Quick Neo Geo AES Question...

[SpiritualK]

Hey everyone im thinking of buying a snk neo geo aes from japan because I think the US vesion of it is kind of expensive.

is there any difference in the consoles? can I get and play US games with a japanese system? ive also seen the power plug and it looks just like US vesion.

(BTW im new to digitpress but im a long time gamer and video game collector...so hello to everyone, looking foward to talking to you all)

[Dreamc@sting]

While im not sure if the system will be able to plug in as is...since Japan operates at a different Mhz than we do, I do know the system is region locked, neo geo CD is not region locked though, the language depends on the setting on your system. Although some games will only play in Japanese like RPG's and I believe Samurai Showdown are a few.

[CosmicMonkey]

The system is not region locked at all. The language displayed on-screen is dependent on the region of the console, not the game inserted. You can play any region game on any region machine.

From what I understand, a Japanese PSU will work fine in the US.

You might want to check out the UniBIOS as it's a pretty useful bit of kit. I'd also recommend modding the video-out, depending on how you intend to hook it up.

[udisi]

Region locked would be the correct term. Any AES game will play on either system. If you have a JP console, the game will display the JP version, whether you put a JP or US cart in it. Like wise a US console will display the US version with either a JP or US cart. You can get a unibios installed to allow you to toggle the region and such.

[Bibliophile]

Any region AES will play any region game. They are all compatible. However, the region of the system determines the language the game will play in. If you have a Japanese system, any games you play will play in Japanese rather than English, but they will still play.

Of course, you can add a new UniBIOS which will play in any region.

[Dreamc@sting]

Well now you learn something every day! lol I will stick to Sega...

[XYXZYZ]

And regarding whether or not a Japanese system works in the US, I have a Japanese AES and it works just fine, no special adapters or anything.

And as Cosmic Monkey said it might be worth it to check out the Unibios, a replacement BIOS chip that will allow you to change your AES to any region, or even change it to MVS, the Neo Geo arcade hardware. (So your games will display "insert coin" and you'll have unlimited credits as opposed to the standard 4 you get with an AES. AES games sometimes have more options though.)

[InsaneDavid]

Well now you learn something every day! lol I will stick to Sega...

Just for your reference, USA and JPN both use NTSC and output at 60Hz. EUR uses PAL and outputs at 50Hz.

Power between USA and JPN systems is the same as well, as has been said. Technically they're SLIGHTLY different but JPN stuff works on USA power just fine.

[Dreamc@sting]

Just for your reference, USA and JPN both use NTSC and output at 60Hz. EUR uses PAL and outputs at 50Hz.

Power between USA and JPN systems is the same as well, as has been said. Technically they're SLIGHTLY different but JPN stuff works on USA power just fine.

Is that in general? for some reason I was under the impression there was a big jump between JPN and USA

[InsaneDavid]

Is that in general? for some reason I was under the impression there was a big jump between JPN and USA

Yes, it is in General. NTSC-U and NTSC-J are still NTSC.

[FABombjoy]

If you really want to split hairs, NTSC-J and NTSC-U have different IRE levels :)

[SpiritualK]

really? thanks you guys for all the help. were can I find this "UniBIOS" chip you speak of? how would one go about installing it? I thought the US output was slightly different?

thanks again.

[FABombjoy]

http://unibios.free.fr/

Installation requires soldering skills. If you're not confident with that, there are a few of us here that have chips onhand and can install them.

[mlambert890]

The power difference really *is* nominal (I believe US is like 110-120V and Japan is like 90-110V). If you really want to, though, you can get a step down transformer pretty easily. I've never bothered with them and have had MANY import systems

[Bojay1997]

The power difference really *is* nominal (I believe US is like 110-120V and Japan is like 90-110V). If you really want to, though, you can get a step down transformer pretty easily. I've never bothered with them and have had MANY import systems

I know you can buy step down transformers and lots of places encourage you to use them when importing equipment from Japan to the US, but like everyone has said, I have never had a problem with computers or consoles working perfectly fine long term on US power.