Xbox:Chihiro General Information

The Sega Chihiro is an arcade system based around the Xbox motherboard. It is comprised of a top, middle, bottom board (Xbox motherboard), and a JVS standard panel board on one side. The Xbox motherboard is nearly identical to retail hardware, with the only differences being it uses an earlier version MCPX chip (MCPX X2), it running a Chihiro-specific kernel, and it having the extra RAM slots populated to bring the total RAM up to 128MB.

Like any early Xbox motherboard, you will need to remove the Xbox:Clock Capacitor to prevent severe damage to the motherboard.

See the Xbox:Chihiro Games on Xbox page for instructions on how to play some Chihiro games on a modded retail Xbox.

Powering the Unit

The Chihiro is powered by a standard JVS power harness used in arcades. However, you can buy JST VL 4x2 connector and a JST VL 3x2 connector and power it from an ATX power supply. A video over how to wire up such a cable can be found on the Video Game Esoterica YouTube channel.

Video Output

The unit outputs video via a standard VGA port on the fan side of the unit. It requires a link cable between the Xbox AV output port and the mid board of the unit.

Games

Games are loaded off of a separate GD-ROM that is connected by a single cable OR if a NetDIMM module is installed on the top of the board, games can be booted over a network, from a Compact Flash card (with official or unofficial adapter), or from a hard drive connected to a Compact Flash adapter.

Regardless of method, a security key must be plugged into the USB port on the side of the unit. Games loaded from GD-ROM must use a USB key specific to that game, while booting games from a NetDIMM can use a "zero security key" which works for any game. See the Xbox:Chihiro Security Keys page for more information.