controller known as the Wii Remote, could detect up to four wireless controllers, but also had four controller ports that were compatible with GameCube controllers. The PlayStation 3 could support up to seven wireless controllers. For the eighth generation consoles, the maximum number of wireless controllers detected by the PlayStation 4 was reduced to four, while the ones detected by the Xbox One was raised to eight. The Wii U can support up to seven Wii Remotes or Wii U Pro Controllers in addition to the GamePad, for a total of eight wireless controllers. The Wii U does not feature GameCube controller ports by default, but a GameCube Controller Adapter was primarily made for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U that connects up to four GameCube controllers via the Wii U's USB port. Through the use of a USB hub and two adapters, up to eight GameCube controllers can be used. The Nintendo Switch supports up to eight controllers, in any combination of individual Joy-Con controllers or Pro Controllers. Method of operation Many systems were not designed with multitaps in mind, and so require some clever design to work. Because of this, games usually have to be specially written to include multitap support. The most common way of implementing 8 and 16 bit multitaps is to multiplex the signals from each attached controller in some way. Some systems have unused lines available on the controller port, designed for future expansion, which can be used. Another popular technique is to serialise the data from each controller. Since the NES and Super NES both use a serial bus for standard controllers, creating a multitap is simply a case of increasing the amount of serial data available to the console. In that way, an almost unlimited number of extra controllers can be connected. Later systems used more complex buses, such as the Nintendo 64 serial bus, the Dreamcast Maple Bus or USB. These buses tend to be more modular and can already support more than one device per port, making the multitap little more than a hub. See also Multiplayer video game Notes References Game controllers