Give NES Controllers a Custom Look - GrafxGear Controller Overlays

In this episode, I show you how to give your NES Controllers a custom look with GrafxGear adhesive overlays in a variety of different themes and colors.

The NES Controller is so iconic and fairly universally loved. Back in the 80s, Nintendo Power produced a number of amazing-looking adhesive decals for the NES Controller, but those have long since been discontinued. If you're looking to pick some up on the secondary market, they're pretty expensive. But, there's a new solution!

Recently, we were reached out to by GrafxGear, an extremely talented designer who makes graphic overlays for the Nintendo Entertainment System controllers. He wanted to know if we would be interested in checking out his stuff, and upon checking out his website and being immediately impressed, we were definitely interested.

He offers a number of different styles and designs, from simply cool-looking graphics to game-themed controller overlays. When I had initially seen them, I wondered if they were adhesive or if they actually replaced the face of your NES controller. Checking them out in person and inspecting them, these do use 3M adhesives to stick to the face of your controller. It is good to see it's a quality adhesive that should stand the test of time.

We expected that he would send us one or two samples, but oh no, he sent us just about everything that he currently offers. There are overlays for fans of Kirby, Metroid, Super Mario brothers, the Nintendo Famicom, and even the Sega Master System for those who are a little bit sick and twisted. I decided to go with the Famicom overlay and got to work.

One of the really cool things is the fact that these overlays will not only work with the original NES controllers, but thanks to Nintendo, they will also work with the NES Classic Controllers as they are the exact same size dimensions. I decided to go with one of my spare NES controllers, however, my NES Classic Controller has been needing an upgrade as well.

You will want to clean the face of your controller before applying the adhesive. Something simple like isopropyl alcohol will work just fine. Stay away from household cleaners, Simple Green, etc. A lot of time these are more soaps than cleaners and as such can leave a residue behind and make adhesion a problem. To my controller clean and dry, I got to work applying the new face.

Having applied countless numbers of decals to RC bodies over the years, this process was second nature to me. I peeled back about 10% of the backing on the left-hand side that goes around the D-pad and got everything aligned. From here, I slowly pushed down on the face of the overlay as I peeled the back off, making sure to work any bubbles out as I went. This method also makes sure that the overlay doesn't shift as I apply it. It took just a minute or two to apply the overlay, just taking my time to be careful as I did so. Once it was done, it looked good, but a bit foggy. Then I realized there was an overlay protective film on the new face plate, so I grabbed it with the fingernail, pulled it off, and was thrilled at the overall results.

GrafxGear should really be proud of his work, these are amazing looking, easy to apply, and really give your controllers that custom look. Back in the '80s, Nintendo Power and other companies sold similar face plates, and I'm glad to see someone else picking up the mantle. These definitely give your controllers a new life.

#GrafxGear #NESController #nintendo

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