Just bought a Neo-Geo CD. Couple questions

[snes_collector]

Just bought a Neo-Geo cd after wanting one for years, I have a few questions:

1: The system isn't coming with a power cord, what other systems will work in place of it? The system is Japanese if that makes any difference.

2: I've read about people being able to make MVS only games run on an AES, has anyone came up with a way (if it's even possible) to put the non cd releases on a disk so they'll play on the Neo Geo CD? I'd love to be able to play Neo Mr Do! or Super Dodge Ball not to mention stuff like Metal Slug X & 3.

Thanks!

[WoodyXP]

1: The system isn't coming with a power cord, what other systems will work in place of it? The system is Japanese if that makes any difference.


I don't think any system has a brick that's compatible with the CD system. It might be best to source and purchase an original.





2: I've read about people being able to make MVS only games run on an AES, has anyone came up with a way (if it's even possible) to put the non cd releases on a disk so they'll play on the Neo Geo CD? I'd love to be able to play Neo Mr Do! or Super Dodge Ball not to mention stuff like Metal Slug X & 3.


No.



Thanks!

You're welcome.

[isufje]

@#2

Yes it's possible.
http://hi.baidu.com/barend87/blog/item/be10e74736f66c37cefca32c.html

[Edmond Dantes]

Even if its possible, why would you want to? It would probably result in games that glitch heavily and have tons of slowdown (a lot of games, when converted to the NGCD, had to have things cut to make the loading times shorter).

[otaku]

check with the guys over at neogeo.com but I believe it best to stick with a neo geo ac brick. Also if you want to play aes only games affordably (not ports) try getting a mvs console or arcade cab.

[ccovell]

It would probably result in games that glitch heavily and have tons of slowdown (a lot of games, when converted to the NGCD, had to have things cut to make the loading times shorter).

Slowdown will not happen with manually converted ROMs. Why would it? Official NGCD games slowed down or lacked frames because they were reprogrammed by SNK to fit into the more limited space of the CD system. Manually converted games are just hacks and can't be reprogrammed, so speed between an MVS/AES ROM and a NGCD conversion will not change.

So overall, MVS/AES ROMs can be converted to CD, with many caveats:

Each portion of the ROM version (PRG ROMs, SPR ROMs, Sample ROMs...) has to be the same size or less as the limitations of the CD. A NG game that has 4MB of PRG ROM for example will just not run on CD (which has 2MB PRG RAM). A NG game that has 8MB of SPR ROM will have half of its graphics data missing. It'll run, but sprites and BGs will indeed be glitchy. Same goes for Sample ROMs. You'll hear lots of loud noise instead of music/sfx if the MVS/AES Sample ROMs add up to over 1MB.

So basically for large games, forget it (unless you can put up with glitches or turn the sound way down on your TV, etc.) Gameplay will still be the same, tho.

As for how to do it, do it the analytical way if you don't know the NGCD/Neo specs well. Find an already converted NGCD hack on the web somewhere (not Neo Mr. Do because the graphics bitplanes were converted wrong) and compare the data in the directories to the data in NG ROMs. Study how 8-bit separated PRG ROMs get interleaved into a single 16-bit file. Study how all the separate SPR bitplanes get interleaved, byte-swapped, etc. The PRG vectors also get adjusted in order to run on CD. It takes a bit of know-how so it's best you learn how to do it by yourself, if you're still inclined.

[snes_collector]

Thanks for the responses guys, I'll definitely look into the mvs to cd conversions. I did get the system today, and I was wrong, it did come with a power adapter but no a/v cables. Is there another systems cables that will work with it?

[Edmond Dantes]

Can you show us a picture of the jack the A/V cables plug in to? From there we might could tell you something.

[ccovell]

The NGCD already has regular AV and S-Video out ports, which should be good enough...
http://www.chrismcovell.com/gotRGB/IMG_1151sm.jpg

The Video out DIN jack outputs RGB video if you want to go upscale, but you'll need to make your own cable. The NGCD has a C-shaped DIN pin configuration, while several other systems (Genesis, SMS) have U-shaped DIN pins:
http://www.chrismcovell.com/gotRGB/IMG_1141sm.jpg
You can bend the pins of one type to make it just fit into the other type, but it's not recommended.