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The Hyper Neo Geo 64 ; SNK's failed arcade platform / home console

I remember SamSho64 being shown in magazines back in the day.
Never heard anything about that system again after that...
 

VGEsoterica

Member
Didn't know there was a home system version.

Graphics were technically fine for the era, it's SNK's skill at making 3D games that sucked more than anything.

the home system never released. It was planned but quickly cancelled when the arcade board did not perform to what SNK had hopes
 
Are you really using a low quality GIF as proof? What?



It looks even better on the arcade machine.


That's not a low quality gif, that's a youtube video of the arcade machine from cable that I converted into a gif.

The HNG64 is more capable in hardware than the N64 but let's be honest here, SNK didn't take advantage of that and the games looked outdated when the machine came out to later gen PSX games in many aspects.

What I find funny is your video actually proves my point more than your gif, flat textures, jaggy environments, weird static background objects that aren't scrolling around right when the screen moves, not much going on in the environment. It's a very ugly looking game for the time it came out.

There's really no argument to be had here, and reviews at the time, the few that I recall seeing at the time, mentioned how ugly the games were. They needed better engineers.

SNK fell way behind on programmers, that's why they stick with the NG so long and why it took so long to port games, even after they went bankrupt and reformed under Playmore it took time before they started getting guys to do things like KOF maximum impact.
 

Dr.D00p

Gold Member
the textures are much better than the 64 but interestingly enough they are pixelated. Higher quality but the GPU either a) doesn’t feature texture filtering or b) SNK and ADK didn’t implement it in their games

Stripping out Texture filtering harware at the silicon level was always one of the go-to ways to make early 3D hardware chips cheaper to manufacturer...SEGA & NAMCO were really the only arcade hardware developers with deep enough pockets to keep it in.

SNK were a decidely low budget outfit compared to those two, by the mid-late 90's.

System 16 has as detailed a breakdown of the hardware as I've seen anywhere:

 
Now you have to tell us which PSX game looks better than this. And please, don't cheat with an emulator screenshot.

What is "this?" if you're talking about Road Edge that really doesn't take much just look at later PSX racing games that have more going on and look much better.

If you're talking about the fighting game, you'll find better use of textures and content in the environment on late PSX fighters but you won't see higher polygons so the characters will look better in the HNG64 but everything else arguably won't or will be even.

This goes into the hole indisputable facts that SNK had bad programmers that couldn't tap into the power of the system and they also had aliasing out he wazoo.

SEGA & NAMCO were really the only arcade hardware developers with deep enough pockets to keep it in.

Atari games and Midway both did this, and did it more so after Midway brought Atari games just not as often as Sega and Namco, which really hurt both companies in the late 90's.
 

Futaleufu

Member
What is "this?" if you're talking about Road Edge that really doesn't take much just look at later PSX racing games that have more going on and look much better.

If you're talking about the fighting game, you'll find better use of textures and content in the environment on late PSX fighters but you won't see higher polygons so the characters will look better in the HNG64 but everything else arguably won't or will be even.

This goes into the hole indisputable facts that SNK had bad programmers that couldn't tap into the power of the system and they also had aliasing out he wazoo.

Of course, no names.
 
Of course, no names.

Said the person who had the burden of proof on them.

Guess all the mags and retrospective articles on gaming websites presently are all lying?

Let me know when SNK learns how to make good looking 3D games.


Edit:

Ok I suppose even though you're basically on your own outside one phunky troll, on your irrational belief that SNK did any justice with the HNG64 hardware, I suppose I should help you out once, if only to prevent other people from having the same belief since I suppose you aren't planning to actually research anything I said:

r4night2ixc42.gif
VAkW7B.gif



Now you can believe the picture on the right is better despite the one on the left having more going on, better lighting, and less static/cleaner textures, but I'm fairly certain you aren't that blind.

Again SNK was not ready for tackling this area of gaming at the time.
 
Last edited:

SpiceRacz

Member
Said the person who had the burden of proof on them.

Guess all the mags and retrospective articles on gaming websites presently are all lying?

Let me know when SNK learns how to make good looking 3D games.


Edit:

Ok I suppose even though you're basically on your own outside one phunky troll, on your irrational belief that SNK did any justice with the HNG64 hardware, I suppose I should help you out once, if only to prevent other people from having the same belief since I suppose you aren't planning to actually research anything I said:

r4night2ixc42.gif
VAkW7B.gif



Now you can believe the picture on the right is better despite the one on the left having more going on, better lighting, and less static/cleaner textures, but I'm fairly certain you aren't that blind.

Again SNK was not ready for tackling this area of gaming at the time.

Aren't you the person that was saying Genesis and Atari Lynx visuals were comparable? lol
 
Aren't you the person that was saying Genesis and Atari Lynx visuals were comparable? lol

I said there were some areas the Lynx was better in, which is true. Generally the Genesis is better, but when you get to pseudo-3d scaling the Lynx can add more depth to it as was shown with Blue Lightning in that thread compared to the genesis versions of many scaler arcade games that literally had single color rectangles as "ground" while the Lynx has actual objects and trees and textured terrain, though pixelated due tot he resolution, showing it's more powerful in that aspect.

Just like the Genesis is more powerful than the SNES in "some" aspects. Speed for instance.

Also I see you ignored the gif comparison in the post you quoted. Where the left image is cleaner visually than the right, any comment on that other than a drive by attempt that fell on it's face?
 

VGEsoterica

Member
I will say the Round Trip RV gif isnt running around a full frame rate. Not wading into the “what’s more powerful” argument lol...but the Hyper gif is much choppier than it runs at natively
 
I will say the Round Trip RV gif isnt running around a full frame rate. Not wading into the “what’s more powerful” argument lol...but the Hyper gif is much choppier than it runs at natively

Firstly this isn't a "more powerful" debate it's about what SNK failed to achieved on the hardware because of well established knowledge they didn't have the best programmers at the time. Capability of the hardware is pointless if you can't show anything for it.

As for your comment the frame rate often drops in areas of that track(though the gifs seem slightly slower on Gaf then the capture). Even on a smooth track the other issues appear.

Here are two new gif comparisons::

gZGV66.gif
71w7Yw.gif



The issues remain the same, more repeating, worse lightning, more 2D parts, a bit jerky, lack of scale and things going on in the environment.

All I'm saying is that while the hardware was indeed technically more capable than the PSX and N64 (although it was still outdated as an arcade machine itself when it came out) the games SNk produced in many cases were not exactly uh, doing a good job showing this power.

Now they did produce xtreme rally later which indeed does a better job as showing this, granted the game looks much muddier:


k8lVXx.gif



But this was nearly a year later when the prospects of the machine were in the mud so there you go. Maybe if SNK actually placed higher resources on the HNG64 instead of their other projects spreading to thin they could have produced results like this or better from the start with higher output attracting third parties and that console idea may have taken off but this was too late. By the time they got to Burkini it was 1999 and was the last game (iirc) produced for the machine.

Although the aliasing/jaggies would still be an issue but they probably could of gotten away with that if they priced the console at an affordable price. Maybe.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
ADK did the best job with the Hyper with Beast Busters. Locked 60 FPS with a ton of enemies on screen and some awesome 2D elements. Some textures look like garbage weirdly but for the most part shows the Hyper, in the hands of solid developers, could really do something awesome. Def not top arcade tech in 98 when it released but the fun factor def overcomes the hardware limitations
 

VGEsoterica

Member


Well that’s it! I ran out of Hyper Neo Geo 64 stuff to talk about. If only SNK made more than 7 games lol.

Twas fun. If you ever see one, play it! They aren’t getting any less rare that’s for sure
 
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