Thinking of getting a neo..but is it worth it now?

[rebellion1]

Hey, i love the site Kazuya. Its laid out great and the reviews rock.

Now onto the topic. I LOVE snk fighting games. They are probably my favorite type of game made and i can never get enough of them.

Since i love them so much, its basically a no-brainer to get a neo AES right? Well here is my conumdrum (i think thats the word im looking for).

Pretty much every neo geo game i want, i already own import copies of on DC. Last Blade 2 is my favorite game ever made and the DC version (jap, not the censored american one) is as close as you can get to the neo geo perfection...and it is also about 200 dollars less in price.

Mark of the wolves, KOF 98-2002, the aformentioned last blade 2, etc are all almost perfect neo geo ports and again, are hundreds of dollars less.

If i were to get a neo, i would want one of the S-video/stereo modded ones and they go for $400 easy on ebay...is it just cheaper to buy a regular neo geo and then send it away yourslef for the modification?

And the only games I would really be interested in getting that are not available somewhere else are Last blade 1 (though there is a ps1 port...havn't heard how it is), Matrimelee (the 2-300 dollar price point turns me off though) and Samaurai showdown 2. Aero fighters 2 and 3 would be cool as well, but there are much better shooters on DC and coming to PS2.

What do you all think? I would love a neo geo and the aforementioned games but the price just turns me off and with the DC playing the games almost perfectly it just doesn't seem like a neo would be worth getting.

[adam_412]

Hmm, well I'm in the process of getting a neo-geo but I'm getting it because I really do love the old-skool 2D consoles and I want to support SNK Playmore and any new games that are coming out on the system. I also think it's really cool to have basically an arcade machine in your home, but that's an extra perk.

One thing I don't like about the ports to the systems, and don't get me wrong they are very good ports, is the loading times, albeit not very long waits. One game that really comes to mind is the PSX port of FFV and VI. Man, I hated playing that game on the PSX lmao. Sure it had some nice extras, like some of the KOF ports, but I'd rather go for the original, and that's just my personal preference.

Yeah, so I'm still pretty new to the whole neo-geo thing, and I think it's really up to you whether or not you get the system. On the one hand you can play the original arcade versions, but on the other you probably save a bundle of money.

So basically, I was no help to you. Sorry! ;D

[Goemon]

The Samurai Showdown series is probly the only great thing your missing and its a shit load of money you'd be spending buying neo games so i think it would be best to just wait and see if the new Samurai Showdown is going to be ported to dc ps2 or Xbox, its using alot of the old sprites anyways (assuming its good, but from the pics it looks very sweet)

[seiryu]

Welcome to the forums Rebellion1.

Trust me.....nothing plays the same as an original MVS cab or a Neo home system.
Nothing...nothing.

You really see the difference once you play the real original stuff.
The grafics look so different on the original AES compared to the console ports.
Also...a lot of neo games never came out on anything.
The wonderfull Ninja Masters,World heroes perfect,Blazing star,Pulstar,Last resort,Sengoku 3,Shock troopers,Super dodgeball,super sidekicks,Neo turfmasters.....and so many good games that are Neo classics.

Therefore a neo system is a must if you're planning on collecting the classics.
But that's also why i say.....if you're planning to collect.
It's not the cheapest hobby but........if you truely love the system,i would recomend you to go for it.

The sensation and good feeling once you get your hands on that long awaited game you were looking for or ordered....priceless.
Dude,once you have some cards sitting right there at home all shiny....they're classic jewels,you can't compare ports to that.
The big design,the art on the inserts,the manuals,etc,etc........priceless.

Aahhhh....i need to hugh my cartridges.

*Dashhh......*

[Kazuya_UK]

Argh time for Kaz to kill someone! I spent 10 minutes typing a long reply to you, and then when I hit post it decided to log me out of the forums I have to go now, but I'll re-type my reply tomorrow, and if you need any advice on what to get if you do buy a system, I'll be gald to help

Kaz

[Goemon]

So the backrounds on kof99 with the neo-geo console look better than the 3d ones on dc?
Anyways i do agree about games like pulstar, blazing star (my fav space shooter) and maybe a few others. My friends got a neo-geo console with only a few old games and i do agree emulators don't look as good but I enjoy the quality on most neo games on my dc and i would love to have the console but its way overpriced for me

[adam_412]

Dreamcast KOF port has 3D backgrounds? Maybe you thinking about Capcom vs SNK? The KOF2k1 port to Dreamcast looks exactly like the neo-geo port imo. No better or worse graphics. Someone verify this?



Er wait, you talking about '99. Don't know about that Dreamcast port....

[BoriquaSNK]

the dreamcast ports of 98 and 99 have 3D backgrounds...the ports of 2000, 2001, and 2002 don't.

As for getting a neo, me, Kaz, and Candycab all go MVS. Its a bit of money initially invested, but once you have a Cab or supergun you save a shitload of money. I used to own an AES...I'm speaking from experience here.

[Daaren]

I'd love to buy one, but its too expensive
A least i have the DC versions

Seiryu: You said the graphics look different, what do you mean by that ?

[rebellion1]

he means that on some ports, the graphics change a little due to the conversion.

Like Last Blade 2 final edition on DC has a very faint dot pattern in the background (much like on some ps1 games). It was in the original neo geo version (i checked the rom and the arcade version) but its a little more noticible on the DC.

Excluding DC, Ports on other consoles look different than the neo geo originals. I have heard that KOF 2000 on PS2 was none too pretty...

also concerning the titles you gave me

The wonderfull Ninja Masters - played it and it is great..but INSANELY expensive and hard to find

World heroes perfect - lol i remember the old SNES port of WH2 i had...i guess that was the first snk game i ever owned ;D . I have never been a huge fan of the world heroes games though.

Blazing star,Pulstar,Last resort, - look cool as hell, i am really into shooters as well.

Sengoku 3,- tried it, wasn't at all impressed (guess i played too many beatemups in my youth)

the other ones you mentioned seemed cool too

thanks for the reply, and im looking forward to kazuya's reply as well.

[Kazuya_UK]

Right... let me try typing out my response again

Basically if you want to get into Neo Geo stuff, I'd recommend you go the MVS route like me Boriqua and Candycab, instead of buying the home cart system. In my opinion if you are just starting out these days, it's only worth buying home carts if you have a LOT of money to burn and want to collect stuff, as too many games are getting way too pricey now.

As an example, a Metal Slug 1 home cart will fetch $1000+ these days, whereas the MVS cart that I bought cost me $50. Also, Ninja Masters tends to sell for about $600 I think on home cart if you can find one, but the English MVS cart cost me $90 (and even that is expensive by MVS standards). Many older games can be picked up for very cheap prices though.... Samurai Shodown 2 which is my most played MVS cart cost me about $20, which is a total bargain in my opinion.

The only MVS carts that will cost you a lot of money are the ones that were only released in the arcades and not on home cart. An example of this would be Neo Drift Out, which sells for over $100. The newer games are also expensive, but they do drop down in price quite quickly (depending on the game) when arcade ops start to get rid of their older games. Take Matrimelee for instance - it was selling for $400 a couple of months back, but I picked up a Japanese MVS kit this week for $220. That is still a lot of money to spend I know (I just wanted the game badly), but the price will hopefully drop down further in the future.

Anyway, if you want to get into MVS stuff, there are 3 options you can choose from:

1) Buy an arcade cab. This was out of the question for me as I don't have the room. Candycab and Boriqua from this forum both have cabs.

2) Buy a supergun setup. If you don't know, a supergun is a device that lets you play arcade boards (like the MVS) on a normal TV. This is what I use personally.

3) By the home cart system and get a phantom 1 convertor which will let you play MVS carts on the home system. This is an ok method, but the Phantom 1 convertors are known to be a little unreliable on some AES systems... I've heard mixed results anyway.

I can't give much advice on cabs (the other guys can probably help more than me), but I can tell you a bit about superguns. You can either buy an MVS board and get a seperate super that will plug into that (and then connect to your TV), or you could get a "consolized" MVS board, which is just a normal MVS board that has been modified so it can be connected directly into a normal TV. I used to use a 1 slot MVS board and supergun, but now I have one of the consolized 4 slots. For some pics of my old supergun, go here:

www.neogeoforlife.com/neogeohardware.shtml

There's also some more info on the home console and MVS systems on that page that might help . Go here for a pic of my new 4 slot console:

kazuyauk.proboards16.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1056655054

Some other good places to go to would be these two sites:

www.hardmvs.com - for info on the MVS system
www.sgrepository.com - for info/pics on superguns

If you need any more help/info, let me know

Kaz

[Kazuya_UK]

Also... I do think that getting an MVS is well worth it, but only if you are a really big fan like many of us are. If you really want to get a taste of some of the games on the system so that you can weigh up whether or not it is worth it for you, why don't you try a few of the emulators? While I have to agree with seiryu on the emulators not being as good as owning the real thing, they are still good for testing games out etc. Give them a try if you haven't already

Couple of other things: if you do happen to get an MVS, then make sure you get a uni-bios for it (http://bios.cps2shock.com). Installing one of these will let you change regions between Japanese/Euro/USA and also switch between home/arcade mode (home mode often has extra features in some games). It also lets you do a bunch of other cool stuff, but check the official site for more info.

Finally, most MVS boards have joystick ports so you can plug normal Neo Geo joysticks into them. Just thought I'd point this out as it is worth knowing. Check the PCB comparison at www.hardmvs.com for more info on which boards have joystick ports.

Kaz

[Daaren]

How much your 4-slot thingy cost ? and is that a supergun too ?

Sutpid question: how do you put the uni-bios in your MVS (whatever the name because im confused between them)

[Kazuya_UK]

That 4 slot cost a lot... £300 to be exact, and a big chunk of that money went on having it chromed up (4 slots are usually nowhere near that shiny). It is an all in one unit though - its modified so that it can be plugged directly into a TV like a normal console, although it uses RGB so it wouldn't work on a US TV... if you wanted to use it in the US you'd have to buy something like a J-Rok convertor, which would convert the RGB signal into S-video.

The uni-bios is VERY easy to install - 90% of all MVS boards have socketed bios chips, which means you can just pull them out the socket and put a different chip in. There's only one or two boards that have soldered bios's - if you have one of those you are pretty much screwed unless you are very good at removing surface mounted chips etc

What name were you confused with btw? If you meant MVS, it goes like this:

AES or NGH = The name most people give the home cart system

MVS = Multi Video System, the arcade board.

Both are the same more or less, except the carts are slightly different so that you can't use home carts on an MVS and vice-versa... there is a convertor that lets you use MVS carts on the home system though.

Kaz

[Daaren]

But is there something different between the Home Console AES and the MVS except that one is the console and the other the arcade board ?

Is your 4-slot thing is a supergun ? if not, what is the difference between them