Converting the Hyper Neo Geo 64 Motherboards and wiring up driving controls for home - Pt 1

[Arcade-Projects]

This is part one of the MOST annoying conversion I've dealt with in my collection. What should have been an easy project has turned into a real migraine of a headache lol.

When I started the conversion, I had no reference as to whether anyone had every I/O board swapped a Hyper Neo Geo 64. All the old info indicated the motherboard is identical across all versions released, but I couldn't verify that. Once I finally found an I/O board (with masking tape marked "drive' on ebay) I bought it and decided "well it can't be that bad right"?

Wrong lol. While I did confirm swapping the I/O board does in fact "convert" one Hyper revision (fighting, driving, shooting) to the other, and that the drivers I/O is functionally similar to the Rev 1 fighting board, wiring became a nightmare. Normally these shipped with a wiring harness between the two 32 and 34 pin I/O mounted connectors to JST connectors mounted on the front of the motherboard tray on a metal bracket. My I/O board was missing these

and OF COURSE the schematics I could find did not show the I/O board connector pinout! It was only JST front mount! So now not only did I need to rewire a home wheel / pedal set to control the game, but I had zero idea where the damn pins were supposed to go in the first place ugh.

This is part one. Currently I have everything done except actually connecting the wheel and pedal to the board. It's booting games, the network check is spoofed to report back as a single cab, and the games are running. Still working on the connection pinout!

If anyone has suggestions / feedback lmk. This is the second "long form" video series I am doing on conversions, so whoever comes after me will have an easier time of it!

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