DCEmu Asks - Neo Geo ...

DCEmu Asks - Neo Geo a History & Whats the greatest Neo Geo Game Ever ?

November 1st, 2008, 17:00 Posted By: wraggster

Continuing our network wide feature for just about every console thats emulated and that we own, in time it can be used as a reference point for people to look at what games are the very best on each system

Firstly heres a look at each system and a description to remind you of the history of the console.

Neo Geo

SNK (Shin Nihon Kikaku, translated as "New Japanese Project"), a small third party software developer for the Nintendo NES, decided to try their hand in the arcade market in 1989, it seemed like a bad business decision since gamers no longer flocked to arcades thanks to home consoles. Nonetheless SNK released the MVS (Multi-Video System). The MVS allows the arcade operator to house many different video games in one cabinet. The MVS's strengths lay in the design of its hardware. Its brain was composed of a 16-bit microprocessor (68000) and an 8-bit microprocessor (Z80). They were plentiful, cheap, and quite powerful for the time. Using them kept production costs down and made coding much easier, as both the 68000 and the Z80 were in common use at the time (Sega's Genesis had the same CPU combination, for example). The real magic of the MVS lay in its custom graphics chipset and its ability to hold up to four games at once, switching between them at will. While this multi-game concept had been tried before (one example being Nintendo's Playchoice system), SNK's hardware was far superior to any of the multi-game systems currently available, and its vast ROM storage capacity (up to 330 megabits, or 41.25 megabytes) allowed lush, detailed graphics. SNK took another gamble and created a home version of the MVS in 1990. When the NEO GEO was released at a high cost of $650 with either NAM-1975 or Baseball Stars Professional, and games soon followed at $200 apiece. The Special cartridges played the exact same software as it's MVS counterpart, but were quite expensive due to the game' high megabit count. At first SNK marketed the Neo Geo falsely calling it a "24-Bit System" (due to its combination of a 16-bit and 8-bit processor). After the initial advertising campaign, SNK decided not to advertise their home system anymore, since games could be seen in nearly every arcade.
SNK's gamble paid off. In 1992 an arcade game called Street Fighter 2 brought gamers back to the arcades. SNK took advantage of this by releasing similar arcade versions such as Fatal Fury, and Art of Fighting. The games were quite successful, and many more were spawned. Third Party developers such as Data East began also producing titles for the Neo Geo / MVS. SNK also created an innovating accessory that would become quite popular later. The Neo Geo 'memory card' could hold 19-27 save game positions, and worked on both the home and arcade. So a gamer could save their place in the arcade and take it home, and vice versa. The Neo Geo was a phenominal machine, but the high price tag catered to the hardcore arcade lovers only. Nonetheless it was an amazing machine that stood the test of time. The MVS alone managed to last over eight years in the demanding arcade environment, and its hardware has out-lived every other 16-bit arcade hardware. Walk into any arcade, and you're bound to see a Neo Geo MVS.

FACT: "330 Meg Pro-Gear Spec" always seemed to appear in Neo Geo game intros, and was the ROM addressing technology of the Neo Geo. Truth is that the machine has no such limit. Back in 1990, SNK had to give a certain Megabit count as their maximum, and so 330 was used. However current Neo Geo titles have surpassed this 330 megabit standard. For example the game "King of Fighters 2001" was 892 megabits in size.

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