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Recap guide

Recap the Neo Geo

AES recaps are common, with big 2200uF-class caps plus video and audio parts, and CD models show up in leaking-cap logs. MVS boards vary by revision.

Open the interactive checklist Tick off each capacitor as you replace it. It saves in your browser.

Check first. A recap is not always the answer here, so look at the guides before you order parts.

Which board do I have?

Boards changed during production. These notes come from the linked sources, and many are only partly documented, so check the board in front of you.

  • Neo Geo AES rev 3-3 and 3-4 (Medium confidence). How to tell: Board revision is printed on the AES PCB; RetroRGB says these two have flawed audio circuits. Capacitors: Console5 sells one kit for NEO-AES 3-3 and 3-4, and hitmanmcc says SNK left filter parts off both, fixed with FirebrandX mods (a 470 uF electrolytic across the JRC 2066D and new polyester caps). Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
  • Neo Geo AES rev 3-5 and 3-6 (Low confidence). How to tell: Revision printed on the PCB; 3-5 and 3-6 use 75 ohm RGB resistors where older boards use 68 ohm, and RetroRGB calls 3-6 notorious for poor video. Capacitors: ConsoleMods says to check the RGB and composite video caps are 470 uF 16V, and an Arcade-Projects poster suggests 2200 uF Panasonic FG 16V or 25V low-ESR for the AES 3-5. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
  • Neo Geo AES NEO-AES4-1 (latest) (Low confidence). How to tell: Sixth and final AES board, with power circuitry next to the connector and many parts moved from through-hole to SMD. Capacitors: neogeodev says this board moved from through-hole to surface-mount chips; no cap list found. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source

Where to start

Clues from write-ups and forum threads, not a diagnosis. Low confidence means one thread or one repair; high means several write-ups agree.

  • AES 3-5 caps (Low confidence). One Arcade-Projects thread mentions 2200uF Panasonic FG low-ESR parts and the 410uF video caps removed for RGB bypass. It is community advice, not a list. Source
  • AES recap logs (Low confidence). Two Hitman's Museum logs cover Rev 3-4 and Rev 3-3 AES recaps, including leak damage and a sprite fault repair. Neither gives values. Source
  • MVS audio tweak (Low confidence). A ConsoleMods page lists an audio filter cap tweak (C11, C14) on an MV1C MVS board. It is a mod, not a recap. Source

Tips, tales and maybes

Found in write-ups and forum threads. These are other people's reports, not tested by us. Check part references and values against your own board.

  • Tip: Unstable or rolling picture, AES (Medium confidence). ConsoleMods suggests, for an AES that loses sync on bright screens, adding 220uF caps in the empty footprints near the AV output, together with changing four 68 ohm resistors to 75 ohm. It describes the original values as cost cutting. Source
  • Story: MVS sound fades as you play (Low confidence). On Shmups, an MVS whose volume faded away during play was advised to have every cap in the audio amplifier section replaced, the board checked for corrosion and traces, and any original battery removed at once. It is advice from one poster, not a confirmed fix. Source
  • Tip: 60 cycle buzz on Rev 3-3 and 3-4 AES (Medium confidence). A Hitman's Museum log says SNK left out some filter parts on AES revisions 3-3 and 3-4, causing a 60 cycle buzz, and the FirebrandX fix in the Console5 kit adds the missing ceramics, a 470uF electrolytic across the JRC 2066D and swapped polyester caps. The author called the job a service and upgrade rather than a fault chase. Source
  • Watch out: Leave C11 and C14 empty (Medium confidence). ConsoleMods' Omega MVS page says that when removing the 75pF audio filter caps C11 and C14 on an MV1C board you should leave the pads empty, not bridge them or add filler parts, and that larger 0603 caps roll off highs earlier. It is a mod, not a repair. Source
  • Story: Garbled RGB after new caps was not the caps (Low confidence). A Shmups poster replaced four caps near the video chip on an AES (2x 10uF, 100uF, 4.7uF) and got garbled RGB with fine composite. It turned out the BVM sync settings had changed and the OSSC was not set to RGB, so check the external gear before redoing the board. Source
  • Watch out: MVS battery leak looks like a sound fault (Low confidence). On an MVS with missing or wrong sound effects, the cause was battery leakage eating the traces on the Z80 to 68000 data lines, not caps. The author says replacing the RAM chip was unnecessary and tracing the lines first would have saved the work. Source
  • Watch out: Pulled trace at AC1 near the heatsink (Low confidence). An Arcade-Projects poster on an MV-1C accidentally pulled the negative through-hole trace from cap AC1, which sits close to the heat sink, and found a leg stuck in AC5. Be gentle with caps beside the heat sink. Source
  • Tip: Battery first on MV2 boards (Low confidence). On r/neogeo (seen on the reddit.birdcat.cafe mirror) commenters said the battery beside the backup RAM is a typical failure point on MV2 boards, corroding the traces around the NEO-ZMC2. The owner removed the battery at once, cleaned with water and dried below about 55C, and re-tinned exposed traces. Source

Before you start

  • Boards changed during production. Check your board number against the guides before you order parts.

Guides we used

This page and the interactive bench are built from these. They have the photos and the full detail, so please read them and support their authors.

The capacitor list

We have not checked a capacitor list for this machine yet, so none is shown. Follow the guide above for your board, then add the capacitors in the interactive checklist and it builds a shopping list for you.

Skip the sourcing

While you are in there

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Steps, tools and safety

The steps, the tools in top, middle and budget picks, and the safety list are the same for every machine, so they live on one page: How to recap, step by step.

Values are shown as published in the guides above, and boards changed during production. Check the board in front of you. A recap involves hot tools and, on some machines, dangerous voltages. You do it at your own risk.

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