SNK Neo Geo AES (& CD) - Fourth VideoGame Generation Recap - Adam Koralik 

Growing up, the Neo Geo was like some mythical unicorn. You only ever heard about it and many doubted that really existed.

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.

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 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.

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.

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!

It puzzles me that people will pay $700 for their 3D0, but not 50 less for this beautiful piece of machinery

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Just wanted to point out that SNK did not make all the games. TAITO, SUNSOFT, DATA EAST, and others made games for NEO GEO.

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.

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! =)

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

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

my brother got the lesser expensive one. we played king of fighters 95 and 96, fatal fury special and metal slug! Great console!

I'd love to see a retrospective over the R-Zone 😂

more than anything how the graphics of games kept on improving surprises to me till this day !!!

$1100 in 2017 seems reasonable considering idiots spending $999 on an iPhone.

If I ever strike gold and can afford to splurge on just me, the first thing I'm getting is the Neo Geo AES

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.

The weirdest thing about no power light is.. there actually is one. Inside! :)

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!

Ahhhh, time for me to chime in. SNK marketed their system to the 20 & 30 somethings, just look at the advertising. The games retailed for $200.00 ( $179.00 if on sale ). As the meg count grew, so did the price ( 330 mega pro gear spec vs. giga power ) of the games. As far as 3rd party support, here is some of the people supporting the Neo Geo: Data East, Sunsoft , Hudson Soft , Eolith and Noise Factory. I had my AES for over 20 years. Also, I owned a U.S. Neo CD back when it was released in '95. One of the last games for the CD was KoF '99. Just like the Dreamcast, the Neo Geo was way ahead of it's time. The purpose of the dual pcbs, was to separate the graphics and sound to get the cleanest picture and clearest sound quality. SNK made the boards bigger on the MVS games to stop arcade operators from buying the cheaper AES games ( $200.00 vs. $500.00+ ). Even during their bankruptcy, SNK still managed to release games.

Just to let you know I am high but I really enjoyed just listening to you talk about neo geo lol.

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

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.

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!”

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.

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, long time subscriber here, thank you for your work and videos, love them all.. just wanted you to know, I like your intro the best, makes me feel good inside, nice and soothing.. keep up the good work man!

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.

Good video. One thing: the Master System is still in production under license in Brazil, IIRC.

Once again awesome video Adam, keep it up man. I always look forward to your videos

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

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.

actually there are a lot of non fighting games on neogeo and not only snk made games, also sunsoft, technos and others

Still loving and enjoying your videos Adam, great stuff.

Somewhat mind blowing when you put it in perspective.

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.

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 really enjoy your videos. Very relatable stories and dispite the fact that I consider myself to be pretty knowledgable regarding video game history I alway learn something new. Thanks.

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.

"people hate exclusives"......exclusives are pretty much the only reason why I cared about video games to begin with

You could plug that memory card into the arcade machine and play saves from your neo geo how cool is that

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 have had it for years and have played it nearly every day! Awesome review Adam!

I can't believe you don't have Samurai Shodown! Get the first one and play it with headphones!

beeing able to see some games would have been nice -_-

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.

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 :)

I bet Floyd Mayweather has one of these.

well, SNK focused on the fighting genre when Street Fighter started...also, SNK had one of the Original markers of Street Fighter as well...

Awesome video, we miss new videos Adam! Greetings from Mexio

Great video, dude! Thanks for sharing! :) I've been wanting one of these for the past 7 months.

do you have a video on cleaning a neogeo aes system if not are you going to make one in the near future thanks

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!

Really love your recap videos, have watched every single one. The only thing I miss is gameplay footage from each console... :-/

This console is awesome, if you love arcade games it really has no equal. I have 2 AES's, 2 CD units, CMVS and a MVS arcade. I love them all but the AES carts are insanely priced. You should look into getting CMVS as the carts are cheaper. Yes it has a lot of fighting games but they are awesome, the Last Blade series really is amazing as well as the Samurai Spirit series. The shooters(SMUPS) are amazing as well Pulstar/Blazing Star, Viewpoint, Last Resort, plus you can't go wrong with Metal Slug and Shock Troopers. SNK blazed their own path that is why they will always be remebered .

I remember seeing two kids and there dad buying 2 games for this machine back in the day at £175 each ouch

A neo-geo everdrive would probably cost $2000+ if it ever gets made.

thanx for the vid. brings back lots of great memories and answers all those questions i had as a kid

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.

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

Adk and atlus were third party support

Brilliant review, such an interesting console, could only dream of one as a kid!!

Fantastic, as always! Thank you Adam.

It was basically the rich kid console.

Sega master system 2 didn't have an led light either :-)

just bought myself a CD-i so im well looking forward to your video on it :)

Hey, av been after one of these for ages. Wanted one so badly when I was at school but ended up with snes instead. On the look out for boxed one with instructions that I don't have to 're mortgage me house for. Love your videos, liked and subbed. Retro rules.

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.

Wow... inflation sucks! :P

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

my only experiences with neogeo were at arcade units, YES they're still around lol (there's a machine in Disneyland CA) pizza parlors as a kid & "wasting quarters" I intend on picking up the neogeocd now , thanks for the upload 💖💕

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

i hate that word 'shmups'

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!

+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 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.

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.

You're awesome, Adam. I've really enjoyed watching your video retrospectives. I'm a decade or so older than you so my memory of these consoles is framed a bit differently (not negatively or positively, just different) and I skipped the 5th and 6th generations of console gaming, but your videos are a great stroll through memory lane. This is maybe your best. I'm curious, what's your favourite genre? I imagine it must not be fighters or you'd probably have more NeoGeo games. I too am fascinated by the NeoGeo. It's just so amazing that it was so successful despite everything that went against it. I have no doubt that it's the holy grail console for a lot of people.

Last time I went to my local game shop they had the console and a few games. First time I had ever seen it and those cartridges blew my mind, as well did the price. Now having seen your video it is all in perspective. I doubt I will buy it given the price point of the game and the console itself, but it is cool to know they are still in circulation, even in my neck of the woods.

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.

You have covered this console like a champ !

Welcome to the club Adam =) i got my Gold system back late 1991 with 2 games when they had promo (Fatal Fury & Baseball2020). Its true tho, i only knew one other person that had one of these. its a rare beast for sure. Had this system ever since and loved every minute of it, these things were made to last in the arcades, so if cared for are basically indestructible. Some of the games anime style artworks are stunning and animation can be mesmerizing. Samurai Spirits & KoF especially. Music was always phenomenal for this thing. One thing always puzzled me, is that they never made an RPG in 'Zela Link to the Past' style, with all the extra capabilities and gfx for it at the time it would have been magical. These days at least we can get great emulators of neogeo so people can enjoy these amazing classic games.

When I finally got an Neo-Geo, the memory card was awesome because I would play an platformer at the arcade. save it on my memory card and then go and continue to what level I died on at the arcade :) There are so many awesome NeoGeo games I think you would like that aren't fighting games. Sorry for filling up the comments with so much writing I just was and still am one of those fanboys of the NeoGeo you spoke of and I really luved your video :) Lots of nice nostalgic memories. Thanks :)

AdamKoralik Really enjoying these videos, keep it up. In fact this video reminded me of one fact about the Neo Geo I remember reading many many many years ago (hopefully this is correct). Some arcade cabinets allowed you to save the game to the memory card so you could continue playing the game on your home console version.

+Adam Koralik - Haha! I've randomly just come across this video whilst on a little nostalgia trip and as I'm halfway through it (11:21) I notice that's actually MY modded Neo Geo AES you've shown there! I was like hang on a second.. I'm pretty sure that's my bed/console and game combo (King of Fighters 2003 isn't a super common purchase for most) how funny! :p

Data East and Visco were two third party developers for the system. Technos Japan also had a few.

Great video man. I absolutely love the Neo Geo till this day. I got it first back in 1993. And it was just the best gaming console for me and loved all the fighting games. The only problem I had as a kid, was convincing my parents to buy me a new game for it with a price tag of $200+ other than that, probably my all time favorite console that I enjoyed the most. Any by the way, this was very popular and a lot of people had it back in the 90’s in countries like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.