--- title: I turned my Raspberry Pi Pico into a leverless... description: A hobbyist built a custom leverless fightstick using a Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040), a 3D-printed case designed from scratch, and the open-source GP2040-CE... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-turned-my-raspberry-pi-pico-into-a-leverless-fightstick-and-it-was-surprisingly-easy-q60do1gos twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I turned my Raspberry Pi Pico into a leverless fightstick, and it was surprisingly easy | daily.dev og:description: A hobbyist built a custom leverless fightstick using a Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040), a 3D-printed case designed from scratch, and the open-source GP2040-CE... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-turned-my-raspberry-pi-pico-into-a-leverless-fightstick-and-it-was-surprisingly-easy-q60do1gos og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Q60Do1GOs.png og:image:alt: I turned my Raspberry Pi Pico into a leverless fightstick, and it was surprisingly easy og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I turned my Raspberry Pi Pico into a leverless fightstick, and it was surprisingly easy **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A hobbyist built a custom leverless fightstick using a Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040), a 3D-printed case designed from scratch, and the open-source GP2040-CE firmware, for about $20 in parts. The build process covers designing an ergonomic honeycomb-patterned case, soldering switches and signal wires per the GP2040-CE wiring diagram, flashing the firmware via BOOTSEL mode, and troubleshooting a GPIO detection issue that turned out to be a soldering fault. The finished controller performed well in fighting games like Tekken and Smash, as well as platformers like Dead Cells and Metal Slug. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I flash GP2040-CE firmware onto a Raspberry Pi Pico for a fightstick build? Download the GP2040-CE .uf2 firmware file matching your RP2040 dev board, hold down the BOOTSEL button while plugging the Pico into your PC, then drag and drop the .uf2 file into the RPI-RP2 storage device that appears. This flashes the firmware directly without any additional software or drivers needed. _daily.dev surfaces hands-on hardware guides like this for makers wiring up their own controllers._ ### What causes GPIO pins to randomly stop being detected on a Raspberry Pi Pico based controller? Intermittent GPIO detection failure on a Raspberry Pi Pico controller build was traced to a bad solder joint rather than a firmware or wiring issue, even though the connections looked visually fine with good coverage and no obvious shorts or cracks. Reflowing or rechecking solder joints closely is worth doing before assuming a software problem when GPIOs stop responding after initially working. _developers debugging flaky hardware inputs can track similar troubleshooting writeups on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [A Compact Game Controller For Your Phone](https://daily.dev/posts/a-compact-game-controller-for-your-phone-dqjbieirw) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I ditched my arcade stick for this leverless fighting controller, and the muscle memory didn't transfer](https://daily.dev/posts/i-ditched-my-arcade-stick-for-this-leverless-fighting-controller-and-the-muscle-memory-didn-t-trans-ngizsxdhx) · XDA Developers · 4 upvotes · 1 comments - [This PICO-8 Handheld Is No Fantasy](https://daily.dev/posts/this-pico-8-handheld-is-no-fantasy-oadqcobnp) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Someone turned a GameCube keychain into an actual working controller with an RP2040](https://daily.dev/posts/someone-turned-a-gamecube-keychain-into-an-actual-working-controller-with-an-rp2040-xygixxqur) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [PSPi 6 – Raspberry Pi in a PSP](https://daily.dev/posts/pspi-6-raspberry-pi-in-a-psp-burxkmanf) · Hacker News · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-turned-my-raspberry-pi-pico-into-a-leverless-fightstick-and-it-was-surprisingly-easy-q60do1gos) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I turned my Raspberry Pi Pico into a leverless fightstick, and it was surprisingly easy","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-turned-my-raspberry-pi-pico-into-a-leverless-fightstick-and-it-was-surprisingly-easy-q60do1gos","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-turned-my-raspberry-pi-pico-into-a-leverless-fightstick-and-it-was-surprisingly-easy-q60do1gos"},"datePublished":"2026-08-24T19:31:12.039Z","dateModified":"2026-08-24T19:31:55.102Z","description":"A hobbyist built a custom leverless fightstick using a Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040), a 3D-printed case designed from scratch, and the open-source GP2040-CE...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/2a2d082421e411742de48e71ad3622fa?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/2a2d082421e411742de48e71ad3622fa?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-turned-my-raspberry-pi-pico-into-a-leverless-fightstick-and-it-was-surprisingly-easy-q60do1gos","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I turned my Raspberry Pi Pico into a leverless fightstick, and it was surprisingly easy"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-turned-my-raspberry-pi-pico-into-a-leverless-fightstick-and-it-was-surprisingly-easy-q60do1gos#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I flash GP2040-CE firmware onto a Raspberry Pi Pico for a fightstick build?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Download the GP2040-CE .uf2 firmware file matching your RP2040 dev board, hold down the BOOTSEL button while plugging the Pico into your PC, then drag and drop the .uf2 file into the RPI-RP2 storage device that appears. 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