Neo Geo MVS Refurb Part 2: Parts List
SNK spent the early 2000s going in and out of financial problems. That led to a rocky end to the life of the Neo Geo AES and MVS systems in 2003. Now 8 years later, most parts for Neo Geo systems have dried up and those of us wanting more are stuck with searching for old leftovers, finding dedicated fans who are will to recreate, or making them ourselves. The MVS shares plenty in common with other arcade systems, but for specific items it can be really hard to track things down. I did a lot of shopping around and ended up breaking things down like this:
Hardware – Home Depot for most things, Ace for a few smaller items
-Bondo
-Sand paper
-Quart of Behr Premium Plus S-G-180 Grenadine
-Quart of Behr Premium Plus Black
-Rustolium Hammered and Gloss Black spray paint
-6 small carriage bolts
-2x 161 bulbs
Arcade Specific Hardware
-4x gliding leveler feet with brackets
-2x 7/8″ and 2x 1-1/8″ locks keyed alike
ArcadeAdventures.com
-40’of black rounded T-molding
-2x Happ 8-way ultimate joysticks
eBay
-2x coin return buttons (blue)
ArcadeEmulator.net
Neo Geo Specific Hardware
-Marquee graphics
-Control panel overlay graphics
ArcadeOverlays.com
-Side art graphics
-Left/Right player coin slot graphics
-Headphone/memory card overlay graphics
Emdkay.net
-MVS Capacitor kit
ArcadeComponents.com
Finally, there is one last issue; the plexiglass. I searched far and wide and had no luck finding replacements. If you are lucky, you might see some reasonable condition original sets on eBay, but I could not find anything. The other option is to just purchase sheets of plexi from any hardware store and do it yourself, but I lack the tools and proper workbench to ensure that I cut this cleanly. Instead, I wandered upon a diagram in a random image search of the control panel layout for my cabinet. I re-measured and found that it was not 100% right, so made some adjustments and added a second page for the outer bolt pattern. I took my mangled marquee plexi and the diagrams to TAP Plastics and had them make it up. The diagrams are linked below.
Now while I’m waiting for all of this to arrive, it’s time to strip down and prep the cabinet. That is coming in part 3.