Kick Harness
A Kick Harness is an extension over the original JAMMA controls standard, which specifies 2 "START" buttons, 2 Joysticks, and 3 buttons per player. Harnesses come in a range of varieties, but in most cases are used to extend the game's control set to allow 6 buttons per player.
CPS2/CPS3 - 2 Player Harness
There are quite a few sources for CPS2 kick harnesses on the internet, but a lot of them are either overpriced, badly made or both. The harness is compatible with the Sega Naomi I/O board by Capcom and CPS-3 games.
Courtesy of forum ne'er-do-well Devil Soundwave, here are all the details you need to make your own top quality kick harness, including pinout, connector details and the hard to find part numbers!
Materials Required
- 1 x CPS2 Kick Harness Connector (see below for part details)
- 8 x Connector Pins
- 12 x Quick Disconnects to suit your buttons
- 12 x 2.5cm lengths of 6mm diameter Heatshrink
- 6 x 120cm lengths of 24/0.2 wire in your choice of colour, lets say Red.
- 2 x 120cm lengths of 24/0.2 wire in Black
- 4 x 15cm lengths of 24/0.2 wire in Black
- 3 small cable ties
Equipment Required
- Small long nose electronics pliers
- Wire stripper
- Wire cutters
- Lighter for heatshrink
- Crimp tool (optional)
Method
- Strip both ends of all wires about 1cm
- Using the small pliers (or crimp tool), affix quick disconnects to one end of each of the 6 Red wires.
- Take one long black wire, and twist the end together with a short black wire, then connect a quick disconnect.
- Next, twist a second short black wire onto the end of the first short black wire and affix a quick disconnect.
- Finally, affix a quick disconnect to the end of the second short black wire.

- Repeat the last few steps again with the remaining black wire.
- On all your wires, if your quick disconnects have a red plastic cover, snip this off carefully with wire clippers.
- Next, slide a heatshrink tube over the end of each quick disconnect so as to cover them but leave the end exposed, and heat with the lighter.
- Make a cup of tea.
- On the other end of each of the eight long wires, use the small pliers to crimp on the kick pins.
- Finally, plug the pins into the kick connector as per the following pinout
Function | Pin # | Pin # | Function |
---|---|---|---|
02 | 01 | ||
04 | 03 | ||
06 | 05 | ||
08 | 07 | ||
10 | 09 | Player 2 Heavy Kick | |
12 | 11 | ||
14 | 13 | ||
16 | 15 | Player 1 Heavy Kick | |
18 | 17 | Player 1 Medium Kick | |
20 | 19 | Player 1 Light Kick | |
22 | 21 | Player 2 Light Kick | |
24 | 23 | Player 2 Medium Kick | |
26 | 25 | ||
28 | 27 | ||
Volume Down | 30 | 29 | Volume Up |
32 | 31 | Volume Common | |
Player 1 Common | 34 | 33 | Player 2 Common |
One thing to note is that JAMMA pins c and 25 are also used for the fourth button of player 2 and 1 respectively in both Dungeons & Dragons games.
Your finished kick harness should look something like this:
CPS2 - 3/4 Player Harness
It can also be used for and 3rd and even 4th player, Alien Vs. Predator and the Dungeons & Dragons games use the port for this purpose.
Top row | Pin | Pin | Bottom row |
---|---|---|---|
Ground | 1 | 2 | Ground |
3 | 4 | ||
+12V | 5 | 6 | +12V |
Player 3 Coin Lock | 7 | 8 | Player 4 Coin Lock |
Player 3 Coin | 9 | 10 | Player 4 Coin |
Player 3 Start | 11 | 12 | Player 4 Start |
Player 3 Up | 13 | 14 | Player 4 Up |
Player 3 Down | 15 | 16 | Player 4 Down |
Player 3 Left | 17 | 18 | Player 4 Left |
Player 3 Right | 19 | 20 | Player 4 Right |
Player 3 Button 1 | 21 | 22 | Player 4 Button 1 |
Player 3 Button 2 | 23 | 24 | Player 4 Button 2 |
Player 3 Button 3 | 25 | 26 | Player 4 Button 3 |
Player 3 Button 4 | 27 | 28 | Player 4 Button 4 |
Volume Up | 29 | 30 | Volume Down |
Volume Ground | 31 | 32 | |
Ground Player 3 | 33 | 34 | Ground Player 4 |
The volume up and down buttons in the harness have the same effect as the ones in the board.
Connector Details
Note: You need the connector and enough pins (at least 8) for your project. They are two seperate part numbers.
You only need the Board End Connector if you are making a kick harness extension, adapter or repairing a motherboard
All parts are manufactured by Hirose Electric Japan and are part of the DF1B series.