Sanurai showdown 2 and some neo geo questions

[Blitzwing256]

up at the salavation army near my house they have a samuarai showdown 2 for sale.
I've always wanted an arcade machine, but I have a few questions before I take the plunge.

1. I know neo geo systems have the option for multiple games (i have a few arcade "Cartrdiges" someone gave me years ago for it)
I understand there is a 2 slot and 4 slot version. the one for sale is in a generic arcade cab but ti does have the sam2 header on top. how do I tell if its a 2 or 4 slot (ie where do I look in the cabinet to find out? I wish I had my camera when i was there. the coin door was open and I coudln't see too much inside hence why i want to know where to look inside.
It seems to be rigged so that you can press a little blue button inside to add credits though it still has all the coin mechanisms on front.

are all neo geo cabinets able to swap carts or could this be some sorta setup where the machine is just the one game?

they were asking 300 initially and i've talked them down to 180 and proabbly less if I haggle some more once i've had a few questions answered.. i've tested the controls and they don't seem worn, and the monitor seems ok (i think the picture is cut off a little on the sides..I assume thats something i can fix with some ajustments?)

anywho any suggestions and answers would be much apreciated, i'd ask over on the neogeo forums but um...yeah i'm more comfortable asking you guys these dumb noobish questions :-)

[CosmicMonkey]

You'll need to stick your head inside to see what motherboard is in there. Could be a single slot or a 2 ,4 or maybe a 6 slot. But probably not. Head over to www.hardmvs.com to see pictures of the different type of motherboards.

If you're not happy with it's current capacity put the MVS board on eBay and use the money to buy a 4 slot board. Don't go for a 6 slot. You'll just need to unplug the Jamma harness and plug it straight on to the new board.

Does the cab have 'Select' buttons? If not you'll just need to wire one of those in. And a UniBIOS (http://unibios.free.fr/) is a useful bit of kit too.

[savageone]

What kind of cabinet is it?

This one?
http://www.mameworld.net/maws/img/cabinets/samsho2.png

Or is it red/black like most Neo Geo machines?
http://www.mameworld.net/maws/img/mrdocab/samsho2.png

Either way at $180 it's a steal if everything appears to be in good working order (I'm not sure about how to adjust the monitor), probably more of a steal I'd think if it were the SS2 cabinet from the first picture. I think those are pretty rare, I've never seen one.

There are 1 slot (iirc), 2 slot, 4 slots, and monster 6 slots MVS boards. If they would allow you to open the machine you'll easily be able to tell what board is in there by looking at how many slots are on it. It'll be the only thing in there, not hard to find. ;) Chances are it's a 1 slot, maybe a 2 or 4 if you're lucky.

Also, yes you can swap any other Neo Geo MVS game in. That's beauty of it.

[XYXZYZ]

The dedicated Samurai Shodown II cabinet (I think it was dedicated, not a kit?) used an MV1 . (1 slot) board.

[jwm2]

There were quite a few dedicated 1 slot sam sho 2s out there. It was a wildly popular game at the time. Imo its the best of the series, followed closely by the original.

[Cinder6]

Well, since you want to know how to find out how many slots it has, then since you said the coin door is open...

(Note that they might not appreciate you doing this)

If it's anything at all like a normal MVS cab, you have to stick your hand up through the opening behind the coin door. To either side (left and right, facing the cab head-on), there should be a hole you can put your hand through. Both sides have a locking mechanism, a clamp. Pull it down on both sides (I find that, on a real MVS cab, the right side is about 4x harder to get than the left side, for some reason), and you can pull the control panel forward, which swings downward.

Once open, you have complete and obvious access to the motherboard, so you can find out how many slots are available. There are a few revisions, actually, of the 1-slot, but the 4-slot is the most common board out there, followed (probably) by the 2-slot. You will also have access to the monitor adjustment knobs.

In home use, the number of slots doesn't really make much difference. Sure, I'd rather my MVS had a 4-slot board than a 2-slot, but it's not worth it to me to buy another board, even though they're pretty cheap.

Obviously, if it's not like a normal MVS cabinet, my instructions might not work at all (it might have a different way of opening).

Here's some pictures, if they help:

Clamp:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1042/833952845_b800f7810e.jpg

Open control panel + motherboard:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1334/833947839_727e8ceab1.jpg

EDIT:
If the cabinet has the ID sticker on it, you can tell that way, too (though it seems like it's hard to find them). It looks like this:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1313/839237663_2338bcc5bd_m.jpg

Where it says MVS-2, that means that it's a 2-slot board.