Pranslation (MVS-->AES adapter) Info and Compatibility

I just bought the Pranslation that BigBear had for sale - I was aware of some of the old convertors from Billy Pitt's column over at NGF. For those who don;t know it's an old-old skool adapter for MVS--->AES. Only a small nember of games are compatible. It is superseded by the Phantom and now the Super MVS Convertor II

The following is all the info I can find on the site and from Google (Fakk, BigBear, BillyPitt etc)

I'd love to know

• what games are compatible (so far AoF2 + Puzzle Bobble are the only ones confirmed),
• how many exist,
• any tech issues I should be aware of,
• any info at all!

Feel free to add any info about the RealityStorm or DoubleSpace, but please make it clear which adapter you are referring to.
Thanks!

You might want to buy a Pranslation. This convertor can only play games up to KOF '99, but you said the newer games do not matter to you.

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The cart [AoF2] has been cleaned and plays just fine on my AES console with Pranslation

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http://www.dreamamusement.net/photos/pranslation.jpg

PRANSLATION MVS-NGH Converter.This converter will only play the old,low meg games like World Heroes,I was hoping it would work with some other small meg titles like MPE but all I get is everyting but a picture. Maybe somebody is interested in experimenting with this gizmo

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Pranslation Old MVS to AES converter that will only play low meg, simple titles like the Multi-Game Hunter II.BUST-A-MOVE will operate in this converter.

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reason they even did the Phantom-1 or Pranslation converters is so you can play Pulstar, Metal Slug 1, Gowcaizer...etc...etc... cheaply on the home unit with the cheap ass MVS carts

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April 28, 2000

AES versus MVS
Adapter Thoughts
MVS to AES adapter plugged into the Neo. Notice the connections.
Its a matter of time and patience. The adapters are 80% or better in compatibility right now anyhow. And they are the BEST way to enjoy the carts if your on a budget. "someone said that each MVS to AES adapter should cost $300! > Last time I heard it costed about $90-$110."
MVS to AES adapter docked with a Pulstar MVS cartridge.

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There are now many adapters on the market. The Pranslation, the Doublespace, and the Reality Storm are the three most popular ones. If you want to buy one, you just need to look around. You need to be determined like me.

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NGF staff want to say that the adapters only work with about 85% of the Neo MVS cartridges. Games that don't work range from early games like Baseball Stars 2, 3 Count Bout, Windjammers, and Savage Reign, to newer games like KoF98, Bust-a-Move Again EX, and NONE of the new year 1999+ protected games like Ganryu will work. Sorry. Some games play with no sound and others won't even boot up. We'll have a list of which games do work soon. There are 3 adapters, so some games may work on one and not the other.

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Pranslation Info

I have owned the Pranslation for a number of years and find it to be a good but not perfect converter MVS->AES but the !Arcade! converter wasnt perfect either. So here is my data on Pranslation. I bought mine from the guy who made the Neo-Geo LT (I dont know who he is anymore its been that long) but he told me he put some jumpers on the converter to make the meg count go higher, (who knows if he was BSing me or not, but it does have a bunch of wires on the inside so he might have. If you want pics I can provide them for you of the wires aka jumpers he put on it.

The games (on my Pranslation) basically all work to 400 Megs but no higher and no Protected games will work. So (from the top of my head, and a little list I made from a long time ago) that would be

Games that DO NOT WORK ON PRANSLATION:

ALL Games after Captain Tomaday. Look at the master list.

Alpha Mission 2 (has a glitch that rebbots the system %95 of the time at stage 2 and last boss. So its not worth trying this one.

World Heroes 2 freaks out and wont play.

Ninja Combat will reboot at random and sometimes wont.

and here is a list of games you can kinda expect to work just fine but I didnt test them all. These should be compatible. If it says working then I tested it till the end of the game several times (or at least got as far as I could) with no issues, if its blank then I havent tested it yet:

8 Man - working
3 Count Bout
Aero Fighters 2
Aero Fighters 3
Aggressors of Dark Kombat
Alpha Mission 2 - (glitchy/reboot)
Andro Dunos
Art of Fighting 1,2,and 3 - working
BB Stars Pro and 2
B Star - working
B journey
Breakers and B Revenge - working
Burning Fight
Bust a Move 1 - working
Bust a move 2
Crossed Swords
Cyber Lip
Diggerman - works but no sound fx or music.
Double Dragon - working
Fatal Fury - working
Fatal Fury 2 - working
Fatal Fury Special - working
Fatal Fury 3 - working
Fatal Fury Real Bout - working
Fatal Fury Real Bout Special (THIS IS ITS MAX MEG GAME!) - working
Fight Fever - working
Flipshot
Football Frenzy
Galaxy Fight
Ghost Pilots
Goal Goal Goal
Gururin - working
Irritating Maze
Kabuki Klash - working
Karnovs Revenge
KOF94 - working
KOF95 - working
KOF96
King of the Monsters
King of the Monsters 2
Kizuna Encounter
Last Resort
League Bowling
Legend of Success Joe - working
Magical Drop 2
Magical Drop 3
Magician Lord
Mahjong Minnasano
Mahjong Bakatonosana
Mahjong Kyo Retsuden
Master of Syougi
Metal Slug - working
Metal Slug 2
Money Puzzle Exchanger - working
Mutation Nation
Nam-1975
Neo Bomberman - working
Neo Driftout
Neo Cup '98
Neo Mr Do! - working
Neo Turf Masters
Ninja Combat - Glitches/Reboots (Rarely)
Ninja Commando
Ninja Masters - working
Overtop
Panic Bomber Bomberman
Pleasure Goal
Pop n Bounce
Power Spikes 2
Pulstar - working
Puzzled/Joy Joy Kid
Puzzle De Pon - working
Puzzle De Pon R! - working
Quest of the Jong Master - working
Quiz Chibimarukochan
Quiz Diasousen
Quiz KOF
Quiz Meitentei Neo-Geo
Ragnagard - working
Riding Hero
Robo Army
Samurai Shodown - working
Samurai Shodown 2 - working
Samurai Shodown 3 - working
Samurai Shodown 4 - working
Savage Reign
Sengoku
Sengoku 2
Shock Troopers
Soccer Brawl
Spin Master
Stakes Winner
Stakes Winner 2
Street Hoop
Super Baseball 2020
Super Dodgeball - working
Super Sidekicks 1-4
Super Spy
Tecmo World Soccer 96 - working
Thrash Rally
Top Hunter
Top Players Golf
Twinkle Star Sprites
Viewpoint
Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer
Waku Waku 7
Wind Jammers
World Heroes - working
World Heroes 2 - not working
World Heroes 2 Jet - working
World Heroes perfect - working
Zed Blade - working

Dont expect any others to work but whats on this list and even then ya never know, but I still like my Pranslation as the cart sticks out of it so you can see the sticker and you dont need 5 miles of space above the neo geo to use it.

Enjoy your Pranslation. It cant playem all but it plays enough of them, for me at least.

Fakk2 said:

he told me he put some jumpers on the converter to make the meg count go higher, (who knows if he was BSing me or not, but it does have a bunch of wires on the inside so he might have. If you want pics I can provide them for you of the wires aka jumpers he put on it.

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Yes please!

Do these old converters have the Samurai Shodown scaling issue too?

I dont know what scaling issue you speak of in Sam Sho series? I guess they dont have that issue on Pranslation as my Pranslation works perfectly with the game IF it plays it without any reboots.

Anyways here is the link to the zip file containing my Pranslation Pictures and the jumper wires put on them, enjoy.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XIQ2D9XI

here is a small video I created on opening the pranslation (or any Neo cart for that matter). It is small in size and has no sound. I made it with my 2.0 Megapixel Digital Camera. If you want better Ill need to use my Sony 8mm Handycam.

It has no sound, so as you watch it keep in mind there are little tabs on the cart that need to be pushed in on the top and pulled away from the bottom to make it come apart. Normally there is a little glue as well on the two pieces of plastic near the center of the cart. You will need to PRY it apart, and be carefull not to break the plastic pins holding it together and you will be just fine. After opening a few Neo-Geo carts youll get the hang of it and it will be just as easy as I make it look.

Here is the little video.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0DPL1U5R

Its hard to record yourself opening a cart I need 3 hands for this lol, so I had to set the camera down to do it. I hope this is helpfull.

Well, I've finally been able to test my pranslation.
Just had a quick play last night:

• Working:
• Puzzle Bobble
• Nightmare in the Dark
  (worth the price I paid just to have these two working!)
• Super Sidekicks
• Top Players Golf

I'll play more and add more when I get the chance. Looks like the wires on Fakk2's pranslation make quite a bit of difference. I'll be doing that mod fairly soon!

Woot!

Did the Mod (soldering 7 wires) and now I have just had Waku waku 7 and Sam Sho working.

This thing is awesome!

You guys are so bent on making sure you prove the Super MVS Converter II isn't the best, but you're wrong until you can prove the Pranslation plays more games. I'm sure the Pranslation has the scailng issue with the 3-6 mobos too.

In all seriousness though, that's good about the mod. It's cool that people had this converter before a lot of other people were playing MVS games on their AES.

Neo Alec said:

You guys are so bent on making sure you prove the Super MVS Converter II isn't the best, but you're wrong until you can prove the Pranslation plays more games. I'm sure the Pranslation has the scailng issue with the 3-6 mobos too.

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WTF?

I bought this item and Fakk has helped me out with the info to mod it.
I'm just putting the info out for anyone else to use.
This has nothing to do with the SuperMVS......

everyone knows Pranslation isnt as good as this new super thingy ma bobber that came out that everyone has issues with. We just like our Pranslation for the games that it can play. I got my Pranslation back in 96 for $350 so its served its purpose. I played games on it for a decade. (thats if I remember correctly)

BTW Pranslation CAN play newer games like Nightmare in the Dark, Zupapa, Sengoku 3, Pochi and Nyaa, Ganryu and Bang Bead but they have to be bootlegged versions and not the original SNK encrypted games. If your NitD works and Zupapa doesnt it is becuase your Zupapa is original and your NitD is a Yaton Special. It will not play Prehistoric Isle 2 or Strikers, KOF 97-2003 etc..though. 400 Megs is its max. Now you know how you put jumpers on it to get more games to play. I was told there might be even more you can put on it to get the Pranslation to "bank higher" so it can play games up to 600 megs and beyond, but the guy who sold it to me never got around to it and thus it never got done. i sent mine to Jeff Kurtz and he didnt know what needed to be done either so he sent it back. If anyone knows where to put more jumpers to get it to bank higher I would sure love to know!

I noticed when I put in Fatal Fury Reat Bout 2 The Newcomers, it will play the game and sounds fine but the graphics are a bit garbled, and thats why I think it truely can be bumped up a little higher to play more games, it just needs to bank high enough to read all of the C roms. It would be neat to see just what really can be done with this old Pranslation converter, you gotta remember it was made for games under 100 Megs only (Fight Fever being its Max Meg game at that time) and with the jumpers it can now play games up to 400 Megs. There must be a way to play games that are higher in meg count on it.

El Capitan said:

WTF?

I bought this item and Fakk has helped me out with the info to mod it.
I'm just putting the info out for anyone else to use.
This has nothing to do with the SuperMVS......

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It can be fun to mess with the tech side of things, but in the end, all of the converters aren't worth the trouble compared to just consolizing an MVS, which is cheaper. I thought buying a Super MVS for an AES to play my games (I only have MVS carts) instead of using my 2-slot consolized would be cool, but it turned out to be totally not worth the trouble. Play any game with no problems on the MVS, or dork around with all kinds of weird issues and no internal SRAM on the AES.

If you're an AES owner who just wants to be able to play certain games on MVS, you have to make sure your converter will work fine with those first, and hope that indeed it will work how it's supposed to.

Neo Alec said:

It can be fun to mess with the tech side of things, but in the end, all of the converters aren't worth the trouble compared to just consolizing an MVS, which is cheaper. I thought buying a Super MVS for an AES to play my games (I only have MVS carts) instead of using my 2-slot consolized would be cool, but it turned out to be totally not worth the trouble. Play any game with no problems on the MVS, or dork around with all kinds of weird issues and no internal SRAM on the AES.

If you're an AES owner who just wants to be able to play certain games on MVS, you have to make sure your converter will work fine with those first, and hope that indeed it will work how it's supposed to.

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Yeah, I get your point, just thought you made it a bit strongly above, and it's not relevant to me.

I have a 4-slot, and 3 1-slot MVS boards, plus superguns, custom looms and a Cab. I'm almost fully MVS.

I also love my AES machines (I have a fair few projects and ideas, so 6 AES consoles) so it's nice to have a convertor, and even nicer when I've done a mod myself that increases it from 10% compatibility to about 80%. It's also a lot prettier sat in front of a TV.

The name of this topic should be "Lost in Pranslation ~The Pranslation Thread~"

did you ever get anymore working that are on the list I gave ya, or are you still buying more carts to try out and dont have them yet. I still wanna know everygame possible that it can actually play. I dont think I will ever sell Pranslationas it is quite a nice little old converter and anygame it doesnt play I end up buying on AES anyways.

Erm.

I can try all my sub 400 meg games. It will take a while tho and my work is very busy at the moment.

I'll edit the post when I try more out.

JW

I have had a bit of a playtest of some games, having done the mod:

Won't work (as expected +400meg games):
SvC
Garou MotW (encrypted?)
KOF97
Zupapa (encrypted?)

Glitchy:
Neo Turf Masters (resets after a few holes) bootleg?
SamSho4 (Resets after a few seconds of gameplay)
Puzzle bobble (Resets after about 10 mins play) bootleg?

Fine and Dandy
WH2J
WHP
SamSho1,2,3 (No issues with scaling in/out)
KOF 94,95,96
WakuWaku7
SuperSS1,3
AoF1,2,3
FFRBS
Kabuki Klash
Savage Reign, Kizuna STB
Magical Drop 2
Nightmare in the Dark
Top Players Golf

El Capitan said:

I have had a bit of a playtest of some games, having done the mod:

Won't work (as expected +400meg games):
SvC
Garou MotW (encrypted?)
KOF97
Zupapa (encrypted?)

Glitchy:
Neo Turf Masters (resets after a few holes) bootleg?
SamSho4 (Resets after a few seconds of gameplay)
Puzzle bobble (Resets after about 10 mins play) bootleg?

Fine and Dandy
WH2J
WHP
SamSho1,2,3 (No issues with scaling in/out)
KOF 94,95,96
WakuWaku7
SuperSS1,3
AoF1,2,3
FFRBS
Kabuki Klash
Savage Reign, Kizuna STB
Magical Drop 2
Nightmare in the Dark
Top Players Golf

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Intresting, I will try out my Samurai Shodown 4 MVS cart in my Pranslation asap and see if mine glitches up, or reboots. I remember it working perfectly though.

Please post pics of the insides of your Puzzle Bobble and I can tell you if its a bootleg. Mine worked perfectly all the way through with my Pranslation and my Puzzle Bobble is authentic (2 EPROM version).

and Yes Garou is Encrypted and like 688 Megs or so, Zupapa is Encrypted also and so is SvC, even if SvC wasnt encrypted it is 708 Megs so it wouldnt work. KOF 97 is about 470 Megs or so, so it wouldnt work either. :P

Glad to see many of them DO work though. Keep the list going if possible, I wanna update my list with this converter as much as possible.

BTW: Since you are a cool person and you actually use your Pranslation and stuff, I have a question for you. I just made a Fatal Fury 3 MVS Backwards Conversion from an AES game that I needed to be a trade cart for a Money Puzzle Exchanger, and it DOES NOT work in MVS consoles (at least not in mine), BUT it works perfectly in the Pranslation on the AES console and I figured if you do not have the game already then PM me with your address and I will send it to you for free to play on your Pranslation. If your not intrested then just reply with no thanks.

Fakk2 said:

I dont know what scaling issue you speak of in Sam Sho series? I guess they dont have that issue on Pranslation as my Pranslation works perfectly with the game IF it plays it without any reboots.

Anyways here is the link to the zip file containing my Pranslation Pictures and the jumper wires put on them, enjoy.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XIQ2D9XI

here is a small video I created on opening the pranslation (or any Neo cart for that matter). It is small in size and has no sound. I made it with my 2.0 Megapixel Digital Camera. If you want better Ill need to use my Sony 8mm Handycam.

It has no sound, so as you watch it keep in mind there are little tabs on the cart that need to be pushed in on the top and pulled away from the bottom to make it come apart. Normally there is a little glue as well on the two pieces of plastic near the center of the cart. You will need to PRY it apart, and be carefull not to break the plastic pins holding it together and you will be just fine. After opening a few Neo-Geo carts youll get the hang of it and it will be just as easy as I make it look.

Here is the little video.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0DPL1U5R

Its hard to record yourself opening a cart I need 3 hands for this lol, so I had to set the camera down to do it. I hope this is helpfull.

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I know this is an old thread, but I've been in a space station for the past few years. Megaupload says "The file you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable."

Does anybody still have these files in case the link doesn't come back? Kinda curious how hard the mod is. My pranslation doesn't have a plastic shell. I just wanted to see that cos it sounds cool. LOL

Though i don't own a Pranslation, i would also be interested in seeing the procedure.

Anybody? Anybody?

Bueller? Bueller?

My kingdom for some pics!

I'll dig them out sometime.

Far too busy with life at the moment

El Capitan said:

I'll dig them out sometime.

Far too busy with life at the moment

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LOL. My Pranslation will be landing in Canada any day now to undergo exploratory surgery. It's too bad you don't have the pics right on hand, but oh well. Thanks for replying.

I have Bill's converter in hand now and have taken the time to run all the games I have on it. I'm using a AES 3-4 5v system for the test.

The list from the first post has all the older games so I won't repeat the entire list.

KOF96 - Works
KOF98 - White screen that loops
KOF99 v1 - White screen that loops
KOF99 v2 - Blue Screen
KOF2003 - Blue Screen
CvS - Blue Screen
SS5 - Blue Screen
MS5 - Blue Screen

8-in-1 - Works with sound issues
150-in-1 - Works with the same sound issues
CvS Bootleg - Works with again the same sound issues

I was amazed to see this converter work with the 150-in-1 and it runs it with no gfx issues at all. I already know the converter is missing a few lines which should fix the sound.

I have confirmed the mono issue reported for all games I have tried.

Neo Alec said:

Do these old converters have the Samurai Shodown scaling issue too?

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Sorry it took....5 years but no, this converter plays SS's fine with no issues. I tried the real carts and from the 150-in-1 and its clean.

DavidG said:

Sorry it took....5 years but no, this converter plays SS's fine with no issues. I tried the real carts and from the 150-in-1 and its clean.

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LOL....there was no such thing as a scaling issue til the newer converters came along. Garg7 sold me his SS3 for an appropriate $13 years ago and it works fine. Sorry I forgot to mention that.