the n00b

[reaperman]

I've been using neogeoforlife.com's review section more and more lately and just noticed the forum link. I'm not new to Neo Geo, but I am new to the online scene. For systems I've got an ngp, ngpc, ngcd, and a 1-slot mvs cab. I have a consolized unit paid for and on the way, but will be in the design/construction stages for a bit. probably a month+

My new interest in neo geo is mainly due to the low cost of mvs games. Years ago when I got the MVS, games ebayed around $50-75, but now there's so much fun to be had in the $15-25 range that my collection has grown from 3 carts to 8 in the last month. so many more bargain games left to purchase. Adding to this, is a sort of dread for gaming's 'next gen'. it seems expensive and lame, and I think I've had enough. Neo geo is the best at what it does, and no other system puts out this style of gaming anyway.

but thanks to the reviews here, and perhaps a little 'try before you buy' on the emus , I'm doing very well for myself selecting titles. I never thought neo geo would be the bargain system. It only took 15 years...

I do have a slight confession, I'm pretty lame at fighting games. I've only recently gone above the level of quarter-circle forward, studying up a couple characters on my kof '99 move sheet. I'm in need of a general fighter bootcamp, especially with last blade on the way, and my skills at masher level.

[Goemon]

reaperman said:

I do have a slight confession, I'm pretty lame at fighting games. I've only recently gone above the level of quarter-circle forward, studying up a couple characters on my kof '99 move sheet.

Welcome, and keep practicing that kof!

[phry]

Hi Reaperman. Welcome to the NGFL forums!

[Emo Fairy]

Welcome and don't worry about being lame at fighting games. Me too! Although I can kick Kaz's a$$ at KoF:MI2

[circa2113]

Welcome to the forums. Good luck with your work on the consolised MVS. I'm actually going to be building a supergun in the coming weeks/months so it will be interesting to see some one else's progress. Hopefully all will be well and no electrocution will take place for either of us.

[reaperman]

thanks for the welcome. It's a great forum--so many features in the tags menu and a built-in spell check. I suppose I could drop in a few pics of my cabinet, it was a conversion from something, though I haven't a clue what.

img68.imageshack.us/my.php?image=arcade1vf0.jpg
img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=arcade2lh2.jpg
img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=arcade3qz1.jpg

circa2113> I'm not actually building it, more 'having it made'. I seem to have a lack of follow-through on my electronic projects, and I wanted this one finished properly. this is as far as I got with my last project before I lost interest:
www.geocities.com/reaperman93010/

but good luck on yours. I know if I did one, I'd just get it barely working and 'test it' until I was sick of it. then I'd box it unfinished, like my gba. I will certainly have pics of my mvs console upon its completion, but I have no idea how close to done it is.

[fusion24]

welcome to the forum. as a gift for my long absence here and my soon to be the same i will karma you +1 from me.

[Candycab]

Welcome dude

Pretty cool hack there on the GBA too.

[reaperman]

two more must-haves are now in my collection. blazing star and street slam. street slam has quite a bit of history with me as being the most fun I've ever had with neogeoCD (short load times, great multiplayer). but blazing star hasn't really been all I thought it would be. it seems seems a bit flat, and frankly easy. maybe I've just finally played enough shooters that I'm getting better at them, but I've been considering raising difficulty.

I've switched my ebay searching to looking for a second neo geo controller--why do they cost more than 2-3 decent mvs games? I've also noticed that neo geo controllers don't feel as good as I recall, being spoiled with arcade controls for years now.
----------------------------------------------------
I also have kind of a halfway update on the cMVS that I'm having built. good news is that there aren't nearly as many projects in line ahead of me anymore. (there still may be a gamecube project) but my case is in the design stages, and video converter is on order (the one he had sitting around was dead). Lighting system is well on the way.
I really am curious about how the lighting will be on the final unit, I've requested lights be sound reactive, but pretty much left it open after that. the system is based on the mv1b board, which is a rather compact horizontal-loading mvs, that lends itself easily to normal or 'toaster' orientation, so I have no idea what this thing will look like. it should be at www.benheck.com in the next few weeks.

[circa2113]

That GBA mod is pretty sweet. Definitely keep us updated on your other projects.

[HexElf]

reaperman said:

I do have a slight confession, I'm pretty lame at fighting games. I've only recently gone above the level of quarter-circle forward, studying up a couple characters on my kof '99 move sheet. I'm in need of a general fighter bootcamp, especially with last blade on the way, and my skills at masher level.

You should look up all the moves of your favorite characters and practice them until you memorized them. After that you should look into when you want to use those moves and finally start practicing executing them flawlessly; even in the heat of battle.

Get complete movelists here...
sindoni.altervista.org/neoencyclopedia/moves.html

... and an in depth FAQ by the main man himself...
db.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/file/king_of_fighters_99_d.txt

Let me know if there are any characters in particular you're playing as and I could probably give you a few combos to work with.

[reaperman]

that first one's one incredible bookmark!
I was wading through massive FAQs on Gamefaqs.com but they have so much information that I really will never care about (like plot).

I've noticed that SNK movesheets tend to list individual arrows for in their instructions instead of single sweeping movements--it's about the only part that rubs me wrong about SNK--quite a minor detail.

[HexElf]

reaperman said:

that first one's one incredible bookmark!
I was wading through massive FAQs on Gamefaqs.com but they have so much information that I really will never care about (like plot).

I've noticed that SNK movesheets tend to list individual arrows for in their instructions instead of single sweeping movements--it's about the only part that rubs me wrong about SNK--quite a minor detail.

Why I like the arrows (or direction letters) better… don’t worry, I’m not bashing anyone here.
Using the same sweep symbols as Capcom games typically do for in-game movelists in SNK land has a few problems. Unlike Capcom, SNK has a habit of using very non-standard movement commands, some of them unique to certain characters, some are very hard to understand and some border on pure randomness.
When you get to things like Geese's Raging Storm (db, f, df, d, db, b, df + P) or one of Duck King's super throws (d, df, f, uf, u, d + BC) you’re seeing some commands that are incredibly hard to streamline. Especially since the latter more or less forces you to jump as part of the move (meaning the timing for the d+BC is *very* lax)

Add to the fact that SNK-games typically allow for quite a few ”short” commands that will change the pace of your game dramatically. Here's a few examples from KOF2001
The command HCF (typical command throw command) can be entered as simply b, d, f
The command QCF (typical projectile command) can be entered as simply d, df

This means that inputting HCF doesn't necessarily have to produce the same move as QCF would even though it "should" end the same way. Explaining this using the sweep symbols would be difficult to say the least.

Actual application in games…
Now, while Street Fighter uses something called Negative Edge to shorten commands, this means that holding a button down while performing the command and then letting go will still produce the move, KOF-gamers more frequently rely on a plethora of additional strategies to get what they want. Partially because the commands are typically much more complex and as such are in bigger need of more reliability. I was thinking of explaining K9999’s ”cheat” combo but I decided I should start with something more basic because it shows my point and should be easier to read… (this movement strategy should work in any KOF produced so far)

Say you want to combo Ryo's close C into his Kou Ho (his anti-air dragon punch-like move) you can either write it such as this...

C - Kou Ho

or this

close C - dp + P
- The Capcom styled sweep command

or this

close standing C - f, d, df + A
- The command type I am promoting here, note that the “standing” is added because some SNK games actually use different crouching attacks depending on range, not just standing.

The reason why you would prefer the later, and hopefully my main point, is because of these extra rules that apply to KOF (and many other SNK fighters)
- If you just press P like it says you might as well hit C for the stronger version of the Koh Ho which is NOT a guaranteed knockdown. There's a definitive advantage of always applying the right button, A version (which always knocks down), here rather than just hitting P.
- If you mess up the command you might accidentally press C and f almost at the same time which would produce a throw and mess up your combo. (more on this below)

Now here's where it gets more complex hopefully I don't lose everyone who reads this; in KOF you can't perform regular throws when you are running. This means that you can use the running animation to your advantage; if Ryo is running you can just keep holding f and press C to always produce the close hit no matter what. Also, because you're already holding forward, the command for the Koh Ho is shortened and thus the commands becomes like so...

f, F - close C - d, df + A

(Start running, hit a close C and then finish the command for the Koh Ho which is now shortened to two directions and a button instead of three.)
This kind of scenario is simply impossible to describe with the simplified sweep commands like HCF, DP and QCF. And there’s why I want to encourage learning the more complex “arrow” commands even though it means sometimes having to visualize the commands in order to understand them. It takes practice but when you get better and actually start applying some of this, you will learn new things much quicker.

Of course I also need to add that there are some uses for the old sweep system still, such as when applying the infamous Capcom-styled 360 and 720 commands; spin the joystick one or two circles respectively. No general directions are given here because it simply doesn't matter where you start or where you end, as long as you pull one full circle the move will come out.

Note: This isn't entirely true either but it works best for beginners so more on that some other time when someone asks about the standing (without jumping) 360 or standing 720.

Any questions, let me know.

[reaperman]

I've

well, my latest Cmvs update is that it will be done this weekend. decal cutting/application is all that's left for him to do. will be on benheck.com soon ;D .

which means that I'm in need of a second controller. I do have two, I have a pro stick (okay) and a slightly broken/repaired pad unit. but honestly even the pro stick doesn't feel right after my arcade controls.

eventually I want to make my own clunky stick. should be well within my level of skill, but until then, I found one of these jems at the gametrader for $15.

a capcom whatever-the-heck stick. seems to work with just about every system with varying degrees of difficulty
www.pipitan.com/cpsf.html
this seems to be because whatever chip the system needs is stored in a removable cable adapter, and all the stick's buttons are put on pins outside. should be a breeze to make a neo geo adapter for it, given its following, and the fact that the neo geo sticks also don't have a single chip in them. (capcom seems to have electronic bits, but only for turbo control, etc)

yes it *IS* evil and wrong to plug a capcom controller into a beautiful SNK console, but the stick is so much taller, and it's only player two... nuts to player two.

[reaperman]

well, I joined the Garou club myself. it should be on its way from everybody's favorite ebayer by now. did I mention that circa got a helluva deal before? yeah, because like predicted garou cost me $58 shipped. it really is such a pretty game though.

MOTW seems like it gives sf3 a run for the money graphically. I really don't know how they snuck all those character animations in and still had power for such complex backgrounds and move effects.

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=007&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=170054027489&rd=1&rd=1

now if I can find metal slug 3 my 'really must have' list will be complete. that and my CMVS--whereever the heck it's at. nobody ever accused ben of being quick.
I haven't spent $60 on an MVS game in a long time. KOF99 cost me that much, but that was years ago. a lot of the good games have gotten so inexpensive since then.