Are MVS cartridges worth it?

I've noticed that the prices of MVS carts are dramatically less than those of AES carts? Why is this? How can I play MVS carts on my home system? Will they damage the system at all? Are they identical to the AES versions? Sorry about the amount of questions, I just want to learn as much as I can. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: Earthquake ]

Yes, they are worth it. There are a few catches though:

You cannot play them on your home system without a converter.

MVS carts are not censored like their US AES counterparts (IE: you get blood, bounciness and fatalities right out of the box).

You will need a 1, 2, 4 or 6 slot MVS board to play them (preferably inside an arcade cabinet). The number of slots relates to the number of carts the board can hold at any given time. You can switch between the games with the "select" button that can be found on most Neo Geo cabs.

If you don't have the room, you can get a Supergun (or similar converter) that will allow you to play your MVS jamma board with a couple Neo controllers and your TV.

They are cheaper because they were originally geared toward arcade-only use. Arcades have little to no use for the original King of Monsters anymore so you can pick one up for $10. They usually don't have fancy artwork or boxes though, but you can find complete sets for a few more clams.

You can get a complete 29" cabinet with an MVS board already hooked up for around $400. After that it's just a matter of picking up a bunch of $10 - $20 carts and having a blast. If you have the room and are close enough to pick it up yourself ($150 shipping costs are a bitch) then there is no better way to go.

Thanks for the info, but do I need an arcade board or cabinet just to play them on my home system? Are there any adapters that will just hook into my home console that lets an MVS cart be hooked into the adapter?

As far as I know the individual mvs carts have to be converted. The mvs carts are larger, so do not fit the AES slot.
As well as the physical adaption the cart pcb also needs to be modified I think.
It would be nice to have a simple adaptor MVS-AES but its not as simple as that.
Dont know what a conversion to an mvs cart costs, but when you consider MSlug on mvs is only $30, its got to be cost effective.

I gotta say that unless you're just all out in love with the artwork, or have gobs of cash you don't need, MVS is the only sensible solution for the hardcore Neo Geo fan. Unless you like paying out the ass for EXACTLY the same game.

You see, my bro used to have a Neo-Geo Gold system a few years back until we concluded that it was just waaay too expensive to hold onto... We were planning on replacing it with the CD, but the reported bad load times shied us away.

Since then, Saturn and Dreamast ports and arcades have been my only way of playing SNK games... And I've been wanting to get a Neo-Geo system, but no way in hell I'm getting the AES.

Tell me, how much would a six-slot MVS system and the cabinet cost (as shown in that picture)? 4-slot? 2-slot?

Dude, go MVS. If you can't build a superGun (a device that lets you play a Arcade board on a Normal TV) you can buy one for relativly cheap. It's really the best way to go if you can't store a cabinet in your house.

MVS is definitly the way to go for Neo Geo games if you just want to play them. Plus if you want to make them look good as a collection you can pick up MVS cases from Big Bear and print out inserts for them and they look really kick ass just like the AES carts.

Plus you can modify your MVS to act just like a AES (you can add a pause button), and there may be a way to replace the BIOS and have your cheap MVS games have all the options and features that the AES version has. If that pans out (and it looks like it's already been done), there will be no difference between the AES and the MVS (except the price )!


Peace

JHendrix

If you just want an adaptor, go to <a href="http://www.neogeousa.com" target="_blank">www.neogeousa.com</a> and get a Phantom 1 adaptor. It will allow you to play MVS on your home console.

The only catch is that sometimes the slots in your home console have gotten loose and won't make good contact with the adaptor. Your slots, however, can be tightened.

Send an email to Ray (!Aracde!) at the site above if you have more questions.

MVS where often more released than the AES version and that's why you can find them at cheaper prices.