. Cool video i have now subscribed :)

Sega licensed out a lot of their controllers (like the 6 button UK megadrive controllers) this master system controller is obviously made by Hori, and shares a mold with a NES controller. Interesting though, as that dpad was copyrighted by Nintendo at the time.

WD-40 stands for Water-Displacement (Formula) #40. If anything, it would help the plastic and PCB by keeping moisture off it. The only downside is that it would make it a tad bit more flammable, but if your console/controller is on fire, I think you have bigger problems than how it's going to look.

This is so satisfying to watch.

Excellent project as always!

Man, I love your Scottish accent :) Been to Edinburgh this summer. Really nice countryside in the Highlands

So happy when I see a new video from you! Collection update anytime soon??

Glad your making videos again. Keep it up!

That D-pad had some real gunk.

great video man love watching ur refurb videos

15:21 that Trillian message sound in the background

Thanks lad I love looking at you videos really good and learn alot

Some great tips for cleaning, nice to see another video. Always love the rare sega stuff :-)

Pledge works better for getting plastic to shine. It dries faster, smells better, and works better.

When are you coming back to uploading videos, I loved all these eBay junk and fixing videos

Looked great after you had finished. But imagine how it would have looked, and smelled, if the original owner was a smoker. I'm generally lucky when buying used stuff, but I once got a DVD where the white cover had yellowed and it just stunk. Kept the disc and had to just bin the rest.

Use Meguiars dash and trim restorer for sega stuff (glossy surface) or scratch X for ps1, nes, snes (Couse or ruff surface) Don't use water dispersant (WD-40) you might as well be using silicone spray or shampoo Just a suggestion I really like the controller and video, that A,B thing was really interesting

Surely this would have been produced by Hori (not Sega) under licence?

Dude! Glad to see another video!

Great video and channel, this is my 3rd video I've seen and I just subbed. Cheers!

I need to get one of them! Nice video!

It does look very NESsy, and the color of the buttons and D-pad reminds my of the Famicom. What I find most interesting is that there are not only the unpopulated holes on the front hidden by the label, you can see that often on TV remotes, since they use the same mold for different units, and it is not worth it to redesign the mold, but matching contacts on the PCB with no traces leading to them! So they took the effort to remove the traces from the design but not the contacts!?

never seen one of those controllers before, weird

*SEGA's Nintendo controller!* ⭐️

That really looks like the plastic mouldings were planned for the NES originally!

They did back then, too. By the looks of it they probably made the same controller for a lot of systems, as evidenced by the Famicom/PC engine style Start and Select/Select and run button holes on the backside of the shell, and indeed a little big of googling reveals a PC Engine "Commander" pad that looks very much like this.

What's weird is that there were button contacts on the pcb for start and select, but they weren't wired up. If they had bought surplus boards from the famicom controller manufacturer, the contacts would be wired to something. So the boards were obviously made specifically for the master system, yet still included hardware for the start and select. I'm really curious at why this is the case.

Loving your videos! I've been watching them for the last hour or two. Just subscribed as your 40k sub! Congrats! Looking forward to watching more of your problem solving repair/refurbish videos! :)

I hear there are two different WD-40. One is used as an electronics cleaner, the other as a water repellent. The water repellent is a paint thinner and as such can melt plastic a little and loosen labels. The electronics cleaner is used for metal on metal cleaning (like the pins on a cartridge). I've stayed away from the stuff as anything that "shines" things up permanently is really just melting the top layer of the plastic and that's why it's shiny. Some plastic isn't supposed to have a shine and wasn't shiny originally (like the texture of an SNES controller). I think in order to properly clean things you need to do a little research into what the original texture of the plastic was so that can determine your course of action to use WD-40 or not. For the dull or texturized plastic on some consoles I just use isopropyl alcohol to just clean the dirt off of and leave it to air dry.

I was curious about how to refurbish those rubber pads. I had tried using rubbing alcohol and q-tips in the past but it didn't work very well. I'll try the paper method next time I disassemble a wonky controller.

I miss you Videos, hope to see new stuff :) Greetings from germany

I forget how old HORI is, wasn't expecting to see HORI printed on the pcb.

LOL this video comes up on my watch again all the time, taunting me with the controller I would love to have :P

another great vid Victor Frankenstein of gaming

That controller was made by Hori 4:43, a big producer of high end Fighting sticks and Fight pads. or the nes one was recycled products are always neat.

You might want to try a product like Pledge instead of WD40. WD40 is primarily a lubricant and penetrating oil which can damage stickers and labels. I use Pledge in the exact same way as WD40 was used in this video but with better results.

Great refurb job and very interesting. When will someone invent a magnetic ice cube tray :)

Looks like a bit of a hidden treasure.

You make some great videos, really enjoying your content. I hope you come back to your channel soon.

Fantastic! But I'd be very apprehensive when rubbing the button contacts on the paper.

Sega Retro lists it as released in 19xx, Nintendo's d-pad patent was given priority for 1983, filed in '85 and published in '87...did Hori and Sega try their luck? xD Or is this d-pad so subtly different that it looks identical, but still Nintendo couldn't act against them? Nice controller though ^^

Hope you kept that pad if you liked it. Just checked ebay and running over $80 used ! In the UK maybe a bit more reasonable but on the US site just ridiculous! For some one looking for a more comfortable controller for your Master system than the standard rectangular thing however like me you can't afford this nice looking pad there is a great option out there. Sega has you covered the Genesis/Megadrive pads work on the machine.

Love your repair vids!

I usually use my ice cube tray but its full of...you know, ice cubes...and stuff.

please keep making videos dude, i've been inspired to try this myself

I love your videos man :D Please do more refurbish stuff ! You are definitely a pro and know your way around hardware, I recently got a GameBoy Advance SP AGS 101 cheaply from ebay and its carcass is pretty beat so I decided to move it into a new one :) and some of your vids gave me great inspiration, thanks !

Cool controller I'd like to find one to go with my master system stuff and for cleaning old controllers and consoles I usually clean them with with windex on the plastic buttons and shells and then shine the plastic with pledge makes them look new again

great find!

Excellent video, and a cool controller! I don't like the original Master System controllers that much, but they are required for a few games. I didn't know that you could use alcohol on a circuit board.

I cleaned a controller with paint thinner from my model paint set (all I had on hand at the time) and it works like the WD40.

Awesome video!

Surprised they weren't sued! It has the insides of an NES controller!

Do you forward through reassembly every video? I'm look forward to that part the most

Yeah, i always found WD40 too greasy & more attractive to dust, especially on controllers. Furniture polish does a good job & has the bonus of being anti-static.

Martin , im looking through youtube to watch something geek related but despite the million plus videos i find myself back to your channel re watching vida of old , how are ya doing ?! , when can we expect another video ??pick ups , rants , repairs aaaaaanything hhaha From am avid viewer down under Sam

6:25 That is actually a third party controller for the Famicom made by Hudson soft I guess Sega just brought a boat load of them so they're limited that's why they're rare if you look they still have the same buttons on them.

I have missed your videos!

Awesome vid man, was wondering where ya went

I'm sure you noticed, but the contacts for the Start and Select buttons are on the board. It seems that SEGA exactly copied the design, and didn't even take out the unused contacts on the board.

Well done. Very nice that.

need more video of you doing stuff ! D:

i have one of these, had no idea it was rare, might do the same to mine and put it up on eBay :D, i always preferred the normal controller anyway myself

WD-40 don't hurt, but try the non moisturizing pledge. They both bring out that amazing factory shine, but the pledge will make it smell better than WD-40.

we had console like that back in 80's had few games. motorbike game that kept loopin over and over, some submarine game where you dropped depthmines , and something like froggy game aswell. was guite erm,,, anemic compared to nes that i had aswell at sametime.

great video....love it....

Ah water displacement 40. Is there anything that stuff can't do?!

sweet video man

Another great video keep it up!