NGC Controller Problem

[Mclena45]

I don't know if this is the right place for it, but...
Recently, I was playing Brawl with a couple friends, and all of a sudden, I couldn't use smashes with my C-Stick. It would work every now, and again, seemingly random.
I went into the control settings for each tag, and changed the C-Stick from Smash to Attack, and it worked perfectly with the attacks. The C-Stick works perfectly with every setting except Smashes.
I hit reset defaults as well, and it didn't work.
The game registers the C-Stick being used, and it also uses every move, except Smashes.
I would like to know the cause for this, and if there's any way I could fix it. I'm honestly broke, and my parents wouldn't go out and buy a new controller (especially online) for something as "small" as this (they'd probably tell me to use the D-Pad if I were to explain this to them)...
Any help? :/

 

[Zankoku]

Have you tried resetting the controller (unplugging and plugging it back in, or X+Y+Start method)?

 

[VietGeek]

This sounds like your C-stick is getting off-center (because the plastic has worn away for example). Add to the fact that Brawl uses some sort of mechanism to prevent "hard" C-stick inputs from registering unless the C-stick returns to neutral and you have a problem with missing Smash Attacks.

Most "poverty solutions" aren't exactly safe to those who do not know how to use a soldering iron. Your choices are pretty limited unfortunately. Even if you could solder adequately you'd need to sacrifice a Wii Nunchuk or a previously malfunctioning Gamecube controller for a replacement analog stick.