Naomi Universal / Net City cabinet

Finally, I managed to collect the Naomi kit. In order to fit in the back of a 4 x 4 the entire kit had to be taken completely to bits. Almost every last damned screw. Without much guidance I tackled the re-build tonight. However, I am going to obtain some advice on whether I have connected up the wiring loom correctly before applying power. Still, it's a nice kit.



The back of the monitor is stamped December 2004, so it's not even 4 years old yet.

 

Damn that’s a nice bit of kit, looks to be in really good nick to. Bet you’ll have a lot of fun with her
I think I’ve got an original A0 sized arcade poster for that Spawn game somewhere in the loft; I won it in an eBay job lot a few years back. Wasn’t it a Capcom developed game? Was it any good or are we talking a Final Fight Revenge level of disaster?

 

Welcome to the club Yours even has the marquee holder, which mine doesnt. Id take a picture for you, but no Naomi board

 

Hi! It's the 2nd and last full arcade kit I am going to have. They take up too much room for one thing, plus they are a nightmare to transport. I was laboring under the false impression that the Universal & Net Cabs were pretty compact and easy to ship. By comparison to a sit down cab it is, but frankly...

Cool! If you ever want rid of that poster for a reasonable price I might be interested - depending on condition, location and shipping!

It was indeed Capcom. It certainly looks like a cool title, but the lack of information on the Internet suggests it might not be terribly well regarded. I've got a couple of other BIOS chips and titles, so I can always swap!

 

Hi, it's not the Naomi loom I am concerned about, but the wiring to the control board tucked behind the plastic facade. It rests on the CP holder.

 

@ Spawn

Here's a review of the DC version: http://dreamcast.ign.com/articles/162/162967p1.html

To sum it up: good action game but repetitive (not really an issue for an arcade game in my opinion) and with annoying camera issues and bad AI. OK ratings.

 

Hi, That's pretty much the only information I found too Cez. I wasn't sure how good a port it would have been to DC and have reserved judgement until I can actually get it working with the Naomi CP as my Supergun stick is a pile of old rubbish and so unresponsive I couldn't play the game at all.

Thanks though! I might be the first person to put up a YouTube video of it.

 

Note** Just found schematics diagram of entire cab rather than the single sheet version I had previously which paid attention to only a small section.

I've definately connected 2 cables up incorrectly on the control board for JVS and also connected up the 'Yellow' connection to the Excel credit board, which is stated as 'Not in use' so I shall go back to that.

On the 29" monitor I have 3 cables. The D-Sub from the motherboard, the power from the thick black cable, plus an IC cable that doesn't appear to be mentioned anywhere. Is this meant to be used with an additional test board?

** EDIT ** found where it connects and it is roughly the same type of board as on Ridge Racer. It's clearly was for brightness, contrast etc & other monitor adjustments but I didn't see the board tucked under the I/O JVS to Jamma board

I'll show an image later.

 

Ah, nuts! I have wired up the players back to front. P1 is P2 and vice versa. Ho, hum at least it is working! Now to tackle the green hue to the screen.

Anyone else passing this way would do well to visit 'resources' heading on this site: http://www.sega-naomi.com/
And download the schematics and Naomi Uni users manual in PDF form! The 'useful' schematics are located on page 63 onwards of the manual.

 

A bit of tinkering with the pots on the CRT neck board and hey presto!

Sorry, it's not a great image quality as taken on the mobile 'phone. But still, no more green!

 

Way to go Mr. P!

i shall expect it to be put on freeplay when i pay a visit in the summer ;-)

 

parris can i ask you where have you got cab ?
im desperate to find one

 

Well, Diddydonn and I were attempting to chase one on eBay about 5miles from where he lives in the UK. I missed it by £4 :-(

I decided not to bother looking. When I joined Killer Cabs, I had a look for people local to me and sent a PM just saying 'Hi!', which in one instance turned into quite a long conversation. This in turn changed into a sales conversation as he happened to mention he had a couple of cabs for sale.

Luckily for me, he was the manager of an independent games store roughly 25 minutes drive from here. I obtained the cab as a faulty unit (green screen) for £100 plus a motherboard I had kicking around. The Naomi motherboard was my own, as was the games title. For another £25 I ended up with a second motherboard and 2 x BIOS chips so I have US/JAP/EURO now. To put this into some kind of context, I just saw one of these units (agreed, in better condition), sell for £750. When they appear on eBay, they tend to go for less. Say, £250-300 plus £100 shipping, but the condition of these units can be very poor. The are a pig to clean and put back together again. First attempt took 8 hours in total.

Other than that I see them offered on KC and Naomi.com, however they tend to be far, far more expensive and with hellish shipping costs!

If I were you, I would start contacting relatively local arcades and see whether they have any spare / repair or unwanted units. That's how I ended up with Ridge Racer. It turned out the arcade company was closing down.

Conversations! That's how to do it! There is a guy in Bradford, UK with a significant eBay presence (can't remember his name at present, but will look) and he more than likely has one or two units kicking around, however he is very expensive.

On another note, I have read through a few of the threads on KC and it puts the kind of cash we dev fans are putting into our hobby to shame! Frankly, I couldn't afford to be a true arcade follower. One guy in the US ordered a new arcade cabinet (costing a fair amount), then had it shipped from Japan to US. I grumble about a few extra $$ on a simple retail console shipping charge, but this guy was prepared to fork out more on getting it shipped air freight so he could get it quicker! The air freight was more than I have ever spent on one console... ever!

 

Chilling the beer already mate! Mrs. Andy & Mrs. Parris can talk amongst themselves!

Console complete. Those side leg covers are bollocks. A piece of crap design. They need to be attached prior to you attaching the CP (control panel). I didn't! Thus, I had to use a bit of lubricant and hammer the damned things home. 117kg of Uber Dreamcast!

 

Yours is nicer then mine, and I paid 750$ for it (though it came with a motherboard and game but still)

 

I am still trying to figure out why the knowledgable seller actually let it go for so little? He even threw in some Sanwa buttons and sticks, which alone are worth about £30-40. Suffice to say I would have expected to pay the price you did. My only conclusion being that he thought that the monitor was about to die. I think when he put it together he (or a work colleague) must have accidentally moved the neck board pots as he said it was originally fine, but whilst putting it back together again it started to display in green.

Out of interest, what titles in your opinion are worth chasing down? I am tempted by Gigawing2 and PowerStone2. Also one of the soccer titles. Out of the Virtua range, I'm not sure which is actually the best Striker title? Any ideas (anyone)?

 

Marvel vs Capcom 2
Guilty Gear X (if you ask my colleagues)

and if you manage to get some light guns for it:
The House of the Dead II

And if you got the GD-ROM part there's of course a few more

 

Marvel vs Capcom 2 is at least 200$, Powerstone 2 similar
Powerstone 1 can be had from 60-100$ usually, its is a good grab imo
Only game Ive played is Virtua Tennis, which is good fun

House of the Dead 2, dont bother with, way too expensive, need the IR sensors for the guns, and a bunch of stuff.

Capcom vs SNK can be had for around 50$, as is DOA2, both of which are good cheap fun

GDRom drive has a bunch of good games too (Chaos Field, Ikaruga, Melty Blood, Monkey Ball, and tons others)

Of course, you can buy a Naomi 2 MB and get VF4, which is a good time as well hah

 

I have Guilty Gear X, Marvel vs Capcom 2 and yeah, I have a GDrom system & DIMM board for it. Luckily! Only issue that I am still waiting on the power lead for the GDrom!

Yeah, some of the light gun titles look good, but it means altering the cabinet, adding a light gun board, IR detectors etc. Not an option for me as I like the cab as it is.

Might have to consider a Naomi 2 for some of the more interesting titles like Wild Rider.

 

Oh, Virtua Tennis.. now that would be good, especially as I assume it can be 2 player. The wife would like that!