Naomi/Naomi 2 driving game conversions?

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Fri Nov 25, 2011 5:54 pm

First off, my apologies if this should be in the tech section. I figured it could reasonably go either place.

I just picked up a Crazy Taxi US upright cabinet in excellent shape! (I had a Naomi Universal before, which I just sold a month or two ago. Crazy Taxi was one of my favorite games to play in the arcade as a kid, and I'm absolutely thrilled!

I am curious, though, what I can swap into this cab when I want something else to change up the arcade lineup a bit. Are Jambo Safari and 18 Wheeler both straight cartridge swaps, or does either require any extra buttons or modifications? If I could find an F355 Challenge cartridge, would that work in my cabinet?

Finally, if I wanted to set up an Initial D setup, what all would I need? I'm assuming I need a Naomi 2 mobo, Naomi 2 GD rom setup, and the disc, but I also know very little about Naomi 2 hardware.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Collin

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:26 pm

Naomi2 is a direct swap with the Naomi1, so all of the hardware you have will work fine. I've noticed that even between other driving games, the inputs tend to change depending on the game. This information can be found in the game's instruction manual which can be found on Sega's coin-op website. For driving games, I would suggest that you stay with the standard Sega I/O instead of the Jamma version as the manuals will not reference the Jamma. If you have the full wiring loom, then making the changes might not be so bad. However, I don't know what is involved since I don't have a driving cab.

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Fri Nov 25, 2011 11:00 pm

Congratulations on getting one of your favourite cabs - it's a great feeling!

You should be able to play many of the Naomi driving games in the cab by swapping carts over. Steering and pedals are usually fine but other controls may need tweaking by making changes to the i/o pinouts. For instance to play 18 Wheeler 100% you'll need to find a way of wiring in reverse gear.

However I don't think F355 will work as I'm pretty sure it is a custom Naomi board.

Best bet is to get a Naomi2 mobo then you can plug in Naomi1 & 2 carts and have the option of hooking up a GD-ROM drive and playing initialD. To play iD you'll need to get Naomi2 mobo, 256MB dimm board (firmware min 3.03), GD-ROM drive/cabling and an iD disc/chip. The game can be bought pretty cheap these days.

More info here:

http://www.sega-naomi.com/forum/viewtop ... utrun+f355

http://www.sega-naomi.com/forum/viewtop ... utrun+f355

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 9:33 am

I have a Crazy Taxi upright and i've swapped in loads of things.

Here's what i tried, in general pretty much everything works, sometimes some minor adjustments needed (i didn't dig into which hardware you need to play the games, you should first look what you'd like to play ^^, the rest is easy):

- Initial D 1-2-3: Straight swap (assuming you have the hardware ofc) and playable out of the box. Note that the shifter will not work so you will have to drive on automatic. The DOWN shift will change views on default Crazy Taxi wiring, and UP shift will do nothing). Rewiring the shifter to work if you'd like is very easy, but then you will need at least an extra button somewhere to change views.

An Extra note i'd like to add, since Crazy Taxi has no cardreader, and Initial D really needs a card reader, though this game is very playable, it's no fun at all without cardreader. You can't get into the tuning shop to upgrade your car, and you can't save your progress, so you will just drive a stock car forever without any tuning. This game's all about tuning and saving progress to get better times etc, so it kinda makes it a dull game while it's really not.

You can add an ID Cardreader to your cabinet (it really has to be the ID cardreader, not other sega cardreaders_) but they are expensive. Very expensive ^^

- Outrun 2 (Normal or SP): Straight swap (assuming you have the hardware) and playable out of the box. Same as Initial D, shifter will not work out of the box, DOWN shift will change views, UP shift will do nothing. Also here, you could rewire the shifter if you please.

- King of route 66, straight swap. DOWN shift will change views defautly

- Jambo! Safari, straight swap. Your DOWN shift will defautlty throw the lasso.

On regard of F355 Challenge, i'm pretty sure this also works. The DX version of the cartridge uses 4 Naomi motherboards (custom ones), 3 for the 3 screens, and 1 to control and link all the boards. Do not get the deluxe cartridge, it will boot and work but it will run very very slow and be unplayable.

The normal cartridge however will work, i'm just pretty sure this is not a game you want to play in an upright, i just think you will completely miss the experience of F355 and it won't be fun. And i'm sure the shifter will not work defaultly.

All in all, i got my Crazy Taxi cabinet exactly for this, to easily swap in some games from time to time, without needing to much space. And i didn't mind that in most other games the shifter didn't work (i didn't want to rewire).

Though now i have lots of 'real' driving cabs, the Crazy Taxi upright is still a nice cabinet for quick swaps

I personally can really recommend Outrun 2, it's a great game and very well worth spending some money on.

If you need any more info or tips, let me know, i swapped in lots of stuff lately.

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:49 am

I have a complete single ID2 cabinet with card reader, disc, Naomi2 board, GDROM, etc. I'd sell for a song if you want to come get it. Or, I could part it all out. I'm just on the fence about even keeping it (the cosmetic condition is only "fair"). I'm in Charleston, WV which is about 3 hours from Columbus OH. Email or PM me if you're interested.

Wade

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:20 am

Jiggymf wrote:I have a Crazy Taxi upright and I've swapped in loads of things.

Here's what I tried, in general pretty much everything works, sometimes some minor adjustments needed (I didn't dig into which hardware you need to play the games, you should first look what you'd like to play ^^, the rest is easy):

- Initial D 1-2-3: Straight swap (assuming you have the hardware ofc) and playable out of the box. Note that the shifter will not work so you will have to drive on automatic. The DOWN shift will change views on default Crazy Taxi wiring, and UP shift will do nothing). Rewiring the shifter to work if you'd like is very easy, but then you will need at least an extra button somewhere to change views.

An Extra note I'd like to add, since Crazy Taxi has no cardreader, and Initial D really needs a card reader, though this game is very playable, it's no fun at all without cardreader. You can't get into the tuning shop to upgrade your car, and you can't save your progress, so you will just drive a stock car forever without any tuning. This game's all about tuning and saving progress to get better times etc, so it kinda makes it a dull game while it's really not.

You can add an ID Cardreader to your cabinet (it really has to be the ID cardreader, not other sega cardreaders_) but they are expensive. Very expensive ^^

- Outrun 2 (Normal or SP): Straight swap (assuming you have the hardware) and playable out of the box. Same as Initial D, shifter will not work out of the box, DOWN shift will change views, UP shift will do nothing. Also here, you could rewire the shifter if you please.

- King of route 66, straight swap. DOWN shift will change views defautly

- Jambo! Safari, straight swap. Your DOWN shift will defautlty throw the lasso.

On regard of F355 Challenge, I'm pretty sure this also works. The DX version of the cartridge uses 4 Naomi motherboards (custom ones), 3 for the 3 screens, and 1 to control and link all the boards. Do not get the deluxe cartridge, it will boot and work but it will run very very slow and be unplayable.

The normal cartridge however will work, I'm just pretty sure this is not a game you want to play in an upright, I just think you will completely miss the experience of F355 and it won't be fun. And I'm sure the shifter will not work defaultly.

All in all, I got my Crazy Taxi cabinet exactly for this, to easily swap in some games from time to time, without needing to much space. And I didn't mind that in most other games the shifter didn't work (I didn't want to rewire).

Though now I have lots of 'real' driving cabs, the Crazy Taxi upright is still a nice cabinet for quick swaps

I personally can really recommend Outrun 2, it's a great game and very well worth spending some money on.

If you need any more info or tips, let me know, I swapped in lots of stuff lately.

Thanks for all the info! If I set up, say, Initial D or Outrun 2, what would I have to wire up to make the shifter work?

For Initial D, where would I be able to obtain new cards for the reader?

Also, how much do the readers usually go for? I see some on eBay for over $200; do they ever come up for less than that?

Thanks!

OldFoo · Post by **OldFoo** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:11 pm

If I set up, say, Initial D or Outrun 2, what would I have to wire up to make the shifter work?

-> You have to adjust 2 or 3 wires out of my head, it's a piece of cake. It's not that the game is unplayable without it, it just means you have to drive on automatic mode without manual shifting.

If you want to have OR2 functional for 100%, you will need to adjust those 2-3 wires, and you will want to add a button somewhere so you can change views from in to outside the car.

For ID it's the same story. Though ID has the cardreader extra.

For Initial D, where would I be able to obtain new cards for the reader?

This is the last you should worry about, these cards can be obtained from a plethoria of places, from ebay to this forum, and then there's always Andy Geezer (AGS) who has them.

They're usually pretty cheap, about a dollar a piece or something.

Also, how much do the readers usually go for? I see some on eBay for over $200; do they ever come up for less than that?

That's the going price, although $200 is even a bit low. You want to make sure you have the reader with the wiring included (and i think also a little psu especially for the reader) and preferably the metal casing around it so you don't have to hack the reader in your cab somewhere. Also you want the little metal storage case which is attached to the reader where new cards are stored in, but this usually is included).

One can always get lucky and find one for cheaper, but it doesn't happen often that they go for less.

Videotronics had some a while ago for a bit cheaper, but with the pound sterling to us dollars exchange rate and shipping on top (heavy), you're bound to get over 200$ either way (i assume you're in the US since you have a US upright cab)[/quote]

Initial D and Outrun 2 are really worth the effort though if you want my opinion, you're talking about top knotch arcade games here which you will enjoy for ages