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DenTarr

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Just spend some time testing the new MVS Multi. Now I thought why not share my experiences and hear what other users think of it.

The cartridge:

The cartridge shell is sandblasted and reused. That gave me a bit of a pause when I first read it. But I have to say that at least in my case it looks really good. No complaints there. Also comes with a nice sticker.

Packaging is nice and professional. Cart comes well protected (and in my case undamaged)

The games:

The latest rollup pack contain all the official games (at least I didn't miss any big name) and all the games boot fine. I haven't played them for any length of time, though. But seeing all of them load without a hitch is a good sign.

Load times:

That's one of the strong points of the Multi. Games load really fast. Only a matter of seconds in most cases. Big plus there :thumbsup:

The menu:

For me that's where the problems start. The menu is slow and sluggish if you have animations turned on. Its usable but it takes time to navigate. A lot of time. You can turn off animations but then it always jumps 2 games at once (bug?).

The slots:

You always have to work with slots. You have to assign games to one of three slots. Even when using quick assign you have to use those slots. They are NOT optional as I thought. And once you assigned games the Multi always boots into a slot menu where you can select one of the three. To get back to the Game List you have to use a button combo. For me button combos should always be optional and NEVER be required for basic operation.

It puzzles me why the slots are there at all. I could understand it if loading times are slow like with the NeoSD. But here loading is so fast the slots are just needless clutter.
And why isn't there at least a "BASIC OPERATION" menu mode where it always boots into the game list, you select your game and it plays that. And after a power down you automatically get back to the game list? That would be easy, simple and actually what I would expect from a flash cart.

Conclusion:

Would I buy it again: Yes (it plays all the official games and that's what counts in the end)
Am I happy with it: Only partially. Right now it feels like wasted potential. Especially the menu and slot system are not what I expected or hoped for.
 
Nice review, honest and independant ;)
I also have animations turned OFF, but don’t have an issue with games jumping 2 times?
 
Nice review, honest and independant ;)
I also have animations turned OFF, but don’t have an issue with games jumping 2 times?
Thanks! :)

It definately is (honest and independent I mean)

I hoped to hear from other users what they think about Slots and Menu handling. It might well be I misunderstood something and there are options I didn't see.

As for the jumping: tried it again and if I turn animation off in list view it always jumps 2 entries at once. I have a supergun and an AES Joystick that has no issues otherwise.
 
It puzzles me why the slots are there at all. I could understand it if loading times are slow like with the NeoSD. But here loading is so fast the slots are just needless clutter.
And why isn't there at least a "BASIC OPERATION" menu mode where it always boots into the game list, you select your game and it plays that. And after a power down you automatically get back to the game list? That would be easy, simple and actually what I would expect from a flash cart.
If you hit the start button on a game in the game list it's supposed to "quick launch" but I've read that it isn't working correctly right now. That's actually how I plan to use it. The slots are neat but I don't mind going back to a game list and picking a new title instead of pre-loading them. I typically fire up my cab to play a specific game, but I do see the appeal of turning a 1 slot mobo into a 3 slot.
 
Which supergun do you have?
My very own design. :whistling:
But I doubt that its a problem of that. Since jamma is basically wiring a button to the connector on the pcb.
 

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If you hit the start button on a game in the game list it's supposed to "quick launch" but I've read that it isn't working correctly right now. That's actually how I plan to use it. The slots are neat but I don't mind going back to a game list and picking a new title instead of pre-loading them. I typically fire up my cab to play a specific game, but I do see the appeal of turning a 1 slot mobo into a 3 slot.
The Quick Launch is a nice touch. But you still land in the slot menu after reboot. And if you direct boot game there is no way to get back to the menu.
Well you can hold "start" after power on and that lands you in the menu. Thats actually how I use it: "start" to quick load, direct boot to game and if I wanna change that I hold start button during boot.
Thats actually close enough to how I like it to be comfortable.

But its true the quick select with "start" is a bit flakey right now... sometimes it hangs during reboot.

Only thing that I still dont like very much are the in game buttoncombos. Would be nice if they could be disabled in the menu or a config file on the SD.

But its true.. you can config it so you dont have to bother with the slot menu. Thats a big plus in my book :thumbsup:
 
I really think this has the potential to be totally awesome in the future once everyone gets their head around how much is built into the cart...

:D
 
I really think this has the potential to be totally awesome in the future once everyone gets their head around how much is built into the cart...

:D
Hell yeah, Darksoft continually improves/expands the capabilities of his multis. He always has something going on :thumbsup:
 
I hope the forced check for roms/titles is removed, one reason I bought this was I was hoping to dabble in home brewing some games
 
I hope the forced check for roms/titles is removed,
Of course it will be removed. Actually previous version of menu had support for it. We just wanted to narrow it down for troubleshooting. It will be restored soon.
 
I really think this has the potential to be totally awesome in the future once everyone gets their head around how much is built into the cart...

:D
Well the very definition of "potential" is "things that could be but arent" :evil:

But, yeah, I am confident, too, that Darksoft will tweak and improve. And to be honest I never had any problem with any game except kof98.

Right now with the current menu and FW it can be operated pretty much like I want it to be. The only thing still bothering me is the mandatory in game button "cheats".

And yes, I know, there are 199 other owners of the Multi and some will shout "Are you crazy! I dont wanna power cycle my cab every time I wanna switch a game". Perfectly understandable.

Doing right by everyone is a mighty big challenge. Being Darksoft probably isnt easy :D
 
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