138-in-1 cart questions

Pinball

Kula's Candy
Joined
May 7, 2012
Posts
294
How does the game quality (emulation, sound quality etc) of the 138 in 1 compare with the 161 cart? Also, are there games on the 138 not on the 161? I'm just wondering if it's worth getting it even though I already have the 161.
 

Tanooki

War Room Troll
Joined
May 24, 2016
Posts
1,745
How does the game quality (emulation, sound quality etc) of the 138 in 1 compare with the 161 cart? Also, are there games on the 138 not on the 161? I'm just wondering if it's worth getting it even though I already have the 161.

http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/MVS_Multicart

That's the breakdown. The 138 has some games the 161 lacks that are actually kind of to actually expensive such as Twinkle Star Sprites and NAM1975 among others. The 138 is slow, acts like a flash kit (NeoSD) so it takes time to load the game. Also stuck with an annoying daughterboard so multi-slot systems don't work without doing a hack to it (like adding a dipswitch to it and removing the small board. It's kind of a headache which is why I never bought one though I'd like it. The 120in1 seems more reasonable. There is no emulation involved, and the sound quality is the same as an original unless the game has some problems due to little parts that should have been soldered to the board originally you can do if you have the ability/parts(wish I did as my 161 can get annoying on some games.)
 

pipes

DO NOT DEAL WITH!!!, DEAL OUTSTANDING!
Joined
Jan 28, 2010
Posts
2,711
Had both the 138 and the 161 a while back and ended up getting rid of the 161. I just prefer the 138 so much more. The actual loading times to get to the game title screen is almost identical to the 161. The reason why it seems slower is because the Neo splash screen plays in the background when the loading screen is up on the 138 so when it is done loading you go directly to the title screen. With the 161 you have to sit through the splash screen every time, so really there is not much difference there. IMO, the game list is slightly better on the 138 and the fact that you can hide all of the garbage bootleg +++ games is pure gold. Not having to wade through all that shit every time is priceless.
 

Tanooki

War Room Troll
Joined
May 24, 2016
Posts
1,745
But is there any good way to run it on a 2slot or more though? I know you can chop the board off and go with dipswitches but that I think loses the menu system and is kind of a pain in the ass.
 

pipes

DO NOT DEAL WITH!!!, DEAL OUTSTANDING!
Joined
Jan 28, 2010
Posts
2,711
But is there any good way to run it on a 2slot or more though? I know you can chop the board off and go with dipswitches but that I think loses the menu system and is kind of a pain in the ass.

I personally don't like the dipswitch mod....I much prefer just running it on a 1 slot and having a decent menu to select games. Pretty sure if you want to run it on a multi slot you're going to have to deal with that PITA dipswitch mod.
 

Rezolve82

n00b
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Posts
8
Hi all,

I have 138 in 1 cart and a CMVS. This cart doesnt work in my CMVS. Whats the dip switch mod? Can I play this cart without the sub pcb?

Regards.

If you have a 138-in-1 & a mvs 1-slot, you may want to check what model 1-slot you have, as I believe a couple of the oldest model 1-slots will not not play certain multi carts. If you load the cartridge without the subPCB it's just going to load the first game on the list, which I believe is KOF 2002 magic plus,... so that prolly not gonna do much for you. The dipswitch mod is a build some NeoGeo heads figured out that replaces the subpcb with a simple 8row dip switch like the one found on the mvs and other arcade PCBs,where in you can simply load the games manually by entering a code on the dipswitch while the systems off. I've also found in my case that some games that occasionally load glitchy from the menu board, (the quality of the subpcb builds vary from copy to copy as they're produced using spare parts harvested from other carts by the bootleggers in China) load better using the dip switch mod. You can either try to build one yourself or find someone experienced to make one for you. There was a user on these forums going by Nornor1 who prebuilt a number of them and was selling them case by case for awhile, and if you canfind him and he still has any, they were of excellent quality. You can find much of this info explained in greater detail by vets of this forum, either in the thread above or other threads on here relating to the 138-in-1.
 

Rezolve82

n00b
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Posts
8
I personally don't like the dipswitch mod....I much prefer just running it on a 1 slot and having a decent menu to select games. Pretty sure if you want to run it on a multi slot you're going to have to deal with that PITA dipswitch mod.

It will technically run on multi-slots I can say personally, its just a matter of the cord reaching. However in my case the difficulty dips on the sub PCB never really worked, although im not sure if that's due to the difference in Jamma//mvs wiring between 1slots and multi-slots or just that I got a corrupted subpcb.
 

Tanooki

War Room Troll
Joined
May 24, 2016
Posts
1,745
Well if it comes down to the dipswitch I'd rather get the 120in1 and forget it as that's unacceptable having to crack it open and flip switches while looking at some sheet to let me know what game will boot. I'd rather see someone make a smart fix for it if it's possible, create a 1ft extension cable for the daughter board?
 

Rezolve82

n00b
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Posts
8
Well if it comes down to the dipswitch I'd rather get the 120in1 and forget it as that's unacceptable having to crack it open and flip switches while looking at some sheet to let me know what game will boot. I'd rather see someone make a smart fix for it if it's possible, create a 1ft extension cable for the daughter board?

The dip mod replaces the subpcb, so there's no cracking open the cartridge, if you mean opening the cab, that's what you're doing Everytime you change a legit game in an mvs. I can say the subpcb will reach from the slot to the harness as is. It's just a tight fit, but not so bad you're in danger of breaking anything.
 

aaronjmill

Zero's Secretary
Joined
Jun 20, 2014
Posts
155
The load times are awful on the 138 w/ the daughter card, imo, and starting me in the middle of a game is fucking weird and unnecessary. I am a huge proponent of the 138 w/ dipswitch. Loading times are instantaneous, no shitty menu to navigate, no wonky daughterboard to fuck with, and the 138 has the most unique games out of any other multicart. Emulation is fine, as fine as you can get from any multicart.
 

GadgetUK

Ace Ghost Pilot
Joined
Sep 27, 2013
Posts
1,323
It's worth pointing out that there is no emulation! These aren't like the Pandoras box or anything like that. For the most part the game ROMS on the 138 in 1 are dumps from the original carts. There are some bootlegs on there, and they are also the odd game that has a corrupt or hacked ROMs etc. Cyberlip is a good example, the samples on intro are corrupted or missing, but the game plays fine. Similar with League Bowling - samples missing in a couple of places. Super Side Kicks 1 has the protection still built in - so you cannot play it lol. But many games do work really well on the 138 in 1 and they haven't been hacked to add the hold down start for x seconds like you get on the 161 in 1 and 120 in 1.

You can run two of these in a multislot using the DIP switch mod btw - that works fine. Once a game is set using the DIP switch, it just boots like the original cart would.
 

Tanooki

War Room Troll
Joined
May 24, 2016
Posts
1,745
Well that would be the plus if anything, fast loading. I imagine if someone were willing you could just type up or write down the switch needed for the game you wanted and just ignore the other broken or useless pirate shit on there entirely with the menu gone. I imagine on a multislot you probably could leave it powered up, go to the other slot(s) and flip the switches before toggling back and that would be alright too not having to power down.
 

GadgetUK

Ace Ghost Pilot
Joined
Sep 27, 2013
Posts
1,323
Well that would be the plus if anything, fast loading. I imagine if someone were willing you could just type up or write down the switch needed for the game you wanted and just ignore the other broken or useless pirate shit on there entirely with the menu gone. I imagine on a multislot you probably could leave it powered up, go to the other slot(s) and flip the switches before toggling back and that would be alright too not having to power down.

Yeah, I am quite surprised that no one has tried to flog a 138 in 1 inside a genuine shell (ie. to try and pass it off as an original game). No doubt if the bootleggers read this post they will start doing so lol.
 

keiffer01

n00b
Joined
Jan 26, 2017
Posts
5
Sorry from bringing back this thread, but I just recently bought this cart and have been having problems trying to load games from it. I'm using an early 5v AES (original power supply too) with Unibios 3.3, and a Fusion MVS to AES cart converter. I ditched the jamma menu board included with the cartridge and used NorNor1's 8 dip switch connector to select the games manually. Problem is I can only load about 8 games. Dip switch 1 has to be ON or else I get blank screens no matter the selection. I can then only flip up another single switch, else I get glitches, doesn't boot, or it automatically loads KOF 2002 Magic Plus 2. Does anyone have a clue what is going on? Is the 138 in 1 just not fully compatible with AES?
 

Thierry Henry

Tung's Hair Stylist
Joined
Apr 3, 2013
Posts
1,026
Got one of these on the cheap the other day. I couldn't get this cart to work with my MV-1FS, though.

I can access the main screen but can't do anything with it. It looks as if it bypasses my MV-1F's regular joystick ports when selecting options/games. So the stick and buttons don't register at all.

Any workarounds for this?
 

donluca

Ninja Combat Warrior
Joined
Aug 19, 2015
Posts
529
definitely dip-switch mod it. IMHO that's the main selling point of the 138 cart and is the one I use everyday.
 

ovalfastlx

Kuroko's Training Dummy
Joined
Jul 30, 2017
Posts
78
Got one of these on the cheap the other day. I couldn't get this cart to work with my MV-1FS, though.

I can access the main screen but can't do anything with it. It looks as if it bypasses my MV-1F's regular joystick ports when selecting options/games. So the stick and buttons don't register at all.

Any workarounds for this?
insert a credit and then it lets you choose a game, there's a timer for when selecting the game.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

Thierry Henry

Tung's Hair Stylist
Joined
Apr 3, 2013
Posts
1,026
insert a credit and then it lets you choose a game, there's a timer for when selecting the game.

You can't insert a credit when there is no button input response. You can't do squat.

In any case, I think I found the info I need.

I recently got hold of a 138-in-1, but I'm having problems running it:
When I connect both the harness and the cart, it takes me to the game select menu just fine, except it doesn't respond to joystick input at all, so I can't choose/start the games I want. It basically just sits there in the menu, you can't do anything :(
If I leave the harness out and only insert the cart it starts up the first game on the game-list (KOF2002 MAGIC II) and everything works, joystick input etc, no problems at all.
I've tested with different joysticks and it's the same, joystick input doesn't work in the game select menu. I've also tested the different switch settings (S1 and S2 on the harness), makes no difference to the joystick input problem.

And,

I tried wiring up a controller-port on the supergun instead of using the joy ports on the MVS board and now the joystick input works in the menus!
I guess the jamma adapter on the 138-in-1 didn't read the joystick input when I was using the joy ports on the MVS board.
 

mdd45

n00b
Joined
Jun 27, 2016
Posts
21
if i boot the 138 in 1 without the daughter board connected (remove it from the multicart or just have it unplugged from mvs) on my consolized mvs until my dip switch module arrive in order to test if it is working, will it boot into game, is this going to damage either the mvs or the multicart?
 
Last edited:

Azathoth

Galford's Armourer
20 Year Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Posts
459
No, it will just boot to one of the KoF 2k2 hacks.
 

Azathoth

Galford's Armourer
20 Year Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Posts
459
Has anyone found a way to keep the sub-PCB from forcing its own values into the soft dip settings?

Soft dip changes made in the test menu are not saved once you reset or select another game due to the board overriding them with it's own defaults.
 
Top