Irritating Maze Kit...info for the curious

Okay so I plopped down a chunk of change for a complete Irritating Maze kit partially because I really wanted the game and partially to learn how the system differs from a standard Neo. Hopefully this little thread will enlighten all those curious about the system.

The Kit contains:

*Main PCB (MV-1B)
*Edge Connector Interface PCB
*Irritating Maze MVS cart
*8 pin interconnect (connects main and interface pcb)
*Standard Jamma Harness
*Speaker connector harness
*Control Panel connector harness
*Trackball connectors Harness
*Test/Service connector Harness
*4 1/2 Trackball assembly and mounting hardware
*5 pushbuttons (2 red, 3 blue)
*Full Size marquee
*CP Overlay
*CP Sticker Set
*Sideart (2)
*Instructions user guide


main PCB




Okay...First and foremost and to clear up some misconceptions the MV-1B is a standard MVS board it will run ALL MVS games but it will not recognize the control panel inputs of a standard jamma wired cab. Upon going into the test screen it is clear that the bios installed totally precludes the recognition of average control panel set ups.

button 1, 2, 3, 4 and the joystick of player 2 do not recognize at all.

button 1 & 2 of player 2 (standard neo) correspond to button A & B of Player 1 (irritating)

button 3 & 4 of player 2 are button A & B of player 2

the joystick of player 1 is mapped for the trackball but cannot be used as a replacement.

So in conclusion YOU CANNOT control regular Neo games with a MV-1B board with the irritating bios. Now, the instuction manual for the MV-1B shows the wiring for a normal Neo set up. i believe that SNK either released or intended to release this board as a standard neo board with a standard bios..I don't know if they did or not. I'd imagine that if someone replaced the bios with a standard bios it'd work fine.

Interface PCB


this plugs onto the male end of the MV-1B Jamma connectionand has a coresponding male end on the opposite side. basically it nestles between the MV-1B and the Jamma harness. While the instructions don't say what this board does, it is my best guess that it helps interpret the trackball movement and probably also controls the lights and air compressor on the dedicated Irritating Maze cabs.

Now the odd part is when you attach the interface board it remaps the trackball from the joystick of player 1 on a standard cab to the joystick of player 2 You cannot get any sort of control though. It is my hypothesis at this point that using a irritating maze bios on a standard neo board may work to a degree, but I'm not sure how the controls will work out.


Once I wire up the trackball I should be able to tell you some more.
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More info (and pics) will follow

[ August 05, 2001: Message edited by: RevQuixo ]

Thanks for the info Rev-O. I am really looking forward to seeing the pics of the kit. At least your good for something. <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

thanks man!

A SEALED IM Kit can easily be bought for $150...

Yeah, Ive seen them. I have always hesatated buying one, just because I dont know what all is involved in the setup. That and hoping to get the cart working on a regular MVS board with a IM bios.

A SEALED IM Kit can easily be bought for $150...

Click to expand...

You have a point here somewhere Tonk? I didn't say anything about having an ultra cool, l33t Irritating Maze kit that no one else could find or afford.

You can replace the IM BIOS with a standard MVS BIOS and the board will behave identical to a normal MVS system. I've done this for a couple people on this board that bought the 1B without knowing what it was used for.

If anyone has an extra $150 lying around, I highly suggest them getting the complete kit off eBay. It's a nice addition to any collection. I was shocked when mine arrived and the SNK box was still factory sealed <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> You get it all, including the nice red ball.

Jeff

Hey Jeff,

Can you hook me up with one of those IM bios'? I'd love to try and get it working my my MVS.

Thanks!

NTF -- Drop me an e-mail - jmkurtz@macola.com

Any further update on this?

I'll be taking pics of the rest of the kit later....hopefully this evening.


The one problem with wiring up the trackball is that in requires a +5v wire to run up throught he control panel. Since typical Jamma set-ups don't have a powered control panel it means doing a bit modification of the standard harness to accomodate it.

[ August 09, 2001: Message edited by: RevQuixo ]

Some art:


Marquee


Sideart


Contral Panel Art:

Okay now that I've had a lot of time to fiddle with the IM kit I can share my conclusive findings.

To play IM you NEED the Edge Connector Interface PCB and a MV-1B board w/ the IM bios.

So if you want the game...you need a kit. period.

The trackball requires a +5v wire and a ground. Briggs at <a href="http://www.hardmvs.com" target="_blank">HardMVS</a> added one to my harness when I had him rewire my cab.

The butons for IM aren't terribly useful. So if you are making a housing for the trackball you can either leave them out of the project and just access them from your standard control panel...or build a disconnect off of the player 2 controls and run that into the housing you have made for IM.

Basically all the buttons and the trackball are wired off the P2 controls...so if you have all of those wires on a single molex plug in your cab...you are good to go. Just wire up a corresponding plug to your Trackball housing and get spinning.

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: RevQuixo ]</p>

Jeff, arent the BIOSes used on IM flatpack soldered in? those are the only ones I have seen. if you seen some using regular socketd BIOSes, very kewl and keep them changed for happy campers (and remind me to get one from you to plug into my regular board, got an IM board with the flatpack version)

Hmm..now I gotta check my board when I get home...I could have sworn they are socketed.

I've olny seen the surface mount ones. I've removed these for people and wired a socket to use a standard BIOS.

I've never tried the IM BIOS on another board revision.

Jeff

Originally posted by Nightmare Tony:
<strong>Jeff, arent the BIOSes used on IM flatpack soldered in? those are the only ones I have seen. if you seen some using regular socketd BIOSes, very kewl and keep them changed for happy campers (and remind me to get one from you to plug into my regular board, got an IM board with the flatpack version)</strong><hr></blockquote>

Click to expand...

Very cool stuff. I have a IM kit that I have done nothing but look at so far. (First $150 takes it) With Rev's permission, I will take his info (which is great) and put up an Irritating Maze page. I am going to take pictures of my kit because Rev's digital camera sux0rz.

Cool wit you Rev?

Well I would have been okay with it had you not insulted my poor little digital camera.

Not insulting it would not have made it suck any less.

That's why I don't insult you.