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SNK Neo-Geo cabinets (MVS)

SNK's Neo-Geo MVS cabinets: multi-game furniture where the operator loads 2, 4 or 6 MVS carts and lets the player pick a game. The MVS's big selling point ("Multi Video System") in the 90s.

Neo-Geo MVS 6-cart cabinet
Neo-Geo MVS 6-slot cabinet (MVS-6 type). Photo: Bryan Kreutz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Overview

Cabinet Contents Screen
Neo 19 4-slot upright CRT 19″
Neo 25 upright CRT 25″
Neo 29 upright, MV-4F motherboard (4 slots) CRT 29″ 15/25 kHz, rotatable (no mechanism)
MVS-6 wide 6-cart cabinet CRT 27″
"Big Red" (US) US 4-slot upright CRT 25″
"Gold Cab" (US) US upright CRT 19″
Candy MVS MVS in a JAMMA candy cab cabinet-dependent

(US cabinets are uprights, non-rotatable monitors, stereo sound. Slot counts come from the MV-1 / MV-2 / MV-4 / MV-6 motherboards.)

SNK candy cabs (SC series & Neo Candy)

Besides the uprights, SNK made real sit-down candy cabs, designated SCxx-n (size + slot count):

Model Screen Slots Note
SC14-2 14″ 2 mini counter candy
SC19-4 19″ 4 the "Neo candy mini" — the most common; plexi start/credit display
SC25-4 25″ 4 like the SC19-4 in 25″ — rare (high value)
SCB-U4 — 4 SC variant
Neo Candy 25 / 29 25″ / 29″ multi large-screen Neo-Geo candy
Candy 18 / 25 / 26 18-26″ — SNK candy variants
  • These SNK candies are compact, JAMMA (MVS), with the Neo-Geo button layout and the multi-slot game selector. The SC19-4 is the "accessible collector" model; the SC25-4 is far rarer.

Technical notes

  • MVS = JAMMA-compatible: the MVS motherboards (MV-1 1-slot, MV-2, MV-4, MV-6) use a JAMMA pinout, which is why an MVS drops into a candy cab (Astro City…) just as well as a dedicated SNK cabinet.
  • Multi-slot: the MVS's killer feature. The operator loads several carts; a selector lets the player choose. SNK button panel (4 buttons in a row, "Neo-Geo" layout).
  • Carts: each game is an MVS cartridge (not to be confused with the consumer AES carts, physically incompatible). See the PCB page Neo-Geo MVS.
  • Power: the cabinet's PSU (SNK upright) or the host candy cab's.

⚡ Connector & power

Aspect Value
Connector JAMMA (MVS is JAMMA-compatible — hence its versatility)
Carts MVS (MV-1/2/4/6 = 1 to 6 slots) — ≠ AES
Monitor sync 15 kHz (standard 25″/29″ CRT)
Power 100–120 V (US) or 100 V (JP) depending on the SNK cabinet
Consumption on the order of a standard CRT cabinet (monitor + MVS logic) — see the cabinet manual

(Sources: Arcade Otaku / MVS documentation.)

→ Detailed wiring: the MVS is JAMMA-compatible → see JAMMA wiring (button 4 is on pin 25/c) and Control panels & buttons (Neo-Geo 4-button layout).

Common faults

Symptom Likely cause Lead
Cart contacts slot/cart oxidation Clean connectors (slot and cart)
Multi-slot selector dead selection logic / switch Check the selection circuit
Image (CRT) chassis, recap Adjustments + recap
Dead battery (games) MVS save See Neo-Geo MVS

Repair

  • Board side: it all happens on the Neo-Geo MVS (slot cleaning, battery, MV-x recap).
  • Monitor / power: standard CRT maintenance + the cabinet's PSU.

Manuals (archived)

(Source: Arcade Otaku Wiki, archived locally for preservation.)

Photos / assets

See the MVS 6-slot cabinet photo at the top of the page. (To add: Neo 29 upright, SNK 4-button panel, MVS cart.)

Repair & maintenance

Modernise (video, PSU, JVS, upscaler, PC/FPGA) → Modernising a cabinet. CRT monitor (discharge HV!) → CRT safety (Nanao MS8/MS9 or equivalent chassis) · recap → Recap · diagnosis → PCB fault-finding.

Sources & attribution

Image:

Review & corrections

How this space is used

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