Infatuated with NEO GEO

[ncman071]

Over the last couple years i've really thought about obtaining a Neo Geo CD system and/or a Neo Geo AES. But i need someone to educate me a little bit. I've heard that the japanese neo geo cd system plays all neo geo cd games american and japanese without any mods and its a cheaper system. i've also heard the same thing about the japanese AES system. i need to know what to look for. I've seen ebay prices of the Neo carts and they look rediculously expensive. But anyway, someone please tell me a little about this system and where i might be able to find one thats a litttle cheaper than what i've seen on ebay/amazon, etc.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions. BTW, if you are a Neo collector, are you satisfied with the system? Is the system worth the money?

Thanks

[Gentlegamer]

www.neo-geo.com

"Behold! I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves!"

[98PaceCar]

I've recently started getting into the Neo AES quite a bit. As far as the hardware, it's what controls the content of the games. So if you have a Japanese system, the games will have text in Japanese and the violence (blood, etc) will be intact. If you have an American system, the text will be in English but most if not all of the blood will be removed or made some other color.

What I've done and from what I can tell is the best solution is I modded my system with the latest Unibios (happened to be Japanese, but it didn't really matter all that much). That allows me to soft switch the region to set the language, but I can still have the blood and violent content. The best of both worlds! This also means that you can buy the Japanese copies of the games and still have them in English if you want. It's sometimes cheaper to buy Japanese copies than American, so if you are looking to save, that's one way to do it.

At the same time, I added a Neobitz-S to allow me to have s-video outputs, which improved the visual quality quite a bit.

The games are expensive, so it's not a good system to collect if you are looking for cheap fun. I haven't run across any games that I have not liked, but I have also looked for games I've played before spending my money on them. The Samurai Showdown/Spirit series is great along with the Metal Slugs. The earlier Samurai games can be had for under $30 or so, but all of the Metal Slugs are expensive.

Another option for the more expensive games are conversion carts, which can be a bit of a touchy subject with some. There is a lot of info on the net about these.

All in all, the Neo is an amazing system with a lot of great titles. Just be ready to pay for what you get. I don't have much experience with the Neo CD, so I can't offer any real advice there.

[eugenek]

anyway, someone please tell me a little about this system and where i might be able to find one thats a litttle cheaper than what i've seen on ebay/amazon, etc.



If you're financially strapped or hesitant, you are not ready for Neo collecting. A couple of hundred dollars for an AES system is NOTHING compared to what you'll need to spend on carts for a handful of decent games. You need a lot of money, there's just no way around it, because Neo collectors are some of the most passionate (craziest?) fans alive, and it pushes prices into the stratosphere.

The CD unit is reviled by many because of its ungodly slow loading times. Just look on youtube and you'll see what I mean.

[Chainclaw]

If you want to actually play games, MVS is the way to go. Supergun (lets you play the MVS on your regular TV) or actual arcade cab. You're playing the actual, original arcade hardware. AES is fine for pure collecting, but it doesn't seem worth the hassle of dealing with finding original copies over conversions (and if you're buying conversions you're basically buying an MVS cart at a crazy inflated price), and paying the very high prices. You can also buy a converter that lets you play MVS games on your AES.

To give you an idea of what MVS cartridges cost, I paid $19 for King of Fighters '98. $50 for a 1-slot MVS board and King of Fighters '99. $29 for Metal Slug X. Now look these games up on the AES price guide to get an idea of what people pay on the home hardware for them : http://neo-geo.com/guides/aesguide.html

If you are concerned about your games looking nice, you can always buy shockboxes for them, with custom inserts.

MVS does have a few of its own problems, you've got to be vigilant about watching out for bootleg cartridges. Luckily these are easy to spot, and if you buy from the right places / insist on seeing the boards ahead of time, you'll be fine.

And you don't want to go NEO CD. It was fine back in its day, but now that there are more affordable options, skip it. You're probably better off getting all the NEO-GEO collections on the Wii.

So far I've bought NEO stuff off of Craigslist, eBay, and the NEO forums. The NEO forums are the best way to go, the NEO community seems angry at first, but if you have thick skin you'll realize a lot of them are pretty friendly. Just make an attempt to actually contribute to the NEO community instead of just using the buy-sell boards. Don't be afraid to ask stupid questions on the NEO boards, because even if you get berated and yelled at, your question will still not be the dumbest they have seen, and someone will probably answer your question truthfully.

[sidnotcrazy]

SnK Neo Geo is a great system, but some things I have learned:

I have an AES, it is Japanese, and modded so it can be set to any language, difficulty, and violent level. I paid $250 for it years ago with a copy of Samurai Showdown II. I don’t know what they go for, but you will most likely have to pay that much at least for it.

The Neo Geo CD is great, and the games are fairly cheap compared to the AES. But, and here it is they have massive load times. Think early PSX games, and you kinda get the idea.

If I were you, I would do what I am doing now. Stop collecting for the Neo, and buy the ports that are coming out for the PS2/Wii/PSP. They are not perfect. Although for the money, and the space they are great.

As I type this I have my PSP with SNK greatest hits in my pocket. It has Art of Fighting, Super Sidekicks, Metal Slug 1, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters 94, and Samurai Showdown all on the same disc. This is where my interest lie because I just don’t have the money to collect for these systems.

Mods I am sorry to mention modern systems, but I thought it was relevant.

[Joe West]

first you dont want the cd version, too slow.....the one to buy is the MVS modded with new bios, s-video & stero......cost would be between 250.00 to 300.00
thats the best & cheapest way too go....<modded it will play both jap & american>

[Kevincal]

I found the Neo Geo as a whole to be quite overrated for the price you pay. Sure the games are gorgeous, but since they are all designed for the arcade, they are shallow playing experiences for the most part. I found most of them to be just plain over the top wacky too. Not to mention I'm not a huge fighting game fan, and most Neo games are fighting games... If you have the money it's cool but... You'd probably be better off picking up SNK arcade classics for the PS2 etc. for $10 on ebay...

[Clownzilla]

I also have to agree with the modded MVS route. These AES games can get outrageous. The USA AES cart of Neo Turfmasters which is one of my all time favorite sports games is now going for and estimated $1950! The MVS USA cart of the same game is going for $65-$90. This is according to the Neo-Geo.com price guide which is usually a good indicator. There is also a cart adapter that you can use on the AES to play MVS games but last time I checked it can cost much more than getting a modded MVS system.

[smork]

MVS > CD > AES. That's what you need to know.

CD is maligned by people who don't play it -- it's not that bad on loading except for a few games, but on those games it's positively hideous. It's a great budget option. The games are great and there are some bonuses like different soundtracks on some CD versions. Don't listen to the negativity; it's very playable.

MVS is most definitely the best. Arcade versions, generally very cheap.

AES is for those with too much disposable income. I'm not cheap by any means but I find AES a complete waste of money. You can get the same experience on MVS or CD for a fraction of the price. Why pay more?

[Cinder6]

I don't feel like some replies have been 100% clear in this (it's been danced around, though):

The AES and MVS will play games from all regions, no problem. The hardware will tell the cart which version to play, and that may or may not affect visual effects in certain games. Examples would be turning off blood in Metal Slug or "bounce" mode in a KoF game. The UniBIOS lets you change the region, and get around these. The UniBIOS also lets you set the hardware to arcade mode, which will give you access to the game's soft DIPs, which will let you turn on some of the "graphic" attributes without changing the region.

The Neo CD is slow, as everyone has said. It also has missing frames in several instances, which pretty much everybody hates. On the other hand, it does often have some extras that the MVS/AES games don't have. I don't think it's worth it, though.

I agree the MVS route sounds like the best for you. Just get a board and a supergun (MAS Systems makes easy-to-use ones that seem good), and you'll be set. Or, if you have room, get a whole cabinet :)

As for shockboxes...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3480/3272920026_4a8c111756.jpg

[Clownzilla]

Nobody has mentioned that there are 2 versions of the Neo Geo CD system. There is the standard Neo Geo CD with a 1x CD drive and there is the more expensive CDZ system with the blazing fast 2X drive (a little sarcasim there). The CDZ drive is still slow but faster than the standard Neo Geo CD. The only drawback of the CDZ is that it was released in Japan only so the supply is lower compared to the standard Neo Geo CD which was released in multiple markets.

[Phénix]

You should go for the MVS, way cheaper than AES. It's true that a couple of cartridges are a bit costly (over 100$), but it's nothing compared to their AES counterparts. I have "the real thing" (an arcade) and most games are around 40$ (maybe 60$ boxed), which is fine for me. I thought about having a supergun but hey, that's too cool to play arcade at home 8-)

[eugenek]

Nobody has mentioned that there are 2 versions of the Neo Geo CD system. There is the standard Neo Geo CD with a 1x CD drive and there is the more expensive CDZ system with the blazing fast 2X drive (a little sarcasim there). The CDZ drive is still slow but faster than the standard Neo Geo CD. The only drawback of the CDZ is that it was released in Japan only so the supply is lower compared to the standard Neo Geo CD which was released in multiple markets.

The CDZ did not have a 2X drive. It had the same speed 1X drive, only with a bigger cache.

[Aussie2B]

I'll echo the others and say forget the AES, CD, and the collections of ports; they're all gimped in one way or another. With a consolized MVS, you get the games exactly as they're supposed to be, at reasonable prices, with great quality video and sound. You don't even have to buy an expensive Supergun since an MVS board isn't hard to consolize yourself if you do a little research and aren't completely incompetent with a soldering iron. An MVS board has controller ports built in, so it's already perfect for using as a normal system. And with universal bios, you can set the games to home mode, making it all the more pointless to blow money on AES carts.

[ncman071]

ok, so it sounds like i sort of should look more seriously at the neo geo cd but be prepared for rediculous load times, but pretty much stay away from the AES. Just so i understand, the MVS is not a different system, but a different cartridge?? its evidentally cheaper than the AES carts?? anyway, thank you guys for your help.

[eugenek]

ok, so it sounds like i sort of should look more seriously at the neo geo cd but be prepared for rediculous load times, but pretty much stay away from the AES. Just so i understand, the MVS is not a different system, but a different cartridge?? its evidentally cheaper than the AES carts?? anyway, thank you guys for your help.

The MVS "system" is actually the arcade motherboard ripped out of the cabinet. It uses its own cartridges (technically the same as the AES, but not compatible with each other out of the box). Some people have taken the board and "consolized" it for use on a TV, or you can plug the board directly into a supergun.

[Clownzilla]

The CDZ did not have a 2X drive. It had the same speed 1X drive, only with a bigger cache.

My mistake. The bigger cache would create LESS load times but not faster. Saves time either way:)

[jsiucho]

If I had to start a collecting the Neo Geo I would get a CMVS something like this one: http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188349&highlight=cmvs
or this by the same guy:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=75&pictureid=461

An AES system can also play MVS games with the help of a converter(phantom 1 or that new one),, thats what I use for the more expensive games, I have a little over 50 AES games and have only spent more than $100+ on about 10 of them.

The Neo CD I would never touch just check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM-mkMq9U6s

Good luck with the Neo


JS

[CosmicMonkey]

I really like the design of all three models of CD unit. I'm just gutted that SNK cocked up the hardware beyond all belief. As it stands, the load times are a little too long and more importantly it's missing a lot of games.

Had SNK released the Neo CD with a decent speed CD drive and a decent RAM cache, then it might have been a viable option. There still would have been load times; there's no escaping that on such an early CD machine, but certainly not what currently exists. I personally would have been willing to put up with small load times if the system had seen perfect conversions of the majority of the library. But missing Metal Slugs X - 5, KoF '00 - '03, MotW, RotD, Matrimelee etc is unforgivable.

Oh, to have a lovely front loading Neo CD with MVS-perfect conversions of Garou: MotW, Last Blades 1 & 2 and Metal Slug 1 - 5 & King of Fighters '94 - '03 Perfect Collection boxsets.

[Ze_ro]

If you're financially strapped or hesitant, you are not ready for Neo collecting.
Sage advice. "Collecting" Neo Geo isn't a particularly good idea unless you have a lot of disposable income. I recommend sticking with emulation, or at least the rehashed collections for the PS2/Wii/etc.

Of course, you're not going to listen to that though. Even though it's my own advice, I didn't listen to it either. My preferred system is an AES with a Phantom-1 converter. Most AES cartridges are of course, crazy expensive... but I prefer to get them whenever possible, and use the Phantom-1 to play MVS versions of anything that's just too pricey for me (Metal Slug for example). I still haven't gotten around to replacing the BIOS in my system yet.

I never really felt that the NeoGeo CD was a real option here. If you aren't going to take it all the way and get the real thing, then you might as well stick with emulation.

--Zero

[savageone]

Sounds to me like you'd be happiest with the Neo Geo AES (modified with the newest UniBIOS and component or s-video of course) using one of the MVS converters, preferably the new one (http://www.arcadeshock.com/items/snk-capcom-sammy-hardware/super-mvs-convertor-ii-mvs-aes-blue-led-snmc-acc-detail.htm?1=1) as it doesn't have some of the incompatibility issues that the older Phantom 1 has with certain games. Yeah it's a bit pricey but it will save you untold amounts of money in the long haul by allowing you to play MVS games. Plus, you can still buy AES games if the price suits you.

The Neo Geo CD isn't THAT bad. The horrible loading mostly only comes into play in the fighting games. The Neo Geo does have quite a bit more to offer than fighters. :P I'd say the biggest drawback on the NGCD is there are simply a lot of games that aren't even on the system. After 1996/97 the support for it was really sparse.

If you're REALLY serious about going the AES only route you'd be embarking on what is probably the absolute hardest system to collect. Many of the games are extremely rare. Not "extremely rare" but other system's standards though, extremely rare by Neo Geo standards which is on another level. :P Those games cost what they cost for a reason.

[Geddon_jt]

The Neogeo is an amazing system - It's my personal favorite. I think if you grew up playing games in the late 80s/early 90s, its really easy to identify with what made the system so awesome. Nothing has ever come close to touching its sprite crunching power. Also, there are very few trash games on the system. Some havent aged as well as others, but there is something fun and charming about most every Neo game. There will never be another system like it.

A lot of people bash the AES as the choice for people with "too much money". To me, the AES is by far the best way to enjoy the Neo. I personally can't stand the whole MVS craze. Of course MVS is a good way to enjoy games a little cheaper, but the MVS market has been so "collectorized" that many of the games cost more than their AES counterparts now! Unless you are ok with collecting trashed loose MVS carts, MVS cart collecting is also very expensive. Personally I can't stand the fan made shock box / consolized MVS stuff, it just looks fake to me. The Neo CD is definitely a neutered version of the console. Many of the games are not 100% identical to the cartridge versions and the load times can be intolerable.

There has been a resurgence of new old stock AES carts over the past few years where MANY games can be bought brand new for a pittance. Especially first-generation stuff. We're talking $20 per game or so, which is fantastic. For some of the big hitters and late generation games, you can either save up and wait for a deal to swing by, or get a loose MVS cart with converter. There is something really great about making a purchase on a "big" AES cart, if you can do it. Somehow it forces you to really enjoy and appreciate the game, if that makes any sense. I bought Last Blade 2 at release in 1999 for $250, and it was about 5x more than I had ever spent on a game at that point. It remains my favorite fighter to this day. :) Anyway, that is how I have collected Neogeo for the past 10 years and now I have an AES collection of about 70 games, which I enjoy and appreciate more than any other video game stuff I have :)

If you are interested in specific games, let me know and I will let you know how much you can expect to pay for the various formats. You can check the master list at www.neo-geo.com to figure out what games came out on the various formats. Good luck, and have fun - the Neo rules!

[Breetai]

SnK Neo Geo is a great system, but some things I have learned:

I have an AES, it is Japanese, and modded so it can be set to any language, difficulty, and violent level. I paid $250 for it years ago with a copy of Samurai Showdown II. I don’t know what they go for, but you will most likely have to pay that much at least for it.A Japanese AES goes for about 20,000yen ($200 +/-$50) in Akihabara. Cheaper IF you can find it outside of a major city in Japan.

[smork]

A Japanese AES goes for about 20,000yen ($200 +/-$50) in Akihabara. Cheaper IF you can find it outside of a major city in Japan.

Naw, definitely not that high. I was just in Akiba on Wednesday and even Super Potato had it for much less than than (~14,000, IIRC). They are almost always under 10k outside of Akiba, too...

Games are still ridiculous no matter where you go, though!

[retro junkie]

MVS > CD > AES. That's what you need to know.

CD is maligned by people who don't play it -- it's not that bad on loading except for a few games, but on those games it's positively hideous. It's a great budget option. The games are great and there are some bonuses like different soundtracks on some CD versions. Don't listen to the negativity; it's very playable.

MVS is most definitely the best. Arcade versions, generally very cheap.

AES is for those with too much disposable income. I'm not cheap by any means but I find AES a complete waste of money. You can get the same experience on MVS or CD for a fraction of the price. Why pay more?

I totally agree with you. I have the Neo Geo CD and love it. I have no problems with the load times. If anyone was able to endure the early PS1, and sometimes PS2, Sega CD, Saturn?, game load times, and really the early PSP game load time, then they will not have a problem with the NGCD.

If you are tight on cash, like me, it is a great buget option. But if you have the cash, then MVS is the way to go.

[cyberfluxor]

I stay clear of the AES and NGCD, but it's your call. If you have space for an arcade cab then you can choose between nice frames like the candy, goldie, or big red. Also with the MVS you can purchase multi-slot hardware so if you plan to get a few games there's little to no swapping carts in/out.

[Aussie2B]

I don't really understand the pointing of getting a converter to play MVS carts on an AES. Why cripple the audio and video under its crappy output? And if you're going to go to the trouble of modifying an AES, then you may as well just get an MVS modified to be a console.

[ncman071]

yea throughout all of these comments i've done a little research and i dont know, there's something about the design of the AES system that i really like. Its a sleek design and i love the arcade controller that comes with it. i might post an ad on craigs list to see if anybody is interested in selling their neo geo aes for under $300. I saw on Amazon.com that it was 399 which is high. I also saw on neo-geo.com where they were selling the system for a little over $500 but it was "heavily modded" with the BIOS thingy and i'm not sure i need to look at that one again.

The price of the games don't bother me so bad. i figure worse case scenario, i could always sell some of my 360 games or whatever, make some trades, and be able to get a small collection of good AES games. anyway, you guys know your shit. its been very informative

[savageone]

Everyone knows the AES is the Ferrari of video game consoles. You'll be living life in the fast lane in no time ncman071! You're gonna have to sell more than a few 360 games to get the AES versions of games that are synonymous with the good "Neo Geo" name though. By fast lane I actually meant fast lane to the poor house.. Sure is one hell of a ride though. :evil laugh::evil laugh::evil laugh::evil laugh::evil laugh::evil laugh:

http://www.tiptonium.com/neogeo/images/biggerbadderbetter.gif

[eugenek]

yea throughout all of these comments i've done a little research and i dont know, there's something about the design of the AES system that i really like. Its a sleek design and i love the arcade controller that comes with it. i might post an ad on craigs list to see if anybody is interested in selling their neo geo aes for under $300. I saw on Amazon.com that it was 399 which is high. I also saw on neo-geo.com where they were selling the system for a little over $500 but it was "heavily modded" with the BIOS thingy and i'm not sure i need to look at that one again.

The price of the games don't bother me so bad. i figure worse case scenario, i could always sell some of my 360 games or whatever, make some trades, and be able to get a small collection of good AES games. anyway, you guys know your shit. its been very informative

First of all, I don't mean to dissuade you from the AES if that's what you really want. I used to have one too, and it is indeed a great system. So if that's what you choose, more power to ya.

But something's just not connecting here...it boggles my mind that the "price of the games don't bother [you] so bad" when some of the A+ titles go for over $1000. Almost all of the good ones are $100+. I hope you've got a lot of 360 games.

The price of the system is a drop in the bucket compared to what you've got coming, so why not just pony up and buy one of the nice ones? But like I said, if you understand that and that's what you want, best of luck, really. Some of the games are truly fantastic.

[ncman071]

i know what your saying eugenek, but i wont pay 1000 for a game. my dodge neon wont even sell for that much. i'm just saying basically if i could luck up and get a good deal on a neo geo, i might go for it. i may even still look at getting one of the neo geo cd systems. also, saw on collectorscardsandgames.com that several of the AES games were under $60, but those are probably not some of the best titles. could use my tax refund this year. anyway, thanks.

[cyberfluxor]

Using a tax refund to afford an AES infatuation? You may want to go through the list of titles available, watch some game play videos on the more interesting ones, ask questions to the casual Neo-Geo player about said games, then finally decide to buy. To just jump in and rely on the cheapest introduction to the system may lead you to disappointment.

[ncman071]

right, notice i said "could" use my tax refund. i was actually just being a little sarcastic. i know the system is very expensive. i'm just simply interested in it. i wouldn't just jump right into a system, i dont care how badly i might want it. hell, even with the atari jaguar, i was interested in that system for probably the last 6 or so years and i finally bought one as a lot off of ebay for about $140 including some really decent titles. no this is something i'm planning on taking my time with.

[Kevincal]

You should be able to snag a Japanese AES on eBay for something like $150-200 total with a game. Then there's about 15 common AES games that you can get from $10-25 each. Most of these common games aren't so great though... That's the problem. Then you'er gonna want a memory card, that'll be something like $20-40 iirc. The US AES seem to run quite a bit more than the Japanese versions. I also heard the late serial number (200,000+?) AES have better stock AV picture output (not sure Jap or US or it matters). Then something about the early ones are good for something else... I dunno. I do know that I hated having a Japanese AES cus it displayed only Japanese text in all of my AES games, even my US AES games. Modding is expensive from what I've heard.

[savageone]

Yow those prices on collectorscardsandgames and games aren't that great.. Those are all NOS titles (new old stock) that have been unearthed in recent years. If you look on eBay you can get them for less there, maybe less than $25 each AFTER shipping costs.

You can also get a nice Japanese Neo Geo AES from eBay with a few of the cheaper games for ~$200. The Japanese part wont matter much because you really need to get the system modded with component video and the UniBIOS any ways. There are several people in the Neo Geo community who can do this mod for you. I'd recommend Jeff Kurtz.

Here's a link to the UniBIOS page that has plenty of info on what it does exactly. (http://unibios.free.fr/whatisit.html)

[savageone]

I also heard the late serial number (200,000+?) AES have better stock AV picture output (not sure Jap or US or it matters). Then something about the early ones are good for something else... I dunno. I do know that I hated having a Japanese AES cus it displayed only Japanese text in all of my AES games, even my US AES games. Modding is expensive from what I've heard.

You've got it backwards, the AES systems under 25,000 have a slightly better video output for the OLD S-video mod. The new component mod introduces a new board which bypasses a bunch of junk making the model number more or less irrelevant AFAIK. I believe on this new mod the S-video runs through this new board as well.

With the UniBIOS (or even the older debug BIOS which has been around for ages) the region of the system can be changed with a few button presses, no big deal. Many (not all) of the games have language options in the menus as well.

[ccovell]

I'll just repost what I wrote in this thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44642), because for some people, the Neo-Geo CD is perfect, and should not be so maligned.

I'll chime in and say that the NGCD is actually a great and worthwhile system... if, like me, you don't care for fighting games.

I had considered getting an AES, but those huge cartridges just seemed so incredibly wasteful. Never could do MVS because I didn't have a supergun. So the NGCD was perfect -- I was able to find plenty of the less popular games (action, shooting, puzzlers) for a good price, and even some greats like Metal Slug 2, Pulstar, etc.

I don't know what it's like in the U.S. but in Japan, the NGCD is still a great option for the price- and space-conscious. PLUS is has S-Video as standard.

[Cinder6]

I doubt you'll be clamoring for a memory card. I've had my MVS for a while now, and the only times I've ever wanted one is for novelty's sake. Just remember that these are arcade games, and they were all meant to be beaten pretty quickly--with the exception of the last stage in Metal Slug 3 :)

If you do get an AES, you'll probably want the Super Converter II, which is the successor to the Phantom-1. You'll also probably end up wanting a component mod, simply because composite is lame. Both of those will add quite a bit more money, unless you decide to do the mod yourself.

And if you do get an AES, you should get one with the original box. That thing is the coolest box ever :)

http://www.cyberiapc.com/vgg/pics/neogeo_aes3.jpg

[XYXZYZ]

http://www.tiptonium.com/neogeo/images/biggerbadderbetter.gif

I always wondered why SNK USA insisted on selling their incredibly awesome concept (an arcade system at home) with dog slobber.

[Chainclaw]

I always wondered why SNK USA insisted on selling their incredibly awesome concept (an arcade system at home) with dog slobber.

They were just keeping up with everyone else's crappy ads:
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3149992
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3152506
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3155509
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3172070

[saferkefka]

i picked up a two slot mvs cab for $275 on ebay. i've always wanted a neogeo system, and when i saw this one close to my house, i jumped on it. if i were you i'd pick up an mvs system.

[gameofyou]

Then there's about 15 common AES games that you can get from $10-25 each.

I was about to say the same thing. I have an AES with about 25 or so games, and I love it. Most of the games were only in the $30 - $40 range, but I did pay more for a few (around $100) for Last Blade, Viewpoint, and Windjammers.

There are a lot of fun low-cost games, though. Magician Lord, Nam 1975, King of the Monsters, Last Resort, Samurai Shodown 2 ...etc are some good ones which can usually be picked up fairly inexpensively.

I would recommend getting a USA system. That way, all the text will be in english. In the few games (like Samurai Shodown 2) which are censored, there are easy codes to get the red blood.

[Breetai]

Naw, definitely not that high. I was just in Akiba on Wednesday and even Super Potato had it for much less than than (~14,000, IIRC). They are almost always under 10k outside of Akiba, too...

Games are still ridiculous no matter where you go, though!I thought they were 19,000yen or something. Maybe that was in the Trader store under the tracks, opposite KFC... or perhaps I'm getting it confused with the PC Engine Duo's pricing? Their consoles are usually prices quite high. 14,000 is still more than I want to pay.

I have yet to see one outside of Akiba, but I don't really have the time to look more than once or twice a month.

[Ed Oscuro]

NEO-GEO:

Now Enjoy Overpaying for Games Ed finds Overbearing

It's all good if you absolutely love the games - as a status symbol it's rather overrated though. Shame there aren't any great spaceship shooters on it. Lots of average and good, though. Metal Slug? I hope you've got a second house to sell before we start thinking about that one.

p.s. Magician Lord's CD soundtrack has been butchered. AES or MVS is really the only way to go here, in my opinion. It's a similar story with a number of other CD games.

[Tron 2.0]

I would recommend getting a USA system. That way, all the text will be in english. In the few games (like Samurai Shodown 2) which are censored, there are easy codes to get the red blood.
Not necessary even with a jpn aes a universe bios can be put in and,you can pick what region setting you want.
http://www.universebios.com
There's one in my cmvs and it's great it let's ya do every thing.

[savageone]

It's all good if you absolutely love the games - as a status symbol it's rather overrated though. Shame there aren't any great spaceship shooters on it. Lots of average and good, though. Metal Slug? I hope you've got a second house to sell before we start thinking about that one.

You consider Pulstar to be just merely "good"? Shame on you! Over the years it has become one of my favorites bar none. Too bad it was never ported to other systems so more people could enjoy it.

Out of all the shooters on the Neo Geo I'd say only 1 or 2 of them are duds, but I am very lenient on these types of games in general.

[Aussie2B]

Blazing Star is awesome too. Always makes me feel bad about myself, though. :P

[smork]

Blazing Star is awesome too. Always makes me feel bad about myself, though. :P

Hey poor player!

I got that in my cab right now... So what am I doing online instead of playing?

[Gentlegamer]

As much as I would like an AES, considerations of the cost lead me to think I would be better off going for a real MVS cab and assorted MVS carts. If I'm going to have to pay top dollar, might as well get something "substantial."

[Ed Oscuro]

Blazing Star and Pulsar = decent, but not chart-toppers. Gimme Mars Matrix over BS any day.

[Cinder6]

Blazing Star and Pulsar = decent, but not chart-toppers. Gimme Mars Matrix over BS any day.

*twitch*

[boogiecat]

I've recently bought a couple of Neo Geo AES consoles(three of them,two US versions that were modded and a Asian/Taiwan version which is Japanese-spec AFAIK)...I've also bought a convertor for MVS games which is a must if you want to play the much more cheaper MVS carts,some AES games are expensive especially Twinkle Star Sprites,Metal Slug and some games......I think those Art Of Fighting games,Fatal Fury 1 to Special and Samurai Shodown/Sprits 1 to 3 are the cheaper-priced AES carts lately(i know there are more of them but those games aren't worth mentioning)..

My friend owned a CD(the Top Loader version) a couple years ago but he disposed it due to a fact that the loading times were annoying...I own a CDZ system and its a decent console...There are NGCD/CDZ game exclusives AFAIK but not that much..

Oh well so much for being a Neo Geo fanboy!!

[Kid Fenris]

Blazing Star and Pulsar [sic] = decent, but not chart-toppers. Gimme Mars Matrix over BS any day.

Mars Matrix is thoroughly average, aside from its neat feature-buying system. Takumi never made a truly good shooter, and they probably never will.

Not that Pulstar and Blazing Star are system-sellers, but aim your sights a little higher if you're going to dismiss them.

[Breetai]

I have yet to see one outside of Akiba, but I don't really have the time to look more than once or twice a month.Just got a boxed Neo AES for 5000yen! Score!

Mind you, it isn't perfect. The sound sometimes inexplicably cuts out in the middle of play occasionally, with the only way to fix it being resetting the system. The picture is also messed up when starting a game sometimes (not unlike the picture produced by an NES game that needs a good cleaning). Taking out the cart, putting it back in and restarting fixed this. I'm guessing that the problem is likely just the cartridge slot needing cleaning. I'll get to it eventually. Other than that, it works fine for quick sessions. I'm a happy guy!

The places I frequent all have Neo Geo CD consoles in stock, after having no Neo hardware at all for around a year (the common top-loading CD system is going for 2600yen with 2 controllers and occasionally boxed. Great deal, IMO!). What's with all the Neo hardware on the used market here lately? Tons of hardware, almost no games...

[Insaneclown]

Have you decided if your going the AES, MVS or CD route? I went the AES...but also did the MVS as well. I tried the CD...but it didnt work for me.

I've been on neo-geo.com for 6 years now so yeah I'am...no more like...I WAS a collector. I spent about 12K on Neo hardware alone. The system is absolutely amazing and the games are so far advanced...well they were at the time. Still to today...just awesome. I wish I still have my system but I do have about 20 AES games...which Im looking to sell. The hobby is just too expensive for me so I gave it up. Plus I needed money to buy a house. Any questions...I recommend you join the site to find out and ask or read up on.

P.S. - I do miss the hobby!

[Rickstilwell1]

Yeah I have both an AES and a CD. I bought both systems when I lived with my family, worked full time and paid hardly any rent. I was buying any and every system I could get my hands on and tons of games weekly because I had nothing to lose. My grandpa was annoyed at how many times he had to bring in my mail.

The Neo Geo AES was $599 CIB with an extra joystick controller and 3 CIB games: Magician Lord, Blue's Journey and NAM-1975. I didn't care about the price tag, I just wanted every system that came out after NES and I wanted it ASAP. I hated having to bid on systems and wait and sometimes lose so I just went for the nice big one when I had the money. I gotta say I'm glad I started collecting when I was 19. Living on my own now, I could never afford to do it the way I did it before. Now I actually have to shop smart.

Even though I have the US AES, I still love the CD with it's bios set to Japanese. The load times don't bother me. They are just like Sega Saturn from my experience. Only difference is Neo Geo games are 2D while many Saturn games are 3D so I guess some people wonder why they have to wait to load 2D stuff in the same way they have to for 3D. There is a major pro to having the CD that I haven't seen anyone mention yet. Since Neo Geo CD is region free and uses normal CDs to store data, this even applies to the region of CD-R. If you find roms online you can burn the games to disc for free rather than using an emulator.

The same thing works for Sega CD, TurboDuo and 3DO.

My Neo Geo CD was $100, came with 2 controllers, 5 legit CIB games and a ton of burned games the original owner threw in. Burned games are worthless, have no value can't be resold and are in a legal gray area though.

[raindog151]

Agree with everything that's been said. I first got my AES with Magician Lord about 3 years ago, and picked up about 6 or 7 other carts since then, maybe spent a total of 500$ for the lot. Picked up a big red about 2 years ago with 4 carts for 300$, spent another 304 on new buttons/sticks.

I think the AES is the way to go, along with a converter. I recently saw someone selling an all in one MVS cart containing most of the MVS releases, not sure if it was BS or not.

[Tron 2.0]

Agree with everything that's been said. I first got my AES with Magician Lord about 3 years ago, and picked up about 6 or 7 other carts since then, maybe spent a total of 500$ for the lot. Picked up a big red about 2 years ago with 4 carts for 300$, spent another 304 on new buttons/sticks.

I think the AES is the way to go, along with a converter. I recently saw someone selling an all in one MVS cart containing most of the MVS releases, not sure if it was BS or not.
MVS To AES converters,can be iffy some games will play perfectly others will not.When i had a aes plus a phantom 1 the converter turn out to be junk.Some games would have a graphic glitch others would not.Pretty much..there a gamble to use even with latest being the super mvs converter II the same can happen from what i hear.

All in all best way to play mvs at home is cab,supergun or have it consolized.

I been useing my cmvs 2-slot for years now and it get's the job done.

[XianXi]

A consolized 2 slot is by far the cheapest and best option when entering the world of the Neo. The 2 slot is preferred since it is closest thing to the AES as far as features from an arcade board. The 2 slot has a memory card slot, controller ports, 2 headphones sockets and a socketed bios which makes a Unibios an easy swap in.

You can usually get a consolized 2 slot starting from $200. The AES+Super Converter 2=$300-450 and it doesn't always play MVS games 100% and you may also need to pick up an additional power supply to make it work properly.

[Joe West]

MVS is the only way too go, cheaper games, & can be played on your tv, & if modded you can play american & japanese on system

[Insaneclown]

Okay folks...if you need answers...join here...

www.neo-geo.com

Everyone there WILL help you out. Along with some of the members posting on here already. :)

Tron 2.0
XianXi

[123►Genei-Jin]

I was looking into getting an AES + MVS Convertor II, but I'm now unsure about what to do after reading this thread (http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143386) and all the issues related to the little dial on it. I'm willing to spend the time into consolizing an MVS but I'm not sure if I have the skills needed to make the RGB converter/adapter required to connect the system to a regular TV.

[eugenek]

I was looking into getting an AES + MVS Convertor II, but I'm now unsure about what to do after reading this thread (http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143386) and all the issues related to the little dial on it. I'm willing to spend the time into consolizing an MVS but I'm not sure if I have the skills needed to make the RGB converter/adapter required to connect the system to a regular TV.

You can buy a jrok or neobitz encoder ready-made, so if that's your only concern, I say go for it.

[eugenek]

Okay folks...if you need answers...join here...

www.neo-geo.com

Everyone there WILL help you out. Along with some of the members posting on here already. :)

Tron 2.0
XianXi

I always assumed people posted here and not there because they were afraid of being flamed for being n00bs. I swear, it's better to be a serial killer than a noob on those forums.

[123►Genei-Jin]

You can buy a jrok or neobitz encoder ready-made, so if that's your only concern, I say go for it.

I'll probably go this way, I have a bunch of dead Xbox 360's so I'm thinking about fitting one of the top loader MVS boards inside one of those. I really like the MV1C and I don't really need the memory card slot, although the Unibios mod seems more complicated since the BIOS chip has a different pin-out and is soldered.

[XianXi]

The Unibios mod is simple on an MV1C board. Just follow the pinout.

Here, you can even read my guide:

http://www.neo-geo.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Consolize_an_MVS_Board

[123►Genei-Jin]

The Unibios mod is simple on an MV1C board. Just follow the pinout.

Here, you can even read my guide:

http://www.neo-geo.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Consolize_an_MVS_Board

Awesome, I only need to track one down from now and see how things shape up, thanks for that link.

[XianXi]

Send BIG BEAR a PM on the n-g.com forums, he might have an MV1C for sale.

[123►Genei-Jin]

I have never posted over there so I don't know if he or any other member will trust me, I only have my ebay feedback and some transactions I've made on shotyuken.com over the past few years as refference, will try PM'ing him anyway and see what happens.

[Insaneclown]

I always assumed people posted here and not there because they were afraid of being flamed for being n00bs. I swear, it's better to be a serial killer than a noob on those forums.

Hahha...some noobs cant handle the pressure on there I've noticed and seen. I was a noob on there once...but I fit on there perfectly. Also here too! :)

It's like a big gang over there and here it's a family it seems.

[Ed Oscuro]

Mars Matrix is thoroughly average, aside from its neat feature-buying system. Takumi never made a truly good shooter, and they probably never will.

Not that Pulstar and Blazing Star are system-sellers, but aim your sights a little higher if you're going to dismiss them.
Kid Fenris rates games based on graphics alone.

I used to rate Blazing Star above MM long ago for that reason, too. Aside from Mars Matrix, I'm pretty inclined to agree with you on Takumi's record, though; the only game of theirs I care for is Twin Cobra II which seems hilariously unbalanced with the weapon selection.

p.s. time for this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRhFYV4-pBQ) again. I'm not alone in saying this.

Blazing Star would be much better if there was something going on besides just the chaining. You can pretty much shove that game up to the max rank and nothing
happens

I admit my highscore from these games are way below where they need to be, though. I'm distracted quite easily.

[chrissylas]

I always assumed people posted here and not there because they were afraid of being flamed for being n00bs. I swear, it's better to be a serial killer than a noob on those forums.


I joined up and was planning to chronicle my attempt at restoring my MVS 4 slot but then work got in the way and I've had to put my plans on hold indefinitely.

They were very nice and were able to diagnose my marquee light issue though. Seemed pretty cool over there actually.