My impressions of the Phantom 1 converter

I just got it in today and I must say, it is a very well built piece of hardware. First off, the packaging it comes in is very collector friendly and looks great on a shelf. It worked the very first time I plugged it into my AES and flawlessly I might add. I only have one MVS cart and that's FF1, but !Arcade! promises that every single MVS cart on the market today will work just as well. My only complaint is that the converter is extremely tight the first couple of times you try to pull a cart from it. As a matter of fact, I chipped a small piece of plastic off of one of the connectors while pulling FF1 off for the first time. Thank God it didn't chip one of the contacts <img src="graemlins/loco.gif" border="0" alt="[Loco]" /> ! I'd give it a 9/10.

Positives:

Runs MVS carts perfectly
MVS carts are usually 75%-80% cheaper than AES
Looks great
Small
Portable
Built in stereo jacks

Negatives:

Extremely tight at first, but loosens up after a while.

Great to know! This is definitely something I'm going to buy!

Welcome to the wonderfull world that is MVS !

It sounds like the Phantom 1 is so tight that it might be a good tool to keeping the connectors on the MVS carts clean

I own a Phantom too. I agree that it is extremely tight, the secret to pull the cartridges out is to do it with patience: at first you must pull out the cartridge from one side a bit, then from the other side and so on till the cartridge has been completely removed or very close to that, in fact normally the last pull must be done with quite energy (I remember the first time I had to pull out a cartridge, I did it with such a strength that the cart slipped from my hands and fall on the floor, luckily there was a carpet on the floor and nothing happened).

Curiously the other day (after several months of use) I broke one of the black plastic connectors side-corners, I repaired the situation with super glue, and the next day another side-corner got broken, so more super glue.

I am very careful when handling this kind of things but I think that the Phantom should be more resistant, or at least this should be advertised when buying the product, specially given that it costs more than pocket money.

BTW: Any of you got instructions manual with it?, because I didn’t, and I bought it new from the neo-store.

Anyhow I think it is a good device.

I bought mine brand new from <a href="http://www.videogamedepot.com" target="_blank">www.videogamedepot.com</a> and it came with instructions. It doesn't say much other than line the arrows up on the MVS cart and converter. It also says that the built in stereo jacks will only work with 1-4th generation AES systems. That shouldn't be to much of a problem though since most people already have their systems fully modded. It's funny Pep that the piece you broke off is also the piece that I accidentally broke off. I guess that just goes to show how careful we have to be when removing carts. I just can't believe that the Phantom hasn't had much exposure. In my opinion, it's the best device ever invented for the Neo Geo scene.

Curiously the other day (after several months of use) I broke one of the black plastic connectors side-corners, I repaired the situation with super glue, and the next day another side-corner got broken, so more super glue.

Exactly the same thing happened to me. Must have been because you can't pull the MVS cart of the convertor in one go, you have to rock it from side to side. This caused one end of the plastic surrounding the contacts (only a corner) to break off. I superglued the bits back, and then taped the whole connector block with electircal tape.

Was well pissed off when it happened though - tested all my carts to see if it still worked - phew