The Neo*Geo MVS system is one of the big reasons that I got into arcade machines. My earliest entry into the collecting game was an aborted attempt to create a Neo*Geo only MAME machine. It looked like hell, but we kinda got it working for a bit. After I got my first 'real' machine, I quickly decided that a MAME machine was not for me; since then, a Neo*Geo MVS has been one of my main goals in collecting. Now that I have a one-slot, having a four slot is my new main goal :D
I picked this cab up in a trade. My friend got it at auction for $110, which was a steal in my eyes, since it was obvious it would clean up nicely. After we got it home, the monitor had developed some issues, mainly, we couldn't see anything. So, I pulled the monitor, a WG4900, and reflowed solder joints on the daughter boards. After that, we still couldn't get it to work (it later turned out we just had the sync cables hooked up wrong... d'oh!). So after about a month of having a non-working game sitting in his apartment, my friend decided he wanted to get rid of it. I offered to trade him my working Radical Radial, since I was certain I could get the MVS working again. He agreed, and I started in on the MVS.
After I got the monitor working again, I started in on the cosmetics. I did a thorough cleaning on the cab, top to bottom. I already had replacement buttons and joysticks laying around, so I swapped those in. I sanded down scratches on the sides of the cab, and used a roller to paint them black. The front panel had been broken, and had a lockbar on the inside to hold it in place, which had gotten jostled out of place. I put the wood back the way it was supposed to be and cinched the lock bar down to hold it. Then I put some wood filler on the outside to cover the crack, which I then touched up with paint. I got a new piece of plexi for the monitor, and it looks really nice now.
I've still got a few things to do as far as the cab is concerned, but I'm happy with it overall, and it's great for playing Neo*Geo games and JAMMA PCBs :D
My current MVS cart collection includes:
- Fatal Fury Special
- King of the Fighters 2003
- Nam 1975
- Ninja Combat
- 161-in-1 Multicart
To Do List:
- Get MVS side art stickers
- Get more carts! :D