Newbie Questions

I'm hoping to have a steady income sometime soon, and when I do I'm finally going to get a Neo (and it's about damned time), but I have to admit, the options are a bit overwhelming. I'm hoping someone can help a newbie out. wink

1: I'm a gamer, not a collector. The general impression I get is that I should be going the MVS route, since AES carts tend to be *expensive*. Now, I'm planning on going the Supergun route, but what's the best option for that? Please bear in mind, I have no electronics knowledge at all, so building one myself is probably not an option. The other option I was considering was an AES system with a Phantom 1, but I've heard about compatibility issues. Does anyone know exactly how bad they are?

2: What are all the different BIOS' I keep reading about? I've seen people talking about them and saying "Everyone with an MVS should have one", what do they do, and how would I go about getting one installed?

3: What makes a multi-slot board better than a one slot? If I'm just going to be popping it into a Supergun and hooking it up to a tv, is there any reason to get a multi-slot other than not needing to swap carts as much?

4: I read something about Superguns and large tvs not mixing well together. Right now I only have a 19 inch, but I'm eventually getting a 52 inch widescreen. Would I be able to use a Supergun on it? (Obviously not playing in widescreen, but would the picture be messed up due to the size of the screen?)

Thanks in advance.

I can try to help but I won't be that much help.

1) I don't know which ones are best for you. I made my own. I did hear that some MVS games are picky and might not work with a phantom one or even certain superguns (unless you can adjust the voltage supplied by the PSU.)

2) BIOS: "Pronounced "bye-ose," BIOS is an acronym for basic input/output system. The BIOS is built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk."

Razoola would be best to answer this but generally I think the BIOS on the NEO is generally where programs look up things like: joystick state, state of various dip switches, clock, language, console type (home/arcade), memory card access, etc.

There are several legit BIOS and some hacked BIOS that gives user access to cheats, change the region settings (English, Europe, Japanese), change the console type (AES/MVS), etc.

If you're going into MVS, then you might want to look into Razoola's "Universe BIOS". It has loads of features not found on the normal MVS BIOS: region settings, cheat menu, Memory card menu, jukebox settings, etc. <a href="http://bios.cps2shock.com/" target="_blank">http://bios.cps2shock.com/</a>

3) Well, you might want to check <a href="http://www.hardmvs.com/" target="_blank">http://www.hardmvs.com/</a> for better comparaisons between different models (go on PCB guide). I'd recommend looking for a model with a socketted BIOS (to put in the Universe BIOS).

Personnaly I went with the 2slot model because it offered the following:
- socketed BIOS
- memory card slot on the board (wanted to use a memory card and this way I didn't need to hunt for another board + connector)
- stereo headphone connector + volume control.
- Joystick ports on board (you can plug neo sticks on the board, but you can't plug in the NeoPad unfortunatly.)

If you're going for a Supergun that is MVS compatible and you're getting joysticks with your setup, then you don't need to worry about the joy ports.

Do you think you'd want to use a memory card?

4) Not sure what to answer her. Just keep in mind that the Neo is low-res, so you'll get lots of pixels. Appart from that, can't say I've experimented with large screen displays. Sorry.

Hope some fo this helps...

There is no compatability issue between Phantoms and MVS carts. The old (black) phantoms can sometimes have problems with loose slots but the new (blue) ones have no issues at all.

So then, if the compatibility issues are nil, does an AES system with a Phantom 1 beat out a Supergun? I know the price is significantly higher, but I wouldn't necessarily mind paying a little extra if it keeps both home and MVS cart playability open.

Or is there some magical feature that a Supergun has that the AES/Phantom 1 doesn't?

Where do you live?

Are you in Europe or the US?

If you are in Europe with no desire to own pretty home carts go supergun. If you are in the US its a tougher call. This is because Euro TVs take the RGB JAMMA output very happily whereas US TVs don't. If you are somewhere else entirely apologies.

Underdog:
So then, if the compatibility issues are nil, does an AES system with a Phantom 1 beat out a Supergun? I know the price is significantly higher, but I wouldn't necessarily mind paying a little extra if it keeps both home and MVS cart playability open.

Or is there some magical feature that a Supergun has that the AES/Phantom 1 doesn't?

Click to expand...

Personally, I'd go with the NGH Deck and the Phantom 1. That way you still get your games at a good price and you'll still get the home cart options.

Mike

Well, I'm in Canada, but all our connections are the same as the US so it's close enough. I'm sure the majority of what I buy will be MVS carts, but it can't hurt to keep the home cart option open in case a good deal surfaces, can it?

I say,go with the home set-up and the phantom-1.Superguns might be nice but you got to keep a couple things in mind:1)In order to play MVS carts,you still need to buy an MVS board.2)It takes up alot more space than the home set-up.I own the newest revision phantom-1(blue),and I have never had any problem with compatibility.