Neo Geo CD

[pbj]

Sometimes, we just feel like hurting our wallets.  I needed this like I needed another hole in my head.  But here we go.





And now we wait for a power supply and my SD card loader.


 

[PL1]

While you're waiting for the power supply and SD card loader, perhaps we can continue our time-honored tradition.   

it’s impossible for me to own a console without a mod from PL1 in it

Scott

[SlammedNiss]

And now we wait for a power supply and my SD card loader.

What, you don't feel like waiting night and day for games to load?

[pbj]

First, you buy a weird HP power supply meant for external CD burners.  It uses the same three prong plug that this console, MSX2, and some Famicom variant did.



Whack the sides of it with a screwdriver handle until the glue gives out and you can open the enclosure.

Swap the 5V and Ground wires.  12V wire is in correct location.  Shove it back in enclosure, wrap with tape or whatever.



It lives!





So, the “junk” console turned out to need a tweak to the lid switch.  It’s booting up CDRs fine.



Modding it to US region consists of solely adding a jumper wire across two marked points.

Anyway, the amperage on the HP power supply rating is way under what the system supposedly needs.  I need to look at the actual components and see what their real rating are.  They look pretty robust, though.

I’ve played Crossed Swords 2, Nam 75, Magician Lord, and The Super Spy.  About 30 seconds to get to the game and then 8 seconds between levels.  The loading issues are way over stated, at least for the early games.

 

 

[bobbyb13]

I'm happy that people smarter than me still graciously share information here.
This is another fun one.
As I am still a NeoGeo noob, did they make all titles available for all platforms?
I still don't know the timelines, but I recognize titles available on MVS here.

[Howard_Casto]

SNK made neogeo games for a ridiculously long time.  (Like until 2004)   Early games were about the size of a cd and thus they were released for the ngcd.  Later games pushed the limits of how big of a cart the system could handle and thus can't be converted to cd.   It's a rather large library regardless though.  You'll just miss out on some later metal slugs, KOFs and a samurai showdown I think.  Google is your friend on this one. 

[Howard_Casto]

Because it's Christmas time

https://snk.fandom.com/wiki/Neo_Geo_(system)/Games

[bobbyb13]

Thank you Howard!
I'm not plugged into the Neo Geo thing really yet (as you can tell) but that site looks like a great resource.
As it stands now I already have more games than I can ever get my head around.
Heh

[pbj]

So only around 100 games on Neo Geo CD, but many of them are things I wanted to play and they aren’t available for anything approaching reason on AES.  No update in sight for AES flash carts.

Still having a perfectly acceptable experience with CDRs.  Getting the SD loader has been… slow moving..  updates on that front…. Some day….



Beat Sengoku 2 tonight.  It’s a total quarter pumper game but I enjoyed it.

 

[JimmyU]

So only around 100 games on Neo Geo CD, but many of them are things I wanted to play and they aren’t available for anything approaching reason on AES.  No update in sight for AES flash carts.

Still having a perfectly acceptable experience with CDRs.  Getting the SD loader has been… slow moving..  updates on that front…. Some day….



Beat Sengoku 2 tonight.  It’s a total quarter pumper game but I enjoyed it.

 

Can’t you get a UniBIOS for the MVS to run AES cartridges on it?

[Howard_Casto]

It's a physical adapter and it's quite costly, like pretty much everything on the AES

[pbj]

There's a "cheap" MVS -> AES adapter from Furrtek that I looked into.  About $100 shipped and then you're begging someone to print you a 3D case for it.

For me, the dream is playing AES games.  Not cobbling together adapters and arcade carts.  It totally blows the aesthetic and I feel like you might as well be emulating.  It also won't fit in my entertainment center with an adapter.   

Anyway, I have been given a tracking number.  Hopefully my SD loader is here soon. 

 

[pbj]

SD Loader arrived.  Installation took about 90 minutes.  There’s a “macho nacho” guy on YouTube that will walk you through it.

Fairly simple but you do have to lift a pin off a surface mount chip.  I pried a needle under it and heated it up and you’re good to go.  There are many strange design decisions on this thing but it does work incredibly well once installed.

Anyway, before I did some tidying and taping down.  All of these traces are very small.



A bunch of the old, smaller games have been converted to CD format and work beautifully.  The stuff like Sengoku 2 that had 10 second load times between levels are down to 2-3 seconds.  Even the hilariously infamous games like Last Blade 2 are reasonable now.  Samurai Shodown 3 and Art of Fighting 3 have about an eight second load before a match starts.

The mod leaves your CD drive functional, which is nice.

Cheaper entry point.  $100 for the console, $150 for the mod, $15 for the power supply, $25 for the 256GB mini SD (overkill).  Uses same controllers as AES ($75 for the joystick).  Uses standard RCA cables, AES AV cable, or SVideo so no real expense there. 

 This console occupies a weird space.  Not quite the MVS/AES experience but very nice. 

 

[pbj]

I think between retail games, ports of AES games, and Xenocrisis, this is more a less comprehensive list of everything you can play on the system.... 

At least it's what I have on my SD card, which is about 53.2GB.


2020 Super Baseball
3 Count Bout
Aggressors of Dark Kombat
Aggressors of Dark Kombat World
Alpha Mission 2
Andros Dunos
Art of Fighting
Art of Fighting 2
Art of Fighting 3
Art of Fighting 3 Patched
Bakatono
Baseball Stars 2
Baseball Stars Professional
Blue's Journey
Breakers
Burning Fight
BustAMove
Crossed Swords
Crossed Swords 2
Cyber Lip
Double Dragon
Eightman
Fatal Fury
Fatal Fury 2
Fatal Fury 3
Fatal Fury Special
Fighters History Dynamite
Football Frenzy
Futsal - 5 on 5 Mini Soccer
Galaxy Fight
Ghost Loop
Ghost Pilots
Gururin
Idol Mahjong
Ironclad
Janshin Densetu - Quest of Jongmaster
Joyjoy Kid
Kabuki Klash
King of Fighters 94
King of Fighters 95
King of Fighters 96
King of Fighters 97
King of Fighters 98
King of Fighters 99
King of the Monsters
King of the Monsters 2
Last Blade
Last Blade 2
Last Resort
League Bowling
Magical Drop 2
Magical Drop 3
Magician Lord
Mahjong-kyou Retsuden
Metal Slug
Metal Slug 2 Turbo
Minasan
Money Idol Exchanger
Mutation Nation
Nam 1975
Neo Drift Out
Neo Geo CD Special
Neo Mr Do
Neo Turf Masters
Ninja Combat
Ninja Commando
Ninja Masters
Overtop
Panic Bomber
Pleasure Goal
Pop N Bounce
Power Spikes II
Pulstar
Puzzle Bobble
Puzzle De Pon
Quest of Jongmaster
Quiz King of Fighters
Ragnagard
Rally Chase
Riding Hero
Robo Army
Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown 2
Samurai Shodown 3
Samurai Shodown 4
Savage Reign
Sengoku
Senogoku 2
Shinouken Ragnagard
Shinsetu Samurai Spirits
Shougi no Tatsujin - Master of Syougi
Soccer Brawl
Sonic Wings 2
Sonic Wings 3
Stakes Winner
Street Hoop
Super Sidekicks
Super Sidekicks 2
Super Sidekicks 3
SuperSpy
Top Hunter
Top Players Golf
Treasure of the Caribbean
Twinkle Star Sprites
Viewpoint
Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer
Windjammers
World Heroes
World Heroes 2
World Heroes 2 Jet
World Heroes Perfect
Xenocrisis
ZinTrick

[Howard_Casto]

Have you built a xenocrisis joystick yet?   You really need to build a dual joystick, joystick.   

[pbj]

Yeah, so ZinTrick kind of sucks.  Never heard of it until I downloaded it.

But this console along with its cheat bios has allowed me to right some historical wrongs.

Magician Lord.  Eesh.  Ate so many quarters.

[bobbyb13]

Take that 1990.
Gotta love some delayed gratification.
If I'm trying to not scare myself with the depth of the Neo Geo rabbithole immediately...

What are the "pbj Top 10 titles" a noob should begin with?

[Howard_Casto]

Well 6 of those are the metal slugs so.....

[bobbyb13]

Agreed!
But Metal Slug 3 on it's own scratches that itch for me, as it seems the most outlandish of them all- and I love the idea of being reversibly zombied.

I've never been into the toe to toe fighter genre really, so it is the more ridiculous stuff that amuses me generally.
Really the only issue for me is the staggering number of titles that are available to play, so narrowing it down is critical for somebody with practically no free time for freeplay fun like me.

I really had no clue how many games were written for SNK stuff until FalkenHawk gave me a 4 slot board.

Not a CD I know, but the game lists for the SNK stuff are so incestuous that it seems applicable!