Jump to content
Due to a large amount of spamers, accounts will now have to be approved by the Admins so please be patient. ×
  • 0
IGNORED

Refurb Info - Neo Geo MVS4 LAI Lowboy


hackBONES

Question

Hi All,

First post! Hope I don't break any rules, but here goes.

This is my very first arcade. I purchased a NeoGeo MVS 4 Slot original LAI cabinet. The MVS hardware is gone as it was sold with the original CRT monitor. I haven't fully inspected the inside yet, but it does work with a LCD conversion to a Pandora's Box 5s via JAMMA connector. From what I can tell everything is mostly original. Backstory goes it originally came from a hotel. Guy before the guy I bought it from cleared out hotels and the guy I bought it from, bought it from him in addition to another broken one. Both cannibalised to create one good one. 10+ years later on I found it listed on FBM.

It has MCA joysticks, which I'm not a big fan of and from what I can tell some MCA buttons mixed with maybe SUZO? Or possibly just generic knockoffs. Unclear. I want to replace the MCA joysticks and buttons. I'm not sure what. Seems to be supply chain issues from places I've bought before (modded some arcade sticks). I was thinking of getting IL Joysticks and IL Concave Buttons with the NeoGeo 4 Colours. 

The Control Panel merely rests on the cabinet and is locked in place. I'm pretty sure this is a standard build practice for the LAI Lowboys, but I've seen other similar sized/shaped that have a piano hinge to allow easier access without having to fully disconnect and remove the CP from the cabinet. It seems to be in really good condition including the vinyl. I'd like to relive all the visible rust and inspect it properly. 

The MVS 4 Light Panel is currently untested, but I know that it's been replaced with a basic tube light. Unclear if any of the original hardware is present. I'd more than likely would've replaced it with a LED kit I've seen on YT Arcade channels. Also, I need to replace the speakers. Pretty sure they're the original ones and would be the shitty paper cups that I'm surprised still work half decently.

At present moment I have no idea about CRTs, but it may be something I'd like to approach in the future, and also get my hands on an original MVS 4 Slot, pick up some cartidges and or get a 161 in 1. I've already looked at MiSTerCade, but that's way down the line project. I want to learn the basics first before I get into higher level modding. So all that being said, I just want to start getting some advice on what to do and any immediate suggestions that would be suitable and or pragmatic. It's really muggy in Brisbane ATM. So any advice on helping with any further degradation of the wood, etc.

 

Looking for information with;

1. What buttons would you recommend for coloured concave buttons? I've included some pictures because I like how low profile the solid red and yellow ones are.

2. What joysticks would you recommend for bat tops and predominantly fighting games? I know MCA is the most common, but they feel too stiff to me and are a pain in the arse playing fighting games.

3. How easy/hard is it to install a piano hinge for the CP? As stated above, it's just a mod to make access easier.

4. What should I use to clean the outside vinyl artwork  and CP without further degrading what's left?

5. I need to buy a security lock for the front door as it's missing and there's a hole for one. What/where do I buy?

6. Any practical advice for storage in this shitty Brisbane climate?

Apologies for the laundry list, but I appreciate all that made it this far. Look forward to chatting to the community about my project.

 

PXL_20220511_113313399.MP.jpg

PXL_20220514_091052590.jpg

PXL_20220514_091024011.jpg

PXL_20220514_091039951.MP.jpg

Edited by hackBONES
Formatting (didn't realise the built-in spacing in paragraphs)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recommended Posts

  • 1

You don't really need guides these days, you just need basic PC know-how and this image. It installs Windows 7, CRT_EMU (if you have a CRT) GroovyMAME and Attract Mode front end. All you then need to do is copy over the roms. If you don't have a CRT, you skip the CRT_EMU step and just run it all at the native res of your LCD. Not ideal, but still totally doable.

https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/windows-7-read-only-groovymame-image.13415/

For your Neo Geo sticker on the front, hit up Noodleshirt.

http://www.noodleshirt.com/

Edited by namastepat
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1
On 25/05/2022 at 11:15 PM, hackBONES said:

Howdy folks, looking for advice on how to get this back to its former glory. I believe it's originally silk screened as scrubbing with mild detergent was removing the paint. It's degraded a fair amount since new, but obviously I want a permanent solution. Surely I should be able to get something printed. No idea what to ask for it where to look. Any suggestions? Much appreciated.

PXL_20220522_134442521.jpg

I redid the control panel overlay on my Neo Geo cabinet and had this overlay spare that you can have.

1102702130_2022-06-0911_29_53.thumb.jpg.8f8814657143c4259be9a4bbe47de120.jpg

Just PM me to work out the details.

 

  • Like 1
  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
18 hours ago, xb74 said:

Hi mate,

First of all congratulations on the purchase! 

1. Buttons - perhaps IL if you want microswitched concave buttons of a name brand? Unsure if anyone stocks  them in AUS. You could always buy generic long stem buttons and have a Cherry microswitch inside which could be good bang for buck? (easily purchased in Australia).  If you were ok with convex Cherry microswitch buttons, the kids these days are using Samducksa...though not sold in AUS unfortunately.

2. Joysticks - thankyou for joining the anti-MCA club that a few of us are part of here 🙂 The good thing is that a lot of blokes will be lined up to buy those MCAs from you. Just double check they are MCAs first please. A few people in your exact position in the past have mistaken (the stellar) Suzo Rotterdam sticks for MCAs. If they are Suzos, I would love to recondition them for you and see what you thought.

If you are not worried about cab joystick  "authenticity" then the other options for fighting games is the tried and tested Sanwa JLF. You might even enjoy the  more mechanical feel of the Sanwa JLW? Bat tops can be purchased for both of these sticks and all these parts are available in Australia. I am unsure if legit IL parts have a local stockist. I have never used  IL gear but hear good things from  people who use that gear in American SF cabs.

4. Cleaning outside - I use Windex and a clean/new cloth as it is very kind to all surfaces but removes the gunk. Perhaps others can chime  in here with other solutions or products.

All the best, keep us updated on the build!

I gave the outside the cabinet a clean with some Windex and a microfiber cloth. The NeoGeo stickers and the vinyl panels came up really nice, but there was some mild damage cause to the front logo that was already degrading anyway. Planning on fixing that later on anyway.

I opened up the CP to inspect and I discovered both sticks have restrictor gates. Is this MCA? Unclear. Buttons were a literal mish mash of MCA, IL and unknown junk which I think is original "Aussie" junk from days passed. Again, unclear. I'm more familiar with Japanese stuff. 

Thanks for the advice. I want to keep it fairly "original" in terms of using bat tops and concave buttons, but using quality stuff that'll be suitable mostly for fighters. I'll be taking the joysticks out and give them a little clean and check the switches and contacts. I'm assuming if they're possibly the Suzo's (R) they'll have that on the top that is currently covered by the CP. 

If they are I'd love for you to refurb them and would love to learn how to do that as well. Love tinkering. Obviously. I'm here lol. Check these photos out and tell me what you think. Definitely wanna swap the speakers. I don't think the lighting marquee had/has any of the proprietary lighting setup for the game selector, but I don't even have a MVS board ATM. So that's down the track mod anyway.

 

PXL_20220516_125256911.jpg

PXL_20220516_131736421.jpg

PXL_20220516_131750499.MP.jpg

PXL_20220516_125448878.jpg

PXL_20220516_125427645.jpg

PXL_20220516_123505142.jpg

PXL_20220516_125212695.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
5 minutes ago, xb74 said:

I am 90% sure those sticks are MCA like you said. Once you remove them they will likely have "MCA Australia" stamped on the top. 

Again, if you dont like the MCA's you will easily sell them. I was wondering if the Ultimarc MagStik Plus might suit as a replacement. Short throw distance, very solid  construction and bat top as default.

It does appear as though all the marquee lighting is missing. This place does very good repros when the time comes to hook it all up to your 4 slot -

http://www.neogeoledmarquee.info/shop/

The first couple of buttons in the arcade cabinet you preferred, what brand were they?

It is unfortunate that mixing parts on arcade cabinets was a common scheme back in the day, but makes our lives difficult now when we repair 🙂

The cab looks solid, so you have a good base to start thankfully! 

I'm thinking I'll go with a new IL Euro setup for buttons and sticks. In the mean time I'm gonna try and refurb the MCA sticks, but I realise I have no proper stuff to clean and grease them.

I've got a short to-do list for the control panel.

1. Remove and dismantle the joysticks.

2. Remove and dismantle the buttons.

3. Sandpaper the underside of the panel to remove surface rust.

3. Clean all plastic parts.

4. Contact clean all the micro switches and wiring loom contacts

5. Grease MCA shaft and rubber bushing.

6. Reassemble Control Panel.

Other than that, I need to buy some Contact Cleaner, CRC 556 Spray, 1000+ Grit Sandpaper, Wire brush wheel for drills and Synthetic/Silicone Grease.

 

PXL_20220517_122439234.MP.jpg

PXL_20220517_122444888.jpg

PXL_20220517_122449317.jpg

PXL_20220517_122459235.MP.jpg

PXL_20220517_122513909.jpg

After I've sanded back the surface rust some high grit sandpaper. Later on when I'm redoing the artwork, etc and modding the CP with the piano hinge. I'll be giving a coat of Satin Black Rust-Oleum Spray to keep it sealed.

What can I do to help stave off any further rust and human juice degrading things further? I was thinking of spraying it with a 556 silicon spray to provide a protective seal. Curious about what other people do.

PXL_20220517_121403115.MP.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
16 minutes ago, djsheep said:

This particular smaller LAI Neo Geo 4-Slot cab didn’t come with the marquee setup and just standard with a fluro bulb. The bigger 4-slot LAI cabinet (alongside the 6-slot) did come with the marquee setup however.

Highly condone getting the repro marquee. I’ve been meaning to do it myself for my cab, but fear there is not enough room in that space to squeeze/mount everything in comfortably. 

re: sticks: Suzo Rotterdam and Seimitsu buttons worked out great for me. Piss those MCA’s right off. 

I'd love to try those old school Suzo R's. There's a couple on eBay ATM but they're fetching like 150+ with shipping each. I could get close to a whole new CP setup buying new for the same cost. I'll absolutely be keeping my eye out for some, but for now what I've got will have to do. I've just cleaned up the MCA's as a learning exercise and will give them a little grease. I've cleaned the contacts and will give the buttons a once over probably tomorrow. Credit where credits due. These baby's must be at least 30 years old and they're in great condition. The extremely short throw is horrible as a matter of taste for my love of fighters, but they are an absolute beast in terms of longevity and quality. Kudos to the engineers of MCA. Also, even the new modern shit Suzo Happs don't even have restrictor gates. These come all together in one package. I don't like you MCA, but I do respect you.

 

PXL_20220517_134232273.jpg

PXL_20220517_134517372.MP.jpg

PXL_20220517_132849018.MP.jpg

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
1 hour ago, djsheep said:

This particular smaller LAI Neo Geo 4-Slot cab didn’t come with the marquee setup and just standard with a fluro bulb. The bigger 4-slot LAI cabinet (alongside the 6-slot) did come with the marquee setup however.

Highly condone getting the repro marquee. I’ve been meaning to do it myself for my cab, but fear there is not enough room in that space to squeeze/mount everything in comfortably. 

re: sticks: Suzo Rotterdam and Seimitsu buttons worked out great for me. Piss those MCA’s right off. 

I forgot to ask. Why'd you pick Seimetsu buttons over the other more common choices?

Clean as a whistle. Still need to be greased, but just wanted to finish them up and hit the hay. Night folks.

PXL_20220517_155259693.jpg

PXL_20220517_160741947.MP.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
On 18/05/2022 at 1:41 AM, Autosteve said:

The MCA equipment come out as a reliable Australian arcade generic part to be used on any arcade machine and back then, $20 for a joystick with a choice of colour, outstanding value, it quickly over took everyone using what they could get. We were using Taito parts as we had millions of them but they were heavy on maintence and replacement parts and quickly swapped to MCAs.

MCAs were sold as nearly nil maintence, for about a year or two depending on use and unfortunately a lot of operators thought nearly nil meant no maintence at all thus the shit getting used these days with probably the same parts it was made with.

Many of our players originally didn't like the MCA joysticks as on our machines, once a Taito joystick required parts, in went MCAs so we got a very good comparison. Main bitch was to heavy and liked the older lighter joysticks as they were lighter.

The micro switches got changed on the MCA  joystcks on the "fighters"as the original Swan brand were heavier than the Japanese Taito micros which did make a bit of a difference. It certainly helped that the Jap micros were low voltage DC micros not 240vAC 5 amp micros like the MCAs come with. On control panels always try to use low voltage DC micros and not AC parts, you just get a cleaner signal.

Can't comment really about better joysticks but I think the lighter the better.

PXL_20220516_131736421.jpg

This picture here shows you still have both spring clips there to hold the original fluro tube and both fluro fitting, one on each end of the tube are also there with there wiring still intact. That went off to a common Australian made ballast and a simple starter and holder. I'd go that route and get rid of that hidious thing shoved in it's place. It may just be a starter failure, they do die, or one of the tube end fittings that also failed but it could simply be the tube failed and one wasn't avaliable at the time.

You mentioned speakers, yer, I'd agree they probably need a change. Just be aware plastic doesn't like fluro light so maybe replacement cardboard speakers over plastic ones?.

Great thread by the way.

 

Thank you so much for the advice and words of encouragement. I really appreciate it.

On 18/05/2022 at 1:28 PM, Autosteve said:

That style of Neo Geo LAI cabs were all made using MCA parts however they were not your normal run of the mill MCA buttons. They were always the much harder to source white ring convex colour button style like the "D button" in this picture....

PXL_20220514_091024011.jpg

 

These style MCAs had a bad design flaw with the way the micro was held in place where if you hit the button hard and shape enough, it would pop the micro out exactly like the illuminated series of MCA buttons had.  Most were changed relatively quickly for the far more reliable standard MCA buttons to solve this problem.

That would go some way to explaining why not many still use the original white ring style MCAs they were made with.

I would completely agree with your "Australia needed MCA sticks, as we are such troglodytes that we would completely trash any Japanese style stick,"

In the bowling centers the arcade section become a default child minding area for league bowlers. Many times I walked in only to see kids litrally hanging there full body weight off just the two joysticks. Even the Taitos would often bend the joystick shaft from such actions but the MCAs just laughed it off.

 

 

As I have come to realise cleaning and putting these back together. Credit where credits due. These are the fucking Nokia of Joysticks. I am almost in disbelief just how well they've survived with hardly any degradation beyond light scratches. I'm gonna get some fine scratch polish and give it a whirl on the drill at some point and should help it come up really nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
On 18/05/2022 at 9:46 AM, redferatu said:

I have the same cab. I went seimitsu ls-56, from a recommendation somewhere on style of stick to suit certain games. Really like them for this cab, stiff like an MCA, but I also am in the camp of not being fond of MCA. I have an octagon gate. Convex deep plunger style with cherry reds. Marquee wise I went repro from noodle. My tube was good but the chassis needed a refurb. This is one of my favourite cabs, well built, definitely worth the work being so iconic for that generation in Australia. That neogeo bios makes everyone feel like they're back in an arcade somewhere.

I'll definitely have a look at the Seimetsu buttons. I'll be honest. I didn't even consider them and should be in better supply than the IL Euro's. I'm very very happy with how well this cabinet has been maintained, considering it allegedly started its life in a hotel. Thanks for the advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Today was panel day. I don't have any power tools for this part so was all elbow grease and Fringe going on in the background. I used 600gr W&D and some WD-40 to help mitigate the rust as I was sanding back the surface rust. There's some obvious pitting in certain areas, but thankfully nothing structural. Holy FUCK! Those button screws were an absolute bitch to get off. Had to give it a light spray with WD-40 to lubricate and I don't have a button chuck for easy removal, but I will be buying one. Had to use a set of needle nose pliers spread to at least hold firmly and then twist. What a pain in the arse that was.

I slaved over this for about 4 hours. I'm sure I could've done this faster and better with some power tools, but I have limited space. A coffee table, towel and passion is all I need ATM. I dismantled the buttons and gave them a bath. I'll deal with them tomorrow, clean and reassemble. I won't bother polishing any of them as some of them feel quite generic and flimsy in terms of quality. The MCA buttons of course are rugged, but most of it is no name shit as far as I can tell. Anyway, I gave the outside a good hearty wipe down with ALDI Windex and after sanding gave the underside a good spray of WD-40 and a light buff with a clean microfiber cloth.

There's probably like another good hour left in the really finicky places, but I wanna leave it out in the open air and look for any further developing rust spots. Eventually, I'll fully strip back to bare metal and just spray it with Rust-Oleum to just seal in the underside and replace the vinyl artwork. I discovered it has the memory card artwork and what I assume are pillars/legs for the memory card PCB. The seller didn't mention it at all. So I assume it either never had it or it was simply removed at some point. My whole loungeroom smells like WD-40 which I strangely love the smell of. Anyone else? Surely I'm not alone.

In any case. I'm dreading checking all the crimped molex connectors as some of the ones I pulled out had some light corrosion. I bought contact cleaner, but haven't had to actually deal with it before. Any tips? That's me for tonight. I'm buggered. Night folks.

PXL_20220519_102222629.MP.jpg

PXL_20220519_105419465.jpg

PXL_20220519_111406425.jpg

PXL_20220519_111716454.jpg

PXL_20220519_151821472.MP.jpg

PXL_20220519_111317615.jpg

PXL_20220519_150028583.MP.jpg

PXL_20220519_151617716.jpg

PXL_20220519_151609748.MP.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
2 hours ago, djsheep said:

Great work on the CPO. How did you patch the missing part of the arts. I have a spot of rust on mine where a chunk of the CPO arts is missing. 

Ummmm, not sure what you mean sorry. What's the CPO Arts? Do you mean the vinyl artwork? I gave everything that wasn't metal a good hard wipe with a microfiber cloth and Windex as advised by @xb74. Any sort of rust I just hit with some 600W&D sandpaper and WD-40. Does that answer it for you?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

@djsheep & @namastepat Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! Got ya. Unfortunately, just some camera trickery. The very very visible cracks on the bottom are the curved lip where the CP rests in the front panel board. It's out of view on the clean photo as it's sitting up. I'd love to claim I used some magical product, but it's still there sad to say. I think long term it's fine for now, but maybe a new CP art will be there in the future.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

The CP is finally done. Jesus. I did not think it would take this long. Granted this is merely cleaned and giving a rejuvenation, but so many little parts that needed cleaning. It was a great experience, but I do not want to do that again for long while lol.

I started with the buttons today and checked out all the human filth and gunk. Jif does an amazing job on plastics. The mild abrasion from the particles in the cream works through any grease and can sometimes buff out minor scratches. I have no intention bringing this mismatch of buttons back to their former glory. This is the best they'll receive.

After cleaning and reassembly I got to work on the the screws which were quite tarnished and had a decent amount of surface rust. I had them bathing in vinegar since yesterday which had softened and made cleaning them easier, but still a laborious task. Even after cleaning them off rust on the brush wheel. I laid them down and cleaning the others, some of them had rust building up again. Hit them on the wheel again and wiped down with WD-40 to help seal it in. This seemed to help. I took to the wiring harness which just needed a wipe down and that was about it. Didn't need much else. 

It was finally time to grease the sticks and rubber bushings. So I disassembled these MCA's for like the eighth time lol. I've definitely become well acquainted with these now and have developed a deep respect for them, which is also in thanks to @Autosteve & @namastepat for explaining its history and bringing some appreciation to it for me. After completing the greasing and fixing the bent switch levers. It feels 10x better. Still has a short throw which I'm not a fan of, but nevertheless all this work has lead to a decently performing stick that doesn't feel stiff as fuck.

The final countdown! Smashed almost an entire season of Fringe and putting this bad boy back together commenced. My mild OCD demanded the orientation of the buttons had to be facing the same way and of course I then had to rangle the existing wiring harness with these adjustments, then figure out where everything went and making sure I screwed the ground points to the panel properly.

And it's done! Ain't she a beaut? I'm almost afraid to mount it again. Anyway, I'm beat. Another day and another task complete. Hope y'all enjoy. Night folks.

 

PXL_20220522_022458968.MP.jpg

PXL_20220522_051409597.jpg

PXL_20220522_051444648.MP.jpg

PXL_20220522_051735213.jpg

PXL_20220522_051331042.jpg

PXL_20220522_051632049.jpg

PXL_20220522_065946224.jpg

PXL_20220522_085240687.MP.jpg

PXL_20220522_110927214.MP.jpg

PXL_20220522_110937760.jpg

PXL_20220522_130319486.jpg

PXL_20220522_134337115.jpg

PXL_20220522_134403642.jpg

PXL_20220522_134414895.jpg

PXL_20220522_134420051.jpg

PXL_20220522_134423457.jpg

PXL_20220522_140139293.jpg

PXL_20220522_140334932.MP.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Wow! This community is amazing ☺️ I'll be honest, I uh, wasn't ready to jump straight into hunting CRT. I still have no idea how all the wiring etc works. I just dropped $350 on buying a whole new Hakko Soldering station and all beginner parts to get prepared on buying a replacement MVS 4 slot. That's about as far as I got with project thoughts as I thought by that point I'd know how I wanted to proceed, because I want to buy an Astro City and that be my sit-down dedicated FPGA for loading and playing games.

For this I think ultimately I do want to have a CRT for it, but I think the LCD is fine for now. Yes, to those asking /curious it only came with the current LCD conversion. Previous owner sold the CRT and all the original MVS hardware, but was perfect for me as a beginner to start off with less to fix and understand. I'm just on the fence about getting dedicated MVS hardware with some cartridges as I know this will be the "stand up" party cabinet for guests and it is limited to 4 buttons. Unless someone makes a 6 button CPO for LAI Lowboys?

I still need to learn about wiring and basic electrical stuff, because I have absolutely no fucking clue about ohms, hertz, etc. Like I'm not sure on what I want to do beyond the immediate obvious cosmetics. I want to replace the buttons and sticks. Easy choice. New vinyl artwork. Easy. Marquee LED conversion. Easy. But yeah, lots still to learn and do. In the end I want to be clean and 

I'd say where I'm at now the list goes like this.

1. Buy replacement sticks and buttons.

2. Post request for help about replacement artwork for CPO, Memory Card Metal Cover Plate (NeoGeo Logo).

3. Check the kick plate and assess the bottom of the cabinet for any damage or rotting that needs to be addressed.

4. Post request for help on getting replacement marque artwork.

5. Post request for help on finding a service manual? If that even exists for this.

6. Decide on MVS hardware or ArcadePi setup. MVS hardware would limit games vs the existing Pandora, but the Pandora 5s is terrible and has limited customisation. ArcadePi or something similar would allow me to customise button mapping and also expand the gaming catalogue to a whole slew of 2-4-8-Way games that aren't limited to NeoGeo's catalogue.

7. Learn about soldering and wiring a JAMMA harness from scratch, all the Molex connectors and all the leftover hardware from the previous owner.

8. Catalog and document everything.

If anyone is up for a call to discuss pros and cons. Does this place have a dedicated Discord? Curious if not. Super easy to setup and would be happy to do that for yas. Fuck Facebook. (Yes I have it, for family mostly) Just yeah. Anyway, I'm on lunch ATM and gotta get back to it. Thanks to this community though. It's nice getting all the feedback and having y'all to talk to through this. Cheers to @xb74 @namastepat @djsheep @Autosteve @redferatu @Berty and @thejudge for all your input.

Edited by hackBONES
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

@namastepat

Quote

Bob's your uncle, complete romset and every game playing in its proper resolution and refresh rate.

I guess I have some research to do. I have an ... "okay" level of understanding with ROMsets. I have heard of GroovyMAME and I think I have a shitty DELL monitor I was saving for a separate from scratch build "just in case". I think everyone in this thread understands having mildish hoarding tendencies, or can concede to having mild to severe hoarding tendencies lol. Sorry to call everyone out. Still learning all the lingo, etc, whine, moan, cry, blah. 

Do you have any thoughts on MiSTerCade?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
11 hours ago, namastepat said:

With proper GroovyMAME and CRT_EMU driver, the emulation is pretty much pixel perfect for almost everything anyway. Not exaggerating, it's that good. When you are using the original refresh rates and resolutions, I have had people who are exceptionally good at a specific game, sit down and play my GroovyMAME cabs and be unable to tell the difference at all. 

Mister is even better for accuracy, but as we have said, still lots that doesn't run on it. GroovyMAME has perfect Wonderboy if you're interested 😃 I play it regularly, love that game.

I'm definitely interested but so much to learn. Got any guides or literature you could link me to?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Howdy folks, looking for advice on how to get this back to its former glory. I believe it's originally silk screened as scrubbing with mild detergent was removing the paint. It's degraded a fair amount since new, but obviously I want a permanent solution. Surely I should be able to get something printed. No idea what to ask for it where to look. Any suggestions? Much appreciated.

PXL_20220522_134442521.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Any suggestions on speaker replacements? I would like to have full dimensional sound preferably. I'll pay for whatever's worth for something decent rather than buying some cheap Logitech's and cannibalise the enclosure what's inside. I'm at the point of buying new parts. So I think this would be a pretty easy swap in. Just have no idea what to get.

PXL_20220516_131750499.MP.jpg

PXL_20220516_131736421.jpg

Also, side note.

This beauty just came in the mail.

It's from Pixel Crib. They have some quirky gamer related stuff you can buy, but the books are top quality stuff.

Here's the link for those interested. https://www.pixelcrib.com.au/collections/books/products/neo-geo-a-visual-history-standard-edition

PXL_20220527_044722299.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Blast! I also forgot to ask about security locks. There's one missing from the front access door panel. I haven't looked, but I'm assuming one of the sponsored supporters would sell them. Should I buy two? To replace the one on the back so it has the same key? Or do the all work the same? Like a game bit? No idea. Thanks folks. 

PXL_20220514_091052590.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
On 09/06/2022 at 11:35 AM, thejudge said:

I redid the control panel overlay on my Neo Geo cabinet and had this overlay spare that you can have.

1102702130_2022-06-0911_29_53.thumb.jpg.8f8814657143c4259be9a4bbe47de120.jpg

Just PM me to work out the details.

 

PM Sent 😄 Amazing!

Also, I think with that matte finish I might need to get an acrylic plate to have over the top to protect it.

My partner has a side business doing Lazer Cut acrylic jewellery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Looking for advice on the switches and lever adjusting. After I finished the refurb one of the two sticks felt better than the other. I've played a few games since the last update and P1 still feels a bit lackluster and also has issues with actuating down. Not sure what to do at this point. I straightened all the switch levers and figured that would help the most, but have no idea really. 

 

Should I just replace these with new switches? If yes, which switches? Otherwise any other general advice with ensuring these are up to snuff. They're definitely a lot better then they were but P1 still feels a bit rough if that makes sense.

PXL_20220517_133924729.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
On 11/06/2022 at 5:07 PM, xb74 said:

I would wager that the switch for the down direction has gunk inside it or has oxidation in it.

Change the lot out for new ones just  to be safe. 

UPDATE:

I've put in two separate orders for a place called Jammastar in France, jammastar.com. They had a sweet Neo Geo keyring, among other things including the IL Euros that no one seems to have in stock and everything else I needed from Highway Entertainment as others noted them for the cam locks.

Except my order at HWE hasn't processed. I tried like 4 times on 2 different browsers and two different cards (I assure it's not with my bank) and their payment page kept erroring noting their server as the issue. I've emailed them from the order page and am still yet to hear back. 

Hope I don't have to wait too long, I did forget about the PH in pretty much every other state other than QLD.

@xb74 When the ILE's come in I'll let you know how much better/different they feel compared to the refurbed MCA's when the switches come in for that as well.

I've also reached out to a person who used to have HQ .tiff files of all the NeoGeo marquee Arts, but as their website is down it's in storage ATM. I'm hoping to convince to get it back online and hopefully provide a file upload here and or as well us uploading to archive.org for anyone else to easily find it.

And still waiting on a quote from Noodle. Not much else at this stage. Bought a bunch of electronic shit that's ready to be used when the new harness and speakers come in and then yeah, learning the nitty gritty of wiring, etc.

Anyone of y'all wanna run a workshop? Lol. Guess that's just how it is. Learning from the ground up.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...