2025 Update:
Carts pretty much aren't available from Aliexpress sellers at this point. I have more than enough chips to make a few dozen more carts. If you already own a 161 in 1 v3, or can get one from a forum member or ebay, craigslist, or wherever, I can turn it into a Vortex cart for you. Feel free to PM me and get the ball rolling.
I posted that info here:
https://www.arcade-projects.com/thr...c-edition-ya-gotta-have-a-cart-to-ship.31930/
Original post:
Incredibly soft interest check take here to see if there's a market for building these things. I know a few people like @HornheaDD and @GeorgeSpinner were asking about it in the main thread since a lot of folks can't do the mod themselves.
It looks like I'm going to have a fair few extra of the required chips, and a good bit of time on my hands throughout the holidays (boss at my main job scales back starting mid-Nov, so so will I), so if there's demand I'll take this up for a bit. If not, I'll eat the chip cost and that'll be that.
They're very labor/time intensive, finicky work, and the chips take an absolute age to program, so the price reflects it. I know a couple people had suggested they'd have to cost as much as the NeoSD or DS solutions, and I'd normally agree with them, but for doing a small run of them on the side while work is slow I figure I can do a bit better than that. I've taken 4 dry runs at these now and am very confident/comfortable with all the SMD work, just waiting on dumper PCBs to come in in about a week to get the ones I have here up and running.
My tentative price-point would be $280 for a completed MVS cart, you provide nothing. AES $330 for no other reason than the cheapest v3 AES carts I could find cost $50 more than MVS. I don't see MVS cart prices changing, but the price difference from the cheapest AES supplier to the second cheapest is $50, so if the one runs dry the price may change for that one.
If you provide a like-new, fully working v3 cart I will happily knock off my cart cost from the price (ie if it costs me $48 to buy an MVS cart I'll knock 48 off the cost), but I won't be working on one someone else has attempted to mod and damaged or take a stab at fixing non-working carts.
*If you want to include XenoCrisis you'll either have to provide proof of having purchased the roms, or I can purchase them for you and it'll cost that 15-17 extra (receipt and files provided). I wouldn't feel right putting their game on there without it being paid for.
Like I said, just a soft interest check, no commitment necessary at this time. If you're interested at that price-point, please chime in.
I think at 10-15 I'll pivot to taking names, and then deposits that are just enough to cover the cart purchases.
Current status list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1se4-FHEoJe7nrAHGI3BemvlTZqBaX3jreL2bOTrzP1Y/edit?usp=sharing
Game list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16aCpPoJxHt-60g2U6N9eUfncmFS8n7z6DWqIOujL-qs/edit?usp=sharing
UPDATE:
From 12/9 onward it will be $290 per MVS cart and $340 for AES. Looks like this forum has single-handedly exhausted the supply of chips from all 3 suppliers and all that remains are some highly oxidized ones (godspeed to whoever bought the 100 used ones if the remaining new ones are already rusted). The $10 bump will cover the difference in cost to buy sacrificial carts instead (no extra charge for the extra labor). All already deposited folks and those who get it in today/tomorrow morning who I've messaged recently will be honored at the original price!
Once we've hit the first 75 I am going to cut things short for a few and just keep a waitlist going. Every 12 I'll do another batch.
To keep this straight for myself since prices have fluctuated and the chip situation has changed:
Up until 11/9 : 280/330
11/9 - 12/12 : 290/340
12/13 forward: 305/355
Deposit moving forward (covers cost of cart and 1/3 of sac cart cost):
MVS: $80
AES: $125
Current count: 75/75
Waitlist:
22/24
Waitlist for potential third batch:
0/12
Carts pretty much aren't available from Aliexpress sellers at this point. I have more than enough chips to make a few dozen more carts. If you already own a 161 in 1 v3, or can get one from a forum member or ebay, craigslist, or wherever, I can turn it into a Vortex cart for you. Feel free to PM me and get the ball rolling.
I posted that info here:
https://www.arcade-projects.com/thr...c-edition-ya-gotta-have-a-cart-to-ship.31930/
Original post:
Incredibly soft interest check take here to see if there's a market for building these things. I know a few people like @HornheaDD and @GeorgeSpinner were asking about it in the main thread since a lot of folks can't do the mod themselves.
It looks like I'm going to have a fair few extra of the required chips, and a good bit of time on my hands throughout the holidays (boss at my main job scales back starting mid-Nov, so so will I), so if there's demand I'll take this up for a bit. If not, I'll eat the chip cost and that'll be that.
They're very labor/time intensive, finicky work, and the chips take an absolute age to program, so the price reflects it. I know a couple people had suggested they'd have to cost as much as the NeoSD or DS solutions, and I'd normally agree with them, but for doing a small run of them on the side while work is slow I figure I can do a bit better than that. I've taken 4 dry runs at these now and am very confident/comfortable with all the SMD work, just waiting on dumper PCBs to come in in about a week to get the ones I have here up and running.
My tentative price-point would be $280 for a completed MVS cart, you provide nothing. AES $330 for no other reason than the cheapest v3 AES carts I could find cost $50 more than MVS. I don't see MVS cart prices changing, but the price difference from the cheapest AES supplier to the second cheapest is $50, so if the one runs dry the price may change for that one.
If you provide a like-new, fully working v3 cart I will happily knock off my cart cost from the price (ie if it costs me $48 to buy an MVS cart I'll knock 48 off the cost), but I won't be working on one someone else has attempted to mod and damaged or take a stab at fixing non-working carts.
*If you want to include XenoCrisis you'll either have to provide proof of having purchased the roms, or I can purchase them for you and it'll cost that 15-17 extra (receipt and files provided). I wouldn't feel right putting their game on there without it being paid for.
Like I said, just a soft interest check, no commitment necessary at this time. If you're interested at that price-point, please chime in.
I think at 10-15 I'll pivot to taking names, and then deposits that are just enough to cover the cart purchases.
Current status list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1se4-FHEoJe7nrAHGI3BemvlTZqBaX3jreL2bOTrzP1Y/edit?usp=sharing
Game list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16aCpPoJxHt-60g2U6N9eUfncmFS8n7z6DWqIOujL-qs/edit?usp=sharing
UPDATE:
From 12/9 onward it will be $290 per MVS cart and $340 for AES. Looks like this forum has single-handedly exhausted the supply of chips from all 3 suppliers and all that remains are some highly oxidized ones (godspeed to whoever bought the 100 used ones if the remaining new ones are already rusted). The $10 bump will cover the difference in cost to buy sacrificial carts instead (no extra charge for the extra labor). All already deposited folks and those who get it in today/tomorrow morning who I've messaged recently will be honored at the original price!
Once we've hit the first 75 I am going to cut things short for a few and just keep a waitlist going. Every 12 I'll do another batch.
To keep this straight for myself since prices have fluctuated and the chip situation has changed:
Up until 11/9 : 280/330
11/9 - 12/12 : 290/340
12/13 forward: 305/355
Deposit moving forward (covers cost of cart and 1/3 of sac cart cost):
MVS: $80
AES: $125
Current count: 75/75
Waitlist:
22/24
Waitlist for potential third batch:
0/12
Last edited:
