Maker Builds a Knee-Mounted Controller for Falcon’s Knee Smash

The Super Smash Bros. series of fighting games is one of the most competitive franchises in history. In the games, players select from characters who appeared in a variety of Nintendo titles over the years. Each character has completely different abilities and attacks, usually derived from their original title, that players can utilize to defeat opponents. Of those, Falcon’s knee smash attack is one of the most powerful, and YouTuber Insert Controller Here built a dedicated knee-mounted controller just for that move.

Insert Controller Here has built a number of custom video game controllers over the past few months, including a meat-based Super Meat Boy controller, a toy minigun Team Fortress 2 controller, and a Gears of War Nerf gun controller. One of his newest builds — and one of his most popular — is the Falcon Knee Motion Controller for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The controller is attached to a knee pad, and sends the command for Falcon’s knee smash to the Nintendo Switch when he raises his knee.

To build the Falcon Knee Motion Controller, Insert Controller Here used three main components: an Arduino Micro, and MPU-6050 accelerometer, and a Titan Two Controller Converter. The Arduino Micro is used to monitor the accelerometer and detect when his knee is raised. That, in turn, connects to the Switch through the Titan Two Controller Converter. That device allows him to use the Switch Pro Controller at the same time as his custom knee controller. In some test matches, the knee controller actually seemed to work pretty well — though it’s still more effort than just pushing the normal buttons.