Sega G-80 User Manual

Sega G-80 Multigame Instruction Manual

Version 1.0

Copyright © 1998, Clay Cowgill

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Sega G-80 Multigame, Version 1.0 Copyright © 1998, Clay Cowgill

Notice Regarding this Upgrade

Warning!

Although this upgrade has been tested and the
techniques used will not directly cause harm to your
Sega G-80 System, if you do something wrong, you
can very seriously damage the game electronics!

To perform this upgrade you should:

• Be familiar with safe handling procedures for electronic components.

• Be able to remove and replace socketed IC’s (chips) without causing damage.

• Be able to follow directions.

Arcade games are rugged equipment, but anytime you start messing around with something (particularly
something electronic) you accept a certain amount of risk that you may break something.

This kit carries with it no guaranty of compatibility to your particular game. Although this kit has been
tested in several Sega G-80 arcade games and CPU boards, there’s a remote possibility that some of
them are different. If you carefully follow these instructions, you’ll do fine and everything will work.
I’ll try to help walk you through any problems you have, but if this looks like it’s above your confidence
level please recruit someone locally to install the kit for you!

Please read these instructions completely through before starting. If at any point your PCB looks
significantly different than what you see in here, please ask before trying something!

Credits and Thanks:

I wanted to take a little space and thank a few people that helped in various ways with this particular
project.

Dave Fish Dave performed the original hacks on the Sega game code to allow all games

to run without their respective security chips. Without Dave’s work, the multi­game would not be.

Al Kossow Al has been compiling all technical knowledge of the Sega G-80 system into a

handy reference guide. Al also provided me full source code to his Macintosh
G-80 simulator program so I could use it to modify the original games as needed.

MarkJ, RayG, ZonnM, JoeW, PaulK, and the rest of the “vectorlist” people that helped bounce ideas
around and generally keep me motivated.

Introduction:

Sega G-80 Multigame, Version 1.0 Copyright © 1998, Clay Cowgill

The Sega G-80 Multigame (the “kit”) consists of two assembled printed circuit boards and a replacement
PROM. When installed on the CPU board of Sega G-80 Vector Game (Star Trek, Zektor, Space Fury,
Eliminator, or Tac/Scan) the kit eliminates the need for the EPROM board and allows all the Sega G-80
vector games to be played from a single cabinet. Games are selected from an on-screen menu system.

These instructions describe how to install the kit into a working Sega G-80 arcade game. No soldering is
required and all operations are fully reversible. Please read all these instructions thoroughly before
starting the conversion.

Getting Started:

First, let’s cover what you’ll need in some detail. The kit is designed to be installed into any Sega G-80
Vector Arcade Game (“game” or “machine”), but in order to play all the games you need to have a Star
Trek type control panel. Only Star Trek’s control panel has enough buttons to support all the games.

Remove the CPU and EPROM card:

Start with the machine turned off and unplugged from the wall. Open your game to gain access to the
“card cage”. Depending on the machine, you might need to remove a metal cover to gain access to the
cards inside the card-cage. You will need to remove the cables connected to the CPU board (the one with
the most cables attached to it). Make SURE you mark or somehow identify where the cables need to

re-connect to the cards!

Sega G-80 Multigame, Version 1.0 Copyright © 1998, Clay Cowgill