Maracas
The maracas are a peripheral for the Sega Dreamcast which were used with the Latin-Themed dance rhythm game Samba De Amigo. They feature an ultrasonic sensor for positional tracking within 3D space along with sensors to detect when they are being shaked.
Maple Protocol
The Maracas peripheral implements the "FT0 (Controller)" function, meaning that its functionality is mapped to the various buttons and analog axes of a regular controller.
Button Mapping
| Operation | Left Maraca | Right Maraca |
|---|---|---|
| Position | Analog Axis A | Analog Axis B |
| Shake | B | A |
| Button | C | Start |
| Connection Loss | D | Z |
Initialization
Upon reset, the maracas begin performing ultrasonic wave emission timing adjustment. During this process, button input is disabled, their positions remains fixed, and the connection loss signal is active. The following table dictates the duration of this period.
| Port | Seconds | # of "Get Condition" queries |
|---|---|---|
| A | 4 | 240 |
| B | 5 | 300 |
| C | 6 | 360 |
| D | 7 | 420 |
Note: evidently the timing adjustments for multiple maracas are still not guaranteed to succeed despite this initialization period. In such a scenario, additional software is required to manually make the adjustments.