Hey fullmetalchicken, welcome to the forum! Restoring cabinets is a great way to get into the hobby, as well as build confidence for taking on bigger, more custom jobs. There's a lot you'll learn from restoring these cabinets, like how components are mounted, shape design & measurements, powering the cabinet, etc...
Unfortunately, it looks like you have a converted cabinet there, as that's not an original Neo Geo machine.
The original Neo Geo machines were released in these styles for full-sized cabinets:
I can't really put my finger on what it was originally, so if you plan on "restoring it to it's former glory", you might want to find out what it really was. There might be some clues inside the cabinet, like labels or markings. But keeping it a Neo Geo would probably mean that this posting should be in Project Announcements.
I'm not sure if restoring a cabinet to it's former conversion counts as a Restoration. Primarily this forum is for restoring cabinets to their original condition...but good luck in any case!
*edit: I think I found what your cabinet originally was:
Aqua Jack! Looks like the same cabinet shape.
I never played the game personally, so I don't know if it's a game that'd be good to restore to. But it looks like the game-play might be cool.