true. it's like going from 3 boards to 2 board... still a must if you want the smallest board configuration possible.
- Thread starter twistedsymphony
- Start date
J
jassin000
For 2 or 1?
In MK2 the version changes were numerous, the 1.0 release was still very much a beta/test version.
In MK1 it's basically bug fixes, but rev 3.1 did add in the hidden character Reptile (he was only teased in 3.0) the jump to the 5.0 hardware is presumably because Midway was discontinuing the Y-Unit hardware (aka gameplay wise 5.0 T-Unit is identical to 4.0 Y-Unit).
Also interestingly if you input/reach the hidden EJB menu in the Midway Arcade collections you'll see the version they are emulating is 4.0 (and not 5.0)
Again this seems to point to version 5.0 only being made to satisfy a hardware change, as even Midway considered the final version of the game to be 4.0.
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J
jassin000
The official MK1 T-Unit is rare, but you can make one with a existing T-Unit board and the 5.0 dumps provided by MAME.
Burn the PAL and the 5.0 ROMs, I think this is all that is required for this conversion.
MK2 only came on T-Unit, it was never ported or released on any other Midway hardware.
I don't really know about early NBA Jam releases/revisions... I've been told a test location board with some players cut from the final game surfaced a few years ago.
I assume it runs on the Y-Unit, but I honestly have no idea.
ChuChu Flamingo
Enthusiast
I would be interested in one for nba jam.
MK1 T-Unit is not rare, I own 3 pcbs and have repaired 100s of them. MK1 T-Unit had 2 versions (4.0 T-Unit, 5.0 T-Unit). One of my 3 is still a 4.0.
5.0 T-Unit had bug fixes only for the T-Unit hardware.
Y-Unit 4.0 and T-Unit 4.0 would be similar technically.
MK2 is T-Unit only. Daughter board is the 1st version with 4M Eproms. When 8M Eproms became available in the industry, the 8M single board revision was made.
Personally I have never touched a Y-Unit NBA Jam, it is possible a location test board was made idk.
My arcade received one of the 1st machines with a T-Unit v1.0 which came with an additional topper.
5.0 T-Unit had bug fixes only for the T-Unit hardware.
Y-Unit 4.0 and T-Unit 4.0 would be similar technically.
MK2 is T-Unit only. Daughter board is the 1st version with 4M Eproms. When 8M Eproms became available in the industry, the 8M single board revision was made.
Personally I have never touched a Y-Unit NBA Jam, it is possible a location test board was made idk.
My arcade received one of the 1st machines with a T-Unit v1.0 which came with an additional topper.
I spend some time over the weekend coming up with a design for volume pot mounts:
Here is the mount for NBA Jam and the T-Unit MK1:
Here is the mount and a custom off-set corner bracket that I made for MK1 Y-Unit:
of course after designing that I noticed that the corner with the Pot sits right over the masking for an EPROM, some searching around I discovered that some older MK1 PCBs have a socket populated in this spot, so I'm going to need to figure out a design that works with or without the socket or come up with two different designs... neither is ideal :-/
I also designed a volume pot mount for the other Y-Unit games with the older style Audio Board (Smash TV, High Impact, etc.) but it still needs some adjustments to the design.
I have another big order I'm printing right now but hopefully I can get back to this that order is done and then start offering these kits for sale. since the volume pot mount is for a specific sized volume pot I think I'm going to include the volume pot with connector as part of the kit but NOT include the ribbon or audio power cables.
I think the only other PCB variation that I don't have is Terminator 2... If anyone has a T2 PCB set with the gun board for sale please let me know, I'd like to buy it so I can design a consolidation kit for it.
Here is the mount for NBA Jam and the T-Unit MK1:
Here is the mount and a custom off-set corner bracket that I made for MK1 Y-Unit:
of course after designing that I noticed that the corner with the Pot sits right over the masking for an EPROM, some searching around I discovered that some older MK1 PCBs have a socket populated in this spot, so I'm going to need to figure out a design that works with or without the socket or come up with two different designs... neither is ideal :-/
I also designed a volume pot mount for the other Y-Unit games with the older style Audio Board (Smash TV, High Impact, etc.) but it still needs some adjustments to the design.
I have another big order I'm printing right now but hopefully I can get back to this that order is done and then start offering these kits for sale. since the volume pot mount is for a specific sized volume pot I think I'm going to include the volume pot with connector as part of the kit but NOT include the ribbon or audio power cables.
I think the only other PCB variation that I don't have is Terminator 2... If anyone has a T2 PCB set with the gun board for sale please let me know, I'd like to buy it so I can design a consolidation kit for it.
I just finished cleaning up my MK1, MK2, and NBA Jam boards with these kits. Very nice, super clean. Folding the dang audio ribbon cable properly was half the battle. My wiring was long to begin with so I'll probably make some shorter harnesses and clean things up even more.
One small bit to note, on my MK2 one of the holes was filled with solder for some reason. Not sure if anyone else is going to run across that, but it came right out with some heat and new solder.
Thanks @twistedsymphony!
One small bit to note, on my MK2 one of the holes was filled with solder for some reason. Not sure if anyone else is going to run across that, but it came right out with some heat and new solder.
Thanks @twistedsymphony!
Got any pictures 
Since Sending you the kits I've had to re-design every one of the 3D printed parts to accommodate PCB variations (Midway made tons of tiny revisions to each of these games over the years). I still need to make some adjustments to the T-unit parts but the Y-Unit parts are done.
If anyone has an early revision Total Carnage PCB with the extra pin header near the ribbon cable I'd be interested in sending you a free kit in exchange for test fitting it for me.
I plan to take some photos to make installation guides for each of the boards including the proper way to fold the ribbon cables. So hopefully once I get a chance to compile those it wont be a problem for people.
Do you remember which hole that was? I'd like to document any potential pitfalls like that if possible.
Since Sending you the kits I've had to re-design every one of the 3D printed parts to accommodate PCB variations (Midway made tons of tiny revisions to each of these games over the years). I still need to make some adjustments to the T-unit parts but the Y-Unit parts are done.
If anyone has an early revision Total Carnage PCB with the extra pin header near the ribbon cable I'd be interested in sending you a free kit in exchange for test fitting it for me.
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so basically these are kits that include
-a volume pot with harness,
-A 3D printed mount for the volume pot,
-stand-offs/brackets (some off the shelf, some 3D printed)
-nuts and bolts
the end result is that you have a compact PCB stack for each of your Y-Unit and T-Unit games instead of 2-boards and a harnesses flopping all of the place.
only thing these kits DONT include is the ribbon cable (since your original can be folded to be nearly completely hidden) or the audio board power cable since that would have doubled the cost of the kit (I may offer this as an optional add-on for those that want it). the original audio power harness uses push-crimp connectors so you can shorten an original harness without any special tools, so this may not be necessary anyway unless you've got a non-original power harness that uses different style connectors.
I need some better picture but here are some photos of my beta versions:
Mortal Kombat II:
Smash TV (note, this was before I designed the bracket for the volume pot):
NBA Jam / T-Unit MK1
MK1 Y-Unit / Total Carnage:
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BanishingFlatsAC
Champion
Any idea on the price on these? I'd like to get three sets.
pricing is different depending on the PCB
- MK1 Y-Unit/Total Carnage: $23
- Smash TV/High Impact/Trog/Strike Force: $22
- NBA JAM/MK1 T-Unit: $21
- MK2 (8M ROM): $5 - cheap because there is no volume pot and no custom 3D printed parts, just a small hardware kit
- MK2 (4M ROM): TBD - probably closer to $20, I'm still working out the kinks on this one but it requires a bunch of 3D printed parts
- Terminator 2: TBD - have barely started developing this one, will be the most expensive kit though due to a TON of custom 3D printed parts, I might not even bother offering due to how niche and how much of a pain in the ass it is
As always my pricing is just a straight % mark up from my own costs... so things just cost what they do.
At first thought that the <$25 price point was too much, but seeing as people are selling just a volume pot on a harness on eBay for that price I think it's reasonable.
Depending on how well these sell I might investigate outsourcing the volume pot soldering/crimping. I have a lot of harness based projects that I'd love to offer but can't justify the time investment for assembly.
yes, it's the same kit as NBA Jam, as listed above.
Nope MK2 is a completely different kit, the Audio boards are shaped differently and they mount the main board differently as a result.
