This could be used as a generic joystick host, but its main use is to serve as an adapter for retro computers. Current implementation emulates a two buttons two axis joystick, like the one used on the MSX or the Commodore Amiga (take a look on joystick_gpio.cpp for the pinout). It also provides adjustable rate autofire, making use of extra buttons on modern gamepads.
There are other similar projects (for example Bluepad32)
but all that I've found only works with Bluetooth Classic, not Bluetooth LE. My current favorite
gamepads are Bluetooth LE, so I've made this little project to support them. By now it's configured
to work with the gamepads I use the most: the newer versions of the
Microsoft XBox Controller (the ones with Bluetooth LE) 1 and
my own ESP32 based arcade controller. It should be easy
to add support for other gamepads, just look at the use of pad_list[] on main.cpp.
Here are some videos of hte prototype working on a MSX:
Footnotes
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I still don't know why, but Xbox gamepad sometimes doesn't link. Sometimes you have to repeat the process, restarting the gamepad and resetting the ESP32. ↩