25 years of SNK's Neo Geo video gaming platform

1990s console gamers were curiously obsessed with the notion of game conversions being “arcade perfect”. Of course, such hopes were invariably dashed on the hard rocks of reality – hardly surprising when arcade hardware tended to have far superior specs to home machines. Neo Geo MVS arcade machine Neo Geo MVS 4 in 1 arcade …

[CaptainCorrection]

Nice article

I think it's chutzpah rather than hutzpah though.

[Fuzz]

Re: Nice article

It's a transliteration, you can spell it either way, it's an interpretation of how you pronounce the word and different people will pronounce the word differently. I think the only correct way to spell it would be חוצפה

[Anonymous Coward]

Neo Turf Masters is still an amazing game!

[DaneB]

Best golfer on it?

[Thecowking]

King Of Fighters!

KoF has long been a favourite of mine, even leading to Iori Yagami Cosplay in my younger, thinner, dyed hair days.

I never could afford a Neo Geo though, I had to go to the arcade for my fix.

[asdf]

Re: King Of Fighters!

All I remember about King of Fighters besides the whole 3 on 3 tag team thing was one of the best dudes was some tall Chinese dude that played pocket pool while he kicked your ass (vaguely remember something about him flipping a coin or something).

[Anonymous Coward]

Quite an extraordinary machine with many great games.

Though also responsible for the strained vertical scrolling shoot-em-up Ghost Pilots, and for ruining the Sonic Wings series, by displaying them in the wide aspect ratio instead of on vertical monitors like their contemporaries.

[WraithCadmus]

Re: Quite an extraordinary machine with many great games.

There's nothing wrong with a 4:3 shmup if it's designed that way. Capcom's Giga Wing is glorious.

Icon: The scores in that game required scientific notation.

[Ugotta B. Kiddingme]

Metal Slug series

is what finally convinced me to build my own upright cabinet about 10 years ago to play this stuff on. Thanks for suggesting some NeoGeo titles I don't recall having previously tried. Must fire up the cabinet tonight.

[Vimes]

No mention of the Neo Geo Pocket Colour?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo_Pocket_Color

Metal Slug was great fun to play on it, even if the graphics weren't quite up to the same standard as it's bigger brother.

And wasn't this console the first handheld console to have a Sonic the Hedgehog game published for it, despite the console itself not belonging to Sega?

[Dave 126]

Are you thinking of the NEC TurboExpress (1990)?

[DaneB]

No, that was a different legend altogether!

[regadpellagru]

Pleasure Dome

Just a heads-up, for those that want to replay their fav. Neo Geo games and many other (legit.), head over to http://www.pleasuredome.org.uk/

Be sure not to be shitlisted there :-)

[herkamur]

Geez I feel old

When the Neo-Geo came out I was working at CompuCentre in Canada. The game system was impressive as all hell, but due to its expense I don't think I ever sold one. I suspect that if I had, I'd have been celebrated. Loads of memories flooding back now.

[Greg J Preece]

I should check out compatibility between the home consoles. There's been a boxed Neo Geo in my local EB for ages for $200, and it's tempting...

[EnglishRob]

Neo Geo compatibility

The Neo Geo home consoles are compatible between regions, you'll find that Japanese consoles have things like red blood and gore whereas the US region console is more of a grey or white colour. Saying that there are mods available such as the Universe BIOS which can change the region of the console and even the type (it can turn a home console into an arcade MVS version or vice-versa).

The Neo Geo home console (the AES) is quite pricey and seems to hold it's value fairly well. Some of the rarer games can go into the thousands on eBay, especially as some games were very limited in release on the AES. However the arcade versions (the MVS) tend to be much more reasonable, although then you have to look at getting a Neo Geo MVS board and something to run it on (it's an arcade board so it'll need some sort of power supply, joystick and a way of connecting to your display... in Europe that's not so much of an issue as most older TVs have Scart inputs which will work, but I gather in the US and Japan you'd possibly need an RGB monitor or something to convert from RGB into component or composite video).

Other option for cheaper games is to get an MVS to AES console converter which allows you to use the arcade MVS carts on the AES console although they can also be pricey (without it the arcade carts won't physically fit in the home console, something I was gutted about when I was a Neo Geo owner back in the late 90s and looking for a cheap supply of games).

It's a great console and well worth the time and investment. Sure it can be emulated on a Raspberry Pi, PC or even a Wii, but there's something about having the actual machine with the massive carts that you just can't get with emulation.

Some links for you... Universe BIOS - http://unibios.free.fr/

Possibly the best Neo Geo resource on the Internet... http://neo-geo.com/

Rob

[Greg J Preece]

Re: Neo Geo compatibility

That was pretty damned useful. Thanks, dude!

(Incidentally another local store has a 3DO for the same price as the Neo Geo, and that's also extremely tempting.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice console, great for those huge sprite games. Downside? it's arcade focus means pretty much every game is a shooter or beat em up.

[Bleu]

Agreed

I was never able to consider buying one when they were new, but love the Dreamcast ports of KoF.

Like the NeoGeo, the NeoGeo pocket had a narrow range of genres, but still love it.

Very tempted by the portable, but too much clutter right now. Small flat, nowhere to put anything.

Going off the topic here, my favourite proud-of-retro arcade, loads of fighting games (including old KoF), loads of 8-bit, only had the stand-up version of Space Harrier until recently.

OMG, they now have a working mechanical cabinet!

I almost cried when I saw it.

Pure retro-game heaven!

Back on topic, love the old SNK games, KoF imagery is such fun, many of the forgotten arcade platformers, Metal Slug, all fun.

[DaneB]

Re: Agreed

Retro arcade? Is this something happening these days? Know anywhere with an Afterburner machine?

[DaneB]

King console returns!

[DaneB]

The grey import market was so alluring back then, and the Neo had out-of-reach class.

[Sonny Jim]

Neo Geo X

"the little machine has proved popular with those sensible but nostalgic people who chose not to remortgage for the machine first time round."

Err? Have you read the same reviews I have? Overpriced and under-powered, they didn't even write their own emulator and ripped off Final Burn Alpha. The screen was the wrong aspect ratio (16:9), whereas games were 4:3.

In fact the reaction to it was so poor that SNK terminated the licensing agreement with Tommo in the US and wanted everything pulled off shelves.

[DaneB]

Re: Neo Geo X

Interesting how it's turned into a hacked emulator handheld.

Worth having with that potential I would say.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Other/NeoGeo+X+Gold+Entertainment+System/feature.asp?c=57535

[Sonny Jim]

Re: Neo Geo X

From the link you posted:

"Bearing in mind that the NeoGeo X is apparently based on the Dingoo A320, it's perhaps unwise to expect emulation performance on par with the Tegra 4-powered Nvidia Shield.

CPS1 and CPS2 emulation is surprisingly good, while the Mega Drive and SNES can suffer from dropped frames and patchy sound. The Game Boy Advance also has audio issues, but these could well be remedied over time as more hacked firmware hits the web."

You can get *much* better for the money, you are paying to have NEO GEO written on it. Even a PSP will run the emulators better and you can pick them up for less than £30. If you want something newer, have a look at the JXD S7800B.

[DaneB]

Re: Neo Geo X

True, true, very true...

Does come with the original controller mind which is an easy way to get authentic arcade experience without going for the full cabinet route.