mvs connectors - why?

[Adamaki]

A thought occured to me today - people keep going on about how mvs should only be used in a cab, but if SNK intended mvs boards to only be used in cabs then why do most of the boards have connectors other than the Jamma?

Surely the Jamma connector is all that would be required to work in a cab but some have joystick ports, memory card readers, headphone sockets etc.

 

[Murray]

It's been my understanding that the memory card slot is there so operators can store bookkeeping info (probably the major reason) and players can take their progress with them (added bonus).

I'd guess the headphone jacks are there because Jamma cabinets are mostly mono and it's the only way players would be able to get stereo sound in some cases.

And I'm really guessing here, but maybe the controller ports are there for diagnostics or testing / configuration without the control panel connected.

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

I believe the mahjong games arcade controller plugged into the controller port and wasnt wired through the jamma. I'm sure there are other reasons as well.

 

[Adamaki]

Anyone else?

 

[J0e Musashi]

They are there for the mahjong controllers. Also prolly handy for testing when the cp is out of reach.

 

[Amano Jacu]

MVS is not just JAMMA, all those extra connectors are designed to be used in a cab if needed. Some of them also come in handy for home users, though.

And by the way, bookkeeping info is stored in the MVS back-up memory, not the memory card, which I guess was designed so that arcade players could save their game or bring their on saved game from home, like happened with some naomi/DC games like MVC2.

 

[Adamaki]

But the mvs board would be locked away in the cab. How are people meant to put their memory card in? I thought some cabs had seperate card readers installed that were connected to the board? I remember reading that arcade operators could download book keeping information to the memory card so they can transfer it to their pc so that makes sense, but I'm still not convinced about the other connectors. I just can't see mahjong controllers and headphones being plugged into a board and trailing out of the cab in an arcade environment.

 

[Murray]

For the 2-slot, I'd just guessed the board mounted in such a way that the card reader and headphone jacks butted up to the front of the cabinet. They're about the right spacing to match up to 2-slot cabs I've seen in person, although I've never seen inside one.

I know I definitely used headphones in the arcade a few times, so they weren't completely useless.

 

[Kpj]

Anyone else?

SNK was pyschic.

They knew 10 years down the road people would want them in their living rooms

 

[kernow]

SNK was pyschic.

They knew 10 years down the road people would want them in their living rooms

and that kpj would be charging through the ass for them

 

[MKL]

I just can't see mahjong controllers and headphones being plugged into a board and trailing out of the cab in an arcade environment.

The jamma connector has not enough input pins for a mahjong CP. Even the manuals say the ports are for mahjong controls.

As for the headphone jack, I think it was meant to be an easier way to wire a headphone inlet on a generic (i.e. non-dedicated) cabinet: the op installs a headphone jack somewhere on the CP (where players would plug their headphones) and for the internal connection with the board he uses a commonly available plug instead of the 4-pin harness, definitely more difficult to find. In fact, the only board with this feature, the 2-slot, has not one but two jacks, one for each player. The boards with the 4-pin headphone connector only have one connector because the two jacks are on the remote PCB. I think this proves my point.

 

[Adamaki]

Ok I'm getting some sensible answers now, thanks Whatever the reasons it's very handy that snk did decide to put so many different connectors on their mvs boards - makes it much easier to consolise them

 

[Amano Jacu]

The jamma connector has not enough input pins for a mahjong CP. Even the manuals say the ports are for mahjong controls.

But I find strange that regular Neo Geo controllers also work in those ports. How many buttons does a mahjong controller feature? And are they just "binary signals" or send the data compressed?

 

[beh3moth]

I reckon they are also partly added for use at consumer/trade shows etc, I bet its easier to use them for DEBUG too.