Ah, thanks! A bit of googling made me realize that the USB keyboard hack is extremely simple! I printed out a four-page guide and didn’t even have to refer to it. 8)
A cooler? Nah. Drinks go in the fridge. 
I just have to hack the guts of a modern mouse into the case of a SNES mouse. Now that will be cooler. 
Project Update
Alright, I’ve finally managed to get my hands on a SNES mouse! I have a mini optical mouse ordered and on the way; it should be here on Monday. Hopefully the gut-transplant will go somewhat smoothly. I’m excited to get the SNES mouse converted over so that I will finally have a self-contained SNES unit. So expect pictures over the next few weeks. It’s almost time to wrap this project up! 
Oh, and a nice detailed tutorial will come afterwards, for those interested.
Can’t wait for the pictures. I’m one of those people that look at the pictures rather than read.
Well, I have both good news and bad news about the SNES-optical mouse conversion. Good news? It’s done, and it works perfectly! Bad news? I completely forgot to take any pictures of the process. 
I’ll take some pictures of the completed mouse, so I can at least share that much.
Photos, as promised.
From the top, it appears to be a normal SNES mouse…
…but it’s not! Check out the optical-implant, which came from an unfortunate mini-size optical mouse. I cut the hole in the SNES mouse case by hand with an exacto knife - didn’t take too long and I managed with all my fingers intact. The inset circle was cut from the optical mouse’s case, this time using some bribed father-labor and a power tool. (This modern plastic, it is hard to cut by hand!) I trimmed the SNES case to fit the inset, epoxied it in, and (with gratuitous use of double-sided foam tape) voila! An optical USB version of the classic mouse.
I spraypainted the whole thing with my Nintendo grey paint, but didn’t touch up the outline of the circle on the bottom. It’s easier to see on camera that way. I’ll fix it now that the picture’s been taken. I’ll open it up and take some pictures of the inside, too. Most of the supporting bits inside the SNES mouse case needed to be removed to fit the optical mouse’s guts, and the unused scroll-wheel hardware from the optical mouse was removed to fit.
Well? What do you think?
You had to bribe him? What did you have to use for the bribe?
I would never attempt such a thing, however, I have done more mechanical stuff myself since I started into robotics. I usually just tell people I am uncoordinated and can’t do mechanical stuff.
I think you are quite clever, and definitely are your father’s daughter. Now, if you could bottle some of that cleverness and sell it, I would stand in line for some!
8-Dale
A please-and-thank-you. It wasn’t a difficult deal to make.
Nice Work, looks like it was never modified…Im sure thats what you intended to persue
Thanks! Yep, I wanted it to look like I’d just pulled it out of the box - well, as much as something as anachronistic as an optical USB SNES mouse can, anyway!
Nice Job, the world domination thing isn’t that far off!
Well ummm, virtual world domination anyway
Very nifty, and a VERY clean conversion!
One thing: You say that you hit it with some spraypaint. Did you remove or mask off the little teflon feet on the bottom first? If not, you might want to make sure that the paint is removed from their surface before using it, or you may find yourself leaving little hard-to-remove streaks of paint on your mousing surface.
[size=75](go ahead - ask me how I know this.)[/size]
She did say she Spray-painted the Whole Thing
UH OH!
Thanks! I impressed myself with this project - I was almost expecting to end up with two vaguely mouse-shaped doorstops. I do sort of miss the scroll wheel, but I didn’t want to compromise the SNES mouse’s look - well, at least on top.
Nah, I was in a hurry to get it done and just painted 'em. I figured on removing the paint from them before serious use, just haven’t yet. Of course, it probably would’ve saved me time to mask them off before painting, but… You know what they say about hindsight.
World domination? That’s hardly my intent… as far as you know. 8) Thanks!
“Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”?
How did you mask the sensor?
When I painted? I didn’t. Short answer is, I removed the guts from the mouse before I painted the case. The round part of the original optical mouse’s case that you can see in the picture holds the sensor in position, but the sensor just rests in a removable clear plastic piece. I’ll try to get some pictures of the inside, in case my explanation isn’t clear.
@Seamus: Exactly.