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Sega Blast City

A prized Sega candy cab (1996): its asset is the 29" tri-sync (15/24/31 kHz) monitor, which accepts classic PCBs as well as 31 kHz (Naomi, VGA). A more modern design, JVS-ready. Much is shared with the Astro City.

The Blast City, catalogue view.
The Blast City, catalogue view. Source: Hard*Candy — ⚠️ the site publishes no licence statement.

Identification

Field Value
Manufacturer Sega
Year 1996
Type Candy cab
Screen CRT 29", tri-sync 15/24/31 kHz (Nanao MS29xx series), rotatable
Controls 2 players, interchangeable panel
PCB format JAMMA (+ JVS-ready for Naomi & co.)
Power 100 V (Japan)

⚡ Connector & power

Aspect Value
PCB connector JAMMA (56-pin edge)
JVS yes (JVS support for Naomi & modern arcade)
Monitor sync tri-sync 15/24/31 kHz
Power 100 V AC (Japan)
Consumption 1.8 A max at AC 120 V 60 Hz — Sega manual (US unit)
Dimensions 760 × 939 × 1643 mm (W×D×H)
Weight ~101 kg (manual: approx. 223 lbs)

⚠️ This manual is a game's, not the cabinet's

The archived PDF is the SEGA Bass Fishing — Owner's Manual, STD Version (ref. 4201-6394-01, 1st printing July 1998 — the document carries no copyright notice). It never names the Blast City; its introduction refers to "SEGA BASS FISHING U/R". The identification rests on the match of the figures (30 × 37 × 65 in ↔ 760 × 939 × 1643 mm), excellent but still an inference.

The wiki already makes the same reservation on the Noir, whose figures come from the Tekken 6 SD-S manual.

The width/depth order is confirmed by the manual

The archived manual, page 4 of the PDF, SPECIFICATIONS box: Installation space 37 in.(L) x 30 in.(W), Height 65 in., Weight approx. 223 lbs, Power maximum current 1.8 Amp AC 120V 60 Hz, MONITOR 29" 3-mode scan display**.

30 in = 762 mm wide, 37 in = 940 mm deep: the order published here (760 × 939) is the right one, and it is labelled by the manufacturer. The manual's height is rounded to the inch (65 in ≈ 1,651 mm); the 1,643 mm on this page is the finer figure. ⚠️ This manual describes a US 120 V unit — Japanese Blast Citys are 100 V.

(Sources: the archived game manual for the current (1.8 A at 120 V), weight (~223 lbs), tube (29″ 3-mode) and the width/depth order. ⚠️ The published numbers — 760, 939 and 1643 — come from Arcade Otaku, not the manual, which rounds to the inch: 30 in = 762, 37 in = 940, 65 in = 1651. The manual confirms the shape, not the fine values.)

→ Detailed wiring: JAMMA (pinout) + JVS (JVS wiring / JVS I/O board for the Naomi). Button layout: Control panels.

Why it's sought after

The tri-sync monitor handles 31 kHz → it runs Naomi, VGA games and HD superguns, on top of the classic 15/24 kHz PCBs. It's the versatile candy cab.

Technical notes

  • Monitor sync: tri-sync 15/24/31 kHz — the major asset: accepts 15/24 kHz PCBs and 31 kHz (Naomi, VGA, HD superguns) without changing the chassis. Typical stock chassis: Nanao MS2930 / MS2931 (29" tri-sync series) — the MS2930 handles 15/24/31 kHz switching via settings on its remote board.
  • I/O: JAMMA + JVS support (for Naomi and modern arcade).
  • Power: a Sega "candy" block → Sega candy cab PSU.
  • Monitor chassis: geometry/convergence adjustments + recap → see Nanao MS9.
  • JIS screws.

Info shared with the Astro City

Internal boards

  • 🖥️ Tri-sync monitor 29" (Nanao MS29xx) — adjustments/recap like the Nanao MS9.
  • ⚡ Power block Sega — exact model.
  • 🔗 I/O: JAMMA + JVS support (Naomi).

Mods & repair

  • Native 31 kHz: an asset for Naomi/VGA with no monitor swap.
  • Native RGB, supergun-friendly.
  • Recap of the monitor chassis (see CRT repair).
  • → Modernising a cabinet (OSSC/GBS, Mean Well PSU, JVS, PC-in-cab).

Manual (archived)

Procedure — a cabinet that will not start ✅

There is a CRT in this cabinet

The tube stays charged with the cabinet unplugged, and the anode cap is the first thing your hand meets behind the monitor. Discharge it, work with one hand, and never alone if you can help it. → CRT safety

This cabinet is documented as 100 V

It does not go straight onto a European socket. It needs a step-down transformer rated for the whole cabinet, monitor included — not a travel adapter. Feeding 230 V to a cabinet built for 100 V destroys the supply, and usually the monitor with it. → Cabinet power

What this adds

Ordered for a cabinet, not for a board: mains, low-voltage supply, loom, monitor, then the game. The overwhelming majority of "dead cabinets" are dead for a reason that has nothing to do with the PCB — which is why the board comes last here.

1. Mains, and what sits between it and the cabinet. The switch, the fuse or breaker, the isolation transformer if there is one. A cabinet that shows no sign of life at all is almost never electronic.

2. The low-voltage supply — measured under load. Aim for +5 V where power reaches the board — the JAMMA edge, or the JVS power connector, depending on the cabinet — with the game running, not on an idle bench. If the supply has an adjustment (most candy and JVS bricks do; the ATX brick in a PC cabinet does not), do it then and not before: set off-load, it leaves a board that boots and then glitches. With no adjustment the measurement still earns its keep — it tells you whether the supply holds. Check +12 V too, and −5 V if the board uses it: many do not, and an ATX brick does not provide it. → Cabinet power

3. The loom and the connector. Reseat, and check the grounds — a cabinet with a poor ground gives rolling picture, phantom inputs and noise, all at once, and none of it looks like a wiring fault. Connector on this cabinet: JAMMA (+ JVS-ready for Naomi & co.). → Wiring

4. The monitor. This page describes the monitor as: CRT 29", tri-sync 15/24/31 kHz (Nanao MS29xx series), rotatable. CRT: no picture but the tube is warm and there is EHT — that is sync or video, not the tube. No EHT at all — chassis. A picture that shrinks, wanders or shifts colour is a chassis recap, and on these monitors that is a scheduled job, not a repair.

5. Scan rate — the mismatch that breaks nothing. If the board's rate is not one the monitor accepts, you get no picture and nothing is faulty. Check what this cabinet takes against what the board puts out before opening anything. → Modernising a cabinet

6. The control panel. Microswitches and the loom, in that order. A single dead direction is a switch; a whole player dead is the loom or its ground. → Control panels

7. Coin mech and sound. Last, because they hide nothing: a mech that no longer registers is usually dirty or misadjusted, and silence with a good picture points at the amplifier and its supply rails.

Photos / assets

(To add: Blast City, tri-sync monitor, JVS I/O, control panel.)

Repair & maintenance

CRT monitor (discharge HV!) → CRT safety + Nanao MS8 / MS9 chassis · Sega candy PSU → PSU repair · recap → Recap.

Sources & attribution

Image:

Review & corrections

How this space is used

Spotted a wrong value, an outdated procedure, a chip reference that does not match your board? Say so here, with what you observed (model, board revision, serial number, measurement). Every report is cross-checked against a source before anything changes — an unverifiable correction is published as “reported by …, not cross-checked” rather than silently applied.

Reading is open to everyone; posting requires signing in with Discord. Reports from the wiki's declared reviewers are handled first; anyone else's are read too, but go through a human before anything is changed.