Console Debate #14 Neo*Geo

[fox | 1,665]

 

[Webhead123 | 675]

In its day, it was unrivaled in its ability to bring the literal arcade experience home. However, both back then and especially today, it is entirely hamstrung for most potential gamers by sheer cost. It was and is the luxury of luxuries for console gaming and because of that, a relatively few people will ever experience what the machine had to offer.

10/10 in its day for the ambition but I have to knock it down a few points for the simple inaccessibility of the thing.

Final score: 7/10

Edited February 5, 2021 by Webhead123

[SNESNESCUBE64 | 532]

So I rated it at a 4. Not because of the quality of the games or hardware. I think it has a fine library of games. However, the consoles themselves are a hassle. Either you are taking out a loan and are jumping through hoops to get an AES or you are jumping through more hoops to consolize an MVS which not everyone can do or should do. That or you gotta get and possibly restore a cabinet. That said. The accessibility of a many of these games is rather limited to those who either have the skills to rig stuff up or those who can afford the library.

That said, there are a lot of fun games on the platform, however I don't really think its worth the hassle and set up to get things going. The AES in particular was ahead of its time, bringing the arcade experience in a way that hadn't previously been seen. Unfortunately, theres more to a console than just a library of games, you need the means to play the games.

Edited February 5, 2021 by SNESNESCUBE64

[RH | 4,895]

This system was truly the most mythical of consoles. It is the crowning example of "Never played it, but interested."

True, I have played many Neo Geo games in arcades but not a home console.  I want one of these really, really badly with probably 3-5 specific games, but the price range is waaaay to prohibitive for the ones I'm interested in.

I have toyed around with the idea of getting an MVS and it's Everdrive equivalent.  I many not be able to afford any more than one game every couple of years, but I could at least play them.

[DefaultGen | 5,400]

I can't rate it because I have little interest in fighting games. It would be trying to rate NES if you have no interest in action platform games. The few games I have played a bunch are the bomb: Metal Slug 3, Windjammers, Neo Turf Masters, Samurai Showdown V.

The platform sure has the artistic chops to back up its technology, which is something not every system can say. Those giant sprites and zooming in and out give it a unique look among other 2D games too. Love that about it.

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

Never played it, but hopefully will someday. It is on the bottom of my console set list plan due to price. Maybe I'll start going after it if I stumble on a good deal. Otherwise I'll just have to wait until I'm done saving for my kids' college.

[Sumez | 2,933]

Wow, the Neo Geo. What's not to love about this thing.

With a crazy life span lasting 14 actively supported years, right from the get go, this system to me represents pure, unfiltered video game bliss, and some of the finest in solid state video game media. Who needs stinkin' loading times??

Amazing 2D graphics limited only by the ROM capacity on the boards, something that would obviously expand over the years allowing for even more impressive games as time went on. No background layers, everything here is a sprite! And that's for 1990 hardware.

An incredible library, famously crowded by a TON of fighting games, but even ignoring the fact that the system is home to several of my favourite fighting games (KOF, SS, MOTW, Breakers) it would be a crime to ignore all the other games it has got going for it. Metal Slug 1-3 represent some of the absolutely top of the run'n'gun genre, and is still a reference point whenever anything new comes out. Blazing Star is close to being one of my favourite shooters ever, but let's not forget Pulstar either, while Twinkle Star Sprites is just a game like no other. Windjammers is always a hit for some of the most intense tournaments I've experience. And that's just scratching the surface. We also got Money Puzzle Exchanger, Neo Turf Masters, Top Hunter, Shock Troopers, Zupapa, Blue's Journey, Spinmaster, Puzzle Bobble, and Magician Lord. The list goes on.

If you don't love the Neo Geo, do you even enjoy video games?  

9/10

Edited February 5, 2021 by Sumez

[mbd39 | 2,017]

8/10

It was the super expensive luxury console and is somewhat limited in variety, but still has a bunch of killer action games such as Metal Slug and Shock Troopers. People also exaggerate the lack of variety. It has a lot more than just one on one fighters.

I've never seen one in person other than arcade cabinets. Most of my experience comes from emulators.

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

Hmm.. never played one.  Probably never will.  Suppose I'd be interested, from sheer raw curiosity if nothing else.

Metal Slug?  Love 'em.

Fighting games? Can't be bothered.

Everything else?  There's stuff I'd like to check out, but I honestly have more interest in like a dozen other game libraries.

So, I won't give a score, but it would probably be in the 5-7 range.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

10 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

People also exaggerate the lack of variety. It has a lot more than just one on one fighters.

Quick, someone crunch the numbers

[Sumez | 2,933]

Every single console meetup I've gone to since like 2001 up until today has almost always had at least one Neo Geo running non stop for the entire weekend. It's just one of those mainstays that feel like they'll never go away, and I think it's sad to hear about people who haven't even played one 

You guys are welcome in my den any day, and we'll duke it out in Windjammers.

[fox | 1,665]

19 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Quick, someone crunch the numbers

50/158 =/= 31% (not counting compilations and wrestling games)

Edited February 5, 2021 by fox

[Abelardo | 154]

8 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Quick, someone crunch the numbers

It's about 1/3 fighting games, did a quick count and out of 148 titles I counted 53 one on one fighters, the impression that Neo Geo is all fighting games is probably because that's likely the type of games that were more profitable to arcade operators, in my experience in arcades I only saw 2 or 3 non fighting games ever in a Neo Geo cab, the rest were all King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, etc.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Never played it. Kind of interested in the non-fighting game side.

I do like Metal Slug but have never been able to love it. There being no real line between "endlessly continue right where you die and beat the game effortlessly" and "start all over from the beginning upon game over" was frustrating. Perhaps I should actually dedicate time to trying to 1CC the games at some point, maybe Contra-style "learn the game in baby mode and then do it for real" but these games seem a good deal longer than Contra.

[Sumez | 2,933]

27 minutes ago, MagusSmurf said:

I do like Metal Slug but have never been able to love it. There being no real line between "endlessly continue right where you die and beat the game effortlessly" and "start all over from the beginning upon game over" was frustrating.

I'm kind of unsure what you are missing here? The game definitely won't be beaten effortlessly, but it also doesn't ever start you over, it's nice in that way, but it's a challenging one.  

27 minutes ago, MagusSmurf said:

Perhaps I should actually dedicate time to trying to 1CC the games at some point, maybe Contra-style "learn the game in baby mode and then do it for real" but these games seem a good deal longer than Contra.

I totally recommend going for a Metal Slug 1 1CC, and it's a perfectly digestible challenge. I did it last year, and it didn't take long.
It's a long'ish game, but you'll get the first four or five stages down really fast. Since you spend most of your time on those stages inside the tank, you got a lot of leeway for mistakes. And it's very easy (and recommended) to abuse the short burst of invincibility you get whenever you exit the tank and go back in.
Stage 4 especially is super easy because you have it almost all the way, and you'll just roll through everything. Stage 3 is usually where people will game over at first because it takes a while before you get the tank, and you need to fight Allen O'neil, and in order to bring a heavy machinegun (words you can hear) into that fight you really need to know what you're doing.
It's all learned pretty quickly though, the big wall in the game for anyone playing it is the final stage. The bridge early on takes a lot of practice, and for the following boat section the primary challenge is to keep the tank unscathed so you can bring it into the final boss fight, which is a pretty BS fight that lasts forever without one. If you're going for a 1CC I recommend finding a method to start on Stage 6 and practice that exclusively.

I've considered starting a VGS forum challenge series where participants work together and help eachother achieving 1CCs in challenging (but doable) games. But I'm not sure if there'd be much support for a concept like that?

Edited February 5, 2021 by Sumez

[TDIRunner | 2,725]

I feel I could rank it an 8 just on the Metal Slug games alone.  None of the AES/MVS versions of Metal Slug have even gotten old for me in all of the years playing them.  And yet, there are still lots of other fun games to play.  I'm not a huge fan of fighters, but even if I completely ignore fighters, I still consider the system worth playing.  I was fortunate enough to get a consolized MVS for a very fair price and I just use one of the multi carts for playing games.  I have no desire to spend money on real games or collect for the system in any way.  I highly recommend checking this system out, even if you have to do it through emulation.  

Edited February 5, 2021 by TDIRunner

[TDIRunner | 2,725]

1 hour ago, Abelardo said:

It's about 1/3 fighting games, did a quick count and out of 148 titles I counted 53 one on one fighters, the impression that Neo Geo is all fighting games is probably because that's likely the type of games that were more profitable to arcade operators, in my experience in arcades I only saw 2 or 3 non fighting games ever in a Neo Geo cab, the rest were all King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, etc.

I don't have my spreadsheet in front of me, but I did the math a long time ago and 1/3 fighting sounds about right to me.  As I mentioned before, even if you hate fighters, there are PLENTY of great games to play on this system.  

[AstralSoul | 502]

I have always wanted a Neo Geo but of course the obvious ridiculous price tag that was always attached to it kept me away, back then as well as now. If you ever wanted a home arcade system, this was it. The library isn't huge or terribly varied - it was pretty much all arcade games, though mostly admittedly great ones. I gave it an 8/10 even though I never played one or owned one. Like said though I always wanted one, have played numerous games for it via emulation and I have little doubt that if I did ever miraculously come into possession of one,I'd enjoy the hell out of it.

[Sumez | 2,933]

1 hour ago, AstralSoul said:

back then as well as now

Man, I'm glad I bought nearly all of my MVS games around 15-20 years ago when you could get all of them for around $10 + shipping.

That was a good spot in time.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Sumez

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

8

Though the library is largely dominated by two genres. Its a really nice game library overall.

Hardware is sleek and it’s basically the arcade at home.

-1 for not being PS2, Wii, DS, or SNES 

-1 for being so expensive.

[sp1nz | 611]

AES was the "ferrari" of consoles back in the day. Graphically the games are top of the rung spritework and there is lot of gold in the library but playing something like Metal Slug still has slowdown and they bring that arcade authentic slowdown even into ports *pfft*. The AES is one of those systems though that I've chosen not to collect as of yet due to the cost and abundance of fakes. Consolized MVS doesn't feel as epic but would be far more reasonable way of playing the real deal.

8/10

[Renmauzo | 1,197]

An easy 9 from me. I love my Big Red, and I'm glad I got my kits a decade ago before they became ridiculously hard to find complete with matching serials. The AES is a gorgeous system, and the library is stellar. I really enjoy the less popular shooters like Prehistoric Isle 2 and Andro Dunos, and then there are the titles that are just kinetic and frenetic fun like Super Dodge Ball and Windjammers alongside the legendary Neo Turf Masters and underrated Robo Army; just classic after classic even for non-fighting game fans.

I don't think it's fair to knock points for price or availability; those points don't add to or take away from the aesthetic of the unit, the action of the sticks, or the quality of the games, but the issues with the gamepads and snail like loading times on the first CD units are the only blemishes for me.

[Sumez | 2,933]

2 hours ago, Renmauzo said:

I don't think it's fair to knock points for price or availability; those points don't add to or take away from the aesthetic of the unit, the action of the sticks, or the quality of the games

Exactly. These are extranous circumstances, and not a property of the platform itself.

[CMR | 519]

It's an awesome system, but the hype machine has kind of blown it out of proportion since it was unobtainable for so many people for so long.  On the games front, most of them are good, but almost everything can be gotten or played elsewhere without having to shell out a ton of money.

And while I don't think the price should be used for a judgement of the system and it's game's entertainment value, there's no way around the expense of owning the original hardware.  I think asking, "is it worth it?", is a valid question, and in my opinion, no it isn't.

[Nintegageo | 582]

8. It's pretty great.