Help me pick a MVS board

Alright, I'm about to take the plunge, and buy a MVS setup. I've been around the arcade scene for a while, so I know all about JAMMA and the like. My question is which board should I get? I've found a 1 slot mini for sale, but that has Japanese roms. Would all games /instructions, and everything else be in Japanese, or only the bios info?

Do memory cards save your games the same way they do on nintendo? I know the mini 1 slot doesn't have this.

I have also seen a 2 slot, will i need to wire up more buttons (besides the d button) for this?

thanks,
tdog

the entire game will be in japanese with a japanese bios. that can be changed if you exchange the BIOS for an US one.

the memory cards usually save after a level or a game over.

the 2 slot needs to have at least one select button wired. you can just wire the select pins to up/down on your joystick to select with that then, as long as the games have nothing assigned to the select button (none I know of do).

Hello Newbie!

I have a one slot, and a four slot.
Let me tell ya, the four slot is much the better choice!
I have no electrical skill or even the ability to read a wiring diagram!
But I still managed to totally rewire a jamma cab using the remains of a second loom! (the original jamma one was a total catastrophe!)
It really isn't hard! Just time consuming. Possibly not even to time consuming if you know what you are doing!
The Four slot is a superb board!
Decent sound, joystick ports, optional card back up, headphone jacks, heavy construction, etc. They are much better than the one slot's.
And of course you can have four games in it! (Obviously)
I dont have the card reader on mine, but its an arcade machine! Who cares <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">
The reason I bought a four BTW, is the two slots seem like a waste of time, and the six slots are supposed to be the most temperamental.
Besides, four is a good number!
I just need a header card for my cab now, and I'll be happy <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

I've owned a 1-slot mini Mvs, It's nice when you've got only 2-3 games. If you have more than a certain number of 'favorite' games, go for the more slot version. I'm thinking about a 6 slot at the moment. My 2-slot doesn't cut it and i end up swapping favorites <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

The new type MINI mvs's don't have stereo sound, but they are 99.9 % jamma except for the 4th 'd' buttton. The old style 1-slots and all other higher-slot types have stereo sound. Speaker + and - on jamma are speaker Right+ and Left+ on the stereo mvs's. Both speaker -'s go to any 'ground' on jamma.

Also the mini has a horizontal cart loading system, that takes much less space in the cabinet.. The 2/4/6 slot types have the cartridges placed vertical.

- Alex

I have an old-style MVS 1-slot (with controller ports etc) and a new-style JAMMA-friendly 1-slot. The older board is American BIOS and the newer board is Japanese, so the same cart plays Bust-A-Move on one and Puzzle-Bobble on the other. Screen text and speech samples will sometimes vary, depending on the game (Magical Drop II is a good example, where the characters have different phrases depending on which BIOS is in there).

The newer mini 1-slots are plug and play on JAMMA with the sole except of the fourth player button. If you know how to wire things that's a two-second job. I actually never bothered since all the games I wanted to play before I got the dedicated cab used 3 or less buttons, like the puzzlers and Metal Slug. So I'd say go with the newer 1-slot, add the wire, and swap the BIOS if you like, but even that's not necessary.