Neo-Geo

"Was a great system when it came out, but you had to be a millionare to buy it."

SNK certainly had an appealing marketing campaign when they decided to release their system. What you play at the arcade can be yours at home. Consumers didn't have to worry about a port being of a lesser quality than the arcade version because there was no need for a port...you got the ACTUAL arcade version (except without having to insert coins)! Why didn't it catch on? Simple...buying one of their games games cost as much as getting an SNES or Genesis.

Graphics Capabilities: 10
Comparing this system's power to its initial competition, there was no contest. Neo-Geo had outstanding 2D power. Heck, it made some arcade machines look bad! The power of the NG comes from the high clocked 68000 CPU inside it, one of the most widely used CPUs of all time as far as arcade machines go, plus a video card with dedicated scaling abilities (which made the graphics chips of the SNES, which boasted great scaling with their Mode 7 API, sweat bullets) and a HUGE amount of RAM. Hey, wait a minute...if the Neo-Geo is supposed to be a 24 bit system (which is what most people think), why is the CPU 16 bit? Well, the NG isn't really 24 bit. The 68k is accompanied by a Z80 chip that works as a coprocessor. This does add a nice amount of performance, but it doesn't make the system 24 bit. Nonetheless, it's power was shown right from the start. I can't remember how many times I marveled over the visuals in Fatal Fury 1 when I was 15. :)

Audio Capabilities: 9
Because of the RAM inside the system, voices and instrument samples sounded spectacular. The fact that there were 7 digital channels meant for sweet music (only one less channel than the SNES). I especially like Earthquake's song in Samurai Shodown 1.

Controller Design: 7
Well, four buttons was fine for arcade style games, but it didn't leave much room for other types of games. Not all people like using joysticks at home, either (no pads).

Game Library: 4
The first games that came out for NG were side scrolling brawl games (e.g. Sengoku, Ninja Combat). They were decent arcade games, but not really worth taking home. Even if someone did want to take them home, chances are they couldn't because of the 200 dollar price tag on almost all NG games. The system itself would have set you back 600 dollars! Thus, SNK stuck to what seemed to be the only thing people truly wanted to buy from them...their fighting games. Many awesome series started on the NG, like the above mentioned Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury. Let's not forget the World Heroes and King of Fighters series, either. These great fighters allowed the NG to survive and exist in a little corner of the gaming market, kept alive by hardcore NG fighter fans. Aside from this genre, there weren't that many other good games for the system...as said before, there were some side scrolling Double Dragon type games and a few sports games and SHMUPs (SHoot eM UPs).

Memory Card?
Yes, there was one, but it was mostly a novelty. If you wanted to stop playing your favorite NG game at the arcade and continue home, you could insert your card at the arcade, take it home and continue from where you left off. My question is, if you have the game at home, why play it at the arcade...?

NGCD?
Yes, SNK finally realized that making carts with ungodly amounts of space in them meant that almost noone would buy them, so they tried making games on CD. If they released their system as a CD only system, it would have sold much, much better, but they realized their folly much too late.

Bottom Line?
If you love their fighting games and can find a system for a reasonable price, GO FOR IT! If you don't particularly like fighting games, look elsewhere. At least the system existed long enough to spawn many of the most popular fighting game series of all time. Even though they made many mistakes trying to sell their home system, it was powerful (and still is to an extent today) and provided many hours of fun in the arcade, which is why I give it a 7.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/01, Updated 07/05/01