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[camineet]

16-bit era - 16-bit NEO-GEO MVS was designed in 1988-1989, debuted in Japanese arcades in 1989 (IIRC) and as a console in 1990 in Japan, in U.S. arcades in 1990, and console in 1991 in the U.S. By far the most well known NEO-GEO and the only one that became a console.

The three Neo Geo CD systems were the same generation, the same architecture as the 16-bit MVS & AES, the Neo CD was just an alternative with cheaper media.


Several generations of NEO-GEO successors were in development or in planning with SNK / SNK-Playmore but only one of them made it to arcades, none of them made it home as a console.

32-Bit era - SNK's 32-bit NeoStar (or NEO-STAR) Thought at first to be a CD-ROM addon + upgrade for the 16-bit NEO-GEO AES. It turned out NeoStar was being developed as a seperate system with a new 14 MHz RISC processor.

November 93, Issue no. 5, European The Official NEO GEO Club Newsletter

Neo Geo CD-ROM

Via well placed sources close to the developement team working on the next generation of SNK cartridge machines, information and an artist?s impression has been given for what the next machine to be launched by the company could look like.

The machine is being considered to be called the Neo-Star, and is a much bigger system than the one we have all become familiar with for these past three years. The main differences are obvious from the artist's impression, showing clearly the new dual CD-1/CD-ROM drive, able to play special Neo Geo games.

The next major improvement of the machine is the wire-less, Infra-Red joysticks, allowing the player to sit well away from the machine but still able to control the action on screen. The other feature is the new larger capacity memory card, which is a specially created card disk storage device able to hold 20x more information, and rumoured to be used in the planned new Home-banking service that would be available for Japanese users.

The last major external change to the machine is the inclusion of an Expansion Port that will allow the system to be plugged into a number of new add-ons due to follow the release of the machine.

The specifications of the unit are still shrouded in secrecy, and will undoubtedly change as SNK up-grade or down-grade certain features to keep the machine at a certain price point, but the rough out-line has been made exclusively to our reader.

The Neo-Star is proposed to be a 32-bit system, against the original 16-bit of the Neo Geo, and will use RISC central processing units, and is claimed to have a clock speed of around 14.5 MHz, that will make is seven faster than any of the competition.(five times faster than the Neo Geo).

The machine is meant to be capable of a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, and uses a new Super-Scart system to increase the resolution of the normal displays it is connected to. No details on the number of colours or the speed at which it will be able to move sprites around, but we will have to wait for that information as other manufacturers will also be keen to know it.

The big news is that the machine is aiming to be able to do polygon graphics and there is speculation that the Neo-Star could be the first 3D games machine that will be able to create truly interactive virtual reality style games. The CD-1 Features allows for movie quality sound/graphics to be played with video game interaction via the cartridges. The CD-Rom dual feature allows for bigger games to have extra graphics or information stored on special CD?s.

The machine has Infra-Red joystick controllers, as well as sockets for normal joysticks meaning that four players could take part in one game. The new joysticks are made to be lighter and more comfortable than the original with a new palm grip, and a head-phone socket built-in. Special surround sound sockets are also included on the machine allowing it to be plugged into a stereo Hi-Fi to offer mind blowing sound.

The expansion Port must be the one feature that has the most potential, with suggestions of a new cable-TV/Modem connector that would allow multi-player gaming, as well as home-banking features, buying goods off the TV. Along with a 3D goggles system, and best of all a keyboard facility, (possibly to be used in-conjunction with the home-banking features).

For all you Neo Geo owners that do not want to give up their machines, there is a speculation that SNK are talking about creating a Neo-CD unit that will allow existing Neo Geo's to be plugged into a kind of CD drive unit, offering some of the features of the Neo-Star. The unit is being considered to be launched before the replacement system.

64-bit era - SNK's 64-Bit Hyper Neo Geo 64 - had impressive specs but unimpressive results both in performance and sales. only a handful of games were developed. Released AFTER Sega's MODEL 3 platform, yet looked only on par with MODEL 2 and only somewhat better than PS1. died quickly.

the portable era - SNK's 16-bit NEO-GEO Pocket and NEO-GEO Pocket Color - these guys had less capability than their big console brother and the GBA, but the NGPC offered better pocket thrills than Sega's GameGear or Nintendo's GameBoy Color.

128-bit era - The SNK Millennium 128. An SNK system of the PS2 generation that was in development. This thing was going to use a Matrox GPU pushing 450 million polygons (a PR spec like Xbox's 300 million polygons). this would've been the first NEO-GEO with "good" 3D capabilities. The last hardware project by SNK-Playmore that has any even semi documented proof of existance. The plug was pulled before this thing ever got into the arcades let alone the home.

SNKs next generation Neo Geo console, the SNK Millennium looks like will be powered by a Matrox 3D graphics chip pumping out 450 million polygons and 30.2 GigaPixels per second. Neo Geo mailing list revealed :
SNK MILLENIUM
CPU INTEL PENTIUM LOGIC INOVATION IV TO 900 MHZ
Graphic card 3D MATROX CHIPSET GPUN (G800?)
Polygons 450 million Polygons per second
Textures 30.2 GigaPixels per second? damn high!
Memory 128 Mb to 300 Mhz
Speed DVD and CD DVD TO 6X AND CD AT 32X
Sound Stereo with 128 channels
S.O. Microsoft C.E. or SNK Control Panel
Modem 128 Bps.
Matrox G800 Rumour Details :
Pin compatible with G450
Double fillrate of G450 (450 million polygon/s?)
Support for 250MHz DDR FCRAM
Support for Hardware T&L
Support for DirectX 8.0 Shader and fully functional DX7
New DX7, 8 IDC drivers
Mass production : Sept. 2000.
Dual G800
This info was gathered from old NeoGeo mailing list threads.

The current generation - a "256-bit generation" system ? SNK's president mentioned in 2003 the possibility of a new NEO-GEO of the Xbox2, PS3 generation. no info on this pretty much imaginary system. Just that someone dreamed of building it.

_ For when it designs SNK-Playmore, a new Neon version Geo, more outpost than its present system MVS/AES, in the next years. It could be, along with similar Sony Ps-3, and Microsoft X-Box 2, and other systems, for the next generation of 256 bits.

 

[TheTruth523]

looks big

 

[Mockingbird]

Probably because their games usually cost upwards of $300+ And, yes there was a cd-rom attachment but who likes loading games, much less buying an attachment?

A better question would be why wasn't there another Neo-Geo Pocket Color?

 

[TJ Spyke]

Kinda hard when most of your games cost more than hardware consoles.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

AtomisWave + Taito TypeX is more than enough arcade kit for any developer.

 

[plague]

best console ever.

 

[Kintaro]

I would buy a new Neo Geo day 1 if they made it the ultimate 2D system.

 

[Crateman]

best console ever.

Indeed.

I mean, just look at the NEO GEO library. Yeah, I know they were pretty expensive, but it has quality titles across the board.

Just look at what the developers managed to do with architecture:

From this:

To this:

The legacy lives on.

 

[GauntletFan]

My Neo Geo was always with me during my college years. From playing KoF with friends to hunting down new, rare titles in import shops and paying an arm and a leg, gaming never has never been more fun

 

[camineet]

AtomisWave + Taito TypeX is more than enough arcade kit for any developer.

AtomisWave ? - No, it's totally obsolete it's basicly the same as a NAOMI / Dreamcast. It can't even do what the NAOMI 2 or Chihiro (Xbox) can do.

Taito Type X (and X2) YES, because it's an upgradable PC. might even be the platform Capcom is using to develop Street Fighter IV.

 

[legend166]

Can someone tell me why they cost hundreds of dollars?

 

[Hellraizah]

The Neo Geo was indeed the best console ever. It still is awesome. I would buy a new 2d console from SNK day 1.

 

[Arthas]

The Neo Geo was indeed the best console ever. It still is awesome. I would buy a new 2d console from SNK day 1.

Buy a wii and play neo-geo games.

 

[Defuser]

Can someone tell me why they cost hundreds of dollars?

Back then, they were using arcade boards to build the console.

 

[Kintaro]

Buy a wii and play neo-geo games.

Wonderful addition to this thread.

 

[Router]

Man, I remember these things were expensive. I wanted one really bad though.

 

[Lyte Edge]

Back then, they were using arcade boards to build the console.

Yep. You were buying the arcade ROMs, and considering that these were only a few months old by the time the console version came out, $250-$350 is actually pretty cheap for a brand new arcade game. This system was always intended to be for the hardcore only, right from the beginning.

The best thing about the Neo-Geo back in its prime was the quality. Home ports were NOWHERE near as good, and the Neo-Geo truly was the arcade at home. I do blame SNK themselves for taking too long to improve the quality of their home ports, however. If they had switched to the 4MB RAM cart for the Saturn instead of using the 1MB RAM cart, they could have easily have made 99% perfect ports like Capcom did.

 

[Kintaro]

the Neo Geo was a sexy looking console too. Look at it. Simple, elegant and powerful. Even the Neo Geo CD was a classy looking system. I hope Sony takes a look at that design for the future PS3 Slim.

 

[neptunes]

SNK was going through some struggles

 

[Lyte Edge]

The dumbest thing that SNK ever did with the Neo-Geo AES was lock out the arcade versions/features from consumers. Censored blood or removed options was just a stupid, stupid move, especially since it's not like kids were going to be playing these games in the first place. All of this was easily taken care of with a mod chip, however.

 

[djtiesto]

You didn't grow up in the 90's unless you were constantly nagging your parents to shell out $650+ for a Neo Geo AES unit. My friend is one of the few Americans who own a Neo Geo CD but it's sitting somewhere underneath piles of junk in his basement. I wanted to play that SamSho RPG really bad after reading about it in Gamefan and EGM back in the day.

 

[Pharmacy]

mabye Sega and SNK can join up to make a super failure

Spoiler

joking, i love them both

 

[2DMention]

Great systems, but I don't play my Neo Geo nearly as much as I did in the late 90s.

They've been porting their games to every system since the SNES/Genesis.

The NGPC had about 2-3 bad games in it's whole library (Dive Alert, Baseball stars). The rest were golden.

 

[Prime crotch]

One day I hope to get one, everything was top quality from the console to the controller.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I think they should just keep their 2D stuff (old and future releases) in arcades and make them all downloadable on next gen consoles & PC. No need for them to land themselves further in debt by another hardware endeavor.

 

[robor]

If they were to ever persue another hardware endeavor, I think handheld would be the best way to go as I believe the Neo Geo Pocket was their best creation. It would be nice to see this next gen 256-bit handheld successor actually happen.

 

[OatmealMu]

Heh, quite a few years ago I bought a Neo-Geo, stick, and a few games from Goodwill for $20. It didn't come with an AC adapter so I ended up going to Wal-mart and buying a generic adapter I hoped would work. Nope. :\

 

[mr jones]

If they were to ever persue another hardware endeavor, I think handheld would be the best way to go as I believe the Neo Geo Pocket was their best creation. It would be nice to see this next gen 256-bit handheld successor actually happen.

Agreed. The joystick on it is the best digital controller on any handheld. Seriously. Better than PSP, better than DS, better than TurboExpress.

However, it would be very hard to see it become a success. Most of the great games for the NGPC are by SNK, and I don't think there's too many developers that would want to risk making a game for an unproven platform. SNK/Playmore would have to branch out, creating original titles that aren't fighting or side-scrolling shooting games (KOF or Metal Slug), and I don't know if they have the capital to be experimental like that anymore.

I have a Neo, and will always enjoy the games for it (I challenge ANYONE to Samurai Shodown II, bitches), but SNK's time has come and gone. They're not a big enough developer anymore to get into hardware.

 

[dankir]

That just looks fucking cool!

 

[UnholySpectacle]

Heh, quite a few years ago I bought a Neo-Geo, stick, and a few games from Goodwill for $20. It didn't come with an AC adapter so I ended up going to Wal-mart and buying a generic adapter I hoped would work. Nope. :\

You know the neo-geo.com store sells those right? You got a steal if you only spent $20. I bought a bare console, no sticks, for 80. I then spent around 100 bucks and made custom arcade sticks for it.

 

[MoxManiac]

If Capcom had done a similar thing with CPS2, aka a CPS2 home system, I would have been willing to pay $300 for the versus games and not had a second thought.

 

[sk3tch]

mabye Sega and SNK can join up to make a super failure

I lol'd.

I lol'd again. That design is atrocious! Looks like a toaster oven!

I love me some SNK, though. I always wanted a NEO * GEO. Still do...

 

[yori]

16-bit era
128-bit era - SNK Millennium 128. An SNK system of the PS2 generation that was in development. This thing was going to use a Matrox GPU pushing 450 million polygons (a PR spec like Xbox's 300 million polygons). this would've been the first NEO-GEO with "good" 3D capabilities. The last hardware project by SNK-Playmore that has any even semi documented proof of existance. The plug was pulled before this thing ever got into the arcades let alone the home.

SNKs next generation Neo Geo console, the SNK Millennium looks like will be powered by a Matrox 3D graphics chip pumping out 450 million polygons and 30.2 GigaPixels per second. Neo Geo mailing list revealed :
SNK MILLENIUM
CPU INTEL PENTIUM LOGIC INOVATION IV TO 900 MHZ
Graphic card 3D MATROX CHIPSET GPUN (G800?)
Polygons 450 million Polygons per second
Textures 30.2 GigaPixels per second? damn high!
Memory 128 Mb to 300 Mhz
Speed DVD and CD DVD TO 6X AND CD AT 32X
Sound Stereo with 128 channels
S.O. Microsoft C.E. or SNK Control Panel
Modem 128 Bps.
Matrox G800 Rumour Details :
Pin compatible with G450
Double fillrate of G450 (450 million polygon/s?)
Support for 250MHz DDR FCRAM
Support for Hardware T&L
Support for DirectX 8.0 Shader and fully functional DX7
New DX7, 8 IDC drivers
Mass production : Sept. 2000.
Dual G800
This info was gathered from old NeoGeo mailing list threads.

I readed an article about this system years ago but nothing about hardware specs. Thank you for the information.

 

[test_account]

Ah.. Neo Geo, one of the best systems ever made, no doubt about that I wish there were more non 1-vs-1 fighting games in it though. I wouldnt mind more brawler games for it

The dumbest thing that SNK ever did with the Neo-Geo AES was lock out the arcade versions/features from consumers. Censored blood or removed options was just a stupid, stupid move, especially since it's not like kids were going to be playing these games in the first place. All of this was easily taken care of with a mod chip, however.

Isnt the japanese AES "clean"? I mean, i'm pretty sure there are blood etc. in games when you play them on a japanese AES. I have one myself, but i cant test right now (not sure i have any games that originally has blood anyway hehe).

 

[UnholySpectacle]

Ah.. Neo Geo, one of the best systems ever made, no doubt about that I wish there were more non 1-vs-1 fighting games in it though. I wouldnt mind more brawler games for it




Isnt the japanese AES "clean"? I mean, i'm pretty sure there are blood etc. in games when you play them on a japanese AES. I have one myself, but i cant test right now (not sure i have any games that originally has blood anyway hehe).

Actually, the AES games are censored when played on a Japanese bios. See the whole Samurai Spirits V Special AES debacle.

EDIT: I should add that only certain games are censored.

 

[test_account]

Actually, the AES games are censored when played on a Japanese bios. See the whole Samurai Spirits V Special AES debacle.

EDIT: I should add that only certain games are censored.

Ah ok. Is SSVS the only game that is like this?

 

[yori]

It depends of the region of your system. Japanese systems are uncensored. A US copy of Metal Slug will have white blood on a US system but red blood on a japanese system.
An except is US version of Samurai Shodown 2. You can directly change the color of blood in the options menu.

Now, with the universal bios from Razoola, there is no more problem of censorship.

 

[mr stroke]

NEO GEO to this day still has the coolest game boxes of all time-

 

[test_account]

It depends of the region of your system. Japanese systems are uncensored. A US copy of Metal Slug will have white blood on a US system but red blood on a japanese system.
An except is US version of Samurai Shodown 2. You can directly change the color of blood in the options menu.

Now, with the universal bios from Razoola, there is no more problem of censorship.

Ok, thanks Ye, the universal bios is suppose to be great, but i dont dare to solder in my AES :\

 

[Jonnyboy117]

I think it's funny that a system designed to save arcade owners a lot of money was by far the most expensive home console.

 

[Dazzyman]

Ive still got a AES console festering in the loft. I bought one few years back when I bought Garou MOW on DC. Loved it so much I bought a AES with the cart then reliased I prefered it on DC due to the arranged music so flogged it again few months later for about £200 profit Bought and sold about 10 carts and ended when I bought Metal Slug 3 when it came out played it to death then sold it on again for a profit with the rest and got out of AES and stuck to my console ports.

It does have some cracking games and some cracking fighters (ie KOF, Last Blade), Garou MOW still to this day for me is one of the best 2dfighters around and up with Sf2 zero as the best. It also has some great horiz shooters like Blazing star. I would like a cab/supergun in a couple of years when I can afford it and go down the MVS route of games though.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I wouldn't mind seeing SEGA and SNK becoming 3rd periphial makers but that is about it on the hardware front.

 

[mug]

Neo Geo CD - Good or bad?

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Neo Geo CD - Good or bad?

My friends and I chipped in together for a CD unit when it first came out and it was a 1X unit. OMFG, the loads were so bad. But, it was a chance to get all the games on the cheap.

 

[Afrikan]

so what did u guys like better...

Turbo Graphics 16 (this thing only had one control port :lol) or the Neo Geo

TurboExpress or the Neo Geo Pocket

I wanted one of these suckers soooo bad.....

 

[thetrin]

Neo Geo CD - Good or bad?

It's a great low price alternative to an AES, but the load times are deplorable. It's a 1x speed CD ROM drive, so you can imagine how fucking slow it is.

Honestly, if you're going to dip into Neo Geo and not interested in current/last gen ports, just dive right in and buy an AES unit or an MVS Supergun unit. MVS has a higher initial cost, but the AES is going to end up costing you a lot in the long time.

MVS units themselves are expensive, but since it uses arcade tapes, those go down in price steadily. AES units are collectors' territory, though. Prices of AES carts go up exponentially shortly after release. Some REALLY old titles like SamSho 2 or Baseball Stars are reasonably price, but that has more to do with their low rarity rather than quality or age.

If you're looking to start a collection and want more information on reasonable pricing and a good trading community, check out Neo-Geo.com.

Before I moved to japan, neo-geo.com was my best bet for finding an AES or MVS game for a decent price. The community is great, tight knit, and they have a habit of mercilessly hunting down swindlers, which should keep transactions safe.

so what did u guys like better...

Turbo Graphics 16 (this thing only had one control port :lol) or the Neo Geo

Silly question. Neo Geo over the TG16, any day of the week.

 

[mr stroke]

so what did u guys like better...

Turbo Graphics 16 (this thing only had one control port :lol) or the Neo Geo

TurboExpress or the Neo Geo Pocket

I wanted one of these suckers soooo bad.....

no contest- NEO GEO..it was a dream system back then..
but the Turbo Express was WAY ahead of its time..TV tuner and it played console games on the go=gaming bonner on the go

 

[meppi]

Ah ok. Is SSVS the only game that is like this?

I believe so.

I have about 40 Japanese AES games for my Japanese system and never noticed anything being censored. Blood and bounciness in all that games that should have them.

But on the Samurai Spirits Zero thing (which I don't have), even I am wondering which version to get.
I absolutely have no idea what's considered the better deal for playing on an unmodded system. Samurai Spirits Zero or Special, the original release or the "fixed" one. :-/
Probably will end up with both the first and Special as well, but even after reading about the fixed games, I don't know what I should look for.

 

[yori]

so what did u guys like better...

Turbo Graphics 16 (this thing only had one control port :lol) or the Neo Geo

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/TurboGrafx-16.jpg

TurboExpress or the Neo Geo Pocket

http://www.guenthoer.de/bilder/nec-turbovision.jpg

I wanted one of these suckers soooo bad.....

Stupid comparison.

And so the lol at the one control port of the TG16... Have you ever heard about the multitap?

 

[camineet]

Neo Geo CD - Good or bad?

If you liked NEO GEO MVS arcade and AES console games, the CD versions were basicly the same. differences were, very long loading times, sometimes CD-music, and a few CD-exclusive games. the loading times sucked, even on the more efficient, larger cache, but still 1x speed CDZ unit.

so what did u guys like better...

Turbo Graphics 16 (this thing only had one control port :lol) or the Neo Geo

TurboExpress or the Neo Geo Pocket

I wanted one of these suckers soooo bad.....

there's NO comparison. that's like asking "what you liked better a Dreamcast or PS3".

TurboGrafx was more of a competitor to NES and Genesis than Neo-Geo.

The Neo-Geo pooped all over the TurboGrafx in terms of graphics, sound, and overall capability.

Now if you include the entire Japanese PC-Engine (Japan's TurboGrafx) family.....

which includes
*PC-Engine HuCard (TurboGrafx)
*CD-ROM2 (v1) + CD-ROM2 (v2)
*SuperGrafx SHuCard
*Super CD-ROM2 (v3) (TurboDuo)
*Arcade Card CD

....Then you have a much larger library of games, almost 1000, compared to a few hundred Neo-Geo Cartridge and CD games. It depends on if you care about RPG and lots of shmups where the PC-Engine family is very strong. If you care about fewer games that are arcade-quality, including fighting games, then Neo-Geo is obviously the choice.

but for me, there was no choice, Neo-Geo all the way.