I'm seriously thinking of starting a NEO GEO collection.

[TheSonicRetard]

Hmm, nice to see some helpful advice in here, I don't have much unique to say so I'll just end up echo-ing others...

As far as NEO•GEO goes, in my opinion, the absolute cheapest method is to go MVS+AES. Get yourself a hardware set up that can play both and just buy whichever game is cheaper on either format. I say this because earlier titles like NAM, Magician Lord, Blue's Journey and Thrash Rally are actually harder to find and more expensive on MVS than AES. In fact, you can still find New Old Stock copies of early AES titles for good prices. Not to mention, most people switching 100% over to MVS drive more demand for such games. You can find AES versions for cheaper. Otherwise, the MVS version is either at the same value is much, much cheaper.

Oh and on the subject of MVS at home, nothing is more inexpensive than just making your own Supergun (or if you prefer, making your own CMVS). The parts are easily available, plastic cases aren't hard to obtain and the making of a Supergun or CMVS is essentially just passive wiring, excluding the video encoder (you can save even more money and make that too if you want).

@Thunderblaze16: Don't forget about DavidG's Daedalus Converter, $400 and you have a 100% perfect MVS converter. OR, you can use one of his guides and PCBs to fix a pre-existing converter, like the Phantom-1, Pranslation and Super MVS Converter 2.

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showth...oGeo-Converter

NEO•GEO is definitely a great piece of arcade hardware, but yeah it's not for everyone. Before you drop serious cash on the system, make sure you're actually interested in it's brand of games, both it's staples and array of strangeness.

It's also good advice to price out a few games you want. Don't go into the Neo Geo for only the best, biggest, and most hard to find games or you're going to have to drop a lot of cash.

EDIT: Not to scare you, of course. The average Neo Geo game will cost you about $100-$200, depending on format and game. Harder to find games will run you tons of cash. Don't expect to find a legitimate AES US copy of Metal Slug, for example.

[GohanX]

Eh, I come into the Neo Geo thread and pretty much everything has already been said. Bummer! Personally, I have all the systems for various reasons:

Consolized 1 slot MVS: Most of my games are on this, and I got most of them for less than $30 each on ebay and the Neo forums.

Neo CD Toploader: System is cheap, I use it mostly for shooters that are expensive on AES or MVS. It's not great for fighting games newer than KOF94, but it's awesome for everything else.

Neo Home system: I got out of the NGH for a while, but I eventually picked up another system and some cheap games. Although the games I have for it pale in comparison to my CMVS, the home system has an undeniable amount of sheer win that isn't reproduced by any other game system. However, if the home system was all I had I would go mad, the already expensive games are actually getting more expensive for the most part.

I have dabbled with the MVS-AES converters, owning a few Phantom-1's, and they are handy. However, they have issues and aren't compatible with all games without modification. Same thing with the newer Super MVS converters. I'd recommend them anyway, but the fact is you can get a CMVS or an arcade board with supergun for about the same price and then you'd have no compatibility issues. I'd like to pick up another converter one of these days if I find one for a good price, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Guntz]

Do you mean me or the OP by that scare comment?

As for value of games, actually if research enough you can easily find good, authentic games for low prices! I've gotten the first three Metal Slugs on MVS for between $40 and $60 and a complete NAM-1975 AES for $30. In fact these days, many MVS games are worth under $100, sometimes even complete in kit box. Only the rarities like Nightmare in the Dark, Bust-A-Move Again/Puzzle Bubble 2 are worth over $100 cart only.

If you want to REALLY go cheap, try buying loose AES carts. Now those can be seriously dirt cheap, mostly because any Neo collector worth his/her salt wouldn't think of getting a loose cart. I got a loose JP KOF 96 for $30, that was pretty nice. It still plays fine, I ain't got a problem with no box or manual.

And I apologize if my advice is a bit confusing, it's hard to explain AES and MVS separately in few words.

[the.importer]

Being someone who tried to get into NEO-GEO less than a year ago, I would say don't unless you have the time and the money. It was probably easy 3 years ago to have a decent collection, but not anymore. Supply and demand is the problem. More people got in to the consolized MVS, so games (being limited as they were in the first place) are really NOT being sold as the "suggested price" on the NEO-GEO forums and when they are, you'll only find a few titles from one seller, meaning that it will cost you more in shipping price. As for ebay, forget about it, 75% of the MVS games you'll find there are boots and the others are over priced.

Like I said, if you have the time and money, go for it, if not, do like I did (after selling my consolized MVS and games), buy the both NEO-GEO collection boxes for PS2 (if your PS2 can play Japanese games) and then buy the remaining NEO-GEO games for PS2 that aren't part of the 2 boxes. The games in the collection boxes are either ports or are very well emulated, most of them offer NEO-GEO CD music as an option and the KoF Nest Saga disc offers both the MVS and DC/PS2 version of the games

ebay link

[ItellYaHuat]

I'm an AES man myself.

Edit: Here's a better link: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/snkne...ore-affordable

[jerry coeurl]

Apologies to Lan Di, I'm about to veer a bit off topic here:

I would love to play the Neo geo Ogre Battle entry, it sadly wasn't released in the US though, so it would be hard to play.

There's no Neo Geo (MVS/AES/CD) version of Ogre Battle, but there is one for Neo Geo Pocket Color. My buddy used to have a copy. Anyway, it plays identically to the original SNES/PSX game, so if you've played either version of that, you can definitely make your way through the game. You won't understand a lick of the story if you don't know Japanese, of course, but you'll definitely be able to enjoy the gameplay.

I'm actually about halfway through my first playthrough of Ogre Battle on the PSX (just recently picked up a copy of that, along with Tactics Ogre for the PSX with some leftover Christmas money, both complete), and I'm really enjoying it. It's definitely unlike anything else I've ever played. I love Yasumi Matsuno (Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, FFXII) and these were the only games of his that I was missing from my collection. As soon as I'm done with OB I'll probably jump straight into TO, and then after that's done maybe I'll revisit FFT. I'm due for another playthrough!


On topic: The Neo Geo seems pretty awesome, but I'll probably never start collecting for it unless I can find a cheap cab or I win the lottery. I just have too many holes in my other game libraries, and I already have waaaaaay too many consoles for my own good. As much as I hate playing games on anything but their original hardware platforms, I might just settle for playing Neo Geo games on the Wii or something. I definitely want to play Magician Lord, at least.

[Zoltor]

Yea I know It's Neo Geo pocket color, but when else am I gonna beable to talk about it(Isn't the entire system Japan only, if I recall) lol.

Hm cool, but are the battle commands in English(for some reason a lot of newer jp only games are)? If they are, it would be awesome, if not it will be a pain.


PS. Being that Neo Geo(s) are SNK developed systems, I wonder, did they ever make a sequel to god damn Crystalis(aka supposedly called God Slayer: Haruka Tenkuu no Sonata in Japan), but just hid it on one of their NEO-GEO machines(this confuses the hell out of me, they develop the best Action/RPG ever, yet don't turn it into a franchise, WTF)?

[TheSonicRetard]

Yea I know It's Neo Geo pocket color, but when else am I gonna beable to talk about it(Isn't the entire system Japan only, if I recall) lol.

Nope

PS. Being that Neo Geo(s) are SNK developed systems, I wonder, did they ever make a sequel to god damn Crystalis(aka supposedly called God Slayer: Haruka Tenkuu no Sonata in Japan), but just hid it on one of their NEO-GEO machines(this confuses the hell out of me, they develop the best Action/RPG ever, yet don't turn it into a franchise, WTF)?

nope

[StarMist]

Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together

same game

You two are just talking about the game I think? On SFam, PS, and Saturn? This was released last year in the US (English!) on PSP.

[TheSonicRetard]

You two are just talking about the game I think? On SFam, PS, and Saturn? This was released last year in the US (English!) on PSP.

Let us Cling together was indeed released on the Super Famicom, PSX, and Saturn, as well as a re-release on the PSP, but the Neo Geo Pocket Color entry is not the same game as Let us Cling Together.

[StarMist]

Let us Cling together was indeed released on the Super Famicom, PSX, and Saturn, as well as a re-release on the PSP, but the Neo Geo Pocket Color entry is not the same game as Let us Cling Together.

So they're talking about Zenobia no Ouji which has never been on another platform and resembles March of the Black Queen almost to the point of being a gaiden. Yeah that's way off topic from NG AES arcade stuff. The battle map to Black Queen was barely 8 bit.

[Zoltor]

To TheSonicRetard: Ah that sucks, shame on SNK

To Starmist: WTF are you quoting, I never mentioned Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together, Ogre Battle, and Tactics Ogre are two completely different games, counts as part of the same series, yet play nothing alike).

Also as a remake the PSP version is butchered beyond belief(as just a game, It's not a bad game I suppose, but yea, as far as remakes go, It's butchered, It's so different from the real Tactics Ogre: Let us cling together, It's not funny), so I really hope people stop treating it as a remake(people should call it Tactics Ogre: The wheel of Fate or whatnot, so people know It's nothing like Let us cling together).

The Neo Geo pocket color game is a side story of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen.

[grimm]

Keep in mind though, that even if the MVS carts are generally quite abit cheaper than the AES variants, building an MVS collection is anything but cheap compared to most systems. Its just cheaper than an AES collection.. I dont prioritize my Neo collection, but so far have about 10 AES titles and about 10 MVS, i just cant afford it. Thats why im going for the more conventional consoles, and pick up Neo carts when a great deal presents itself. And yes, i did fork out 249 dollars for one of the MVS converters.. It works well for all games except multi-carts (at least my 111 in 1) and games with scaling.. This im told can be fixed. Just mentioning since it might be of interest if you were thinking of an AES system with an adaptor.

[Zoltor]

Keep in mind though, that even if the MVS carts are generally quite abit cheaper than the AES variants, building an MVS collection is anything but cheap compared to most systems. Its just cheaper than an AES collection.. I dont prioritize my Neo collection, but so far have about 10 AES titles and about 10 MVS, i just cant afford it. Thats why im going for the more conventional consoles, and pick up Neo carts when a great deal presents itself. And yes, i did fork out 249 dollars for one of the MVS converters.. It works well for all games except multi-carts (at least my 111 in 1) and games with scaling.. This im told can be fixed. Just mentioning since it might be of interest if you were thinking of an AES system with an adaptor.

I never understood why Neo Geo carts were so expensive, is it just because they are ridiculously rare or is it more complex then that(it deffinitely is not because of demand, that's for sure, many people would rather get a arcade machine, and just switch the arcade game boards, when they want to play something else)?

[JDB]

Neo Geo Neo Geo,
Four bright buttons and two joysticks