SNK MVS U4

[Retroman839]

Face book and usa seems strange as well …. Like superb usa made woody classic cabs go for peanuts over the pond …

Jap candy prices are climbing over their but hey they have an economy ! so maybe that answers that one.

 

[Stokers]

My assistant and I put in some time on the U4 today. Just good old fashioned donkey work - nothing fancy.

Job List
- Remove and strip control panel
- Remove wiring harness / PSU and Transformer
- Remove coin mech, chutes
- Remove coin box
- Bag and label all parts
- Try and remove the control panel shelf



Little (if anything) from the control panel is salvageable, the original Seimitsu LS-32 sticks are long gone and have been replaced with some brand I've never seen before. They have been retro fitted by drilling extra holes into the top of the panel. The buttons and wiring harness are knackered and heading for the bin, the control panel overlay is dead, but the metal below it is pretty bad as well.

The PSU is surprisingly clean, however I've got an original SNK-50-525 to swap in once it's serviced.



Progress was pretty smooth until we hit the last job, removing the control panel 'shelf'. God knows what's been split over the cp but the bottom row of screws were seized and I ran out of WD-40. These hold the shelf to the cab, but also the bracket that has the power, service and degauss buttons.



The amount of ash, dirt and rust, only compounds my feeling that the cab has been sat outside for a while? Of course it's possible that it's just the usual arcade filth.



I find that you need to keep up the momentum on projects like this, otherwise they just sit for months. So next week I plan to get the chassis off the tube and continue tearing down the cab and give it a good clean.

Also found some more tokens!

 

[Chihiro]

Good to see some progress on this its easy to put off when you've got so much to do where to start?
I had some parts on a cab held together with coke slime at first I thought it was grease until I touched it 🤢

 

[Flyback2021]

Looks like a pretty big project, from the original photos on pick up and Ebay listing it superficially didn't look too bad ? I guess once you start unraveling the inside and every part of the cabinet needs attention it can be daunting. I think like you have done stripping it all down and taking everything out and labeling is how I would approach also with documenting the process for reassembly.
Good Luck with it and if any help needed let me know.

 

[jerryspaghetti]

Looks like I was a little more fortunate with mine in the Coca Cola department. I don’t thing these were outside though. I collected one of them and they were in a pretty dark cold storage unit though. Probably in there for a good few years too.

I got a control panel built at last anyway but won’t take the plastic off til it’s all done!

Once I solve my monitors I should be able to get them done pretty quickly.

 

[Akira99]

Carry on the fantastic work mate

 

[eccentric-nut]

Loving your progress so far!

It's totally worth a full refurbishment on these SNK cabinets.

Personally I find the overall size of these cabinets, sits at just the perfect sweet spot, coupled with the 25" screen and enough control panel space for decent comfortable two player action, and the icing on top is the cabinet does not take up a huge amount of floor space.

 

[neoretro]

If these had a rotatable monitor they’d definitely be the perfect cab. Love everything about mine but can’t afford space for a cab that can only do one orientation

 

[ChrisBEANS]

If these had a rotatable monitor they’d definitely be the perfect cab. Love everything about mine but can’t afford space for a cab that can only do one orientation

100% this

They can’t even be modified to be able to have a vertical orientation

I’d fricking love to use mine like that.

The SNK Candy 25 and 26 is basically the same form factor, and can do both orientations. One of them (can’t remember which as I type) has a rotate mech.

@o1s1n has an absolute stunner of an SNK Candy. If I can ever find one of my own, it would replace my Windy II, and live happily ever after next to my U4.

How often do any of us play 31kHz games on a CRT anyway? I’ve got a Multisync monitor, so on the rare occasion I want to play AW I’ll just use that.

 

[antray84]

Aren't all MVS games horizontal? I didn't think these head much appeal as jamma candies or am I wrong on that. Do most people just dump the MVS and jamma-ize it?

 

[ChrisBEANS]

All OG MVS are horizontal, yes. (there are other newer MVS games that have a vertical mode, but only two I’m certain of as I type)

And you’re also right that these cabs aren’t often used for JAMMA games as the audio is wired differently and therefore needs an adapter (easily found to be fair).

I think the point is just that it’s an absolute beauty of a cab, so being able to use it in other configurations would be brilliant.

 

[eccentric-nut]

I do have to declare my undying love for the Neo Geo, so I restored my MVS U4 to be as per the original factory configuration with a four slot inside.

 

[jerryspaghetti]

Love my U4 and agree original is best but I went completely up the garden path with 4-slots! I tortured over whether to buy a worker (with the reliability issues in the back of my head) or a partial worker and try and repair it...

I ended up with about four semi working 4-slots! It was too late before I realised the size differences of the boards and that just pairing up working boards would be a nightmare.

My back up is a very nice reliable 1-slot with Unibios 4.0 and an MVS/Jamma adapter. I don't have much of a cart collection so the 161-1 multi-cart also gives me a lot to play with plus I don't feel i'm missing out too much with the marquee not being the switching type.

Neo Geo is just so iconic. It has a real mystique about it due to the fact it was so unobtainable for most of us growing up. That jingle on the splash screen


Oh P.S. If anyone wants an army of 4-slots in various conditions for cheep cheep, hit me up!

 

[eccentric-nut]

It has a real mystique about it due to the fact it was so unobtainable for most of us growing up.

My feelings exactly! I remeber a guy at school had one, I only saw/played it for an afternoon when it was brought in for a play scheme summer holiday activity at the school and it blew me away. After that experience I'd always wanted one, followed the Neo Geo in the magazines, but upon my parents finding out the price it was a hard 'Nope not going to happen'.

It really was like nothing I'd seen before in terms of graphics and game play it really was a fond afternoon of gaming!

 

[jerryspaghetti]

My feelings exactly! I remeber a guy at school had one, I only saw/played it for an afternoon when it was brought in for a play scheme summer holiday activity at the school and it blew me away. After that experience I'd always wanted one, followed the Neo Geo in the magazines, but upon my parents finding out the price it was a hard 'Nope no going to happen'.

It really was like nothing I'd seen before in terms of graphics and game play it really was a fond afternoon of gaming!

Yeah there was one kid behind my house that had it. There was about 20 kids in his kitchen one day looking at it. Never even got to play !

Just remember being blown away by the controller and thinking it was Final Fight they were playing. Not sure what game it actually was. Pretty sure he only had the one!

 

[Akira99]

My feelings exactly! I remeber a guy at school had one, I only saw/played it for an afternoon when it was brought in for a play scheme summer holiday activity at the school and it blew me away. After that experience I'd always wanted one, followed the Neo Geo in the magazines, but upon my parents finding out the price it was a hard 'Nope no going to happen'.

It really was like nothing I'd seen before in terms of graphics and game play it really was a fond afternoon of gaming!

My feelings too my first Neo Geo experience was in the local arcade playing Metal Slug for the first time and having my mind blown!!!! From that moment I was hooked on Neo Geo, I told my dad about Neo Geo he looked at the price of the AES and said ' hell no'. However when I was dating my wife at the time, the second year in on my birthday she brought me a Japanese AES with 4 games and said add that to your Neo Geo obession, as I already had loads of Neo Geo Freak magazines and the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Now by the end of the year I'm gonna get a U4 as my first cab

 

[neoretro]

I remember my Dad coming back to the car after going round the shops in a town down the road and saying “there’s some bloke trying to flog a football game for a console down there for £200 saying it’s the same as the arcades! What’s playing at!”

Turns out it was Super Sidekicks 2

My U4 is setup for Jamma. I have an Electrocoin 6 slot in my office setup for Jamma. I do love the Neo Geo and have about 90 AES originals, but I just admit the thing that keeps me collecting is the thrill of the chase.

Compared to the back catalogue of Taito, Capcom and Konami, the SNK games don’t hold up, for me at least

 

[Stokers]

There are some interesting reflections here, especially that the Neo Geo held the same mythical status no matter where you grew up. There was one kid at my school who had an AES and he was afforded something like god-like status becasue of it. He only had 2020 Super Baseball and I never got to play it, however what really peaked my interest was Fatal Fury 2.

Thornbury leisure centre had an Electrocoin 4 slot, with World Heroes and Fatal Fury 2. I don't remember the other two games , but I was blown away by the amount of detial in the characters and backgrounds. Even Street Fighter 2 seemed dull by comparison, Mai's stage was really something to behold at the time. This experience led to me buying an AES console as soon as I got a proper job.

I find the games are an odd mix, some of them are sort of crap but enoyable to me - things like Nam 1975, Magician Lord and Burning Fight. Some of course are stone cold classics like Metal Slug, Last Blade, Windjammers, Shock Troopers etc. When I get my U4 up and running there is no shortage of fun games to fill it with.

 

[jerryspaghetti]

There are some interesting reflections here, especially that the Neo Geo held the same mythical status no matter where you grew up. There was one kid at my school who had an AES and he was afforded something like god-like status becasue of it. He only had 2020 Super Baseball and I never got to play it, however what really peaked my interest was Fatal Fury 2.

Thornbury leisure centre had an Electrocoin 4 slot, with World Heroes and Fatal Fury 2. I don't remember the other two games , but I was blown away by the amount of detial in the characters and backgrounds. Even Street Fighter 2 seemed dull by comparison, Mai's stage was really something to behold at the time. This experience led to me buying an AES console as soon as I got a proper job.

I find the games are an odd mix, some of them are sort of crap but enoyable to me - things like Nam 1975, Magician Lord and Burning Fight. Some of course are stone cold classics like Metal Slug, Last Blade, Windjammers, Shock Troopers etc. When I get my U4 up and running there is no shortage of fun games to fill it with.

Hey Nam 1975 and Magician Lord are bloody classics!

 

[Hexen]

Starting a new thread here for my U4 project. I've always loved this cab (regardless of which version) the angular design seems to have aged well, the headphone jack, credit display and memory card slot give it a premium feel. I'm planning a complete restoration, keeping it as close as I can to original condition as I can.

Some details.
SNK MVS U4 Serial number: 71025
Tube: Toshiba A59JMZ90X
Chassis: TOEI TC A252S (serial 05080)
Number of plays 44K

My U4 spent some of it's working life in Japan at the Yoshia Family Residence amusement park (thanks to Rob_bob_2k6 for this info) After that who knows, it was fitted with a aftermarket stepdown for 240v for China maybe before coming back to Japan before being imported to the UK (not 100% on that). Obviously it's lived a hard life and has been sat unloved for a few years at least (Poor U4😭)

A quick look at the condition.

The good
- The main body is in generally good condition apart from the dents
- The smoked glass has a single scratch on it, but other than that it's good
- The monitor has some light KOF burn but not too bad, even less visible with the smoked glass
- The inside is free of rust, but full of dirt
- Loom for the memory card reader and credit board are present
- Chassis is filthy but looks ok at first inspection
- Black plastic surround for the monitor is in good shape considering it's very flimsy
- Other than the stepdown the cabinet has been left unmolested, no holes drilled for locks etc.

The not so good
- No keys
- Control panel, sticks and buttons are shot to shit
- Power cable is almost split right though (maybe this is the only problem)
- Rubber foot plate is rotten
- Monitor is absolutely filthy
- Aftermarket stepdown fitted

A quick tour of the cab
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It pays to have a decent drill, I bought some cobalt drill bits which chewed through the lock in no time at all.
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One one of the CP locks was locked, the other one has a missing tang which i'll add to the parts list..
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The cab is full of black dirt, which you can see in the corners of the control panel and on the memory card reader. It must have been outside at somepoint..

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The monitor is something else, obviously it's never been cleaned since 1990. To quote Grant 'JESUS CHRIST'
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This

Wash the damned thing in cold water with 5-10% Mr. Muscle drain cleaner (orange bottle, goopy), then dry at 40 degrees for at least 6 hours.

The drain cleaner contains hypochlorite bleach for the smells and general filth, and Sodium Hydroxide to remove the grease and caked on evil.

Will work perfectly, do not get onto aluminium fascias etc. unless for a few seconds. use nylon paintbrushes, then shower in warm water until all traces of filth and solution are gone.

Can post many pictures of success.