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Naomi Linking/4p Information Thread

plasia

plasia

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You guys know I'm a sucker for LAN games, Gundam 4p project, LAN Arcade Shed and so on.

I've been doing some research on Naomi and it's 4p/network/multi-system options. Stuff is scattered all over the place and not in great detail.

Let's place it all in this thread!

I'll start:

Games:


Thanks to twistedsymphony

4P Games (local)

4p naomi.PNG


RingOut 4x4 - local 4 player, require analog wheel and pedals for each player



Link Games


sega tetris.PNG


Alien Front can link up to four cabs.


Hardware:

Looks like this:
Screenshot_2020-05-11 SEGA Naomi Communication Board - Sega.png

(from: https://www.zax.com.au/buy/sega-naomi-communication-board/837-13489)


I *think* it goes between your cart/dimm and the motherboard like this:

s-l640.jpg



Can someone post a picture of a naomi being linked to another? I think it's an optical cable that is on the naomi itself (not the communication board).


Examples/Links:



Link Out Trigger Sega Naomi


Cabinet Linking: Gundam DX




Your turn!

Know something that I haven't mentioned? Can confirm something? Got pictures? Know of other things?

Can someone show you Beach Spikers with 4p with linked Naomi2's? Or can you play with 4p harness with Capcom IO?

What about Powerstone 2? Capcom IO can do 4P in Power Stone 2, but I think that's a feature Capcom added in to the game
 
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I just bought 3 of these boards on eBay since they were cheap. No idea how they work exactly. Eventual plan would be to link 2 Naomi 2 for initial D.
 
plasia said:
Can someone show you Beach Spikers with 4p with linked Naomi2's?
Click to expand...
beach_spikers.jpg

Like this?

Beach Spikers doesn't need linked Naomis. You just have one motherboard and two JVS IOs in series. This applies to Power Stone 2 and WWF Royal Rumble as well (and I think Ringout 4x4, but you need analog controls for that). Do note that the video and sound on both cabs are the same, it's just a mirrored output on the second cab. If you had a large enough cab you could just as well fit all four players around one cab.
 
Thanks for the info. Do you know if Beach Spikers is able to do 4p with just the Capcom IO? I'd like to know this for Powerstone as well.
 
Ninja Assault: Two player rail shooter. No link settings in test mode.
Mazan: No link settings in test mode. Also a "multiboard" version of this game isn't known to exist at all.
Wild Riders: No link settings in test mode although this game looks like a link feature could have been implemented.
 
plasia said:
Do you know if Beach Spikers is able to do 4p with just the Capcom IO?
Click to expand...
I don't have a Capcom IO to test. I would certainly be surprised if it can spoof a second JVS IO

Capcom IO can do 4P in Power Stone 2, but I think that's a feature Capcom added in to the game.
 
plasia said:
Stuff is scattered all over the place and not in great detail.
Click to expand...
In terms of what game support linking it's all in my Omnibus NAOMI spreadsheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JWvoMhuFz2XXRWB6XPmE4k0Vkt2VYgUQ4K_61LXv6UA/edit?usp=sharing

most of the games that probably don't support it were never checked for linking options (those that have the linking field left blank) but I'd suspect all of the supported games are there.

Some of the games you have listed in your first post DONT actually support linking, they just support some kind of VS setup where 1 NAOMI shares 2 CRTs. I mean I guess they allow for daisy chaining JVS IOs, but that's something completely different and really should have it's own separately tracked list.

As for linking there's not much to it
1. install com board.
2. daisy chain NAOMI units together via optical cable (TX to RX in a loop just like older Sega Model system games)
3. enable options in game test mode, usually setting one unit to "master" and the rest as "slave" though the exact setting varies from game to game.
 
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plasia said:
Know something that I haven't mentioned? Can confirm something? Got pictures? Know of other things?
Click to expand...
you may find in the net service manuals for all (or almost all) mentioned games and read there "all the other things"

to said above, I can add:
VF4 - no link or multiplayer in this game, but it supports internet connection via Net-DIMM's ethernet, to Sega servers which is dead many years, so no comm features here at practive.
Derby Owners Club series - this is satellite game, which iirc requires at least 2x-multi-board main unit and 4x satellite units to work.
 
Thanks for all the info so far, I've changed the original post.
 
you guys know that spreadsheet that shows all the naomi games and what i/o they work with and whatnot? this would be a cool addition to it.

What I'd really like though is a spreadsheet showing what the buttons are used for each game and their function.
 
Love all the info!!! Thank you everyone for posting!!
 
Right on, we should be piling on that spreadsheet or putting all of this in a wiki or something
 
Hydreigon said:
Last edit: Alien Front can link up to four cabs.
Click to expand...
Where did you find this info? I'm not saying it's wrong just want to know the source. Most of the game listed in the spreadsheet the info was obtained from the service manual or the game's own test mode to ensure it's accuracy.
 
twistedsymphony said:
Hydreigon said:
Last edit: Alien Front can link up to four cabs.
Click to expand...
Where did you find this info? I'm not saying it's wrong just want to know the source. Most of the game listed in the spreadsheet the info was obtained from the service manual or the game's own test mode to ensure it's accuracy.
Click to expand...
Tested a Dreamcast/Naomi emulator that recently supported Naomi comm board emulation (I'll discuss more of this with you later in a private message).

Also add World Kicks to the list. Sega Naomi, special cabinet, four players local and two linked cabs.
 
Hydreigon said:
Tested a Dreamcast/Naomi emulator that recently supported Naomi comm board emulation (I'll discuss more of this with you later in a private message).
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'm just trying to make sure it was actually confirmed in some way and not just "I read it on a forum".


Hydreigon said:
Also add World Kicks to the list. Sega Naomi, special cabinet, four players local and two linked cabs.
Click to expand...
at the moment the list only includes net-boot compatible games which is why World Kicks and Ring Out aren't on there, but I should probably expand it.
 
Hydreigon said:
Tested a Dreamcast/Naomi emulator that recently supported Naomi comm board emulation
Click to expand...
I'm still not sure it behave the same on real hardware, also flycast doesn't have comm board emulation, but tries to HLE it's firmware functioning, which is not same thing (and I've seen too much of differences "emulator VS real NAOMI", for example like gfx issues with this game depending on BIOS revision, which doesn't exists in emulators).

I'm more trust to game manuals, and btw, right now I see Alien Front service manual at ebay.
still curious if this game supports modem for internet features, which modem required, etc.
 
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