The cart connectors

J

jamesw

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First post here and I thought i'd ask about the biggest problem I see with buying an Neo Geo

I know all cart based systems connectors grow 'loose' over time and causes the cartridge contacts to have poor connection (if any) with the system. Now the thing is I have NO IDEA how to fix this if thats even possible. Its happened with my SNES's where if you would touch the cart with the SLIGHTEST push the game will freeze. Eventually it just started showing garbled GFX no matter the game/angle of insertion.

With my SNES I can easily pick one up from ebay for a dirt cheap price (I'm currently on my 3rd). No problem at all but with NeoGeo AES syetms going for 200-300 US I cant afford replacements as easily as the SNES :(

So I ask if it is feasible to replace the cart connectors without much trouble. I feel reluctant to spend a fair bit on a system with the risk of having no choice but to leave it or buy another if it happens. Do I just have to take special measures with the system? Has anyone had past experiences with loose connectors?

Thanks.
 
abasuto

abasuto

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I've never had a problem with my AES before over any connectors issues. Every so often I'll have to remove the game and reinsert it to get the game to work ( will have sound or graphic glitches ), but this is very, very rare. Cleaning your cart connectors every so often pretty much prevents it. Simple process I do with dry q-tips.

I wouldn't worry about it if that's a concern over buying one. Despite the carts tending to rattle, they fit into the connectors and the cart slot pretty damn tight. Sometimes tight enough to give us the beloved insertion marks.
 
Heinz

Heinz

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ooo this has happend to me aswell with my SNES.
the cart connector is so loose that iff i even touch the cart or even bang the table itll freeze or have garbled gfx.
for me its getting the cart to make a good contact with the connector.
sometiems like 3 times take out and insert my carts to get them to boot.
still works though.
 
J

jamesw

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Ok thanks, that settles my worst fear :)

Another question though. I probably wont be getting the SVIDEO / RGB mod and ive heard that there are varying results depedning on the Serial with the composite cable. Ive heard its excessively blurred and with others its sharp. Im curious as to what serial range this is.
 
Heinz

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well basically, lower the serial num,ber Better the RGB and higher the serial better the compsosite (yellow,white,red)

so about 40k to about 90K serials are good for RGB video.
and about 120K and up are good for composite but as usuall higher the serial better the composte.
just dont get one of those 300K serial number AES systems lol there dodgy and not japanese...korean.

my AES (yet to be delivered) is a 180K serial, good seeing as i only use composite :D
 
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abasuto

abasuto

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jamesw said:
Ok thanks, that settles my worst fear :)

Another question though. I probably wont be getting the SVIDEO / RGB mod and ive heard that there are varying results depedning on the Serial with the composite cable. Ive heard its excessively blurred and with others its sharp. Im curious as to what serial range this is.
Click to expand...

From my personal experience the mod aspect has alot to do with your TV. I use to have an older basic 27" TV when I got my AES and it always looked fine to me. Later I got myself a 35" HDTV, that's when I noticed the picture quality didn't look so hot, so I opted to go S-Vid, which helped quite a bit.

I'm still not sure if it was the fact my new TV had a crisper image or just the fact it was larger though. As a general rule, AES/MVS tends to look best on screens that are 25" or less. It's a low-rez console and no mod can change that fact.
 
Neo Bomber Man

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jamesw said:
Another question though. I probably wont be getting the SVIDEO / RGB mod and ive heard that there are varying results depedning on the Serial with the composite cable. Ive heard its excessively blurred and with others its sharp. Im curious as to what serial range this is.
Click to expand...

If Australian televisions accept 21-pin RGB (SCART) then you can pick up one of the Neo RGB cables which never seem to top $25, as another option. There are other devices to allow for non-modded S-Video, RGB and stereo sound etc., such as the XNEO-1 and XRGB-2, by Micomsoft.
 
J

jamesw

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Scart usually doesnt come with TVs here. Most of the ones ive seen dont have scart but I could probably take a look some time soon. I have an old 60cm TV which has scart / RF input but its got a few problems and ill probably get a new one soon.

I've played a few neo games in the arcade quite some time ago. The operator had a custom cabinet with a 30-40'' (around that anyway) monitor and the resolution didnt really bug me at all. The image and colours were sharp and clear and thats all that matters to me.

That reminds me...NTSC is by far the superior choice right? Well, ntsc playback is not something I see very often in the shops (I dont check very often). Ive heard that scart input from a NTSC system to a PAL tv is perfectly fine? If not, ill just have to find a ntsc playback tv or just stick with a pal system (too bad JGN dont sell euro systems :( ...EBay will have to do)

edit: lachlan, on your aes, does the image fill the whole screen? My SNES doesnt (even though my xbox does) and im wondering if this applies to the PAL neo?
 
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Heinz

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SCART is european.
we use Composite.

to answer your question.
my SNES doesnt play it full screen, my SNES is PAL.

My Neo is a JP neo and i havent recieved it yet so i dont know. lol

i think allot of the older consoles and even the newer PAL games on PS2 ect , do have borders.
for a reason i dont know lol]

thats why we have import shops and eBay! lol.
PAL sucks NTSC rocks thats my motto and im sure allot of others have that too. :D
 
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K

Kusanagi-sama'

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jamesw said:
That reminds me...NTSC is by far the superior choice right? Well, ntsc playback is not something I see very often in the shops (I dont check very often). Ive heard that scart input from a NTSC system to a PAL tv is perfectly fine? If not, ill just have to find a ntsc playback tv or just stick with a pal system (too bad JGN dont sell euro systems :( ...EBay will have to do)
Click to expand...

Most newer model TV's are NTSC compatible. So unless your using an out-dated television then you wont have a problem. People always go on about picture quality, scart inputs, RGB etc when buying their first AES. Trust me, there is not the biggest deal of difference to begin with, you will be happy with your first AES system regardless I assure you.

My recomendation would be to go with a JP system, most games like the KOF series for example you can switch the region language over to English so you dont have to worry all that much about translations. Even games like Blazing Star and Twinkle Star Sprites dont have much to translate to begin with so a JP system should do you just fine.
 
Heinz

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lol yeah, ive actually never seen a SCART port before on any TV ive seen.
ive got a 16year old TV and it doesnt have SCART lol.
Composite is always good hehe
 
Neo Gold

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jamesw said:
First post here and I thought i'd ask about the biggest problem I see with buying an Neo Geo

I know all cart based systems connectors grow 'loose' over time and causes the cartridge contacts to have poor connection (if any) with the system. Now the thing is I have NO IDEA how to fix this if thats even possible. Its happened with my SNES's where if you would touch the cart with the SLIGHTEST push the game will freeze. Eventually it just started showing garbled GFX no matter the game/angle of insertion.

With my SNES I can easily pick one up from ebay for a dirt cheap price (I'm currently on my 3rd). No problem at all but with NeoGeo AES syetms going for 200-300 US I cant afford replacements as easily as the SNES :(

So I ask if it is feasible to replace the cart connectors without much trouble. I feel reluctant to spend a fair bit on a system with the risk of having no choice but to leave it or buy another if it happens. Do I just have to take special measures with the system? Has anyone had past experiences with loose connectors?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Don't worry james....the connectors are safe!.....hey..if you look after them they will outlive even YOU...relax...buy that neo & enjoy.. be happy!
 
2Dfan

2Dfan

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Whenever I get a new cart-based game, I clean the connectors with a q-tip and alcohol, you should've seen how black they were after I cleaned my latest AES cart...
 
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