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Neo-Geo : The Game Console That Won't Die
xonox writes: "Perhaps you heard about the Neo-Geo game console when it came out some 12 years ago. Most people remember it because it was very expensive. Well, after 12 years, it is still alive and getting brand new commercial games for it. It may be a bit of a niche item but still. The Neo-Geo console was essentially the arcade hardware of the same name inside a prettier case. 3 games have been produced this year for the arcade hardware and two of those 3 have been released for the home console. If you think 2d games are cool, then you should check out http://www.neo-geo.com for more information about one of the greatest 2d platforms of all time. I'm picking playability over 3d anyday :)"
Most people remember it because it was very expensive.
And most people still do, because they still go for more than a Playstation 2. There are games for these things that go for more than an Playstation 2, for crying out loud.
What's your damage, Heather?
Didn't this console come with a smart-card type thing that allowed you to transfer game stats to and from the arcade machines?
And while we're at it, whatever happened to the PC Engine?
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
For reasons including its exorbitant price, the Neo Geo has never been a big hit with the home market.
It has some pretty impressive hardware, which makes it a popular machine for arcades. With the processing power of today's machines, it isn't an exaggeration to say that Neo Geo was ahead of its time.
I have been pwned because my
I believe this is the card. It worked in both the home system and the Neo Geo MVS Cabinets (basically the home system in an arcade cabinet).
Once more unto the breach dear friends...
modifying the code to support that new game isn't all that hard.. so getting them to play on your mame-only cabinet isn't that hard.
when i go to arcades i pay for playing the game with the kewl arcade style(DOH!) hardware rather than for the sake of the game itself..(the game does matter tho). i gotta build that cab someday..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
It should be noted that there is a 64-bit version of the Neo Geo. It's called the Hyper NEO GEO 64, although I think it's only an arcade board. The only game I know of released on it was called Samurai Shodown 64, which I suppose is not the same as Samurai Shodown 4.
You know, you could probably buy a NEO GEO arcade motherboard for about $50, then pick up a JAMMA cabinet with a crap game in it for $200, and you wouldn't have to worry about encryption OR copyright violation OR finding ROM dumps.
Most of the fighting games are "Street Fighter" clones, heck I thought that the characters from World Heroes were direct rip-offs (one character had the appearance of M. Bison(US)/Vega(JP) and the "stretch" ability of Dhalsim). Samurai Shodown had its own unique style however. The Metal Slug series is hardly an original genre, but its intense action and cartoonish humour gives it a cult following.
Yes, many of the fighting games are SF ripoffs (which is why it was so easy to create Capcom vs. SNK) and many of the other games were rips of other genres (lots of Double Dragon/Final Fight type games), but there were a few gems amongs the bunch and almost all of them looked pretty.
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
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The consumer version of the Neo-Geo (i.e. the version where each game didn't cost three figures) was CD-based. And loading isn't that bad if you can cover it up with an announcer yelling "Ryu vs. Chun-Li" or something (I don't know SNK characters, so I'm using Capcom here). Plus, you can stream data into RAM as it's needed, which is very useful for scrolling shooters such as the 194? games. If you want to see a beautiful example of streaming in action, try Einhänder for PS1.
Will I retire or break 10K?
That's exactly the opposite of what I think. The games these days require so much investment of time in order to master. Take a look at most FPS games, or most of the console fighting games these days. You need to learn a half-dozen to a dozen different commands, dodges, weapon combos, and advanced strategies. It's hard to get into these games unless you're a kid who has a load of time to kill.
Me, I'd like to get a quick gaming fix now and again, but I simply don't have the time to invest in the average game these days. Bring back more of the games with simpler, easily accessable gameplay. Stop equating "more complex" with "more fun." You can still create a game that can hold long-term interest while being accessable. It's just harder.
I second that. One of the heralds of classic gaming is that it's easy to get into -- Pac-Man moves around the maze eating dots, okay. The Paperboy throws newspapers, get 'em on the porch, okay. There are nuances and patterns to learn, sure, but we're not talking about 50,000 combo tricks and special techniques and secrets and play variants you need to master in order to have fun at the game. We're talking a game you can drop a quarter into, have a few minutes of fun, and then you're done -- simple, fun, fast, and never tires out.
There are thankfully some modern games with this mentality, but not enough. My favorite right now and the reason I keep my Dreamcast plugged in is Power Stone (first one, not the second). A dirt simple 'fighting game' which is really more of a crazed, high energy Hollywood movie brawl. I can play that as long or as short as I like and still have plenty of fun. AND it had those flashy gosh-wow 3-D graphics that the previous post condemned, too, go figure.
Also of note is that a lot of American arcades are taking this 'Pick up and play' route as well. 'Adult' oriented arcades like Dave & Busters don't even have joystick based games anymore, it's all simulators (adults know how to drive a car or ski down a mountain) or shooting games. Stuff that ANYBODY could play without hitting GameFAQs to memorize all the small details first.
You have to look to the Gameboy Advance. Desipite being 32 bit, it has 16bit like graphics on par with the SNES. Many simialer games too, there is a gradius game, a new castlevania game(which rocks) Fzero, advance wars, a new metroid and a bunch of RPGs.
The playability of these games are great and probably the only place where you will find most new 2d games.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
The article completely misses the fact that the Neo Geo was not created to be a home console system. It was created as an arcade board, to be used in arcade centers. Eventually a home version was released for those who wanted to have the arcade at home.
My point is that the Neo Geo cannot be compared with the GameCube, Playstation 2 and XBox, for the simple reason that it is a different market. Of course the Neo Geo is more expensive than these, because it was not designed to be played at home. If you want to compare the Neo Geo to something, what about Sega's Naomi, Sony's System 236 (is that the number?) and more recently the incoming Nintendo/Sega/Namco TriForce? As an arcade system the Neo Geo has ben failry succesful. Maybe not in the US, but it has been in other countries, Mexico and Asian countries being good examples.
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Jabel D. Morales - VMan of Mana
Some guy lazy to register.
Doesn't legally emulating a platform mean you have to have access to the ROMs (ie own the thing you're emulating) - eliminating the need to actually emulate it when you can get a far better experience from actually using it?
Video Game cheats, hints a