Neo Geo Console System

[90snostalga]

Never knowing any thing about anything Neo Geo, thanks to VGCollect, I was able to gain knowledge a while back on the Neo Geo Pocket Color and some awesome games for it    I was thinking today about the tv console part.  Is the home console (not the arcade one) the Neo Geo CD System? And please as always my VG Family, suggest me some good Neo Geo games so I can research them and learn more... As always, thanks

[Jakandsig]

Never knowing any thing about anything Neo Geo, thanks to VGCollect, I was able to gain knowledge a while back on the Neo Geo Pocket Color and some awesome games for it    I was thinking today about the tv console part.  Is the home console (not the arcade one) the Neo Geo CD System? And please as always my VG Family, suggest me some good Neo Geo games so I can research them and learn more... As always, thanks

You need the cartridge home console. The neogeo cd outside of 4 games has random slowdown and terrible loading. Including loading freezes mid game. Yes, even the fighting games. Some games look worse to bit thats another topic.

The only good thing about the neogeo cd id SOMETIMES better music and the controller.

[90snostalga]

Never knowing any thing about anything Neo Geo, thanks to VGCollect, I was able to gain knowledge a while back on the Neo Geo Pocket Color and some awesome games for it    I was thinking today about the tv console part.  Is the home console (not the arcade one) the Neo Geo CD System? And please as always my VG Family, suggest me some good Neo Geo games so I can research them and learn more... As always, thanks

You need the cartridge home console. The neogeo cd outside of 4 games has random slowdown and terrible loading. Including loading freezes mid game. Yes, even the fighting games. Some games look worse to bit thats another topic.

The only good thing about the neogeo cd id SOMETIMES better music and the controller.

Oh okay.  Is the cartridge one the Neo Geo X?

[Bwigdahl]

Neo Geo X is basically an emulator, I think... The main home console would be the Neo Geo AES and good luck finding one for a decent price... and if you do find one for a decent price get one for me, lol

[90snostalga]

Kingrat!  Where you at?   lol

[Jakandsig]

Kingrat!  Where you at?   lol

Depending on were you are or/and look, you can get the console for a fair price. Its the games you will need to shell out for.

[turf]

I have the NeoGeo X. I don't hate it at all. It was released in 2012 and has 20 NeoGeo games built into it. It's an emulator. I like it. I was considering getting an MVS arcade, but this kind of talked me out of it. I don't love NeoGeo games.

Now if you get an AES (the home console) you're going to drop some coin. I think they're around $300 these days. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. The games are what get crazy. I think it's hard to find any of the games under $100. They get pretty high too. 

I'm no doctor, but I think it's an overpriced and overhyped console. If you have to have one, I'd look at finding an MVS (arcade) that's been converted to a console. The arcade carts way more affordable.

TL;DR Overhyped console. Emulate it.

[90snostalga]

I have the NeoGeo X. I don't hate it at all. It was released in 2012 and has 20 NeoGeo games built into it. It's an emulator. I like it. I was considering getting an MVS arcade, but this kind of talked me out of it. I don't love NeoGeo games.

Now if you get an AES (the home console) you're going to drop some coin. I think they're around $300 these days. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. The games are what get crazy. I think it's hard to find any of the games under $100. They get pretty high too. 

I'm no doctor, but I think it's an overpriced and overhyped console. If you have to have one, I'd look at finding an MVS (arcade) that's been converted to a console. The arcade carts way more affordable.

TL;DR Overhyped console. Emulate it.

Does the X have the ability to use Neo Geo cartridges, or can you only use the games that are built into it?

[turf]

I have the NeoGeo X. I don't hate it at all. It was released in 2012 and has 20 NeoGeo games built into it. It's an emulator. I like it. I was considering getting an MVS arcade, but this kind of talked me out of it. I don't love NeoGeo games.

Now if you get an AES (the home console) you're going to drop some coin. I think they're around $300 these days. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. The games are what get crazy. I think it's hard to find any of the games under $100. They get pretty high too. 

I'm no doctor, but I think it's an overpriced and overhyped console. If you have to have one, I'd look at finding an MVS (arcade) that's been converted to a console. The arcade carts way more affordable.

TL;DR Overhyped console. Emulate it.

Does the X have the ability to use Neo Geo cartridges, or can you only use the games that are built into it?

Just the built-in games or the games made for it. The AES games won't work with it.

[kingrat101]

I personally wouldn't recommend the Neo Geo X, the thing kind of sucks. Not to mention all the crap between Tomo and SNK now. The CDZ isn't too bad on loading times but still kind of pricey. It just really depends, either way if you want a "real" SNK product it's going to be expensive, but with the CD systems the games are dirt cheap, but of course you've got the load times. AES systems used to be slightly cheaper but the games are ten times the price. Of course you can also emulate the Neo Geo through services like MAME, which might be your best course of action right now, see if you enjoy what the library of games has to offer and see for yourself if it is worth the money. As im sure most everyone on this sight knows I personally love the thing, but I can also admit a lot of the early fighting games are "dated"
and because it was an arcade machine, there aren't any games that were competing with Mario and Sonic, the games were designed to steal your money.
Overall though, it is an amazing console that I would highly recommend but do some research on games and give them a play, see if they are worth the thousands of dollars they sometimes command haha

[theflea]

I personally own pretty much every Neo Geo system, except I'm still missing a Neo Geo CDZ
But I'll explain what each console is.

Neo Geo AES

This is the home version they released in 1991, the carts are true arcade (but they changed it to limited continues) Common are Japanese models that can run you $200-$300, while a US model can run $400+, whats the difference? well AES read games in English or Japanese based the the system, not the games. A JP or NA cart in an US system will read in English, but a JP system will only read games in Japanese. There's also a 3rd option, a custom console that has cheat bios. They can run cheaper than a US model, but still be pricy. Collecting games for this system is not cheap, while some games you can find under $20, others will cost over $1000. 

Neo Geo MVS

This is the original Arcade, The arcade has carts you can change out, but you can also buy a custom console (this is what I use) So you can ether buy a full size arcade that may need a lot of maintenance or a buy a console and play it on any HDTV. A basic Arcade you can find find for about $400-800. And a custom console usually will cost about $500, Custom console usually include all the cheat bios. Carts on the MVS are the same as the AES only major difference is you can continue as often as you like. MVS carts are cheaper and many games where never released on the AES. But they are uglier compared to the AES. lol       

Neo Geo CD
There's 3 versions

The front loader, only released in Japan and only 10,000 of these where made.

The Top Loader, the most common of the CD systems (at least the JP version is) the US version is hard to find.

And the CDZ, this is the system that reads CDs faster.

The CD system is for the most part one of the cheapest way to play Neo Geo games. Most games cost under $20 but you have to put up with horrible long load times, even the CDZ isn't the fastest, A JP CD system (top loader) will run you $100-$200, and the CDZ can be $250-$350. you can find JP consoles that have region switches in them so you can change it from Japanese to English, (not all games this works on) The CD system is just like the AES it reads games based on the system.

Neo Geo X

This is the handheld emulator system that came out last year, It's okay but like everyone here has talked about, it's not perfect.
The games are on Flash cards and its not perfect by any means, short battery life, games look bad on the stretched out screen, this is not the way to go to play these arcade classics.

[bobster]

I briefly looked into buying a "SuperGun" to play JAMMA boards on. I realized how quickly that can add up price wise. Not sure if this'll be adding anything to what everyone else has already said, but the actually arcade (JAMMA) boards are much cheaper than the AES home console version. So going with a "SuperGun" that basically acts as a miniaturized arcade cabinet that can hook up to TVs was the cheapest way of getting that experience, but was still out of the realm of possibility for me currently.

Anywho, as far as games are concerned, you really can't go wrong with Samurai Shodown, Metal Slug, or even the Bust-A-Move games. I'm sure there's plenty more NeoGeo games I haven't had the pleasure of playing.

[Jakandsig]

I personally own pretty much every Neo Geo system, except I'm still missing a Neo Geo CDZ
But I'll explain what each console is.

Neo Geo AES

This is the home version they released in 1991, the carts are true arcade (but they changed it to limited continues) Common are Japanese models that can run you $200-$300, while a US model can run $400+, whats the difference? well AES read games in English or Japanese based the the system, not the games. A JP or NA cart in an US system will read in English, but a JP system will only read games in Japanese. There's also a 3rd option, a custom console that has cheat bios. They can run cheaper than a US model, but still be pricy. Collecting games for this system is not cheap, while some games you can find under $20, others will cost over $1000. 

Neo Geo MVS

This is the original Arcade, The arcade has carts you can change out, but you can also buy a custom console (this is what I use) So you can ether buy a full size arcade that may need a lot of maintenance or a buy a console and play it on any HDTV. A basic Arcade you can find find for about $400-800. And a custom console usually will cost about $500, Custom console usually include all the cheat bios. Carts on the MVS are the same as the AES only major difference is you can continue as often as you like. MVS carts are cheaper and many games where never released on the AES. But they are uglier compared to the AES. lol       

Neo Geo CD
There's 3 versions

The front loader, only released in Japan and only 10,000 of these where made.

The Top Loader, the most common of the CD systems (at least the JP version is) the US version is hard to find.

And the CDZ, this is the system that reads CDs faster.

The CD system is for the most part one of the cheapest way to play Neo Geo games. Most games cost under $20 but you have to put up with horrible long load times, even the CDZ isn't the fastest, A JP CD system (top loader) will run you $100-$200, and the CDZ can be $250-$350. you can find JP consoles that have region switches in them so you can change it from Japanese to English, (not all games this works on) The CD system is just like the AES it reads games based on the system.

Neo Geo X

This is the handheld emulator system that came out last year, It's okay but like everyone here has talked about, it's not perfect.
The games are on Flash cards and its not perfect by any means, short battery life, games look bad on the stretched out screen, this is not the way to go to play these arcade classics.

Actually you can get around the continue issues with the memory cards but I forgot the exact way to do it.

[Jakandsig]

I have the NeoGeo X. I don't hate it at all. It was released in 2012 and has 20 NeoGeo games built into it. It's an emulator. I like it. I was considering getting an MVS arcade, but this kind of talked me out of it. I don't love NeoGeo games.

Now if you get an AES (the home console) you're going to drop some coin. I think they're around $300 these days. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. The games are what get crazy. I think it's hard to find any of the games under $100. They get pretty high too. 

I'm no doctor, but I think it's an overpriced and overhyped console. If you have to have one, I'd look at finding an MVS (arcade) that's been converted to a console. The arcade carts way more affordable.

TL;DR Overhyped console. Emulate it.

Does the X have the ability to use Neo Geo cartridges, or can you only use the games that are built into it?

(0's guy the X hyas megapacks which are on sale and contain more games so that you can increase your game collection. You can also installe Genesis SNES, GBA emulators on there as well and they work.

Also all the megapack if I am not mistaken come with a patch update that increases graphic quality and input lag, and makes the hook up to an HD Tv upscale better as well.

[90snostalga]

Thanks for all the information.  I've learned a lot that I did not know.  I think I will just stick to not getting a Neo Geo and just sticking to the Neo Geo Pocket Color because the Neo Geo seems too expensive.