Holy moly - NeoGeo MVS games are MASSIVE!

[bacteria]

I bought two NeoGeo MVS game carts from ebay for £10 each including postage (a very good price) - Neo Turf Masters and also Puzzle Bubble. Great. Then they arrived - they are as big as a portable and half as thick as one!! Get this, each one is 188 x 148 x 34mm ! Weigh 500g each too! They have two boards each, and lots of slots in the cart for heat removal - that tells me there are processors in there, not just the usual RAM and ROM chips. It will be a very interesting project - I just hope the MVS motherboard I have is working ok, won't know until rig it up. It might be possible to make a NeoGeo portable with integrated game cart into a portable the same size as my IntoDream project, but the whole thing will be a big challenge!

I also got a note through the door for Customs tax for an item - only two things I have on order from abroad are a couple of TI step-down regulators and also a single cart NeoGeo MVS motherboard (Jamma), so it must be for that.

One of my favourite games of all time is Neo Turf Masters, I tried it on emulators in the past and it is never perfect, sound can stutter or crackle; so plan to make a NeoGeo portable at some point.

I was really surprised how big the NeoGeo game carts are - I know they are designed for arcade machines, but size no object??

[IcKy99]

i think everyone freaks out the first time they see neo geo carts for the first time. they really bring meaning to the term "the bigger the better"

[MrPopo]

As I recall Ben Heck made a portable MVS, so it definately can be done. You do have to compensate for the weight of the cart, though, in terms of slot placement.

[bacteria]

Ben made his 1" thick because he had the game cart sticking at right angle to the system. I hate consoles like that, the cart needs to be integrated into the case in my view.

The cart will be in parallel to the boards, so the weight of the cart will be distributed evenly by default. I have the pinout already:

http://www.boredstu.com/neogeo/hardware/mvspinout.html

letters = sold side
numbers = component side

I am guessing, but component side presumably is the topside of the board.

An interesting document: http://www.hardmvs.com/manuals/MVS-2-25.pdf

Anyone got anything else they found they would like to share with me please about the system?

[DCsegaDH]

They are really huge carts8) It think that would be cool to have a Neo Geo project. I'm using Emulators on my cabinet, their not very fun to configure and don't work sometimes.

[BigTinz]

Yea, they're massive.

I'm not trying to shit on your thread but I have a bad feeling that for only £10 you bought bootleg carts. If you're just buying to play then this shouldn't be a big deal...but those carts are technically illegal to sell.


Would you mind opening the two carts(just remove the screws) and take a few pics?

[dlmvii]

Yea, they're massive.

I'm not trying to shit on your thread but I have a bad feeling that for only £10 you bought bootleg carts. If you're just buying to play then this shouldn't be a big deal...but those carts are technically illegal to sell.


Would you mind opening the two carts(just remove the screws) and take a few pics?

Good thing this isn't neo-geo.com....

[bacteria]

Problem is that it appears the only way to know is to open them up - as per this ebay LINK

This is a pic of the two I got - they normally seem to go for about double what I paid, however I was the only bidder so got them at starter price of £10 each.



I will open the carts up at some point to have a look, however not at the moment!

The Puzzle Bobble one has "SNK G" on the top; Neo Turf Masters on the lable says "(c) 1996 Nazca Corporation" "Made in Japan".

[bacteria]

Ok, as requested, opened the carts, took pics of both boards in each cart:

Puzzle Bobble:





Neo Turf Masters:





So, the question is, are they real or fake? They both say "SNK" and "Made in Japan" on the boards...

UPDATE:

Looking on this site it looks like these carts I have are original and legit carts and not bootlegs! YAY!!!

I am looking forward to when I get around to doing this portable!!!

[Dylan]

Dang, 2 MVS carts for only £10? You should post that in finds of the day...

Good luck portabilizing, Hope the carts don't weigh you down.