Sega 16a vs 16b boards

Vindog

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I am trying to reclaim some space and ran across some sega 16 boards. I managed to find a NOS Sega 16a Shinobi and two Sega 16b ones. I looked online to try to find out which board set is probably more desireable to keep. My guess is that holding onto the 16b due to its later manufacture date and I am not sure if I could swap out some ROMS and have the ability to play other games.

Any sega folks out there have any input?
 
I am trying to reclaim some space and ran across some sega 16 boards. I managed to find a NOS Sega 16a Shinobi and two Sega 16b ones. I looked online to try to find out which board set is probably more desireable to keep. My guess is that holding onto the 16b due to its later manufacture date and I am not sure if I could swap out some ROMS and have the ability to play other games.

Any sega folks out there have any input?
There are actually 3 different System 16 boards/PCBs (16 -AKA "Pre-16", 16a and 16b).

System16 PCBs were a single, large PCB with a separate ROM PCB. It supports 5 games, officially, including Quartet.

System16a PCBs were two medium sized PCBs, of equal size, that were stacked. It supports 9 games, officially, including Shinobi.

System16b PCBs have an even smaller single PCB, with a ROM PCB about the size used on System16 (Pre-16) PCBs. It supports 30 games, officially, including Alien Snydome (which also has a 16 version).

If you are comparing their worth based on the number of games that will run on the hardware, then 16b wins. However, all of these 16 series games/PCBs sell for about the same, with a few exceptions. If you are looking to sell them, folks rarely buy PCBs based on the hardware, unless they are looking to convert one game to another or need specific parts. To answer your other question, all of the games in each series can be converted to other games in their series. However, a few of the games actually come with extra hardware (daughter or aux PCBs), including MVP IIRC.

http://www.system16.com/boards/pre-system16_mini.gif
http://www.system16.com/boards/s16a_pcb.jpg
http://www.system16.com/boards/system16_board.gif

Scott C.
 
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