Nintendo to JAMMA Adapter

Description

Allows you to use your Nintendo classic pre-JAMMA game, in a JAMMA cabinet or a super gun device.

Nintendo made a huge name for itself in the arcades in the early 1980s. Most of Nintendo games produced between 1980 and 1984, before the PlayChoice and VS system boards were released, used the same pinout. This includes some high profile games such as Mario Bros, the three Donkey Kong games and Popeye.

The popularity of these games created a large market for bootleggers. While the bootleg hardware is almost identical, there are some small changes. The video and sound output signals are not compatible and the pinout itself is slightly different. The original Nintendo pcbs output inverted video signals and require an external sound amplifier, while bootlegs output normal video signals and have an on-board sound amp.

This Nintendo to JAMMA adapter supports both standard and inverted video, and amplified or non-amplified sound. The low cost, high speed video inverter and sound amplifier can be disabled on the adapter making it compatible with both original and bootleg boards via a couple of jumpers. The signal DC offset for each color (Red, Green and Blue) can also be adjusted to display properly on a standard monitor. The video inverter is a simple linear design for the best possible picture at a low cost.

Images

Pinout

This adapter follows the following pinout scheme:

SOLDER SIDEPARTS SIDE
GNDGND
GNDGND
+5V+5V
+5V+5V
+12V+12V
-5V-5V
COIN1COIN2
P1STARTP2START
P1RIGHTP2RIGHT
P1LEFTP2LEFT
P1UPP2UP
P1DOWNP2DOWN
P1B1P2B1
NCNC
SVCCOUNT2
GNDGND
VREDVGREEN
VBLUEVSYNC
AUDIOSPK+
COUNT1+24V
GNDGND
GNDGND

(PCB edge connector facing away, list is ordered right to left)

Compatible Games

This is the list of compatible games that can be used with this adapter:

It has been tested with many, many genuine and bootleg Nintendo boards for compatibility.

Revision History:

Rev 1.0: Initial Design.

Rev 1.1: Changed to amp circuit and parts footprint.

Rev 1.2: Replaced discrete resistors with resistor arrays.

Rev 1.3: Trace routing cleanup and optimizations.

Rev 1.4: Minor cosmetic changes.

Rev 1.5: Silkscreen updates. This is the currently available version.

Specifications

Board Size: 50mm x 112mm
Current Carrying Capacity: 5V – 12A, 12V-3A, -5V-3A