Can Japanese Neo Geo's play US carts?

[norkusa]

I'm still trying to work out a deal for this Neo Geo cart system and now I find out it's a Jap import. Can these play the US carts (with or without a mod)? I don't know jack about Geo's and I checked out neo-geo.com but couldn't find any info on it.

[Gamereviewgod]

Yes. However, all the games will be in Japanese regardless of their origion. (I.e., a US copy of Fatal Fury will be in Japanese on a Japanese console) Extra bonuses include blood instead of sweat in games like Samurai Shodown when you have the Japanese console, like me. :-D

[Gunstarhero]

Hey Nork,
Man, if you can get a Jap NEO GEO then do it. You will have no problems, heck I think even the Power AC is the same as the US console.

[norkusa]

Hey Nork,
Man, if you can get a Jap NEO GEO then do it. You will have no problems, heck I think even the Power AC is the same as the US console.

Yeah? But the thing is that I can't read Japanese and that might be a problem when playing games. I know most NEO GEO games are fighters and don't require any understanding of the Japanese language to play them, but I'm worried that it could be a problem for some titles (I really want to get the 2 Baseball Stars games for instance). The prospect of having blood instead of sweat in fighting games seems interesting though. I dunno.... x_x

[Gamereviewgod]

Baseball Stars is fine. It may take a game or 2, but you'll be fine in the long run. I've had mine for over 3 years and have never really had an issue.

[Gunstarhero]

Nork,
Think of it this way, you are buying a consolized Arcade machine. Built, designed, and programmed to play Arcade style games. How many Arcade games do you need to read? Truth is most classic arcade games are pick up and play, as is the case with Neo Geo. Trust me, most Neo Geo games don't require you to read anything of importance, unless you just have to read the ridiculous one-liners offered up in between levels of fighting games.

If your worried about not being able to read instructions, well then you can buy English carts, those have English instruction books, yet still work and play fine on your Jap console(just the text in-game will be Japanese).

There is also a Debug Bios chip that can be added on to any Neo console which allows you to set which language you want. It also does many other things similar to what a Gameshark would, such as setting credits, amount of lives etc.. I just sent my Neo out to be modded for S-Video, Composite Video/Stereo, and a Debug Bios so I can enjoy the blood in the games too( I have an English Neo).

Hope you get a Neo, its pure 2d gaming heaven. Some people like to go the MVS route, I'm not sure how the region lockouts work on that, if your interested you could always ask Buttasuperb about MVS stuff, I think he's into that.

[Gamereviewgod]

In fact, alot of the game still have American text. Almost all of the menus/option screens are in english, even on a Japanese console. Cyber-Lip is all spoken English during the cinemas!