I came to a similar solution for my hori arcade stick - I wired it up with a db15 so I could plug it into my supergun/mvs, but then I wanted to also use it on other systems, and didn't want to unplug every pin from the buttons each time I switch systems. I've used the cheap ebay db15 breakout boxes for now, there's no soldering and they have a plastic case, but they are on the large side. db9 would be good too but I needed more pins.
I wonder if Midway ever tried to come up with a clever name for theirs. Harder to do when you need LP, LK, and Run. The Low Harness just doesn’t sound as sexy.
@Scarlet Sprites Honestly when I thought "Kick Harness" I thought... like... "Kick Plate" on a door, or something you triggered with your foot to make your electric guitar make cool sounds. Midway... hm... how bout "Carnage Harness"
I watch every one of your videos and I will probably never own an arcade cabinet. It’s pretty fascinating getting a glimpse inside the hobby though. Again, nice production quality and good content.
Thanks man! Yeah I always hope that people are interested just to see what kind of nonsense goes on with this hobby. I watch stuff that I won’t ever get into either, and that’s mostly why I watch!
Exactly the same for me. I really don’t have interest in owning an arcade but really enjoy watching these videos, they’re quite interesting. Keep up the good work!
Yeah it’s perfect for that scenario. It makes hooking it up so much easier. Just keep a sheet of what your pins are so you don’t forget when you get a new game and then you can just make another cable if need be.
There’s that too. Thankfully some boards have the RCA outs or you can mod them to have those. Would have been great if all these companies could have agreed on a standardization back in the day but I suppose that was asking A LOT.
This was a great explanation. For those that don’t want to solder to the DB9 connector, you can buy male to female cables and cut them in the middle, then connect the wires to the wires on the PCB specific connectors.
Yeah, there are also solderless DB9s I’ve found too. These were cheaper though and I didn’t mind spending the time. You’re right though, if you understand the basic concept you can apply it to other parts and do the same thing.
I know this first world problem all too well. My solution was to standardize on one format across all of my boards for the games which require a kick harness. The standard I went with is CPS2 style connector. The way I did this is via CPS2 harness adapters for everything I own, including MK2, UMK3, CPS1, Namco System 12 (Tekken Tag 1), Sega ST-V and Taito F3. I thought about doing something like this re: DB9 connector but I decided I really didn't want to touch my cabinet wiring at all when I change boards, which is frequently. Now all of my cabs are wired "permanently" with a CPS2 kick harness and all of my boards connect cleanly, as if I was swapping a CPS2 motherboard. Even Atomiswave was adapted to this standard, via Atlus adapter at the JAMMA edge which moves buttons 4 & 5 to a CPS2 style connector. Everything I used to make this happen was purchased from JNX or from the user community on the A-P forums. Now if you want to talk blasphemy, I play MK2 and UMK3 on an Astro City cabinet. But at least I do have the option of plugging in a USB controller/stick for those games, which was another thing I did to those machines.
Yeah the Lions3 plates are really awesome! I wish he did Rampage or some others for the Wolf boards. James really is the guy when it comes to sharing knowledge with the community.
Yea, this looks like a perfect solution to the issue of kick harness swap outs. Clean, nest and easy... Well, easy once pinned out... Haha! Thanks for the tip!
Thx for diving into this. Interesting to know. I was mulling over starting an arcade collection the same time I was researching a JAMMA set up to consolize the MVS. Glad I gave it up and just decided to go the MiSTer route, but I'm still an arcade fanboy. Noticed you have AvP running on your Astro City cab. Holy grail game for me. Played the hell out of it in college and MAME later
Arcade boards are pretty fun and it’s really a hobby all it’s own. I can troubleshoot and do basic repairs, but the heavy stuff like surface mount chips and even moderate pcb repair is still beyond me. The AvP game is actually running off the Darksoft CPS2 multi that was installed in that cab, but has since moved over to Big Blue.
They actually shipped in Big Blues, but like you mention, my setup only has a CP for two players. I’m ok with that though. Even the 4P Midway cabinet rarely has three people going on it at my place. pin.it/JpSLLfd
I did this to my cabs because I had a mess of 3 spliced harnesses in each cab. Tekken mk and sf. It was when I got the small cab super gun that had db15 for controllers and db9 for extra buttons that I thought to standardise my cabs. Was going to wire my splice all my arcade standard jamma to db15 too but haven’t got around to it.
Those sketches are actually hi res graphics :) For me i just have one jamma cab (new astro city) so i crimped all my kick harnesses (namco, midway, capcom) to the 10 pin amp connector. Complications arise when you throw jvs into the mix though! Eg. sega rev b jamma to jvs which assumes buttons 1-5 on jamma, and button 6-9 (yes 9!) on kick harness, necessitating another harness which connects between control panel and control panel headers. Crazy, but i guess i enjoy using all the original harnesses.
Hello, I’m thinking about getting an apricade to put into my total carnage cabinet with a jamma harness. Would the four joysticks work with a jamma harness?
Dude help me out here. I'm looking to buy an Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 pcb. Is it just one main board with integrated sound or is there a separate sound board? I see a few on ebay but listed as just mainboard
Funny you're using this in an astro city I thought all already had this setup included from factory. In mine the kick harness has two AMP female connector on each end, one in the panel next to the 1 and 2 players usual plugs and one inside the cab where you can then change the end of the cable like you did. But good trick ! well done
@@ScarletSprites oh yeah most likely then, guess you don't mind since unlike us peasants you don't have to change the panels all the time haha. I rarely comment because I don't feel comfortable writing in english but awesome channel man. Made my quarantine much more fun 👍
I only have one panel for this cab, lol. That would be the major solution; remove the panel and add a Mortal Kombat styled panel for the Astro City. Thanks for commenting, I don’t judge anyone’s English. I certainly can’t write in another language either.
Street figther has kick pin battery. As far as rewire you can also use (2) 8 pin molex connectors well 1 male a d 2 female use mk board female 8 pin molex and leave kick mk plug with mk board and leave kick street figther plug with cps2 a board male 8 pin molex connector stays on jamma harness in cab. Is how I used to do them makes easy in a d out no matter board
Yoo scarlet i have a jpac on a real mk4 switcher 6 way.. how would i hook up a kickharess to the jpac? Without hackin up my original cab Running groovymame i wanna be able to go back in forth to real game boards.
How does that apply to my street fighter II CE that I have running with a supergun and Saturn controllers? How do I plug/wire the kick harness in this case?
The same concept could apply but I really have no idea how your Supergun is setup. Presumably there is already an option for this that standardizes the kicks to the controller?
It was really helpful. Initially it showed me that 2P wasn’t working and it was because the second ground wasn’t connected. All is working fine now though!
Interesting video! But perhaps you can put for db9 connector an hood plastic and no hot glue? 🙂 (or this installation is for test in one step) Jamma nation help me several times for finding solution about modding... last time, for change battery on a slot with not rechargeable battery (and pull off some composant for no charging)... happy they are here for helping hand (and other one 🙂) It’s cool to see your basement again!
Yes, I think I’m definitely going to grab some cases for the DB9 connectors to make things look better. The glue works until I can get those. Thanks for watching again!
Now that I can actually use the buttons, yes! It’s definitely different than 2 which I’m more familiar with. I probably should take a look at some combos and general strategies to give myself a boost.
Unrelated question do you have a ki 1 . Reason I ask is I been looking for a ki 1 that its Toshiba laptop hard drive did not warp and throw errors due to heat in atract mode. I do know you can get a micro sd solution but want a original setup
I don’t unfortunately. We had the cab in the downstairs of my dining hall at college. I wouldn’t mind picking it up but $600+ these days!? Yikes. Honestly, as far as the HDD goes I unplugged my SportStation one and left it mounted in the cab. Then I plugged in the Compact Flash card. It’s the same game being delivered to the board and I don’t even think about it really. I’d strongly consider going that route, but I admire the pursuit of all original.
@@ScarletSprites I tried playing MK2 and KI in my Capcom Impress, but they just weren't the same in a candy cabinet (due to button layout and the overall experience). I eventually had to get dedicated cabinets for those boards (they're both Midway cabinets that look great side by side). I still have a Midway-to-CPS2 kick harness converter if anyone needs it!
Short sited when that was being developed I suppose. Atomiswave I think pulls five without a kick harness. Seems different companies found ways around the limitation.
This is the #1 thing preventing me from being a true arcade fan. I have 40-some PCBs, but still don't have a box of random wires and connectors for projects like this. For shame.
Soldering iron, wiring, wire stripper, multimeter are tools you most definitely should have on hand. I get it though, it’s easy to start accumulating and then it spirals out of control.
Probably the next one is the live panel on August 8th via LIRetro. I’ll actually be on twice that day, once alone and then later in the evening as a guest on someone else’s panel. The weekends have just been tough to pull that together recently but I did enjoy that and it was fun talking to everyone. I want to get back to doing those.
Could you not purchase a female CPS2 connector and then build a CPS2 to Midway adapter? Then you wouldn’t be “inventing” a new standard with DB9 that you’ll need to remember when you build another adapter
You could. Firstly though, I don’t have any JST connectors on hand. For subsequent boards you’d then just be doing the same thing anyways (like a Namco, or even CPS1 SF).
Wow... That UMK3 board is gorgeous and high class.
The plexi plates really sell it. It’s also nice protection and keeps the board relatively flat.
I came to a similar solution for my hori arcade stick - I wired it up with a db15 so I could plug it into my supergun/mvs, but then I wanted to also use it on other systems, and didn't want to unplug every pin from the buttons each time I switch systems. I've used the cheap ebay db15 breakout boxes for now, there's no soldering and they have a plastic case, but they are on the large side. db9 would be good too but I needed more pins.
So that’s why they call it a “kick harness”. Honestly... never knew that was the significance. You learn something every day.
I wonder if Midway ever tried to come up with a clever name for theirs. Harder to do when you need LP, LK, and Run. The Low Harness just doesn’t sound as sexy.
@Scarlet Sprites Honestly when I thought "Kick Harness" I thought... like... "Kick Plate" on a door, or something you triggered with your foot to make your electric guitar make cool sounds. Midway... hm... how bout "Carnage Harness"
I never picked up on it either. I feel like an idiot now!
I did similar about 20 years ago, when developing a swappable fighting stick build. I'm glad to see my idea wasn't as convoluted as people thought.
Well I don’t know if this should be considered the bar. We might just be convoluted together.
I watch every one of your videos and I will probably never own an arcade cabinet. It’s pretty fascinating getting a glimpse inside the hobby though. Again, nice production quality and good content.
Thanks man! Yeah I always hope that people are interested just to see what kind of nonsense goes on with this hobby. I watch stuff that I won’t ever get into either, and that’s mostly why I watch!
Exactly the same for me. I really don’t have interest in owning an arcade but really enjoy watching these videos, they’re quite interesting. Keep up the good work!
As an new owner of MK1 board, I will definitely do this so I can swap it into my SF2 cabinet, thanks!
Yeah it’s perfect for that scenario. It makes hooking it up so much easier. Just keep a sheet of what your pins are so you don’t forget when you get a new game and then you can just make another cable if need be.
I have a JVS setup in my net city and I use the jammafier from irken labs, its a pretty damn good piece of kit for jamma to JVS without the headaches!
I have a Capcom JVS converter that works great too :)
Thank you. Toying with the idea of a candy cab one day. This makes sense for multiple hardware.
Hell I'd be happy with stereo connector standardization.
There’s that too. Thankfully some boards have the RCA outs or you can mod them to have those. Would have been great if all these companies could have agreed on a standardization back in the day but I suppose that was asking A LOT.
@@ScarletSprites Yes! I have DOZENS of boards that need modding for RCA outs...wish someone sold connectors for these!
What an elegant solution. Well done!
Thanks man, definitely far more convenient than before!
This was a great explanation. For those that don’t want to solder to the DB9 connector, you can buy male to female cables and cut them in the middle, then connect the wires to the wires on the PCB specific connectors.
Yeah, there are also solderless DB9s I’ve found too. These were cheaper though and I didn’t mind spending the time. You’re right though, if you understand the basic concept you can apply it to other parts and do the same thing.
I know this first world problem all too well. My solution was to standardize on one format across all of my boards for the games which require a kick harness. The standard I went with is CPS2 style connector.
The way I did this is via CPS2 harness adapters for everything I own, including MK2, UMK3, CPS1, Namco System 12 (Tekken Tag 1), Sega ST-V and Taito F3. I thought about doing something like this re: DB9 connector but I decided I really didn't want to touch my cabinet wiring at all when I change boards, which is frequently. Now all of my cabs are wired "permanently" with a CPS2 kick harness and all of my boards connect cleanly, as if I was swapping a CPS2 motherboard. Even Atomiswave was adapted to this standard, via Atlus adapter at the JAMMA edge which moves buttons 4 & 5 to a CPS2 style connector.
Everything I used to make this happen was purchased from JNX or from the user community on the A-P forums. Now if you want to talk blasphemy, I play MK2 and UMK3 on an Astro City cabinet. But at least I do have the option of plugging in a USB controller/stick for those games, which was another thing I did to those machines.
"I was fooling around in the basement........" Heh
Seduction begins with “you wanna see my 4-slot?”
Love the UMK3 PCB! Looks amazing. I love JNX so many hours saved in mvs consolation/kick harness standardization
Yeah the Lions3 plates are really awesome! I wish he did Rampage or some others for the Wolf boards. James really is the guy when it comes to sharing knowledge with the community.
Awesome fix. I wish I had a cab to play all the old arcade games.
It’s a sweet time saver. Hang in there Linda, your day for a cab is coming!
Yea, this looks like a perfect solution to the issue of kick harness swap outs. Clean, nest and easy... Well, easy once pinned out... Haha! Thanks for the tip!
Thx for diving into this. Interesting to know. I was mulling over starting an arcade collection the same time I was researching a JAMMA set up to consolize the MVS. Glad I gave it up and just decided to go the MiSTer route, but I'm still an arcade fanboy. Noticed you have AvP running on your Astro City cab. Holy grail game for me. Played the hell out of it in college and MAME later
Arcade boards are pretty fun and it’s really a hobby all it’s own. I can troubleshoot and do basic repairs, but the heavy stuff like surface mount chips and even moderate pcb repair is still beyond me. The AvP game is actually running off the Darksoft CPS2 multi that was installed in that cab, but has since moved over to Big Blue.
@@ScarletSprites AvP on a Big Blue? Sacrilege! ;-) What about Player 3?
They actually shipped in Big Blues, but like you mention, my setup only has a CP for two players. I’m ok with that though. Even the 4P Midway cabinet rarely has three people going on it at my place.
pin.it/JpSLLfd
Lotta hot button shots here. I stopped watching Kenneth Copeland tongues remixes to come here and I was not disappointed.
Link plz. I’ll allow it.
ua-cam.com/video/GBIDsFeGESc/v-deo.html
I did this to my cabs because I had a mess of 3 spliced harnesses in each cab.
Tekken mk and sf.
It was when I got the small cab super gun that had db15 for controllers and db9 for extra buttons that I thought to standardise my cabs. Was going to wire my splice all my arcade standard jamma to db15 too but haven’t got around to it.
I thought about doing that and kept thinking there had to be a better way. I definitely recommend standardizing it to something you can plug and play.
Those sketches are actually hi res graphics :)
For me i just have one jamma cab (new astro city) so i crimped all my kick harnesses (namco, midway, capcom) to the 10 pin amp connector. Complications arise when you throw jvs into the mix though! Eg. sega rev b jamma to jvs which assumes buttons 1-5 on jamma, and button 6-9 (yes 9!) on kick harness, necessitating another harness which connects between control panel and control panel headers. Crazy, but i guess i enjoy using all the original harnesses.
Coming at you in 4K!
Hello, I’m thinking about getting an apricade to put into my total carnage cabinet with a jamma harness. Would the four joysticks work with a jamma harness?
I don’t know what the pinout looks like for an arpicade. Smash and TC are straight Jamma but with the fourth button enabled.
Somethings the small stuff is the most interesting out of them all Scarlet. Nice work for sure. Amazing that you did this bro. 8^)
Anthony..
Tiny thing that makes a HUGE difference and is a big time saver. James is such a great resource for the community.
Dude help me out here. I'm looking to buy an Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 pcb. Is it just one main board with integrated sound or is there a separate sound board? I see a few on ebay but listed as just mainboard
UMK3 and MK3 are all Wolf boards, one single pcb.
Funny you're using this in an astro city I thought all already had this setup included from factory. In mine the kick harness has two AMP female connector on each end, one in the panel next to the 1 and 2 players usual plugs and one inside the cab where you can then change the end of the cable like you did. But good trick ! well done
My Astro may have been rewired before I got it. It’s basically just straight Jamma wired like an American cab.
@@ScarletSprites oh yeah most likely then, guess you don't mind since unlike us peasants you don't have to change the panels all the time haha. I rarely comment because I don't feel comfortable writing in english but awesome channel man. Made my quarantine much more fun 👍
I only have one panel for this cab, lol. That would be the major solution; remove the panel and add a Mortal Kombat styled panel for the Astro City.
Thanks for commenting, I don’t judge anyone’s English. I certainly can’t write in another language either.
both of us? dude. awesome video. thanks.
Hah, thanks man!
Street figther has kick pin battery. As far as rewire you can also use (2) 8 pin molex connectors well 1 male a d 2 female use mk board female 8 pin molex and leave kick mk plug with mk board and leave kick street figther plug with cps2 a board male 8 pin molex connector stays on jamma harness in cab. Is how I used to do them makes easy in a d out no matter board
Yeah, moles connectors would work for sure too! Nice tip!
Yoo scarlet i have a jpac on a real mk4 switcher 6 way.. how would i hook up a kickharess to the jpac? Without hackin up my original cab
Running groovymame i wanna be able to go back in forth to real game boards.
I’ve never owned or fooled with a jpac, sorry.
How does that apply to my street fighter II CE that I have running with a supergun and Saturn controllers? How do I plug/wire the kick harness in this case?
The same concept could apply but I really have no idea how your Supergun is setup. Presumably there is already an option for this that standardizes the kicks to the controller?
Man, bless that button check in the UMK3 service menu, right? :D
It was really helpful. Initially it showed me that 2P wasn’t working and it was because the second ground wasn’t connected. All is working fine now though!
Test menus are invaluable
Interesting video!
But perhaps you can put for db9 connector an hood plastic and no hot glue? 🙂 (or this installation is for test in one step)
Jamma nation help me several times for finding solution about modding... last time, for change battery on a slot with not rechargeable battery (and pull off some composant for no charging)... happy they are here for helping hand (and other one 🙂)
It’s cool to see your basement again!
Yes, I think I’m definitely going to grab some cases for the DB9 connectors to make things look better. The glue works until I can get those. Thanks for watching again!
Nice
Worked out ok!
🖐 I watched to the end. Have you had a chance to put any time into MK3?
Now that I can actually use the buttons, yes! It’s definitely different than 2 which I’m more familiar with. I probably should take a look at some combos and general strategies to give myself a boost.
Scarlet Sprites Sounds like a job for Gamefaqs :)
good info...
Thanks man!
Unrelated question do you have a ki 1 . Reason I ask is I been looking for a ki 1 that its Toshiba laptop hard drive did not warp and throw errors due to heat in atract mode. I do know you can get a micro sd solution but want a original setup
I don’t unfortunately. We had the cab in the downstairs of my dining hall at college. I wouldn’t mind picking it up but $600+ these days!? Yikes. Honestly, as far as the HDD goes I unplugged my SportStation one and left it mounted in the cab. Then I plugged in the Compact Flash card. It’s the same game being delivered to the board and I don’t even think about it really. I’d strongly consider going that route, but I admire the pursuit of all original.
@@ScarletSprites I tried playing MK2 and KI in my Capcom Impress, but they just weren't the same in a candy cabinet (due to button layout and the overall experience). I eventually had to get dedicated cabinets for those boards (they're both Midway cabinets that look great side by side). I still have a Midway-to-CPS2 kick harness converter if anyone needs it!
Some call it art 🖼😜👌
Indeed they do. Just not that hot glue.
Shit this is brilliant!!!
It’s pretty sweet. Definitely a game changer, no pun intended.
Man. I'm kinda pissed that the Jamma standard COULD have supported 6 buttons (instead of giving us unused pins and some duplicate Grounds). UGH!
Short sited when that was being developed I suppose. Atomiswave I think pulls five without a kick harness. Seems different companies found ways around the limitation.
This is the #1 thing preventing me from being a true arcade fan. I have 40-some PCBs, but still don't have a box of random wires and connectors for projects like this. For shame.
Soldering iron, wiring, wire stripper, multimeter are tools you most definitely should have on hand. I get it though, it’s easy to start accumulating and then it spirals out of control.
@@ScarletSprites The soldering iron is happening soon, at least. Those CPS-2 batteries are making me real antsy right now.
Next livestream soon?
Probably the next one is the live panel on August 8th via LIRetro. I’ll actually be on twice that day, once alone and then later in the evening as a guest on someone else’s panel. The weekends have just been tough to pull that together recently but I did enjoy that and it was fun talking to everyone. I want to get back to doing those.
Could you not purchase a female CPS2 connector and then build a CPS2 to Midway adapter? Then you wouldn’t be “inventing” a new standard with DB9 that you’ll need to remember when you build another adapter
You could. Firstly though, I don’t have any JST connectors on hand. For subsequent boards you’d then just be doing the same thing anyways (like a Namco, or even CPS1 SF).
lol, both of us...