I know right!? Well put. I was autistically in to samurai showdown but it was more than a pipe dream to ever get my parents to buy this system at the time it came out. So I continued to dream away about this unicorn that I knew would never appear at home. I got the glimpse of the illusion at arcades though..
As a kid, I saw one in real life one time at Videotronics in my hometown. It was in a display case for demo. Always a ton of older high school kids gathered around it.
Remember "catch me if you can" when the guy was printing real checks?. The Neo Geo was like buying a sex doll but they send you a real hooker for thousands (but she really puts out headache free).
I think the Neo Geo succeeded because it was clear about its place in the market. It was a premium product and those enthusiasts who wanted to play arcade perfect games in their home were willing to pay the high prices. Also, as there was no 3rd party support the system was not scarred by a slew of poor titles.
PS: Adam here's a list of the 3rd party developers for the Geo :) ADK - World Heroes 2 Aicom - Pulstar Aicom / Sammy - Viewpoint Aiky - Pochi & Nyaa Alpha Denshi - Ninja Commando Asatsu-DK / Fuji TV - Samurai Shodown RPG Atlus - Matrimelee Capcom - SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos Data East - Spinmaster Eleven, Gavaking - Nightmare in the Dark Eolith - The King of Fighters 2001 Evoga Ent - Rage of the Dragons Face - Gururin Hudson Soft - Neo Bomberman MEGA - Metal Slug 4 Monolith - Bakatono-sama Mahjong Manyūki Nazca Corp - Metal Slug NMK - Zed Blade Noise Factory - Sengoku 3 Pallas - Super Baseball 2020 Psikyo - Strikers 1945 Plus Racjin / Red Entertainment - Far East of Eden: Kabuki Klash Saurus - Stakes Winner Sunsoft - Waku Waku 7 System Vision - Ragnagard Taito - Puzzle Bobble Takara - Chibi Maruko-chan: Maruko Deluxe Quiz Technōs Japan Corp - Double Dragon Tecmo - Tecmo World Soccer '96 Viccom - Fight Fever Video System - Aero Fighters 2 Visco - Goal! Goal! Goal! Wave - Legend of Success Joe Yuki Enterprise - Samurai Shodown V Yumekobo - Blazing Star (currently )NG:Dev.Team - Last Hope(2006), FastStriker(2010), Gunlord(2012), NeoXYX(2013), Razion (2013), Kraut Buster (2018/2019) - I was a huge SNK/ NeoGeo nut, still 'am to this day =D
Wow I got my 3DO CIB for nothing. 10 years ago Co worker said he was going to throw it out if I didn't want it, told him heck yes I'll take it, gave me 12 CIB games including Samurai Shodown too. I thought he was messing with me at first. Still have it but looking to sell off most of my collection as I really don't have time to enjoy playing it all anymore. I'd rather take that space gained and money from selling it all and invest in something that doesn't sit and not be used, and hopefully someone else can actively use what I sell. Games and systems shouldn't sit on shelves or display cases and not be enjoyed by playing them.
I got one in summer of 92, gold it came with a second game: nam 1975 and a baseball game. I got king of fighters for it, but ultimately sold it on eBay later on with those 3 games. I had another game, just can't remember what it was. I used that money to get both Xbox and Gamecube on launch days with just about everything they had. I purchased mine at a Game Etc. For 650, Gold with an additional game, some kind of promotion. Sold it without the extra game for roughly 1200 on eBay. Parted the rest out. Extra memory card and 3 games.
Neo Geo AES worked because no game was developed to it, no ports needed, not even marketing was needed. That was all about MVS, one of the best arcade boards ever. Games was developed for arcade, put that on AES was just an extra for SNK. That's the exactly reason why Neo Geo CD failed, because the hardware was not 100% compatible with MVS, and they needed to make ports, spending more money in development. By the way, Data East, Taito and Irem developed games for MVS. I recommend (a not insanely expensive) Metal Slug, Real Bout Fatal Fury and a King of Fighters for your Neo Geo. You will know why there is some few crazy people that love it even today.
+Velberan *Last Blade, Ninja Masters, Pulstar, Blazing Star, NAM 1975, Shock Troopers. Your list combined with mine pretty much sums it up. Awesome games.
+Velberan The Neo Geo actually had a very aggressive and controversial marketing campaign in gaming magazines during its day. One of its very famous ones was a picture of two steel ball bearings with the caption "you need a pair of these, to own one of these!" pointing to a Neo Geo. Watch the rise and fall of SNK on here, very good short documentary.
+Velberan Nope, it was slow as fuck and did not sell good enough, despite of porting a game being not that expensive . The AES worked because of the nutjobs who are obsessed with Arcades.
That primary genre of fighting games was the hottest genre during the early to mid nineties, kinda like platforming before and dance and rhythm games later
I have a little story about the Neo Geo. I was working for a classic video game store in Indiana called McVan's Video Games in 2003-2005 and they were a Neo Geo dealer. So we actually got their new releases on the launch date and sure enough, a few Neo Geo owners would show up for the games. I have to say, huge respect for SNK for supporting their system for so long. And also the fact that they kept their hardware faithful to the arcade unlike any other system. But yes, it was ridiculously expensive and most games were similar so it was very much a niche product.
@TrueSinister Yeah, I was in high school at the time and basically made minimum wage there so I couldn't afford it. Most of my money went to other games. Also, we only got a few copies and they were sold right away to the hardcore fans. I always liked Neo Geo and had a Pocket but never got the means to own the real one. That store had sooo many rare things for reasonable prices that sell for a ton now. I should have invested in them more! And my parents considered games a waste of money! They're basically the only things I've purchased that went up in price!
I remember when the Neo Geo came out, Toys "R" Us was selling the gold edition for $850, plus each cartridge cost $199.99 each. Nothing can compare to the Neo Geo, a true arcade system.
The reason they allowed ports of their games to other systems is simple, other systems couldn't do what the Neo Geo could, and if anything it was a selling point for the AES - when you get a poor port on another system that makes you want the AES even more. Take a look at any of the ports of their games on the Megadrive and SNES. The Neo Geo was far superior. The hardware was the selling point, it was like the Ferrari of gaming back then. If Nintendo allowed ports of their games on other hardware today it would run just the same - if not better. Back then no console came close the capability of the AES. The SNES was pretty good and had mode 7 etc but the AES is technically superior.
GadgetUK164 I suppose the "Ferrari" concept could be related to PC's of today. (Quite debatable though due to them coming in different sizes and packages)
Hotsex spy PC is probably more like a Ford, you pretty much have a car type for everyone, Fiesta for people starting out driving and probably elderly people, Focus for people who want a more permanent long term car, Mondeo and S-max for Families of up to 3 kids, G-max for big families, Transit vans of all shapes and sizes for workers, and the GT for rich people who want a super/hyper car. There are also the pick up trucks and Mustangs for whatever people want those.
llpalm08 Seems reasonable, now I know more about car types in that one comment then my parents ever told me. You also gave me what situation they would be used best in, thanks.
***** Well that would probably be the same as someone saying that they don't like PC gaming. Some people might not like the style of driving in a Ford in the same way that they may not like the style of gaming from a PC.
Adam, you got the cartridge incompatibility reasoning backwards. The reason for the incompatibility is because the AES carts were CHEAPER than the MVS carts and they did not want arcade operators to buy the cheaper home carts and put it in the MVS. The pricing difference is due to private use vs. commercial use licensing. The only reason the arcade carts are cheaper than the home carts TODAY in the used market is because there are more of them and not as collectible as the home carts.
Tempora158 The AES carts came AFTER the MVS ones... and were more expensive...150-200 for an AES while the MVS had prices between 80-150 bucks, depending on availability...
***** A full MVS kit would've been much more expensive for an arcade operator to purchase than a home cart at that time. Now things aren't so cut and dry and generally speaking, a used MVS cart will cost less than a used AES cart.
***** You're thinking in terms of a collector in the used markets TODAY. You have to go back in time to the year 1991 and see it from SNK's perspective. New MVS carts cost around $500-$1200+, while new home AES carts in the $180-$300+ The MVS cart cost more than the AES cart because SNK expects the arcade operator to earn at least $2,000 from the purchase of the MVS cart and therefore SNK has to get a cut of that by charging more for the MVS carts since there isn't a royalty system in place like the Taito NESiCAxLive. To give an even easier example because a lot of people don't understand how licensing affect pricing...let's say you own a video rental store. You want to buy a copy of the "The Lion King" to rent out. Legally speaking, you CANNOT go to Best Buy and buy a $10 DVD copy of "The Lion King" and rent that out. That $10 copy is the equivalent of the AES cart; it's for PRIVATE USE ONLY and priced as such. To be legit, you need to buy the commercial DVD version of "The Lion King" and it's probably going to cost $300. This $300 copy is equivalent to the MVS cart. This copy cost more money because you're making money from it and the creator wants a cut of that money.
Omega Rugal The prices you mentioned sounds like the price of USED carts today, rather than the price of NEW carts from an arcade dealer/retailer in the 1990s. Think of it this way, a Tekken 2 arcade cabinet cost $20,000 in 1995, while the combined cost of a TV, a Playstation, and a copy of Tekken 2 is less than a thousand. Why the gigantic difference in price when it's same thing? Because the Tekken 2 cabinet is sold to make money for the buyer, while the Playstation version is sold for the buyer's private enjoyment.
Tempora158 That was a close figure back in that time, but like i said, it was all about the availability, MVS carts there was times were they were as cheap as 80 dollars, but if the ROM chips price went high at the time of manufactoring, carts were as high as 150 dollars, and i`m talking about shitty ones like Robo Army or Ninja combat. MVS carts were made in larger quantites than its AES counterparts, and sold directly to arcade operators, in a cheap box with some flyiers and cabinet artwork, there was no marketing expenses or such... so when the AES was made, in order to force people to buy AES carts instead of reusing MVS carts, they made them not compatible, SNK sold AES carts almost at a loss but still at 150 dollars it was too expensive for a home cart... Of course i`m giving you prices without adjusted inflation... oh and Tekken 2 arcade runs on NAMCO system 11, which its WAAAYYY more expensive than a PS2... but yes, the price of an arcade goes higher because the fee for the money you will get from it has to be paid upfront...
This video is so natural. No stupid edit cuts between each entences and pure honesty from experience. This is awesome Adam. I hope you make a new video on the sixth generation consoles. You already made one but a more in depth video would be awesome. Maybe PS2 video by itself. Or Xbox or GC.
I think that the main reason as to how the Neo-Geo refused to die was it was not meant to compete against Nintendo or Sega. It was meant to be an extra luxury to accompany your SNES, Genesis & TG16. The real profit this system ever really earned was from the arcades. However in the late '90s, early 2000s the reason why there wasn't too many games (since its launch, and first years) was because piracy, and the fact that arcades were dying at that time. In regards to the launch years, SpoonnMan's Page did say he did preorder his Neo-Geo AES in 1990, and got it for Christmas that year. This led me to think that this would be available for preorder in 1990, but it didn't make true retail availability until 1991. I love this system, and its longevity, as well as it's niche nature were what really appealed to me! Thanks for the video, Adam!
The neo geo at its time had insane graphics, sound, game play. arcade at home. the games looked stunning. they are still stunning, beautiful. fantastic fighting and beat em up games, sports, all. snk are genius in its time. - gamer since the 80's.
My NeoGeo Pocket Color approves of this video. That's about the extent of SNK Hardware I can afford too. I remember seeing this thing years ago wondering what the hell a 24bit system was, and who would buy it for the asking price (I was trying to sell my parents on getting me an SNES using it's "low" price point). The fact that you said it was discontinued in 2004 is made even more weird by the fact that the Pocket Color linked up with the Dreamcast. I know that's probably more due to the fact that the AES didn't have the capability to do so, but having your first party hardware link up to another console while you're still in the home console market is mind blowing.
I remember my dad offering to buy me this after we saw it in a magazine.And then me or my mom saying it was too much. I should have done it. I remember loving those damn huge sprites and awesome games in the arcade. Neo Geo rocks! =)
I had several of these over the years, in the early 90s (bought/sold). Arcade was the holy grail during these times so the Neo Geo had some serious swagger. The Neo Geo could replicate the arcade experience for home use completely. That combined with its high pricetag gave it a mythical status at the time. It was seldom seen in homes. Only the most hardcore gamers owned one. This thing really has the pedigree and mojo. I don't think people today would/could relate to that. It's like that highly priced sports car, BEFORE there was easy credit. :) Holy shiiite, was it expensive... There were many strange 5th gen consoles that were here today, gone tomorrow. While the Neo Geo is considered 4th gen, it was the only console that I could go back to during that tumultuous time in gaming history for quality gameplay. That is badass. I can see why these consoles still are regarded so high by many. It's timeless quality. Never goes out of style.
Ah, the Rolex or Cadillac of game consoles. How the Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury geek in me would drool over one of these, yet the price just makes it unattainable in my eyes. At least there are some good arcade compilations for the PS2 and Wii. Also, holy shit, those cartridges are HUGE
180° DIN5 composite AV cables are interchangeable between AES and Model 1/Master System but not RGB or DIN7/8 cables, but it’s not just because the pin outs differ: it’s 270° C-shaped versus 262° U-shaped DIN. They can be forced accidentally but it will bend two of the pins. A lot of composite AV cables are DIN7 with vestigial pins that don’t fit the other without bending a bit. The power adapter is a different story though: The model 1 adapter is appropriate for some AES consoles but it will FRY others. SNK stupidly used the same 5.5x2.1 millimeter jack on both versions. The ones that will fry with a Genesis adapter require a regulated 5v center negative adapter and the others will accept a range of higher center-negative voltages because they are internally regulated (commonly called “9v consoles” but they shipped with both 10v and 11v adapters). They say you can’t trust the label and you should always take it apart to check. At least try 5v regulated 1A first (adapt a 1A+ USB charger?). In my experience, most are 9v consoles. 5v consoles will have a daughter board or be a really old revision (“NEO AES” as opposed to “3-6” or something).
Coolest thing about the AES is out of it's entire library there's really no bad games. Well, Legend Of Success Joe is _one_ bad game. OK, so the AES has one bad game.
Not to be that guy, but Mister Fpga has the most accurate neo geo core ever built. Cycle accurate from de-capped original neo geos. You get simultaneous analog rgb PLUS hdmi out which currently supports up to 1536p, which is a 6.5x scale! Insanely sharp pixels!
@@AdamKoralik you probably have had someone else tell you this by now but just in case, a company called terra onion has released a flash drive for this. It's still pricey but worth the money if you already own the console.
For some reason, i really REALLY like that you do not use jump cuts in your videos. Feels like youre actually having a passionate conversation about these systems with me. Beyond that, you know your shit and your excitement for all of it can be felt. I salute you, and only hope for your continuing and growing success. You rock!
Hey there , my name is Ahmed , am from egypt , I would like to tell that I had the Neo Geo , and trust me it was awesome by that time "1997" , I still remember spending long hours playing super cool games , I had only one fight game "world heros2" , car racing "thrash rally" , and there was one really interesting game call "king of ministers" try to imagine ur playing with something like Godzilla and through other bad Godzillas with things like the pyramids or with the eiffle tower !! It was crazy
Wow, I did not even guess it shared the same controller port. Back in the early 90s my buddy and I would skip 3rd year University classes to play Samurai Showdown in the campus arcade... later I purchased this game on a 3D0 in 1994. One of my favorite consoles of all time.
Visco was one of the third party devs for the MVS/AES. Neo Drift Out was one of their more popular titles. Data East also did some stuff too. Most notably, Windjammers. There's probably others, but there's two off the top of my head.
The memoryslot on the AES had a purpose. Not only you can save your gamedata with it. As you said, this whould be no problem vor a cartidge based system. The point of usind memorycards is, that you can take your data to the arcade and use, what ever you have unlocked at your home. The Neo Geo back in the days was like a myth. everyone knew it, but no one has ever owned one nor seen one. It was like the dream of so many gamers. I remember this time pretty well.
Hey Adam, the memory card was used to bring your saved stats to the arcade machines, since the game itself was the exact same thing on both the console and the arcade.
This is a great video. My take on the AES is that it did everything wrong...except the games themselves which were of the highest quality as far as Fighters, SHMUPS, and Sports games went. Instead of making mistakes and limiting their audience out of incompetence like so many systems you cover, they hammered a single niche market perfectly and made games for a decade on the hardware. Basically, they knew their audience, and did what they did so much better than anyone else that they had no competition.
There were definitely third party developers for the Neo: Visco and Nasca are 2 that I can think of right away. SNK was the only company who did what really needed to be done in bringing the true arcade experience home, not a watered down port for a home console! Their system and games have withstood the test of time and are still great today. Expensive, yes--but I believe you get what you pay for. Quality wins out.
You hit the nail on the head. The Neo Geo wasn't competition for the other consoles. It was specifically for people who wanted true arcade gameplay at home and gave SNK a way to get their arcade versions out of the arcade and into peoples homes. The quality of many of SNK's titles is what kept it all going.
Hey Adam, great video as always! I really want an AES but I can't afford it. The Famicom lasted from 1983-2007 and the Super Famicom lasted from 1990-2003. The Famicom is technically the longest lasting console and was still made until 2003. Nintendo officially stopped repairing them in 2007.
Why are people so surprised that Neo Geo was a success even though it priced the average gamer out of the market? We've seen this all throughout history...it was sold as a luxury product and one that would "bring the arcade home." At the time, nothing could compete with it and every time you bought an arcade port of a game, you knew you were getting a watered down version. The Neo Geo made everything else look like toys. I mean, how does does Apple get away with charging $2,000 for laptops that routinely sell for half that by competitors and are sometimes better, spec-wise? How come Hermes gets to sell women's purses for over $4,000 while most purses cost under $100? The Neo Geo gathered a cult following and those who couldn't afford it simply wanted it just because they couldn't afford it. There's nothing that amazing or unbelievable about this concept.
I knew a few things about the Neo Geo, but I still definitely learned a few things from this video. You were right, it is a pretty fascinating console.
I actually played one of these, in 1991 when they were brand new if you can believe it. I never knew anyone who owned one, but of course like everyone else, I had heard about it. That year my family went on vacation with another family, and those people had friends from another state that were staying nearby and they had a son around my age. He was a total game nut and told me he had a Neo Geo back in the hotel room that he rented from a local video game store. I thought he was full of it but he was telling the truth. It was truly a phenomenal experience for a 14 year old back then, who at home only had an NES. I'll never forget how blown away I was with that system. Ridiculously advanced for the time.
I purchased a consolized MVS and it really is the best way to go. I also got a SuperGun made by Jamma Nation X and use that with my actual MVS board when it's not in my cab. You're 100% right when you say that SNK supported this mofo like no one else. It was a true honor to be apart of that in some small way. Today it amazes me that we get yearly releases for the system from NG:Dev Team. This year we're getting Kraut Buster from NG:Dev Team, and Crossed Swords 2 from Razoola, which is a convert from the Neo Geo CD exclusive. How awesome is that? People don't understand why the games are so pricey today, but it's mainly because there are so few copies made so it's a super expensive endeavor in order to make the new games. The Crossed Swords 2 kit goes for $280 USD, whereas Kraut Buster goes for 399 Euros! That's omega expensive, but super worth it ;)
I think it will in time. Just about every NG:Dev Team game has seen a DC release with the exception being their last shmup, RAZION. I'm fairly certain they'll have a DC port of Kraut Buster ready for sometime next year. Last year we also go Knight's Chance, which was a casino game set in medieval times that was all sorts of awesome. There really isn't any other fan community out there like the Neo Geo fan community. Super DC and TG-16 get lots of indie releases, but of those who support the community, how many would be willing to dish out $500 or more a year on a single release?
Yeah I had heard that from a few other people. Not entirely sure why that is. It really can't be that much work to port it over to the Dreamcast, or maybe I'm completely wrong and it's not as easy as I think. At any rate, Kraut Buster is something different so I would be surprised if they kept that on the Neo Geo. I was also rather surprised to learn that they sold out of the collector's edition within a day or so, when it normally takes weeks if not months to do so.
Project COE I would buy that "metal slug clone" (i don't think that i'm the only one thinking about it). maybe they didn't port Razion because is another shmup?
+AdamKoralik Really cool video. I've had my AES since 1997 and I also own a MVS arcade cabinet. The AES was originally designed with the game rental industry in mind. The fact that people started buying them was actually a mistake believe it or not. The price was reflected upon the fact that they intended for people to rent them from places like Blockbuster. They also thought that maybe places like hotels would want them to put into premium suites. In Japan the AES was called the Neo Geo Rental System. What made the AES special was that it was a 1:1 port form it's MVS counterpart. While they didn't want MVS carts to be played on the AES these games were an exact port from the arcade. Taito developed games on the AES such as Bust-a-Move, Hudson developed Neo Bomberman, and Techmo even developed a soccer game. I think even Atlus developed a fighting game on the AES as well. SNK also made a cheaper controller that's pretty durable commonly called "The Bean Controller" You can pick these up on ebay for about $30 now days. Problem with the Neo Geo CD was the terrible long load times. Think the most expensive AES cart I own is a US region Metal Slug, which last time I checked was going for about $6500.
I have an AES Gold but only have 4 games. I bought a limited production homebrew adapter for the AES to convert to MVS games. I also have a 4-slot MVS. The AES gets little to no play for me but is a fascinating console. The "aw" factor for people coming to my home is always the arcade cabinet so the AES sits in the back. People have problems appreciating what you have when it comes to Neo Geo and really don't comprehend how rare and valuable it is. I don't flex on people or brag or anything but people don't seem to remember it and understandably so, with the price and low production run. Neo Geo is my all time favorite console.
Duuuuude. So happy I came across this video. Believe it or not, Neo Geo has and will always be one of my favorite consoles when it comes to video games. I still remember till this day, buying the console from a Toys R Us back in 1992 when I was a kid. I do remember my parents basically spending an absolute fortune. It is probably the only console out of the many consoles that I had, where I actually remember the prices for a lot of the games that I had because of how expensive they were. Till this day I have this console and own many games for it. I don't play video games as much now but I truly had some great times growing up playing the Neo Geo and having fight nights with friends etc. some of my favorite games that I like till this day are: ARE OF FIGHTING 1,2 and 3 Samurai Showdown. Fatal Fury World heroes. And all the KING OF FIGHTERS. This video just brought back so many good memories. For a while I remember it was so hard to find a game for the Neo Geo at a local store. I remember having to Order a game every time I wanted to buy one. And they were always around $200 to $250. It was also very popular in other countries around the world. It was my favorite system when it came to having a great arcade feeling games and with the controller being so big it made fight games just amazing. Neo Geo will always be my favorite system to play growing up.
hudson made some neogeo game.... and if you want more wierd thing... the console as a LED for the power... but it s inside the system!! yup... and... ever more wierd...the console is stereo...but the cable behind the system is only mono... but all that can be modded easly... Didnt have one as a kid... but i have a modded one now! :D
I got my Neo Geo Aes with 2 x controllers and a memory card for £80. It was my very purchase of eBay in 2006. Also itbstarted me on the road of retro collecting. Adam love the show great work mate :)
@ both of you: Hate is a big word. But I only own a PC and a Xbox 360 (since years) and when there was an exclusive for another system that I like I would be pissed. Because I am not buying that system for that 1 (!) game that I want to play. I had the same issue with the original Xbox, the only thing I wanted to play was Burnout 3 and somewhat Forza Motorsport. But didn't want to buy the console just for that. So I waited till I had 4 games or so - that I wanted to play on that. And from time to time a company changes in the type of exclusive games for there system. So once you have for instance a PS3 and your happy with it. But the next generation you feel like you should have a Xbox One.
There were plenty of third party games some like ADK, Taito, Nazca, Hudson soft, alpha Denshi, Noise Factory and several more. Also the Fighting game genre was huge at the time and outside of Capcom the MVS basically cornered the market, still there was a rich selection of shooters available as well
I bought mine in the early 90's (I think 92) I was in high school but I also worked 30 hours a week and saved up to buy the Gold System it came with Magician Lord. I bought mine from GameDude advertised in the back of EGM. But I also remember them being on the shelf at Electronics Boutique, and I even bought a game from EB full price retail (Last Resort). Last Resort and Samurai Shodown were my 2 favorites back then.
Hey, I REALLY like this video, BUT, I was one of the guys that owned this console back in 1991 moving forward, I still own it, have most of the games for it on MVS, AES, and CD format, and buying more monthly. I have every game for it made by NGDevTeam on both AES and MVS, and I love their work, and I was actually a part of the Neo-Geo Fan Club back in the early 90s as well. There are some things you got incorrect in this video, so I thought I might make a few corrections, if I may. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT attempting to bash your video, I just want to hopefully let some people know that there were a few things that you could reword, or change if you decide to fix this video one day with corrections. 1. At 1min in, you mention that this thing did just about everything wrong, and yet was still a success. The reason you feel this way, was due to the fact that the AES was just extra income for SNK, as basically it was just there for people at home to play the arcade games, at a much lower price tag, and not having to have the arcade cab in their house. SNK basically made 99% of their revenue through the MVS in arcades, as EVERY arcade had usually at least 2 Neo-Geo cabs in it, yet near nobody owned an AES. Had they relied only on the AES, they would have folded in a years time or less. 2. I find it strange that you say it came out "technically December 31st 1990", when I know that the MVS cabs were out in Arcades many months before that point and even my own 6 Slot "Big Red" was made in November 20th 1990, and the Neo-Geo price list at the Neo-Geo.com website, lists the first games ever released on AES 7-1-91 for the AES in both Japan and USA. I just find that odd. I personally got my first AES very near release date in the US about August 1st 1991, IIRC. 3.@3:28- Correction: The Gold edition was $649, came with 1 console, 2 controller, and one game, no memory card though, (unless the store you bought it from threw it in for free just to be cool, otherwise the mem card was an extra $39) 4.@4:00- Correction: The Silver system was just Console and 1 Controller, but sold for $449. That was the selling point for the Gold Console was that IF you spent the extra $200 for it, you got a controller for FREE, which is worth $50, as every game sold for $199 each back then, (until World Heroes 2 came out in 1993 which was when the NEW AES games were pushed to $249 each, instead of $199 each due to Meg Count getting higher, which drove up costs of games.) :) 5.@5:45- Correction: There were actually a LOT of third party support for the Neo-Geo, it's just many of them were unknown to Console owners, as the third party supporters were devs that made ARCADE Games only at the time. Some Third Party support included: Alpha/ADK, Pallas, Monolith, Wave, Yubis, Visco, Sammy, Viccom, Data East, Face, Video System, Hudson Soft, NMK, Technos, Taito, Tecmo, Sunsoft, Saurus, Aicom, Yumekobo, Nazca, Takara, Psikyo, Gavaking/Eleven, Noise Factory, Eolith, Breezasoft, Evoga, Phenixsoft, Aiky, Yuki Enterprise, and finally NGDevTeam, which is a pretty decent third party group list if you ask me. Yes, we wish we had some Capcom and Konami support, but, all things aside we still had fantastic gamesto play for 14 long years and still today we get at least 1 new great game every year from NGDevTeam, which pushes the Neo-Geo further than SNK did yearly, and I just ordered Kraut Buster this week on AES! I can't wait to get it end of this year on Neo-Geo! 6.@7:30- Correction: Not much variety? WTF are you smokig crack? lol, this machine has THE most variety than any other console made in history! Yes, fighting games WERE very important back in the 90s due to the popularity of Street Fighter 2 craze, but the Neo-Geo has a shit ton of Puzzle games, Racing, Mahjong, Fighters, Shooters, Platformers, Sports, Hack n Slash, and Action games! It lacks RPGs, (other than Samurai Spirits RPG, and Riding Hero RPG Mode), and it lacks.... umm... nothing else I can think of. I mean it is an arcade machine, and it has just about everything. The fighters make up about 35% of the library. 7.@8:05- Correction: $50 retail? Where? Try (1991-1992) $199 retail, (1993-1995) $249 retail, (1996-1999) $299 each retail, (2000-2004) $349 retail each game. (2006-today) from $549-$700 each retail (NGDevTeam AES Releases). Yeah, if there were EVER any $50 AES carts, they were USED at a place like GameDude, never ever NEW. 8.@9:20-"SNK was not a direct competition to Sega and Nintendo.... you got that shit DEAD ON RIGHT! SNK didn't give a shit about other "competition". SNK just offered In Your Face Arcade Direct Games in your home, and they delivered that! Everyone else, just gave you consoles in your home, and they delivered those. SNK was in a league all on it's own. Other comments: @13:45 Thanks! Yeah my mom rocked! she spoiled the FUCK out of me, and I was the ONLY kid in 7th grade that had the Neo-Geo and every game on the thing. Of coarse I did work every weekend all day long to keep up with the game releases, and I bought as many of them used in GameDude, newspaper ads, shit like that, and just tried hard to have ALL of the games, but, still my mom is awesome for getting me the Neo-Geo! However, she admits it was her biggest mistake, as I am still buying games for it, and I sold all of them in 1999, which pissed her off something fierce, and then in 2001 I began rebuying all of them again, which is insane considering the prices that the games fetch these days. Some of them are $3,500-$10,000 each now or more. Metal Slug still eludes me now, and I should have NEVER sold that shit. :P @15:20 Yeah, everyone knew what the Neo-Geo was, and everyone wanted to play mine, OR play against me in the arcades after school to test my skills on it ESPECIALLY when Samuari Shodown came out in 1993 when I was a Sophmore in HS. Holy shit the arcades were FULL of people playing that game like no other game existed! Everyone knew I had that shit at home also. I have some awesome memories getting that game at GameDude with a good friend of mine! @16:52 You'r idea of "Fighting Games" is so off center, it's not even near accurate. First off Ninja Combat, is not a side scrolling Fighting Game, it is an Action Game bro. :D Next, Magicial Lord is a kick ass Action Platformer, and it is a DAMN great game to boot! Next, King of the Monsters is fucking WRESTLING like 3 Count Bout! Wrestling is not the same as fighting! Next, Fatal Fury 2 and Garou Densetsu Special aka Fatal Fury Special in the US (not Real Bout Fatal Fury Special), yes both Fighting games. So you got 2 of them right out of like 5. Bad ratio if you ask me bro. :D At this point you probably think Blues Journey, League Bowling, Metal Slug, Ganryu, and Zupapa are "fighting games" as well. @18:45 Yes, SNES and Genesis had one PCB board and Neo-Geo has 2, just like a few other Arcade systems that have carts that you can swap. The REASON this is, is that the home consoles packed the sound board and graphics, and music all on one PCB, usually all stored on one or two Roms inside them. The Neo-Geo uses TWO boards so that the system can do 2 things at one time. One board was for the Graphics of the games, while the other board was for the Program Roms which stores the movement of the characters and also the Sound Roms for the music and sound effects. This is why the Neo-Geo was 24 Bit as well, the 16Bit CPU was mainly all graphics, adn the 8Bit CPU was to deliver the sound over to the Yamaha sound chips. This allowed for immediate actiuon, no loading times, not much slowdown depending on the games programming, and the Neo-Geo also has a Giga Bit pin in the console made for games above 1,000 MegaBits which was completely unknown and unused until 2009 or so when Fast STriker came out by NGDevTeam and was 1,560Megs! The Neo-Geo is built for the future unlike any machine in history! @19:17 Actually the Arcade carts were more expensive by far, usually costing about $799 each up to $1,000 each per game. The reason that SNK made them different though was so that Arcade vendors cannot just buy the cheaper $200-$350 carts and plug them into the Arcade cabs to make money on as the AES home Console games were the cheaper ones. The only reason that SNK priced the AES carts so much cheaper, even though those games store the SAME identical Roms inside them, is just to help make the home console more affordable to the buyers of the AES. @19:25 Actually, the MVS Converters are absolutely financially practical, considering you can get a Daedalus converter for $400, and then your AES can play ALL games AES and ALL games made MVS on the home console. If you get the CMVS then your stuck with MVS carts only. This is important due to the fact that there are SOME games that are cheaper on AES than on MVS, and vice versa. So if you get the Daedalus converter and an AES, you can then escentially get ANY GAME made for the Neo-Geo and play them at home on your AES console! I would NEVER actually tell anyone to get the Magic Key or any other converter though due to bad compatibility. @21:28- Correction: NeoGeoCD/CDZ was not discontinued in 1997, but was rather discontinued officialy on January 1st 2000. The Last Neo-Geo CDs made for the system were The Last Blade 2 (Feb 1999), and King of Fighters 99 (in December 1999). Then as everyone knows, SNK made Garou Mark of the Wolves (on MVS/AES Feb 2000), Metal Slug 3 (on MVS/AES June 2000), and finally King of Fighters 2000 (MVS/AES December 2000) then filed for bankruptcy. @22:50 Thank you! :D @23:27... we want Shmups, because we want something "fresh for our console"? Are you serious? We have so many damn Shooters its not even funny, and we have some of the best damn ones ever made on top of that! The best R-Type sequels are on the Neo-Geo. Ever heard of Pulstar, Blazing Star, Last Hope or Last Resort? How about Prehistoric Isle 2, Zed Blade, Strikers 1945 Plus, Twinkle Star Sprites, or Aero Fighters 2 and 3? How about Alpha Mission 2, Andro Dunos, Ghost Pilots, Ironclad Brikin'Ger, or Viewpoint? We also have Captain Tomaday, Razion, Fast Striker, Neo XYX, and more but, I'm sure you get the idea. Also, just so you know, the Dreamcast ports were shotty as hell from NGDevTeam and Neo XYX is the last port your getting from them. As of now, they are no longer supporting the Dreamcast, and starting with Razion, the NGDevTeam games are exclusive to the Neo-Geo platform, and starting next year, there will be a Japanese developer that will be porting the games they make to a Japanese Arcade system after the Neo-Geo game is made and released for about a year or so first. Awesome video though, and I loved watching it! Great final thoughts as well. Very well made, but, you did have a lot of false info about the system in the video, it's understanding why considering if you did not follow the Neo-Geo for the past 25 years since it came out, I'm sure there is a LOT to catch up on, so I see where your coming from. Still nice work! It was fun to watch! -J
TheNewFakk28 SNK actually admitted that they we're basically competing against SNES espically with that Controversial "You need a set of these(balls) to play with one these(AES)"Marketing
"I'm not trying to bash your video" writes an essay that point-by-point explains how nearly everything the presenter says was wrong, or misinformed in some capacity. At a certain point, it is just better to post a video rebuttal.
Worked with a guy in the early 2000's who's roommates were classic console collectors (before I even knew that was a thing). They had all the Nintendo's up to that point (including Virtua Boy), all the Sega's, a Jaguar, and, sure enough, a Neo Geo. Had never actually seen one before that. They only had a few games, but remember being blown away that they actually had one.
Just to let you know since I didn't hear it mentioned in the video, the memory card was used so that you could take your saved games from home and play them on a Neo Geo MVS arcade which had a memory card slot as well or vice versa
ADK/Monoith/Visco/Wave/Data East/NMK/Face/Viccom/Saurus/Sunsoft/Hudson Soft/Yumekobo/Psikyo/Gavaking/Evoago/Atlus/Noise Factory | these are the game makers. I own a Gold System btw and it still works and plays perfectly 20 + years later. Bought the system myself. If you wish to sell Ninja Combat or any of your games I'll take em. LOL no joke.
When I was a kid, I actually didn't believe this console was real. When a kid claimed he saw one or played it, my friends and I just rolled our eyes. You may as well have claimed you saw a unicorn or a dragon. I never even saw an SNK system until I met a kid at summer camp in the early 2000s who had a NEO GEO Pocket Color. Never seen one since either.
SAME THING WITH ME I NEVER HAD A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER THAT HAD A NEO GEO OF ANY KIND. I SAW A NEO GEO CD AND THE NEO GEO POCKET COLOR AT A ELECTRIC/VIDEO GAME STORE IN THE COLISEUM MALL AT JAMAICA CENTER IN QUEENS,NY IN THE MID-LATE 90'S
I actually played Neo-Geo games all the time on arcade machines back in the early/mid 90s, absolutely loved them, and it wasn't until early 2011 that I found out through a "Happy Console Gamer" episode that SNK made a home console. I was blown away by that idea and since then I got an MVS, AES, CD and Pocket Color. Like Adam said, I'm still hoping for an AES/MVS everdirve, which will most probably be very expensive. Looking forward for that CDI episode.
This is partly why the Saturn failed, it could've been an awesome 2D arcade system but the tried to copy the PlayStation last minute and did a shambolic job!
SNK never intended AES to be a money maker, they knew it would never be that. It's simply was a way for hardcore MVS fans with deep pockets to have the full, unadulterated hardware and games in their own homes. The reason AES lasted until 2004 was that it was dead easy to plop MVS games onto AES because the hardware is literally the same, there was no porting effort required.
I ask Krikzz is there's a possibility to make a NG Everdrive and he told me, that while feasible it's going to take a lot of time and its going to cost a lot. If you guys are interest to see that happening, send him an email expressing your interest.
AdamKoralik That's what krikzz told me when he first started the everdrive, about six years ago. A few other key people did messed around prototype flashcards and had similar issues. From times to times people do ask him whether he's about to make a neo geo everdrive and he replies pretty much the same things. I've heard that some people on arcade-projects have proposed a neo geo flashcard however I haven't checked their progress for quite some time now.
These obscure consoles are fascinating. It's real neat to see the weird stuff they did. RAM stacks in cartridges, calculators attached to controllers, fully-functioning VCR players, a legal LoZ fangame (guess which one I made up)... It's like a society that never invented writing or wheels.
my nieghbors mom was dating the landlord of basically our whole town wen i was kid and he had one ive been trying to find him on facebook to ask him if he still has it and would sell it to me lol i haven seen him since 94 lol but my x wifes family is friends w the family of my old landlord i think his kids had it too so im gonna ask them if they still have it
ThePreciseClimber Precious metals are useful though. It would be a catastrophic waste of platinum to have it be used to buy shitty Blu-ray players at Wal-Mart.
ThePreciseClimber If we used precious metals then there would be no incentive to spend and invest. Given that it's always going to retain or increase in value. That's why you put money into a savings account and gain compound interest; buy shares or real estate.
When you mentioned that you have never seen one in any store. I thought about my local retro game store, they have a tg16, but not a neo geo, they even had games for the virtual boy, no neo geo.
this thing was a beast, more powerful than the snes, too bad it didn't have the main titles everybody wanted like nintendo and sega's classic titles, or ports of street fighter 2, mortal kombat 1 2 and 3, that kind of stuff. by the way, I've already watched your generations recaps like three times each, I don't know why I keep coming back, I put this "in the background" while I do other stuff, and it's fun to listen to.
What really sold the neo geo was the fact it was the same exact hardware as the arcade but with different cart connector to prevent operators from buying AES carts (cheaper as operators were charged more as it was coin op). As for ports to other consoles, publishers like Sammy, Takara, sunsoft and Hudson would actually get license from snk to do home ports and would hire a development house to do the conversion process. In Snk's mind it was extra money and a good way to keep brand awareness. Part of its sky high cost for games was it was the same rom chips as the arcade which were bigger than the average 16 bit cart. So you figure a 2mb snes cart like street fighter costed $70 so for a 16mb Neo George cart it would make sense it would cost $300. Their were some third party publishers but they mostly worked with snk or weren't well known. Taito had a hit on it with bust a move and technos did release the double dragon fighting game. They really did market it towards the upperclass. A neo geo everdrive would never happen not only cause of design complexity but the extremely high cost of the rom chips it uses. Krikzz likes to keep it cheap and compact. I've seen a neo geo in person 3 different times and amazed how huge it is. As for it's still high cost that has to do with its very loyal fan base that keep the prices up. It's funny even after they stopped making systems in late 90s they kept releasing carts for aes cause of the sales!
I was lucky enough to be a 23 year old with a good job when the AES came out so I had one with pretty much every release. Then in 99 I traded everything in to Game Dude for pennies of what they're worth today. Does anyone remember Game Dude in the back of EGM? Anyway, it was a feeling beyond anything I can compare even now. It was an event and AES parties were awesome. Pizza, beer, some buds and the weekend was great. Miss those days. The Neo Geo is still thriving today because it's FUCKING AWESOME! The games are just fun as hell.
I saw a video where they interviewed SNK employees and they stated that the Neo Geo was never meant to compete with the other consoles. I guess as long as they were making some sales, they would continue to make more games. It was certainly a niche thing. As for 3rd party games, Data East made a few kick ass titles such as Spinmaster, Windjammers, and Street Hoop. They also did Karnov's Revenge. Sunsoft made Galaxy Fight and Waku Waku 7.
SNK Neo Geo is one of these legendary Brands, like Rolls Royce, Apple, Louis Vuitton... they give you an experience of having something special and unique... it was expensive, powerfull and no one else could create this magic!
The games kept the console alive from the fighting game community. Plain and simple. The executives knew it so they would port all their games to different consoles.
The novelty of the Neo-Geo memory card was that you could resume your saved game from an MVS cab with a card slot. The memory cards even came with a wallet so you could carry it in your pocket. I remember back in the early 90's though when I owned an AES making frequent trips to my local arcades searching for MVS machines with a card slot, but could never find one. As far as I'm aware these machines only existed in Japan. As for third party software, the Metal Slug series (my all time favourite for the system) was developed by Nazca Corp, which comprised ex Irem staff. They also developed Neo Turf Masters, which is hands down the best golf game for any system and commands obscene prices these days. Nazca were eventually acquired by SNK though, so I guess even they can technically be considered first party!
There was also Aicom/Yumekobo who developed Viewpoint as well as Pulstar & Blazing star - which must rank as two of the finest side scrolling shooters of all time. They were also composed of ex Irem staff interestingly, although some claim they were ex Jaleco. I believe they received a lot of funding from SNK in their latter days, so even they were not entirely third party either.
+kodoyama The cabinets with the card slots weren't only in Japan. The arcade I frequented had 3 of them. I don't recall ever seeing anyone put a card into one though.
Growing up, the Neo Geo was like some mythical unicorn. You only ever heard about it and many doubted that really existed.
I know right!? Well put. I was autistically in to samurai showdown but it was more than a pipe dream to ever get my parents to buy this system at the time it came out. So I continued to dream away about this unicorn that I knew would never appear at home. I got the glimpse of the illusion at arcades though..
I had one but only had 4 games. I worked my a$$ of to pay for it too. Now that I honk about it damn I was crazy. (I still have it to this day too 😂)
One of my Dad's friends had one, he was the only person I ever knew that owned one.
Even if I were spoiled enough to get one, I have no idea where I’d get one.
As a kid, I saw one in real life one time at Videotronics in my hometown. It was in a display case for demo. Always a ton of older high school kids gathered around it.
Neo Geo was one that one console you always wanted but could not afford back in the day. Samurai Showdown and the Metal Slug games were fantastic!
MetalmaT That's what I tell my kids.
Remember "catch me if you can" when the guy was printing real checks?. The Neo Geo was like buying a sex doll but they send you a real hooker for thousands (but she really puts out headache free).
The idea behind the mem card for this was you can continue your game on an Arcade console they had the ports. Neo Geo was nuts.
I think the Neo Geo succeeded because it was clear about its place in the market. It was a premium product and those enthusiasts who wanted to play arcade perfect games in their home were willing to pay the high prices. Also, as there was no 3rd party support the system was not scarred by a slew of poor titles.
PS: Adam here's a list of the 3rd party developers for the Geo :)
ADK - World Heroes 2
Aicom - Pulstar
Aicom / Sammy - Viewpoint
Aiky - Pochi & Nyaa
Alpha Denshi - Ninja Commando
Asatsu-DK / Fuji TV - Samurai Shodown RPG
Atlus - Matrimelee
Capcom - SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos
Data East - Spinmaster
Eleven, Gavaking - Nightmare in the Dark
Eolith - The King of Fighters 2001
Evoga Ent - Rage of the Dragons
Face - Gururin
Hudson Soft - Neo Bomberman
MEGA - Metal Slug 4
Monolith - Bakatono-sama Mahjong Manyūki
Nazca Corp - Metal Slug
NMK - Zed Blade
Noise Factory - Sengoku 3
Pallas - Super Baseball 2020
Psikyo - Strikers 1945 Plus
Racjin / Red Entertainment - Far East of Eden: Kabuki Klash
Saurus - Stakes Winner
Sunsoft - Waku Waku 7
System Vision - Ragnagard
Taito - Puzzle Bobble
Takara - Chibi Maruko-chan: Maruko Deluxe Quiz
Technōs Japan Corp - Double Dragon
Tecmo - Tecmo World Soccer '96
Viccom - Fight Fever
Video System - Aero Fighters 2
Visco - Goal! Goal! Goal!
Wave - Legend of Success Joe
Yuki Enterprise - Samurai Shodown V
Yumekobo - Blazing Star
(currently )NG:Dev.Team - Last Hope(2006), FastStriker(2010), Gunlord(2012), NeoXYX(2013), Razion (2013), Kraut Buster (2018/2019)
- I was a huge SNK/ NeoGeo nut, still 'am to this day =D
I know I’m much too late, but I thought that the SNK vs Capcom for the NeoGeo was SNK developed
Haha yep every single game made by SNK and 90% of those are one on one fighting games
It puzzles me that people will pay $700 for their 3D0, but not 50 less for this beautiful piece of machinery
Or $1000 for a cdi
Mike DiLoreto I did this! I was a sucker for bad FMV!
Probably the $300 games on top of price for console lol
Wow I got my 3DO CIB for nothing. 10 years ago Co worker said he was going to throw it out if I didn't want it, told him heck yes I'll take it, gave me 12 CIB games including Samurai Shodown too. I thought he was messing with me at first. Still have it but looking to sell off most of my collection as I really don't have time to enjoy playing it all anymore. I'd rather take that space gained and money from selling it all and invest in something that doesn't sit and not be used, and hopefully someone else can actively use what I sell.
Games and systems shouldn't sit on shelves or display cases and not be enjoyed by playing them.
owned an AES since 2001. I now have about 25 games. I still play it in between sessions of PS4 and Xbox one. It will never die. Best system ever made.
I have one. I only have 8 games. The price drove me to get a CMVS.
TheYzeman amen fight on player!
TheYzeman you still play xbox one and ps4 in between sessions of neo geo!
And in that time, games were still being produced.
I got one in summer of 92, gold it came with a second game: nam 1975 and a baseball game. I got king of fighters for it, but ultimately sold it on eBay later on with those 3 games. I had another game, just can't remember what it was. I used that money to get both Xbox and Gamecube on launch days with just about everything they had. I purchased mine at a Game Etc. For 650, Gold with an additional game, some kind of promotion. Sold it without the extra game for roughly 1200 on eBay. Parted the rest out. Extra memory card and 3 games.
Neo Geo AES worked because no game was developed to it, no ports needed, not even marketing was needed. That was all about MVS, one of the best arcade boards ever. Games was developed for arcade, put that on AES was just an extra for SNK.
That's the exactly reason why Neo Geo CD failed, because the hardware was not 100% compatible with MVS, and they needed to make ports, spending more money in development.
By the way, Data East, Taito and Irem developed games for MVS. I recommend (a not insanely expensive) Metal Slug, Real Bout Fatal Fury and a King of Fighters for your Neo Geo. You will know why there is some few crazy people that love it even today.
Monster LMA
which games? AFAIK, it wasn`t until carts came encripted, only mask ROM was in them...
+Velberan *Last Blade, Ninja Masters, Pulstar, Blazing Star, NAM 1975, Shock Troopers.
Your list combined with mine pretty much sums it up. Awesome games.
+Velberan The Neo Geo actually had a very aggressive and controversial marketing campaign in gaming magazines during its day. One of its very famous ones was a picture of two steel ball bearings with the caption "you need a pair of these, to own one of these!" pointing to a Neo Geo. Watch the rise and fall of SNK on here, very good short documentary.
+Velberan Nope, it was slow as fuck and did not sell good enough, despite of porting a game being not that expensive . The AES worked because of the nutjobs who are obsessed with Arcades.
The Neo Geo CD actually sold MORE than the Neo Geo.
That primary genre of fighting games was the hottest genre during the early to mid nineties, kinda like platforming before and dance and rhythm games later
I have a little story about the Neo Geo. I was working for a classic video game store in Indiana called McVan's Video Games in 2003-2005 and they were a Neo Geo dealer. So we actually got their new releases on the launch date and sure enough, a few Neo Geo owners would show up for the games. I have to say, huge respect for SNK for supporting their system for so long. And also the fact that they kept their hardware faithful to the arcade unlike any other system. But yes, it was ridiculously expensive and most games were similar so it was very much a niche product.
You should have bought some. AES games released during that time are worth thousands now.
@TrueSinister Yeah, I was in high school at the time and basically made minimum wage there so I couldn't afford it. Most of my money went to other games. Also, we only got a few copies and they were sold right away to the hardcore fans. I always liked Neo Geo and had a Pocket but never got the means to own the real one. That store had sooo many rare things for reasonable prices that sell for a ton now. I should have invested in them more! And my parents considered games a waste of money! They're basically the only things I've purchased that went up in price!
I remember when the Neo Geo came out, Toys "R" Us was selling the gold edition for $850, plus each cartridge cost $199.99 each. Nothing can compare to the Neo Geo, a true arcade system.
never in my life have I seen a Neo geo in a house. NONE of my friends, classmates, etc. I may have seen it at a store once, but I'm not even sure.
mattnova18 cuz your american lol
The reason they allowed ports of their games to other systems is simple, other systems couldn't do what the Neo Geo could, and if anything it was a selling point for the AES - when you get a poor port on another system that makes you want the AES even more. Take a look at any of the ports of their games on the Megadrive and SNES. The Neo Geo was far superior. The hardware was the selling point, it was like the Ferrari of gaming back then. If Nintendo allowed ports of their games on other hardware today it would run just the same - if not better. Back then no console came close the capability of the AES. The SNES was pretty good and had mode 7 etc but the AES is technically superior.
GadgetUK164 I suppose the "Ferrari" concept could be related to PC's of today. (Quite debatable though due to them coming in different sizes and packages)
Hotsex spy PC is probably more like a Ford, you pretty much have a car type for everyone, Fiesta for people starting out driving and probably elderly people, Focus for people who want a more permanent long term car, Mondeo and S-max for Families of up to 3 kids, G-max for big families, Transit vans of all shapes and sizes for workers, and the GT for rich people who want a super/hyper car. There are also the pick up trucks and Mustangs for whatever people want those.
llpalm08 Seems reasonable, now I know more about car types in that one comment then my parents ever told me. You also gave me what situation they would be used best in, thanks.
llpalm08 unless you don't like anything Ford makes.
***** Well that would probably be the same as someone saying that they don't like PC gaming. Some people might not like the style of driving in a Ford in the same way that they may not like the style of gaming from a PC.
Adam, you got the cartridge incompatibility reasoning backwards. The reason for the incompatibility is because the AES carts were CHEAPER than the MVS carts and they did not want arcade operators to buy the cheaper home carts and put it in the MVS. The pricing difference is due to private use vs. commercial use licensing.
The only reason the arcade carts are cheaper than the home carts TODAY in the used market is because there are more of them and not as collectible as the home carts.
Tempora158
The AES carts came AFTER the MVS ones... and were more expensive...150-200 for an AES while the MVS had prices between 80-150 bucks, depending on availability...
***** A full MVS kit would've been much more expensive for an arcade operator to purchase than a home cart at that time. Now things aren't so cut and dry and generally speaking, a used MVS cart will cost less than a used AES cart.
***** You're thinking in terms of a collector in the used markets TODAY. You have to go back in time to the year 1991 and see it from SNK's perspective.
New MVS carts cost around $500-$1200+, while new home AES carts in the $180-$300+
The MVS cart cost more than the AES cart because SNK expects the arcade operator to earn at least $2,000 from the purchase of the MVS cart and therefore SNK has to get a cut of that by charging more for the MVS carts since there isn't a royalty system in place like the Taito NESiCAxLive.
To give an even easier example because a lot of people don't understand how licensing affect pricing...let's say you own a video rental store. You want to buy a copy of the "The Lion King" to rent out. Legally speaking, you CANNOT go to Best Buy and buy a $10 DVD copy of "The Lion King" and rent that out. That $10 copy is the equivalent of the AES cart; it's for PRIVATE USE ONLY and priced as such. To be legit, you need to buy the commercial DVD version of "The Lion King" and it's probably going to cost $300. This $300 copy is equivalent to the MVS cart. This copy cost more money because you're making money from it and the creator wants a cut of that money.
Omega Rugal The prices you mentioned sounds like the price of USED carts today, rather than the price of NEW carts from an arcade dealer/retailer in the 1990s.
Think of it this way, a Tekken 2 arcade cabinet cost $20,000 in 1995, while the combined cost of a TV, a Playstation, and a copy of Tekken 2 is less than a thousand.
Why the gigantic difference in price when it's same thing? Because the Tekken 2 cabinet is sold to make money for the buyer, while the Playstation version is sold for the buyer's private enjoyment.
Tempora158
That was a close figure back in that time, but like i said, it was all about the availability, MVS carts there was times were they were as cheap as 80 dollars, but if the ROM chips price went high at the time of manufactoring, carts were as high as 150 dollars, and i`m talking about shitty ones like Robo Army or Ninja combat. MVS carts were made in larger quantites than its AES counterparts, and sold directly to arcade operators, in a cheap box with some flyiers and cabinet artwork, there was no marketing expenses or such... so when the AES was made, in order to force people to buy AES carts instead of reusing MVS carts, they made them not compatible, SNK sold AES carts almost at a loss but still at 150 dollars it was too expensive for a home cart...
Of course i`m giving you prices without adjusted inflation...
oh and Tekken 2 arcade runs on NAMCO system 11, which its WAAAYYY more expensive than a PS2... but yes, the price of an arcade goes higher because the fee for the money you will get from it has to be paid upfront...
Just wanted to point out that SNK did not make all the games. TAITO, SUNSOFT, DATA EAST, and others made games for NEO GEO.
Yep plenty of third party support
Thank you! He should do a bit of research before just saying shit like that....
Windjammers was a Data East game
This video is so natural. No stupid edit cuts between each entences and pure honesty from experience. This is awesome Adam. I hope you make a new video on the sixth generation consoles. You already made one but a more in depth video would be awesome. Maybe PS2 video by itself. Or Xbox or GC.
***** Thanks. What else would I say about them?
***** Yea no scripts and just straight no bs facts.
I think that the main reason as to how the Neo-Geo refused to die was it was not meant to compete against Nintendo or Sega. It was meant to be an extra luxury to accompany your SNES, Genesis & TG16. The real profit this system ever really earned was from the arcades. However in the late '90s, early 2000s the reason why there wasn't too many games (since its launch, and first years) was because piracy, and the fact that arcades were dying at that time. In regards to the launch years, SpoonnMan's Page did say he did preorder his Neo-Geo AES in 1990, and got it for Christmas that year. This led me to think that this would be available for preorder in 1990, but it didn't make true retail availability until 1991. I love this system, and its longevity, as well as it's niche nature were what really appealed to me! Thanks for the video, Adam!
The neo geo at its time had insane graphics, sound, game play. arcade at home. the games looked stunning. they are still stunning, beautiful. fantastic fighting and beat em up games, sports, all. snk are genius in its time. - gamer since the 80's.
My NeoGeo Pocket Color approves of this video. That's about the extent of SNK Hardware I can afford too. I remember seeing this thing years ago wondering what the hell a 24bit system was, and who would buy it for the asking price (I was trying to sell my parents on getting me an SNES using it's "low" price point).
The fact that you said it was discontinued in 2004 is made even more weird by the fact that the Pocket Color linked up with the Dreamcast. I know that's probably more due to the fact that the AES didn't have the capability to do so, but having your first party hardware link up to another console while you're still in the home console market is mind blowing.
ccoplien "(I was trying to sell my parents on getting me an SNES using it's "low" price point)."
That is pretty genius for sure, lol!
Same here in the UK, everyone knew what they were and lusted after them, but nobody knew anyone who had one. Magician Lord is a great game!
more than anything how the graphics of games kept on improving surprises to me till this day !!!
I remember my dad offering to buy me this after we saw it in a magazine.And then me or my mom saying it was too much. I should have done it. I remember loving those damn huge sprites and awesome games in the arcade. Neo Geo rocks! =)
SegaCDUniverse Hell yeah man.
I had several of these over the years, in the early 90s (bought/sold). Arcade was the holy grail during these times so the Neo Geo had some serious swagger. The Neo Geo could replicate the arcade experience for home use completely. That combined with its high pricetag gave it a mythical status at the time. It was seldom seen in homes. Only the most hardcore gamers owned one. This thing really has the pedigree and mojo. I don't think people today would/could relate to that. It's like that highly priced sports car, BEFORE there was easy credit. :) Holy shiiite, was it expensive...
There were many strange 5th gen consoles that were here today, gone tomorrow. While the Neo Geo is considered 4th gen, it was the only console that I could go back to during that tumultuous time in gaming history for quality gameplay. That is badass.
I can see why these consoles still are regarded so high by many. It's timeless quality. Never goes out of style.
Ah, the Rolex or Cadillac of game consoles. How the Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury geek in me would drool over one of these, yet the price just makes it unattainable in my eyes. At least there are some good arcade compilations for the PS2 and Wii. Also, holy shit, those cartridges are HUGE
I'd love to see a retrospective over the R-Zone 😂
Oh good lord, I've tried so hard to put the R-zone behind me. Thanks brah.
180° DIN5 composite AV cables are interchangeable between AES and Model 1/Master System but not RGB or DIN7/8 cables, but it’s not just because the pin outs differ: it’s 270° C-shaped versus 262° U-shaped DIN. They can be forced accidentally but it will bend two of the pins. A lot of composite AV cables are DIN7 with vestigial pins that don’t fit the other without bending a bit. The power adapter is a different story though: The model 1 adapter is appropriate for some AES consoles but it will FRY others. SNK stupidly used the same 5.5x2.1 millimeter jack on both versions. The ones that will fry with a Genesis adapter require a regulated 5v center negative adapter and the others will accept a range of higher center-negative voltages because they are internally regulated (commonly called “9v consoles” but they shipped with both 10v and 11v adapters). They say you can’t trust the label and you should always take it apart to check. At least try 5v regulated 1A first (adapt a 1A+ USB charger?). In my experience, most are 9v consoles. 5v consoles will have a daughter board or be a really old revision (“NEO AES” as opposed to “3-6” or something).
The weirdest thing about no power light is..
there actually is one.
Inside! :)
That's silly
Coolest thing about the AES is out of it's entire library there's really no bad games.
Well, Legend Of Success Joe is _one_ bad game. OK, so the AES has one bad game.
If I ever strike gold and can afford to splurge on just me, the first thing I'm getting is the Neo Geo AES
Riiiiiiiiiiiight....
Income tax time is how I was able to join the gaming elite and game snobbishly with my pinky finger in the air!!
🤣
Not to be that guy, but Mister Fpga has the most accurate neo geo core ever built. Cycle accurate from de-capped original neo geos. You get simultaneous analog rgb PLUS hdmi out which currently supports up to 1536p, which is a 6.5x scale! Insanely sharp pixels!
I don't think a 15 year old freshman should be this entertained by hearing someone talk about secret retro consoles but I loveeeee it
KCLovesKicks Literally the same boat here. XD
KCLovesKicks Appreciated.
*****
$1100 in 2017 seems reasonable considering idiots spending $999 on an iPhone.
Ha.
Smartphones do quite a bit more than game consoles...
i spent 1209 on my xs max, and it does WAAAY more than a 28 year old cartridge console.
@@AdamKoralik you probably have had someone else tell you this by now but just in case, a company called terra onion has released a flash drive for this. It's still pricey but worth the money if you already own the console.
@@bagelthief1234 ;) ruclips.net/video/-zlDR1QnUEI/видео.html
For some reason, i really REALLY like that you do not use jump cuts in your videos. Feels like youre actually having a passionate conversation about these systems with me.
Beyond that, you know your shit and your excitement for all of it can be felt. I salute you, and only hope for your continuing and growing success. You rock!
Hey there , my name is Ahmed , am from egypt , I would like to tell that I had the Neo Geo , and trust me it was awesome by that time "1997" , I still remember spending long hours playing super cool games , I had only one fight game "world heros2" , car racing "thrash rally" , and there was one really interesting game call "king of ministers" try to imagine ur playing with something like Godzilla and through other bad Godzillas with things like the pyramids or with the eiffle tower !! It was crazy
were the ministers throwing bibles?
my brother got the lesser expensive one. we played king of fighters 95 and 96, fatal fury special and metal slug! Great console!
Doug E this was in 1995
Wow, I did not even guess it shared the same controller port. Back in the early 90s my buddy and I would skip 3rd year University classes to play Samurai Showdown in the campus arcade... later I purchased this game on a 3D0 in 1994. One of my favorite consoles of all time.
Visco was one of the third party devs for the MVS/AES. Neo Drift Out was one of their more popular titles. Data East also did some stuff too. Most notably, Windjammers. There's probably others, but there's two off the top of my head.
Eric Dawson You also had ADK who made Ninja Masters and Sunsoft who made a few games, that I know of.
Eric Dawson But as far as I know they where still published by SNK.
Hudson and Taito were other third-party devs. :-)
How could I forget Taito?! They made Bust A Move/Puzzle Bobble. One of my most favourite games of all time.
The memoryslot on the AES had a purpose. Not only you can save your gamedata with it. As you said, this whould be no problem vor a cartidge based system. The point of usind memorycards is, that you can take your data to the arcade and use, what ever you have unlocked at your home.
The Neo Geo back in the days was like a myth. everyone knew it, but no one has ever owned one nor seen one. It was like the dream of so many gamers. I remember this time pretty well.
This reminds me of Star Wars. You are telling the Neo Geo that it can’t survive, but it yells “Never tell me the odds!”
Hey Adam, the memory card was used to bring your saved stats to the arcade machines, since the game itself was the exact same thing on both the console and the arcade.
This is a great video.
My take on the AES is that it did everything wrong...except the games themselves which were of the highest quality as far as Fighters, SHMUPS, and Sports games went. Instead of making mistakes and limiting their audience out of incompetence like so many systems you cover, they hammered a single niche market perfectly and made games for a decade on the hardware.
Basically, they knew their audience, and did what they did so much better than anyone else that they had no competition.
William McGuire Thanks for watching!
Data East and Visco were two third party developers for the system. Technos Japan also had a few.
actually there are a lot of non fighting games on neogeo and not only snk made games, also sunsoft, technos and others
77advanced You’re absolutely right. I did the math recently and only about a third of the games on the system are fighting games.
Just to let you know I am high but I really enjoyed just listening to you talk about neo geo lol.
There were definitely third party developers for the Neo: Visco and Nasca are 2 that I can think of right away. SNK was the only company who did what really needed to be done in bringing the true arcade experience home, not a watered down port for a home console! Their system and games have withstood the test of time and are still great today. Expensive, yes--but I believe you get what you pay for. Quality wins out.
There was also Sunsoft, Hudson Soft and I think Natsume.
You hit the nail on the head. The Neo Geo wasn't competition for the other consoles. It was specifically for people who wanted true arcade gameplay at home and gave SNK a way to get their arcade versions out of the arcade and into peoples homes. The quality of many of SNK's titles is what kept it all going.
Good video.
One thing: the Master System is still in production under license in Brazil, IIRC.
Hey Adam, great video as always! I really want an AES but I can't afford it. The Famicom lasted from 1983-2007 and the Super Famicom lasted from 1990-2003. The Famicom is technically the longest lasting console and was still made until 2003. Nintendo officially stopped repairing them in 2007.
Why are people so surprised that Neo Geo was a success even though it priced the average gamer out of the market? We've seen this all throughout history...it was sold as a luxury product and one that would "bring the arcade home." At the time, nothing could compete with it and every time you bought an arcade port of a game, you knew you were getting a watered down version. The Neo Geo made everything else look like toys. I mean, how does does Apple get away with charging $2,000 for laptops that routinely sell for half that by competitors and are sometimes better, spec-wise? How come Hermes gets to sell women's purses for over $4,000 while most purses cost under $100?
The Neo Geo gathered a cult following and those who couldn't afford it simply wanted it just because they couldn't afford it. There's nothing that amazing or unbelievable about this concept.
I knew a few things about the Neo Geo, but I still definitely learned a few things from this video. You were right, it is a pretty fascinating console.
You could plug that memory card into the arcade machine and play saves from your neo geo how cool is that
+Endle 185 wtf? really? that`s amazing XD
Daniël's Tech & Music Channel hahah nice that`s really cool
I actually played one of these, in 1991 when they were brand new if you can believe it. I never knew anyone who owned one, but of course like everyone else, I had heard about it. That year my family went on vacation with another family, and those people had friends from another state that were staying nearby and they had a son around my age. He was a total game nut and told me he had a Neo Geo back in the hotel room that he rented from a local video game store. I thought he was full of it but he was telling the truth. It was truly a phenomenal experience for a 14 year old back then, who at home only had an NES. I'll never forget how blown away I was with that system. Ridiculously advanced for the time.
I purchased a consolized MVS and it really is the best way to go. I also got a SuperGun made by Jamma Nation X and use that with my actual MVS board when it's not in my cab. You're 100% right when you say that SNK supported this mofo like no one else. It was a true honor to be apart of that in some small way. Today it amazes me that we get yearly releases for the system from NG:Dev Team. This year we're getting Kraut Buster from NG:Dev Team, and Crossed Swords 2 from Razoola, which is a convert from the Neo Geo CD exclusive. How awesome is that?
People don't understand why the games are so pricey today, but it's mainly because there are so few copies made so it's a super expensive endeavor in order to make the new games. The Crossed Swords 2 kit goes for $280 USD, whereas Kraut Buster goes for 399 Euros! That's omega expensive, but super worth it ;)
Project COE Man, I hope Kraut Buster gets a Dreamcast release.
I think it will in time. Just about every NG:Dev Team game has seen a DC release with the exception being their last shmup, RAZION. I'm fairly certain they'll have a DC port of Kraut Buster ready for sometime next year.
Last year we also go Knight's Chance, which was a casino game set in medieval times that was all sorts of awesome.
There really isn't any other fan community out there like the Neo Geo fan community. Super DC and TG-16 get lots of indie releases, but of those who support the community, how many would be willing to dish out $500 or more a year on a single release?
Project COE I actually contacted them about Razion, they told me they had no interest in a Dreamcast release of it, sadly.
Yeah I had heard that from a few other people. Not entirely sure why that is. It really can't be that much work to port it over to the Dreamcast, or maybe I'm completely wrong and it's not as easy as I think. At any rate, Kraut Buster is something different so I would be surprised if they kept that on the Neo Geo. I was also rather surprised to learn that they sold out of the collector's edition within a day or so, when it normally takes weeks if not months to do so.
Project COE I would buy that "metal slug clone" (i don't think that i'm the only one thinking about it).
maybe they didn't port Razion because is another shmup?
+AdamKoralik Really cool video. I've had my AES since 1997 and I also own a MVS arcade cabinet. The AES was originally designed with the game rental industry in mind. The fact that people started buying them was actually a mistake believe it or not. The price was reflected upon the fact that they intended for people to rent them from places like Blockbuster. They also thought that maybe places like hotels would want them to put into premium suites. In Japan the AES was called the Neo Geo Rental System. What made the AES special was that it was a 1:1 port form it's MVS counterpart. While they didn't want MVS carts to be played on the AES these games were an exact port from the arcade. Taito developed games on the AES such as Bust-a-Move, Hudson developed Neo Bomberman, and Techmo even developed a soccer game. I think even Atlus developed a fighting game on the AES as well. SNK also made a cheaper controller that's pretty durable commonly called "The Bean Controller" You can pick these up on ebay for about $30 now days. Problem with the Neo Geo CD was the terrible long load times. Think the most expensive AES cart I own is a US region Metal Slug, which last time I checked was going for about $6500.
well, SNK focused on the fighting genre when Street Fighter started...also, SNK had one of the Original markers of Street Fighter as well...
I have an AES Gold but only have 4 games. I bought a limited production homebrew adapter for the AES to convert to MVS games. I also have a 4-slot MVS. The AES gets little to no play for me but is a fascinating console. The "aw" factor for people coming to my home is always the arcade cabinet so the AES sits in the back. People have problems appreciating what you have when it comes to Neo Geo and really don't comprehend how rare and valuable it is. I don't flex on people or brag or anything but people don't seem to remember it and understandably so, with the price and low production run. Neo Geo is my all time favorite console.
I can't believe you don't have Samurai Shodown! Get the first one and play it with headphones!
Duuuuude. So happy I came across this video. Believe it or not, Neo Geo has and will always be one of my favorite consoles when it comes to video games. I still remember till this day, buying the console from a Toys R Us back in 1992 when I was a kid. I do remember my parents basically spending an absolute fortune. It is probably the only console out of the many consoles that I had, where I actually remember the prices for a lot of the games that I had because of how expensive they were. Till this day I have this console and own many games for it. I don't play video games as much now but I truly had some great times growing up playing the Neo Geo and having fight nights with friends etc. some of my favorite games that I like till this day are:
ARE OF FIGHTING 1,2 and 3
Samurai Showdown.
Fatal Fury
World heroes.
And all the KING OF FIGHTERS.
This video just brought back so many good memories. For a while I remember it was so hard to find a game for the Neo Geo at a local store. I remember having to Order a game every time I wanted to buy one. And they were always around $200 to $250. It was also very popular in other countries around the world. It was my favorite system when it came to having a great arcade feeling games and with the controller being so big it made fight games just amazing. Neo Geo will always be my favorite system to play growing up.
TheSlystallonefan Thanks for watching!
hudson made some neogeo game....
and if you want more wierd thing...
the console as a LED for the power... but it s inside the system!! yup...
and...
ever more wierd...the console is stereo...but the cable behind the system is only mono...
but all that can be modded easly...
Didnt have one as a kid... but i have a modded one now! :D
I got my Neo Geo Aes with 2 x controllers and a memory card for £80. It was my very purchase of eBay in 2006. Also itbstarted me on the road of retro collecting. Adam love the show great work mate :)
Peter Hassay Awesome deal! Thanks for watching.
"people hate exclusives"......exclusives are pretty much the only reason why I cared about video games to begin with
yea without exclusives there would be no reason to have ever gotten consoles instead of pc's.. I still really like exclusives.
@ both of you: Hate is a big word. But I only own a PC and a Xbox 360 (since years) and when there was an exclusive for another system that I like I would be pissed. Because I am not buying that system for that 1 (!) game that I want to play.
I had the same issue with the original Xbox, the only thing I wanted to play was Burnout 3 and somewhat Forza Motorsport. But didn't want to buy the console just for that. So I waited till I had 4 games or so - that I wanted to play on that.
And from time to time a company changes in the type of exclusive games for there system. So once you have for instance a PS3 and your happy with it. But the next generation you feel like you should have a Xbox One.
If the game exists and you are interested in the game then why would it matter that it wasn't exclusive to one particular console?
I have had it for years and have played it nearly every day! Awesome review Adam!
Aaron C. Thanks for watching!
Adk and atlus were third party support
and Taito
and visco, and playmore and technos and alpha
Well Hudson did some 2:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Neo_Geo_games
But all the games were published by SNK. All the games(or like 99%) were also exclusive.
Once again awesome video Adam, keep it up man. I always look forward to your videos
danielciech7971
beeing able to see some games would have been nice -_-
+ansiaaa Not the point of the video sir.
+AdamKoralik yeah I know, I didn't say it was the point and u missed it, or that you had to. I've just said it would have been nice.
look up the arcade versions.
Adam Koralik always great to hear from a SNK guy fight on friend
There were plenty of third party games some like ADK, Taito, Nazca, Hudson soft, alpha Denshi, Noise Factory and several more. Also the Fighting game genre was huge at the time and outside of Capcom the MVS basically cornered the market, still there was a rich selection of shooters available as well
I bet Floyd Mayweather has one of these.
I bought mine in the early 90's (I think 92) I was in high school but I also worked 30 hours a week and saved up to buy the Gold System it came with Magician Lord. I bought mine from GameDude advertised in the back of EGM. But I also remember them being on the shelf at Electronics Boutique, and I even bought a game from EB full price retail (Last Resort). Last Resort and Samurai Shodown were my 2 favorites back then.
Hey, I REALLY like this video, BUT, I was one of the guys that owned this console back in 1991 moving forward, I still own it, have most of the games for it on MVS, AES, and CD format, and buying more monthly.
I have every game for it made by NGDevTeam on both AES and MVS, and I love their work, and I was actually a part of the Neo-Geo Fan Club back in the early 90s as well. There are some things you got incorrect in this video, so I thought I might make a few corrections, if I may. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT attempting to bash your video, I just want to hopefully let some people know that there were a few things that you could reword, or change if you decide to fix this video one day with corrections.
1. At 1min in, you mention that this thing did just about everything wrong, and yet was still a success. The reason you feel this way, was due to the fact that the AES was just extra income for SNK, as basically it was just there for people at home to play the arcade games, at a much lower price tag, and not having to have the arcade cab in their house. SNK basically made 99% of their revenue through the MVS in arcades, as EVERY arcade had usually at least 2 Neo-Geo cabs in it, yet near nobody owned an AES. Had they relied only on the AES, they would have folded in a years time or less.
2. I find it strange that you say it came out "technically December 31st 1990", when I know that the MVS cabs were out in Arcades many months before that point and even my own 6 Slot "Big Red" was made in November 20th 1990, and the Neo-Geo price list at the Neo-Geo.com website, lists the first games ever released on AES 7-1-91 for the AES in both Japan and USA. I just find that odd. I personally got my first AES very near release date in the US about August 1st 1991, IIRC.
3.@3:28- Correction: The Gold edition was $649, came with 1 console, 2 controller, and one game, no memory card though, (unless the store you bought it from threw it in for free just to be cool, otherwise the mem card was an extra $39)
4.@4:00- Correction: The Silver system was just Console and 1 Controller, but sold for $449. That was the selling point for the Gold Console was that IF you spent the extra $200 for it, you got a controller for FREE, which is worth $50, as every game sold for $199 each back then, (until World Heroes 2 came out in 1993 which was when the NEW AES games were pushed to $249 each, instead of $199 each due to Meg Count getting higher, which drove up costs of games.) :)
5.@5:45- Correction: There were actually a LOT of third party support for the Neo-Geo, it's just many of them were unknown to Console owners, as the third party supporters were devs that made ARCADE Games only at the time.
Some Third Party support included: Alpha/ADK, Pallas, Monolith, Wave, Yubis, Visco, Sammy, Viccom, Data East, Face, Video System, Hudson Soft, NMK, Technos, Taito, Tecmo, Sunsoft, Saurus, Aicom, Yumekobo, Nazca, Takara, Psikyo, Gavaking/Eleven, Noise Factory, Eolith, Breezasoft, Evoga, Phenixsoft, Aiky, Yuki Enterprise, and finally NGDevTeam, which is a pretty decent third party group list if you ask me. Yes, we wish we had some Capcom and Konami support, but, all things aside we still had fantastic gamesto play for 14 long years and still today we get at least 1 new great game every year from NGDevTeam, which pushes the Neo-Geo further than SNK did yearly, and I just ordered Kraut Buster this week on AES! I can't wait to get it end of this year on Neo-Geo!
6.@7:30- Correction: Not much variety? WTF are you smokig crack? lol, this machine has THE most variety than any other console made in history! Yes, fighting games WERE very important back in the 90s due to the popularity of Street Fighter 2 craze, but the Neo-Geo has a shit ton of Puzzle games, Racing, Mahjong, Fighters, Shooters, Platformers, Sports, Hack n Slash, and Action games! It lacks RPGs, (other than Samurai Spirits RPG, and Riding Hero RPG Mode), and it lacks.... umm... nothing else I can think of. I mean it is an arcade machine, and it has just about everything. The fighters make up about 35% of the library.
7.@8:05- Correction: $50 retail? Where? Try (1991-1992) $199 retail, (1993-1995) $249 retail, (1996-1999) $299 each retail, (2000-2004) $349 retail each game. (2006-today) from $549-$700 each retail (NGDevTeam AES Releases). Yeah, if there were EVER any $50 AES carts, they were USED at a place like GameDude, never ever NEW.
8.@9:20-"SNK was not a direct competition to Sega and Nintendo.... you got that shit DEAD ON RIGHT! SNK didn't give a shit about other "competition". SNK just offered In Your Face Arcade Direct Games in your home, and they delivered that! Everyone else, just gave you consoles in your home, and they delivered those. SNK was in a league all on it's own.
Other comments:
@13:45 Thanks! Yeah my mom rocked! she spoiled the FUCK out of me, and I was the ONLY kid in 7th grade that had the Neo-Geo and every game on the thing. Of coarse I did work every weekend all day long to keep up with the game releases, and I bought as many of them used in GameDude, newspaper ads, shit like that, and just tried hard to have ALL of the games, but, still my mom is awesome for getting me the Neo-Geo! However, she admits it was her biggest mistake, as I am still buying games for it, and I sold all of them in 1999, which pissed her off something fierce, and then in 2001 I began rebuying all of them again, which is insane considering the prices that the games fetch these days. Some of them are $3,500-$10,000 each now or more. Metal Slug still eludes me now, and I should have NEVER sold that shit. :P
@15:20 Yeah, everyone knew what the Neo-Geo was, and everyone wanted to play mine, OR play against me in the arcades after school to test my skills on it ESPECIALLY when Samuari Shodown came out in 1993 when I was a Sophmore in HS. Holy shit the arcades were FULL of people playing that game like no other game existed! Everyone knew I had that shit at home also. I have some awesome memories getting that game at GameDude with a good friend of mine!
@16:52 You'r idea of "Fighting Games" is so off center, it's not even near accurate. First off Ninja Combat, is not a side scrolling Fighting Game, it is an Action Game bro. :D Next, Magicial Lord is a kick ass Action Platformer, and it is a DAMN great game to boot! Next, King of the Monsters is fucking WRESTLING like 3 Count Bout! Wrestling is not the same as fighting! Next, Fatal Fury 2 and Garou Densetsu Special aka Fatal Fury Special in the US (not Real Bout Fatal Fury Special), yes both Fighting games. So you got 2 of them right out of like 5. Bad ratio if you ask me bro. :D At this point you probably think Blues Journey, League Bowling, Metal Slug, Ganryu, and Zupapa are "fighting games" as well.
@18:45 Yes, SNES and Genesis had one PCB board and Neo-Geo has 2, just like a few other Arcade systems that have carts that you can swap. The REASON this is, is that the home consoles packed the sound board and graphics, and music all on one PCB, usually all stored on one or two Roms inside them. The Neo-Geo uses TWO boards so that the system can do 2 things at one time. One board was for the Graphics of the games, while the other board was for the Program Roms which stores the movement of the characters and also the Sound Roms for the music and sound effects. This is why the Neo-Geo was 24 Bit as well, the 16Bit CPU was mainly all graphics, adn the 8Bit CPU was to deliver the sound over to the Yamaha sound chips. This allowed for immediate actiuon, no loading times, not much slowdown depending on the games programming, and the Neo-Geo also has a Giga Bit pin in the console made for games above 1,000 MegaBits which was completely unknown and unused until 2009 or so when Fast STriker came out by NGDevTeam and was 1,560Megs! The Neo-Geo is built for the future unlike any machine in history!
@19:17 Actually the Arcade carts were more expensive by far, usually costing about $799 each up to $1,000 each per game. The reason that SNK made them different though was so that Arcade vendors cannot just buy the cheaper $200-$350 carts and plug them into the Arcade cabs to make money on as the AES home Console games were the cheaper ones. The only reason that SNK priced the AES carts so much cheaper, even though those games store the SAME identical Roms inside them, is just to help make the home console more affordable to the buyers of the AES.
@19:25 Actually, the MVS Converters are absolutely financially practical, considering you can get a Daedalus converter for $400, and then your AES can play ALL games AES and ALL games made MVS on the home console. If you get the CMVS then your stuck with MVS carts only. This is important due to the fact that there are SOME games that are cheaper on AES than on MVS, and vice versa. So if you get the Daedalus converter and an AES, you can then escentially get ANY GAME made for the Neo-Geo and play them at home on your AES console! I would NEVER actually tell anyone to get the Magic Key or any other converter though due to bad compatibility.
@21:28- Correction: NeoGeoCD/CDZ was not discontinued in 1997, but was rather discontinued officialy on January 1st 2000. The Last Neo-Geo CDs made for the system were The Last Blade 2 (Feb 1999), and King of Fighters 99 (in December 1999). Then as everyone knows, SNK made Garou Mark of the Wolves (on MVS/AES Feb 2000), Metal Slug 3 (on MVS/AES June 2000), and finally King of Fighters 2000 (MVS/AES December 2000) then filed for bankruptcy.
@22:50 Thank you! :D
@23:27... we want Shmups, because we want something "fresh for our console"? Are you serious? We have so many damn Shooters its not even funny, and we have some of the best damn ones ever made on top of that! The best R-Type sequels are on the Neo-Geo. Ever heard of Pulstar, Blazing Star, Last Hope or Last Resort? How about Prehistoric Isle 2, Zed Blade, Strikers 1945 Plus, Twinkle Star Sprites, or Aero Fighters 2 and 3? How about Alpha Mission 2, Andro Dunos, Ghost Pilots, Ironclad Brikin'Ger, or Viewpoint? We also have Captain Tomaday, Razion, Fast Striker, Neo XYX, and more but, I'm sure you get the idea. Also, just so you know, the Dreamcast ports were shotty as hell from NGDevTeam and Neo XYX is the last port your getting from them. As of now, they are no longer supporting the Dreamcast, and starting with Razion, the NGDevTeam games are exclusive to the Neo-Geo platform, and starting next year, there will be a Japanese developer that will be porting the games they make to a Japanese Arcade system after the Neo-Geo game is made and released for about a year or so first.
Awesome video though, and I loved watching it! Great final thoughts as well. Very well made, but, you did have a lot of false info about the system in the video, it's understanding why considering if you did not follow the Neo-Geo for the past 25 years since it came out, I'm sure there is a LOT to catch up on, so I see where your coming from. Still nice work! It was fun to watch!
-J
That was long.
TheNewFakk28 SNK actually admitted that they we're basically competing against SNES espically with that Controversial "You need a set of these(balls) to play with one these(AES)"Marketing
"I'm not trying to bash your video" writes an essay that point-by-point explains how nearly everything the presenter says was wrong, or misinformed in some capacity.
At a certain point, it is just better to post a video rebuttal.
TheNewFakk28 Most awesome reply ever!!My jaw is still on the floor!!🙄
All the games were published by SNK
Worked with a guy in the early 2000's who's roommates were classic console collectors (before I even knew that was a thing). They had all the Nintendo's up to that point (including Virtua Boy), all the Sega's, a Jaguar, and, sure enough, a Neo Geo. Had never actually seen one before that. They only had a few games, but remember being blown away that they actually had one.
A neo-geo everdrive would probably cost $2000+ if it ever gets made.
Mitjitsu there is an official AES Multicart with every game, cost $700. it's a steal at that price.
Around $500 www.stoneagegamer.com/neosd-aes.html
Just to let you know since I didn't hear it mentioned in the video, the memory card was used so that you could take your saved games from home and play them on a Neo Geo MVS arcade which had a memory card slot as well or vice versa
rubstheloationonthes Ah shit, I didn't even know that. That's neat.
ADK/Monoith/Visco/Wave/Data East/NMK/Face/Viccom/Saurus/Sunsoft/Hudson Soft/Yumekobo/Psikyo/Gavaking/Evoago/Atlus/Noise Factory | these are the game makers.
I own a Gold System btw and it still works and plays perfectly 20 + years later. Bought the system myself.
If you wish to sell Ninja Combat or any of your games I'll take em. LOL no joke.
When I was a kid, I actually didn't believe this console was real. When a kid claimed he saw one or played it, my friends and I just rolled our eyes. You may as well have claimed you saw a unicorn or a dragon. I never even saw an SNK system until I met a kid at summer camp in the early 2000s who had a NEO GEO Pocket Color. Never seen one since either.
SAME THING WITH ME I NEVER HAD A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER THAT HAD A NEO GEO OF ANY KIND. I SAW A NEO GEO CD AND THE NEO GEO POCKET COLOR AT A ELECTRIC/VIDEO GAME STORE IN THE COLISEUM MALL AT JAMAICA CENTER IN QUEENS,NY IN THE MID-LATE 90'S
I remember seeing two kids and there dad buying 2 games for this machine back in the day at £175 each ouch
HOW MUCH IS THAT IN U.S MONEY LIKE $300 BUCKS EACH??
I actually played Neo-Geo games all the time on arcade machines back in the early/mid 90s, absolutely loved them, and it wasn't until early 2011 that I found out through a "Happy Console Gamer" episode that SNK made a home console. I was blown away by that idea and since then I got an MVS, AES, CD and Pocket Color. Like Adam said, I'm still hoping for an AES/MVS everdirve, which will most probably be very expensive. Looking forward for that CDI episode.
Sega master system 2 didn't have an led light either :-)
I love how this is 3 years after the video was uploaded, but I just found one after trading NES games to a guy. Great video bro
Thanks for watching!
This is partly why the Saturn failed, it could've been an awesome 2D arcade system but the tried to copy the PlayStation last minute and did a shambolic job!
SNK never intended AES to be a money maker, they knew it would never be that. It's simply was a way for hardcore MVS fans with deep pockets to have the full, unadulterated hardware and games in their own homes. The reason AES lasted until 2004 was that it was dead easy to plop MVS games onto AES because the hardware is literally the same, there was no porting effort required.
do you have a video on cleaning a neogeo aes system if not are you going to make one in the near future thanks
Steven Bryant put it in the washing machine .works perfectly
Still loving and enjoying your videos Adam, great stuff.
Ryan Fester Thanks!
I ask Krikzz is there's a possibility to make a NG Everdrive and he told me, that while feasible it's going to take a lot of time and its going to cost a lot. If you guys are interest to see that happening, send him an email expressing your interest.
+ClaimhSolais Really? I was told the exact opposite.
AdamKoralik
That's what krikzz told me when he first started the everdrive, about six years ago. A few other key people did messed around prototype flashcards and had similar issues. From times to times people do ask him whether he's about to make a neo geo everdrive and he replies pretty much the same things. I've heard that some people on arcade-projects have proposed a neo geo flashcard however I haven't checked their progress for quite some time now.
+Myspace Tom yes they do but they do eventually come!!
Just an update, for what its worth, a NG rom cart is nearing production, maybe 6 months left. Price is expected to be ~$150. notbad.jpg
Kevin B
Where did you read about it?
These obscure consoles are fascinating. It's real neat to see the weird stuff they did. RAM stacks in cartridges, calculators attached to controllers, fully-functioning VCR players, a legal LoZ fangame (guess which one I made up)... It's like a society that never invented writing or wheels.
my nieghbors mom was dating the landlord of basically our whole town wen i was kid and he had one ive been trying to find him on facebook to ask him if he still has it and would sell it to me lol i haven seen him since 94 lol but my x wifes family is friends w the family of my old landlord i think his kids had it too so im gonna ask them if they still have it
Hey wow! Very cool story you got there!
maybe he was dating your mom too!
my brother worked at an electronic boutique back in the day...anyway ...they brought one in ...snatch it with original box...still have it to this day
Wow... inflation sucks! :P
ThePreciseClimber The economy depends on inflation.
Its called over inflation, mostly by people wanting an extreme amount of money for something that should not be worth that price.
TheRustyHo It wouldn't if we used precious metals insetad of fiat currencies.
ThePreciseClimber
Precious metals are useful though. It would be a catastrophic waste of platinum to have it be used to buy shitty Blu-ray players at Wal-Mart.
ThePreciseClimber If we used precious metals then there would be no incentive to spend and invest. Given that it's always going to retain or increase in value. That's why you put money into a savings account and gain compound interest; buy shares or real estate.
When you mentioned that you have never seen one in any store. I thought about my local retro game store, they have a tg16, but not a neo geo, they even had games for the virtual boy, no neo geo.
It was basically the rich kid console.
this thing was a beast, more powerful than the snes, too bad it didn't have the main titles everybody wanted like nintendo and sega's classic titles, or ports of street fighter 2, mortal kombat 1 2 and 3, that kind of stuff.
by the way, I've already watched your generations recaps like three times each, I don't know why I keep coming back, I put this "in the background" while I do other stuff, and it's fun to listen to.
i hate that word 'shmups'
George Moore Same. I just call them spaceship shooters.
George Moore it hates you to
What really sold the neo geo was the fact it was the same exact hardware as the arcade but with different cart connector to prevent operators from buying AES carts (cheaper as operators were charged more as it was coin op). As for ports to other consoles, publishers like Sammy, Takara, sunsoft and Hudson would actually get license from snk to do home ports and would hire a development house to do the conversion process. In Snk's mind it was extra money and a good way to keep brand awareness.
Part of its sky high cost for games was it was the same rom chips as the arcade which were bigger than the average 16 bit cart. So you figure a 2mb snes cart like street fighter costed $70 so for a 16mb Neo George cart it would make sense it would cost $300. Their were some third party publishers but they mostly worked with snk or weren't well known. Taito had a hit on it with bust a move and technos did release the double dragon fighting game.
They really did market it towards the upperclass. A neo geo everdrive would never happen not only cause of design complexity but the extremely high cost of the rom chips it uses. Krikzz likes to keep it cheap and compact.
I've seen a neo geo in person 3 different times and amazed how huge it is. As for it's still high cost that has to do with its very loyal fan base that keep the prices up. It's funny even after they stopped making systems in late 90s they kept releasing carts for aes cause of the sales!
You NEED to get Metal Slug. It is a must have.
I was lucky enough to be a 23 year old with a good job when the AES came out so I had one with pretty much every release. Then in 99 I traded everything in to Game Dude for pennies of what they're worth today. Does anyone remember Game Dude in the back of EGM?
Anyway, it was a feeling beyond anything I can compare even now. It was an event and AES parties were awesome. Pizza, beer, some buds and the weekend was great.
Miss those days.
The Neo Geo is still thriving today because it's FUCKING AWESOME! The games are just fun as hell.
I saw a video where they interviewed SNK employees and they stated that the Neo Geo was never meant to compete with the other consoles. I guess as long as they were making some sales, they would continue to make more games. It was certainly a niche thing. As for 3rd party games, Data East made a few kick ass titles such as Spinmaster, Windjammers, and Street Hoop. They also did Karnov's Revenge. Sunsoft made Galaxy Fight and Waku Waku 7.
Awesome video, we miss new videos Adam! Greetings from Mexio
SNK Neo Geo is one of these legendary Brands, like Rolls Royce, Apple, Louis Vuitton... they give you an experience of having something special and unique... it was expensive, powerfull and no one else could create this magic!
The games kept the console alive from the fighting game community. Plain and simple. The executives knew it so they would port all their games to different consoles.
Somewhat mind blowing when you put it in perspective.
The novelty of the Neo-Geo memory card was that you could resume your saved game from an MVS cab with a card slot. The memory cards even came with a wallet so you could carry it in your pocket. I remember back in the early 90's though when I owned an AES making frequent trips to my local arcades searching for MVS machines with a card slot, but could never find one. As far as I'm aware these machines only existed in Japan. As for third party software, the Metal Slug series (my all time favourite for the system) was developed by Nazca Corp, which comprised ex Irem staff. They also developed Neo Turf Masters, which is hands down the best golf game for any system and commands obscene prices these days. Nazca were eventually acquired by SNK though, so I guess even they can technically be considered first party!
There was also Aicom/Yumekobo who developed Viewpoint as well as Pulstar & Blazing star - which must rank as two of the finest side scrolling shooters of all time. They were also composed of ex Irem staff interestingly, although some claim they were ex Jaleco. I believe they received a lot of funding from SNK in their latter days, so even they were not entirely third party either.
+kodoyama
The cabinets with the card slots weren't only in Japan. The arcade I frequented had 3 of them. I don't recall ever seeing anyone put a card into one though.
$1100 MSRP in 2020 seems very reasonable given how arcades have pretty much went defunct and is still (technically) supported by fans.