Worklog Turknatr's Sega Genesis Arcade1up Conversion Project Thread!

[turknatr]

EDIT: Now a contest entry!!

Yo! Figured you might be interested in following my progress on a project I started in the weeks following MGC this year!

No one here will remember me from it, but I was an original member of the Benheck.com forums from probably 2007 until everyone stopped caring. I've always been interested in Sega projects, and the year of my first MGC in 2009 I was trying so hard to make a Sega Genesis Laptop, which never came to be. Here's a pic of my wearing my Sega shirt at MGC that year:

I have tried to convert an actual full-size cab to a Genesis before. Back in 2016 I owned a Virtua Fighter (1993) I got off Craigslist for $250, and I threw a model 2 genesis inside and a couple of 3-button controller mobos. I never did figure out how to get the RGB signal to play nice with the medium-resolution CRT. What this picture doesn't show is the VGA monitor literally duct taped to the front of the cabinet after I had already accepted defeat:

I have had the NBA JAM XL (Shaq Edition) Arcade1up cabinet for a little over two years now. When I first bought it, I was certain it was going to be a smash hit with friends and visitors, and it's safe to say that it hasn't been everything I had imagined. It's a cool cabinet and awesome set of games, but I just don't find myself playing it at all. Anyways, I'm older and wiser and more realistic in my old age, and I've decided this would be a good use of the Shaq Jam. There are a few important considerations, however:

• The Shaq Jam has 4 spots on the control panel. It is nice that it is a 3-button control layout, but what the hell am I supposed to do with the other two sets of controls?
• The cabinet is powered by a single 12v power input, but I want to have many components operating at different voltages and likely higher power draws than it can handle?
• How do I get the Genesis A/V signals to work with the existing monitor setup?

Now, a few of these questions I already knew the answer to. I had already performed the BOE monitor swap on both of these cabinets, and I was aware of many, many A1U mods that utilized HDMI to LVDS converter boards. I also feel comfortable replacing the power supply internally to something more suited for my project, even after being out of the game for so many years. But what about those damn controls?

Thankfully, the Sega Genesis does offer 4-player support for a surprising number of games. They released two iterations of their "Sega Team Player" accessory, which allows 4 (or more) controllers for compatible games. So we can hook up 4 controllers! But wait... wouldn't that severely inhibit the experience of the other, two player games?

If you've never used a 4-player A1U, you might not understand how uncomfortable it would be to have both players 1 & 2 jammed up together on the left side of the control panel. I knew that was not how I wanted my cab to play. It should be a good experience regardless of how many players there are. So I came up with a system utilizing relays to physically toggle between 2p/4p modes on the cabinet depending on what game you'd like to play!

By utilizing 4 of these 8-channel relays, and a single 4 channel relay to control all of them, I have effectively eliminated that problem. Two of the custom devices will switch between two seperate control inputs, and route that input to a single controller board. These modules will be hooked up to controller slots 1/2 on the team player. So one of them will be EITHER CP1 or CP2 and the other will be EITHER CP2 or CP3. The other two simply disable input from CP1 and CP4 on the control panel. Some extra quality of life features include disabling the LEDs on the buttons for CP1 and CP4 when in 2p mode. All of this will be triggered by a latching pushbutton switch on the control panel itself, which sends 5v to the 4-channel relay, triggering the others to switch into 2p mode.

There is a lot more that I didn't get to in this post, but I think this is a good synopsis of the project's basic goals. This week I will begin sanding, painting, and applying the custom graphics I designed and had printed.

The important things about this build that I am proud of are that it uses NO EMULATION and all-original hardware wherever possible. I want to keep this as authentic as I can while also making it look and feel as modern as possible. I've created a series of hastily-made vlogs documenting the work I've done so far, and if you'd like more information on this project, please feel free to send me a message, reply to this thread, or comment on the youtube videos. I plan on making a much more refined video upon completion, but for now it's a fun way to follow along.

Thanks for reading!!

-Ahron

Building the World's First Sega Genesis 4-Player Arcade Machine - Part One - Intro & Controls

Building the World's First Sega Genesis 4-Player Arcade Machine - Part Two - More Components

 

[Y2K]

Super cool! I love the idea of putting a game console inside an arcade machine, especially the Genesis which was touted one of the best platforms for arcade accurate ports for the time! Are you going to be utilizing a flashcart for this, or will you have an externally accessible cartridge slot?

 

[turknatr]

Hi @Y2K ! Great question! I am planning on cutting a hole for the cartridge slot on the existing control panel where the old power and volume controls were. I'll attach a still from the video to better illustrate this:

I plan on mounting the model 2 genesis I picked up at MGC this year to the A1U's "J" panel, which is a support beam located below the control panel. The way it is now, the cartridge will sit fairly low, so on my list of things to 3D model is a brace for the mobo that lifts it slightly higher so the cartridge sticks out a little bit more:

I want to keep this as authentic as possible, so I will be utilizing regular cartridges with easy access. I imagine it will be a novelty for people to play games they just picked up at MGC for the first time on my cab, I just think that would be so fun!!

 

[turknatr]

Heyo! Got in another work-day today!

I went into today knowing I had two main problems to solve with the Control Panel.

1. The latching pushbutton switch I bought for the 2P/4P toggle was ever-so-slightly too large for the existing hole. I needed to make it bigger.
   
   
2. There was no where for the cartridge to go! I needed to cut out my cart slot.

So I got to try out some fun new and scary power tools. First time using a jigsaw and a random orbital sander! I made the accommodations I needed in the Control Panel and moved on to sanding off the old painted-on graphics. After figuring out the right amount of pressure and motion, it came off with ease.

After that, I sorted out all the other parts that would need sanding and priming. I started with the control panel, and then moved on to a few of the front panels. I also painstakingly removed the old vinyl side art from the cabinet, which took forever and was super annoying, but worth the effort.

All the primer is dry now and ready to be painted and sanded again tomorrow, and after that I'm very excited to apply the artwork I designed. I did manage to sneak the new marquee in while I had some panels loosened, but I'll have to access that part at least one more time to replace the backlighting with my new, more powerful LEDs. Here's a link to the video I shot while working today.

Building the World's First Sega Genesis 4-Player Arcade Machine - Part Three - POWER TOOLS & Paint

More to come tomorrow!

-Ahron

 

[turknatr]

Hello Again!

Over the last 3 days I got a lot of work done! After Thursday's sanding and priming, I was ready to begin the actual painting. I sanded every surface that would have vinyl graphics applied with the orbital sander followed by a little bit of hand sanding.

Once everything was prepped, I began applying the first layer of semi-gloss black. I had heard from several people that this was the best choice for surfaces that vinyl would be applied to, and it certainly was a treat to roll on once I found a good technique.

After I got the first layer applied to everything, I had to wait 2+ hours before applying a second coat, so I hopped in the car and drove to the nearest Culver's for the second day in a row. I filmed my trip there on Thursday too, but my mic had died and I had no audio

Also, I forgot to show that the previous day I had installed the new marquee, so I took a moment to drool over that too.

After lunch, I applied second coats of paint to all surfaces, and it took less time than I thought, so I also tried to solve a few design problems in the meantime. One thing on my list was to cut away a large section of the plastic housing for the underside of the control panel. The plan the whole time has been to mount the Genesis to the "J" panel below, and we would need extra clearance for that to happen. I don't have much experience cutting plastic, so I had to experiment with the tools I had to find something that would work.

The drill with attached circular saw blade seemed to work the best, but by that point I had already made several fairly ugly cuts with the jigsaw, so I needed to design a 3D printed part to correct the part I overshot. This ended up being a fantastic idea and I'm sort of glad I created that problem for myself.

The following day I had some time after work, and decided I was just going to dive in to applying the vinyl. I had never done this before, yet I opted to start with the largest pieces, the side art. You may ask why I didn't start with something easier, and I just figured that evening was the most free time I was going to have for a week or so, and I knew it was going to be time consuming. I got to work sanding down the new black paint and prepping for installation.

I also made a last-minute decision to install the new marquee lighting while I still had everything taken apart somewhat. I got inside and removed the wood panel with the original light, and added mine to the top of the panel. This way both lights are options, so it could have a "bright" mode and a "dark" mode. The light did not come with any screws, so I actually re-used some of the case screws from the Genesis, giving them new life!

After that, I did the scary thing and I went ahead and lined up the side art. I'm not too proud to admit to design flaws or mistakes, and I realized pretty quickly I should have triple-checked my measurements of the side panels. Some of the text would get clipped upon trimming, and despite giving myself 1/2 bleed around the sides, it was still a pretty tight fit.

Oh well, the nice thing is I could always re-wrap it in the future, now that I'm an expert . It still turned out really good!

This morning before work, I sanded and prepped all the smaller wood pieces for vinyl application. I decided to be a little more aggressive with my sanding, and utilized the orbital sander a little more. The application process went even smoother this go-around, but it does look and feel quite awkward in practice. Here's a still of me holding the graphic in my mouth for stability:

The last graphic I applied today was the control panel overlay, which is made of a thicker laminated material. I am extremely grateful for that, because I had to unstick and start over twice with this piece to get it right, and it showed absolutely zero signs of distress. I designed this and the bezel with a white grid motif, similar to a lot of classic Genesis box art. The problem with that is the grid will absolutely give away if you installed it poorly because you will see if the edges are uneven.

After that was done, I applied some clamps to the control panel to be extra-sure that nothing was going to peel up, and I put all the pieces together in the cabinet temporarily to marvel at my creation. I was extremely pleased with how it all turned out!

I still have to apply the bezel graphic to the plexiglass, but externally it is 90% of the way there! I ordered some new X-Acto blades too before attempting to cut out the bolt holes on the sides, but I will do both of those things sometime this week. After the graphics are all done, then it's time for me to dive back in to the internals. I just wanted to get all of this done before it gets too hot and humid. As always, linked below is a video of all the work I did over the last three days!

Thanks for reading!

-Ahron

Building the World's First Sega Genesis 4-Player Arcade Machine - Part Four - Sanding and Graphics

 

[turknatr]

Hello Everyone! Time for another update!

I had a lot going on at work this week and haven't had any days off, but I didn't let that stop me from slowly chipping away at things on my to-do list for the arcade cabinet. The first thing I did this week was apply the last piece of vinyl to the monitor bezel. I will say, this was the most challenging piece yet, mostly due to the fact that the screen-hole in the center was pre-cut, which made aligning the graphic extra tricky once I started going. I wouldn't say it's 100% perfect, but it looks good enough and I always have the option of upgrading to something pre-mounted in the future.

After that, it was time to cut out the holes in the control panel overlay. This part was a breeze, as I used my glass coffee table in my living room as a DIY light table! The light shone beautifully and made identifying the cut lines a piece of cake. Despite that, it was still a time consuming operation.

Once all the holes were cut, I started to populate the control panel with buttons. I am using all black buttons with a blue LED glow around the outside of the button surface. I had ordered translucent blue LED buttons originally, but I deemed the quality was a little lower than I had hoped, but I still found a way to utilize them as the start buttons for all 4 players. Finally, I installed the crown jewel of the control deck, the all-metal latching pushbutton that will control the 2P/4P toggle.

Over the next few rainy days, I took care of some additional modifications to the cabinet pieces. The large front "kickplate" panel needed some additional slits cut on the bottom because I forgot to check its orientation before applying the graphic . Oh well, the rotary tool made short work of it. I also cut away a little more of the plastic base of the control panel where the Genesis will need to have clearance, and I cut the bolt holes out of the side panel art. Now everything is fitting like it should.

The next day, my SANWA joysticks arrived. I had originally considered keeping the A1U joysticks, as I found them completely playable, but I figured since I'm already cranking every other aspect of this project up to 11, I might as well buy the best joysticks too. This was fairly simple, just remove the mounting plate from the old joysticks and swap it on to the new ones. I accidentally stripped the very last screw on the final joystick I was working on, so I still ended up having to drill some new holes on the backside of the control deck. I very nearly screwed this part up, and I got a slight bulge on the surface from drilling a little too deep, but it did not puncture thankfully. I tapped it back down with a hammer and now it's barely noticeable. I also had to use some Goof Off to remove the old adhesive from the plates.

After I installed the joysticks, all of the controls were complete! I decided I wanted to try to incorporate the original deck protector, but I needed to make one additional cut for the cartridge slot. I had read many horror stories about trying to cut thin acrylic sheets like the one it was made from, but I wanted to try it anyways because I like the way it looks. I ordered a multi-purpose routing bit meant for a Dremel, but it did not fit in my generic rotary tool. I decided it was still worth the risk and put that sucker into my drill and started in on it. By going slowly, pausing to allow heat buildup to dissipate, and using a slight oscillating motion, I was able to successfully cut out the shape.

After that, the last thing to do was to test my custom-made "Cartridge Collar" I had 3D printed. I needed a piece that would guide the cartridge to the Genesis slot mounted below, but it needed to be secure AND not totally permanent. I came up with a design that utilized a sort of latching mechanism on the plastic walls so that when it was pushed down far enough, it would click into place. The "final" version of this piece is v16, so you can see I really spent a lot of time making sure every single aspect of it was perfect.

This is also the only 3D printed piece that will be public-facing, so I plan on sanding and painting it to make it look a little less homemade. Still, I'd say it turned out pretty good! It functions exactly as intended.

I actually do have a few days off this week, so I plan to start designing the mounts for the Genesis motherboard and beginning the massive amount of wiring later this week. I'm very excited to be this far along so soon, and can't wait to show off the finished project as soon as possible. Hopefully only a few more weeks! As always, here's a link to a video documenting my work this week:

Building the World's First Sega Genesis 4 Player Arcade Machine - Part Five - Bezel & Control Panel

Thanks for reading!!


-Ahron

 

[randomguy]

It looks great and super stylish!This year is definetely the year of arcades.
Keep up your work and good luck for finish it because, I really want to see the result.And,by the way,I just learn there was a genesis 4.

 

[turknatr]

Update Time! This is going to be lengthy!

This past week I decided it was time to start installing most of the main components and testing everything inside the actual cabinet. In order to do that, there were a few things I needed to wrap up, starting with the control panel wiring:

The first phase of this was wiring up all the LED buttons into two distinct "zones". By utilizing two of these distribution blocks inside the control panel, I was easily able to control which set of buttons are lit up depending on which "mode" the system is currently in. The block pictured on the right is wired to CP2 and CP3, or what will be P1 and P2 in 2-player mode. The other got wired up to CP1 and CP4, which will only be active during the 4-player modes.

There was also a very important wiring consideration that I realized two separate times this week. The wires for anything going to CP1 or CP4 need to be routed considerably lower than the 4 primary screw holes due to some wood and plastic getting in the way. I had to splice in some additional lengths of wire to circumvent this. I should also mention that at some point this week I made the decision to use the main latching pushbutton on the control panel (SW0) as an ON/OFF switch for the Genesis itself, and I would be adding two additional latching pushbutton switches to the front part of the control panel. SW1 would take over as the primary toggle for 2P/4P modes, and SW2 would activate a separate relay (R5) that switches the Team Player from Controller Port 1 to Controller Port 2 on the Genesis itself, due to some games (like Columns 3) requiring it to be plugged in to the second port.

With all the 5v lights tested and working, it was time to pivot to modifying the back panels. The lower back panel would need to have a larger hole cut to accommodate the 120v power receptacle, and I also decided to paint them black to match the rest of the cabinet. I designed and 3D printed a template for this, and then used that to outline the section I needed to remove. I once again utilized the Dremel Multi-Purpose Cutting bit to accomplish this, and it worked even better on the MDF.

I liked that idea so much, I also designed and printed a template for two evenly spaced 16.1mm holes for the new buttons in the plastic housing for the control panel. This time I added a line for center to ensure the install would look as clean as possible. A couple of pilot holes, cutting, and some sanding made this part a breeze:

After that, I moved on to mounting the Genesis motherboard to the J panel. This involved designing and printing what I would call a "mega" version of the stock cartridge brace. I'm not an engineer, but I do recognize that most of the force applied to the motherboard is from inserting and removing the game cartridges, so I attempted to design this structure to distribute that force across a wider area, since it also needed to elevate the motherboard about 1.5 inches above the wood panel.

The final design attaches at the same points as the original brace (a reinforced area on the motherboard), but spreads out towards the bottom and also features a thick bottom piece to provide some extra strength to the wood. This was all printed at 50% infill density and with 4 wall loops. It is fastened with 6 M5 bolts and nuts integrated into the bottom portion. I first outlined the parts with a Sharpie on the wood, then test fit everything together with the control panel, and then applied hot glue to temporarily hold it into place while I drilled the bolt holes. The end result is crazy strong!

The front portion is similarly robust, but only fastened with a couple of M4 bolts since there will be less force applied to it. The Genesis is attached at the front with two plastic spacers (washers?) I made just for this, and the main portion is mounted through the existing rivets on either side of the cartridge slot.

I also took this opportunity to attach the new speaker grills. They are just some cheap ones I found on amazon and are completely cosmetic, but I think they are a nice touch:

After that, I sanded and painted the back panels,. One coat of primer and two coats of black paint seemed to do the job:

Ok, now time to wire up the actual controls! I clearly labeled all the buttons with my new label maker (highly recommend) and got to wiring. The SANWA joysticks came with wiring harnesses, but of course this used a different color scheme than the one I had already established. After decoding that, I attached four 2ft portions of ribbon cable to the individual sets of controls. Two of the sets, CP2 and CP3, needed a special cable with two 10-pin connectors on the ends, since they would be attached to two different relays each. All of this wiring probably took 2-4 hours, but I broke it up over several sessions, so it's hard to say:

This is also when I installed the two switches to the front of the control panel housing. SW1 takes 5v off the first distribution block and sends it to the second, lighting up CP1 and CP4, and then also sends 5v out of the control panel, which will hook up to the 4-channel relay, which I have dubbed R0. That will switch on R1-R4 and R6 (this one is new, too). R1-4 handle the routing of CP1-CP4 to P1-P4 on the Team Player, and R6 removes the second controller plug coming out of the Team Player (TP2) from what I am calling "G2" (controller slot 2) on the Genesis itself. This also switches the Team Player from "Extra" (2P) mode to "Multi" (4P) mode. SW2 will enable R5, which is a mode I'm calling "4P+" that simply switches TP1 to G2 (for games like Columns 3). If that all sounds confusing, that's because it is! It should enable me to play the largest variety of 4-player games though. I think the only ones that might not work with these configurations are some of the EA Sports titles, which I am fine with missing out on. I will test this to know for sure.

Here's what everything looks like lit up. At several points during all of this, I also experimented with layering the two marquee prints I had. I hoped to sandwich the two together to further darken the black areas of the graphic, which looked a little washed out with the new brighter LED backlighting. I attempted this 3 times, and it proved to be more difficult than I had imagined. Pictured below is attempt #2, which is hard to see since it's just a still from my video, but the alignment was still off by a millimeter or two. What I ended up doing was using some small strips of Scotch tape to secure the edges to keep everything aligned, and the end result is incredible.

I also needed to make some additional modifications to the Team Player, now that we are integrating two more relays between that and the Genesis. I removed the old controller cables coming out of it, and soldered some 10-pin connectors that will hook up to R5 and R6. I tried to cut up the existing controller cables, but the internal wiring was awful to work with. It is that kind of wire where they also put cotton thread in with the copper strands, so I decided to order some aftermarket extension cables to sacrifice instead. I will be finishing that portion this week.

The next morning, I started wiring up the 12v components with the actual power supply I am using for this build. The subwoofer pictured below was rescued from the e-waste bin at work, so it cost me nothing, and it provides adequate amplification for the stock L/R (passive) speakers. I highly recommend looking around for old computer speakers for builds like this, as usually they are plenty powerful and run off of either 5v or 12v. The only annoying thing is I will have to open up the back to make volume adjustments, but if this were a real arcade cabinet in a real arcade, the volume would also be pre-set and only able to be changed by the operator, so I'm fine with it.

I put two additional power distribution blocks inside the cabinet body. One is for 12v main, which powers the subwoofer, marquee backlighting, LCD display, and (for now) the Genesis (more on that later). There is also a 5v block, but that one will be connected to R0, to control power distribution for the rest of the relays. I also integrated a dimmer switch for the marquee lighting (not pictured), as I may want to make brightness adjustments in the future. Here's a picture of the 12v block. Don't worry, I will cleanup the cable management once everything is complete.

I put everything together (except the control panel at this phase, but it's complete) and tested a game on it. Everything worked exactly as intended EXCEPT the audio. A few things were going on. I was hearing some low-level hum (or buzz, idk) at all times when the Genesis was on, and I was only getting audio out of one speaker and just signal-noise out of the other. The audio lines pulled directly from the AV pins were extremely distorted and noisy, and the audio coming off of the HDMI was less bad but still not quite right. I tried messing around with a few different things, and eventually I lost audio all together.

At this point, I decided to call it a week and wrapped up filming for the weekly youtube video. I ordered a new HDMI adapter, new cables, an HDMI audio extractor, new capacitors, and even the Triple Bypass mod chip, thinking that all of these things will help me troubleshoot exactly what was going on. In the time since then, I was able to get stereo audio by reflowing the solder joints on the AV connector and blowing some air into the port and FIRMLY inserting the cable. I also ordered a replacement A/V jack that I may decide to integrate too.

There is still some buzz/hum on the speakers, however. I've been reading up on this, and I think it's an issue caused by the power input to the motherboard, so I ordered an OEM Genesis 2 power supply that I will have hooked up separately from the main power supply. Still, I think I'll probably opt to use the Triple Bypass at minimum, and maybe replace the capacitors and voltage regulator too since I'm already changing things on the Genesis.

That's all for this week! Thanks for reading, and as always, here's a link to my video documenting all the work I did:

Building the World's First Sega Genesis 4 Player Arcade Machine - Part Six - Wiring & Installation

Cheers,
Ahron

 

[jose_Leo12]

Man, I was so involved in my project that I forgot to look at all the incredible projects that are coming up in the competition, it was incredible, great work!

 

[turknatr]

Time for another update, y'all!

I started this week with putting the finishing touches on my "Cartridge Collar" piece. I sanded them one last time with 1500 grit, then applied one last layer of black spray paint. I would say the biggest challenge with these was not the painting itself, but the drying. My strategy this time was to apply the paint to the pieces in a shallow cardboard box, and then quickly move them inside to avoid any chance of debris sticking to the wet surface. For the most part, this worked!

After the final layer of paint dried, I applied some Rust-Oleum Engine Enamel as a top coat. This has a pretty glossy finish, but I feel like it will protect it well since it is a high-contact area of the cabinet. One of the two pieces had the coating peel a little bit when I removed the painter's tape, but 1 out of 2 ain't bad!

The next challenge was decoding the aftermarket extension cable wiring scheme. The wire itself was SO much easier to work with, but while the colors of wire they used were the same, they were not a match for the pinout. I went through and tested each one with the multimeter to translate.

After I had cracked the code, I made up a couple of custom cables with 10 pin connectors to enable the necessary switching for the Team Player accessory.

After that, it was time to start mounting some of my custom components inside the cabinet. I chose to attach them on the opposite side from the 12v components, keeping them nice and close to the switched 5v distribution block. R0 is controlled by the same button on the front of the control panel that switches the lighting from 2p/4p, and that relay takes 5v directly from the power supply and sends it to R1-R4 and R6 when enabled. Pictured here is the arrangement for R1-R4. They had to be arranged in such a way so that the cables with two connectors can reach the necessary relays.

Then it was time to assemble R5 and R6. These relays interface directly with the team player, which is mounted on a support beam behind the front of the cab. R5 is the one that switches the first controller plug (TP1) to port 2 on the Genesis (G2). R6 simply removes the TP2 from G2, which is required for Team Player compatible titles. I should also mention that all of the relays are mounted with command strips, in the interest of keeping them easily removable for servicing.

Since I had already made the decision to utilize an OEM Model 2 power supply, I had another decision to make. Do I open it up and attach wires directly to the inside of the unit, or should I design something less destructive? I opted for the latter, and I got to work designing a cradle that would hold both the power supply itself, and a little single outlet module I had purchased. Is this an award-winning innovation in design? No, but it holds everything in place safely, and keeps the design a little more modular. The two wires coming off of the block are for L/N, direct from the power supply terminals.

After this, I did some testing, and every time I would power the cabinet on, the Genesis wouldn't do a damn thing. I wasn't sure if my homemade outlet was the problem, or if I had somehow done something to fully cook the motherboard, but I was getting a little frustrated. Through the power of troubleshooting, I was able to narrow down the problem to TP1 specifically. If TP2 was plugged in, everything worked fine, regardless of which port it was in. The opposite was true for TP1, so I knew it had to be something with that. After spending some time thinking critically about it, I went back and referenced some old footage I had shot, and realized that I had incorrectly wired the 10-pin connector for TP1, which was causing it to short out. I had mirrored the wiring horizontally instead of rotating it 180 degrees. I went and corrected this, and after that everything powered up flawlessly.

Finally, it was time to do some playtesting! I tried out Streets of Rage 2, a personal favorite of mine. In a single-player game, all of the controls worked perfectly. When I tried a game with two players, however, the second player would just walk towards the bottom of the screen and keep walking in place. A and B didn't work, and C did a combination of B+C.

I had seen a similar but less severe issue back when I was building the primary controller relay modules, so I figured I needed to re-wire the controller board for R2. I also went through and tested every single connection for errors, and I found none. It seemed I did everything correctly. Still, the issue persisted. I decided to consult Reddit, and found tons of posts regarding phantom inputs on Genesis model 2's. I tried every solution I found, including bypassing and removing EM filters, replacing capacitors, adding resistors, and NOTHING changed a damn thing.

I was feeling thoroughly defeated. My conclusion was that there was a fault with the IC that controlled input commands on the board, and it would be more effort than it's worth to replace just that component on a Genesis I bought at MGC for $20 untested. I decided the next day I was going to hit up the local game store and try to find another Model 2 and hope for better results.

I went to Video Game X-Change on the east side of Madison, and picked up this super clean Model 2 for $50. I asked about buying one without the cords or controller, but they only sold in bundles, oh well. This one even came with an OEM power supply, which I had just paid $20 for on eBay, so I considered it still a great deal. Plus, it never hurts to have backups, right? After testing it with BOTH 1P and 2P setups, I popped open the console, praying that it would be a match with the motherboard revision I already had, and it was close enough.

VA1 and VA0 both have a similar enough layout that it will work with my mounting system, as it is designed around those large holes in the front. I believe only VA3 & VA4 are different enough that they wouldn't work. As a bonus, it appeared the motherboard already had reflowed solder joints on the AV port, power connector, controller ports, and voltage regulator. I'm not sure if the shop owner or a previous owner did that, but it was a nice touch.

With the working console installed, I made some slight changes to the design for the ON/OFF switch functionality. Instead of being wired up directly to the switch on the console, the power would now be controlled at the source. A few reasons for this include providing some relief to the voltage regulator when the console is not on, as well as keeping the motherboard a little more modular, able to be swapped out much easier should something happen. In addition to this, I think that this will enable me to eventually have the LED indicator on the switch itself to correspond to the power status of the console, but I will deal with that later.

Now, time for some proper playtesting! I booted up Streets of Rage 2 again, and anxiously watched as the characters did not do anything unexpected. Score! I tried out every button command for both players, and it worked flawlessly. I kicked my own ass in duel mode, and then moved on to a 4-player game.

Admittedly, I tried out Columns 3 first, and the second 4-player mode (4P+) did not work the way I thought it would. Apparently that game REQUIRES a regular controller to be plugged in to G1 in addition to the team player to be plugged in to G2. Oh well, that is the only game I know of that mandates that. I will probably rewire some stuff to make that switch toggle EXTRA/MULTI modes on the Team Player, which DOES open the door for all of those EA 4-Way Play titles. We will still be able to achieve a high level of compatibility (technically higher than before). College Slam (pictured above) is a regular Team Player game, so I used that for testing instead. Everything worked perfectly!

With testing concluded, I installed the modified deck protector and cartridge collar to the control panel.With everything fully assembled, this thing looks incredible. I decided that was a great place to stop for this week, as now it is fully playable. I attached the back panels and moved it out of the middle of my living room for the first time in weeks, and decided to take a few days off and actually enjoy playing the damn thing before I move on to the final finishing touches.

I beat Streets of Rage 2 (on easy mode) that night and enjoyed a relaxing beverage. This week I will install the Triple Bypass mod to the Genesis, and possibly do the cap kit as well. The capacitors I already ordered were for the VA1 variant, but since so many of them get removed for the Triple Bypass, they may work anyways.

As always, here is a link to my work-log video for this week: Building the World's First Sega Genesis 4 Player Arcade Machine - Part 7 - Relays & Troubleshooting

Thank you so much for reading, and I'm very excited to finally enjoy what I've been working on. I'll see you all next week for the (mostly) final wrap-up!

-Ahron

 

[Y2K]

Time for another update, y'all!

I started this week with putting the finishing touches on my "Cartridge Collar" piece. I sanded them one last time with 1500 grit, then applied one last layer of black spray paint. I would say the biggest challenge with these was not the painting itself, but the drying. My strategy this time was to apply the paint to the pieces in a shallow cardboard box, and then quickly move them inside to avoid any chance of debris sticking to the wet surface. For the most part, this worked!

View attachment 39016

After the final layer of paint dried, I applied some Rust-Oleum Engine Enamel as a top coat. This has a pretty glossy finish, but I feel like it will protect it well since it is a high-contact area of the cabinet. One of the two pieces had the coating peel a little bit when I removed the painter's tape, but 1 out of 2 ain't bad!

View attachment 39017

The next challenge was decoding the aftermarket extension cable wiring scheme. The wire itself was SO much easier to work with, but while the colors of wire they used were the same, they were not a match for the pinout. I went through and tested each one with the multimeter to translate.

View attachment 39018

After I had cracked the code, I made up a couple of custom cables with 10 pin connectors to enable the necessary switching for the Team Player accessory.

View attachment 39019

After that, it was time to start mounting some of my custom components inside the cabinet. I chose to attach them on the opposite side from the 12v components, keeping them nice and close to the switched 5v distribution block. R0 is controlled by the same button on the front of the control panel that switches the lighting from 2p/4p, and that relay takes 5v directly from the power supply and sends it to R1-R4 and R6 when enabled. Pictured here is the arrangement for R1-R4. They had to be arranged in such a way so that the cables with two connectors can reach the necessary relays.

View attachment 39020

Then it was time to assemble R5 and R6. These relays interface directly with the team player, which is mounted on a support beam behind the front of the cab. R5 is the one that switches the first controller plug (TP1) to port 2 on the Genesis (G2). R6 simply removes the TP2 from G2, which is required for Team Player compatible titles. I should also mention that all of the relays are mounted with command strips, in the interest of keeping them easily removable for servicing.

View attachment 39022

Since I had already made the decision to utilize an OEM Model 2 power supply, I had another decision to make. Do I open it up and attach wires directly to the inside of the unit, or should I design something less destructive? I opted for the latter, and I got to work designing a cradle that would hold both the power supply itself, and a little single outlet module I had purchased. Is this an award-winning innovation in design? No, but it holds everything in place safely, and keeps the design a little more modular. The two wires coming off of the block are for L/N, direct from the power supply terminals.

View attachment 39023

After this, I did some testing, and every time I would power the cabinet on, the Genesis wouldn't do a damn thing. I wasn't sure if my homemade outlet was the problem, or if I had somehow done something to fully cook the motherboard, but I was getting a little frustrated. Through the power of troubleshooting, I was able to narrow down the problem to TP1 specifically. If TP2 was plugged in, everything worked fine, regardless of which port it was in. The opposite was true for TP1, so I knew it had to be something with that. After spending some time thinking critically about it, I went back and referenced some old footage I had shot, and realized that I had incorrectly wired the 10-pin connector for TP1, which was causing it to short out. I had mirrored the wiring horizontally instead of rotating it 180 degrees. I went and corrected this, and after that everything powered up flawlessly.

View attachment 39024

Finally, it was time to do some playtesting! I tried out Streets of Rage 2, a personal favorite of mine. In a single-player game, all of the controls worked perfectly. When I tried a game with two players, however, the second player would just walk towards the bottom of the screen and keep walking in place. A and B didn't work, and C did a combination of B+C.

View attachment 39025

I had seen a similar but less severe issue back when I was building the primary controller relay modules, so I figured I needed to re-wire the controller board for R2. I also went through and tested every single connection for errors, and I found none. It seemed I did everything correctly. Still, the issue persisted. I decided to consult Reddit, and found tons of posts regarding phantom inputs on Genesis model 2's. I tried every solution I found, including bypassing and removing EM filters, replacing capacitors, adding resistors, and NOTHING changed a damn thing.

View attachment 39026

I was feeling thoroughly defeated. My conclusion was that there was a fault with the IC that controlled input commands on the board, and it would be more effort than it's worth to replace just that component on a Genesis I bought at MGC for $20 untested. I decided the next day I was going to hit up the local game store and try to find another Model 2 and hope for better results.

View attachment 39027

I went to Video Game X-Change on the east side of Madison, and picked up this super clean Model 2 for $50. I asked about buying one without the cords or controller, but they only sold in bundles, oh well. This one even came with an OEM power supply, which I had just paid $20 for on eBay, so I considered it still a great deal. Plus, it never hurts to have backups, right? After testing it with BOTH 1P and 2P setups, I popped open the console, praying that it would be a match with the motherboard revision I already had, and it was close enough.

View attachment 39028

VA1 and VA0 both have a similar enough layout that it will work with my mounting system, as it is designed around those large holes in the front. I believe only VA3 & VA4 are different enough that they wouldn't work. As a bonus, it appeared the motherboard already had reflowed solder joints on the AV port, power connector, controller ports, and voltage regulator. I'm not sure if the shop owner or a previous owner did that, but it was a nice touch.

View attachment 39029

With the working console installed, I made some slight changes to the design for the ON/OFF switch functionality. Instead of being wired up directly to the switch on the console, the power would now be controlled at the source. A few reasons for this include providing some relief to the voltage regulator when the console is not on, as well as keeping the motherboard a little more modular, able to be swapped out much easier should something happen. In addition to this, I think that this will enable me to eventually have the LED indicator on the switch itself to correspond to the power status of the console, but I will deal with that later.

View attachment 39030

Now, time for some proper playtesting! I booted up Streets of Rage 2 again, and anxiously watched as the characters did not do anything unexpected. Score! I tried out every button command for both players, and it worked flawlessly. I kicked my own ass in duel mode, and then moved on to a 4-player game.

View attachment 39031

Admittedly, I tried out Columns 3 first, and the second 4-player mode (4P+) did not work the way I thought it would. Apparently that game REQUIRES a regular controller to be plugged in to G1 in addition to the team player to be plugged in to G2. Oh well, that is the only game I know of that mandates that. I will probably rewire some stuff to make that switch toggle EXTRA/MULTI modes on the Team Player, which DOES open the door for all of those EA 4-Way Play titles. We will still be able to achieve a high level of compatibility (technically higher than before). College Slam (pictured above) is a regular Team Player game, so I used that for testing instead. Everything worked perfectly!

View attachment 39032

With testing concluded, I installed the modified deck protector and cartridge collar to the control panel.With everything fully assembled, this thing looks incredible. I decided that was a great place to stop for this week, as now it is fully playable. I attached the back panels and moved it out of the middle of my living room for the first time in weeks, and decided to take a few days off and actually enjoy playing the damn thing before I move on to the final finishing touches.

View attachment 39033

I beat Streets of Rage 2 (on easy mode) that night and enjoyed a relaxing beverage. This week I will install the Triple Bypass mod to the Genesis, and possibly do the cap kit as well. The capacitors I already ordered were for the VA1 variant, but since so many of them get removed for the Triple Bypass, they may work anyways.

As always, here is a link to my work-log video for this week: Building the World's First Sega Genesis 4 Player Arcade Machine - Part 7 - Relays & Troubleshooting

Thank you so much for reading, and I'm very excited to finally enjoy what I've been working on. I'll see you all next week for the (mostly) final wrap-up!

-Ahron

Awesome work so far Ahron, it's really coming together!!! Just out of curiosity, what are you doing for video out to the monitor? Does the monitor have 240p video inputs natively, or are you using a scaler?

 

[turknatr]

Hi @Y2K, currently it is using the Hyperkin HDMI adapter for the Genesis. It was just something I already had, but this design certainly leaves room for a future upgrade. I’ve looked at the RAD2X, and other component to HDMI scalers, but they are either perpetually out of stock or cost-prohibitive for now. That is certainly something I would like to add in the future!

 

[Y2K]

Hi @Y2K, currently it is using the Hyperkin HDMI adapter for the Genesis. It was just something I already had, but this design certainly leaves room for a future upgrade. I’ve looked at the RAD2X, and other component to HDMI scalers, but they are either perceptually out of stock or cost-prohibitive for now. That is certainly something I would like to add in the future!

Ah nice, not a terrible interim solution, but might I suggest giving GBS-Control a try? It's a really low cost way to convert those cheap & normally garbage GBS-8220 scaler boards into very usable hardware with great picture quality! If the monitor supports VGA input, then all you'd need to do is perform the mod on the GBS board, input RGBS from the Genesis to the scaler, then plug in the VGA output to the monitor. Configure the settings in the web UI to your liking, and you're all done! More info can be found here, but I think this would be a good way to elevate the project further!

 

[turknatr]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestion! It does support VGA, and I would be interested in exploring that. I'm interested to see how the video looks with the Triple Bypass + the cheap scaler. After I finish that part, I will determine next steps.