A question for NeoGeo CD owners

[Swaain]

Hey all,

I've been looking to get into NeoGeo gaming (mainly for shooters) and it looks like a NeoGeo CD is the way to go for a cheap console to start out with & easy-to-find games.

However, I always hear people complain about the horrendous loading times, and I wonder if they really are that bad. Could some people that own the machine & a few games post loading times for a few of the games they own? e.g., how long (in secs.) does it take to load a level of Pulstar, Last Resort, or Blazing Star? What about the Metal Slugs? Is there a difference between initial loading times and loading in-between levels? Does the game pause to load the bosses in memory?

Also : is there a significant difference in loading times when it comes to 2D fighters?

Thanks a lot - your help is very much appreciated.

[Shinebi]

Ha, Swaain, long time no see!!

FYA, there's a NGCD emulator on Dreamcast nowadays, don't know if it's any good, though.

If you're free tomorrow, I'd like to drop in and show it to you. (I've got some questions to ask, too.)
Even better, Ibra will be at my place coming Saturday, he's got the system + a lot of games already. I could ask him if he could bring it alon, he's buying one of my DC's.

C ya,

Tom

[Soundwave]

I'm sure if I remember correctly the original Neo Geo CD only had a single speed drive & the CDZ was updated with a dual speed.

The load times were just plain silly at times & was one of the main reasons I never actually bought one.

Neil

[elkatas]

FYA, there's a NGCD emulator on Dreamcast nowadays, don't know if it's any good, though.

Well, both NGCD emulators for Dreamcast work pretty well. You can't play all titles with them, but most major titles work.

Compatibility list for neo4all: http://chui.dcemu.co.uk/neo4all.html

[SUMIRE]

Older games with the lower meg counts are fine on the Neo CD, in fact they are better than the AES. An example would be Samurai Shodown 1 & 2, which has a amazing soundtrack etc.

Newer games (big meg count), stuff like Last Blade 1 and 2 are very bad. In some games you can turn intro's off to improve this, but the load times still spoil the experience.

Plus points for the Neo CD is its amazing picture quality, awesome aranged soundtracks on certain games and its cheapness. Also there are some exclusives to the CD format.

Bad points are load times on big meg count games. It does not have access to the last titles brought out for the AES.

[anagrama]

http://www.egameaddiction.com/neogeocd/loadtimes.html

[buster_broon]

I'm sure if I remember correctly the original Neo Geo CD only had a single speed drive & the CDZ was updated with a dual speed.

nah thats not the case

the CDZ has a bigger Cache memory

they both have single speed drives

[Soundwave]

nah thats not the case

the CDZ has a bigger Cache memory

they both have single speed drives

Thanks for that, I was sure I had read somewhere it had a drive upgrade.

Shame it never had a quicker drive it was a cracking machine other than that.

Neil

[buster_broon]

Thanks for that, I was sure I had read somewhere it had a drive upgrade.

Shame it never had a quicker drive it was a cracking machine other than that.

Neil

because the larger cache memory some state the drive is 1.5 speed, which technically i guess it is since the games load a little bit faster

but with some of the later games it still doesnt help because the load times are dreadful anyway but the game has missing animations and frames to make it load a little faster i the first place

but remixed soundtracks and some games being cd only make it worthwhile, stick in the game and use the cd player and you can listen to the cd as if it was a soundtrack cd - great with fatal fury special (Krausers stage)

and even games like turfmasters have extras, Turfmasters has an extra Scottish course

[Swaain]

Aha... Some very useful information here, thanks guys.

[Mad Gear]

I pesonally think the Neo-CD is fine unless you want to play the fighting games. If you are a big fighting fan then you could always get the PS2 conversions.

[kernow]

viewpoint
puzzle bobble
league bowling
metal slug
pulstar


all fantastic on cd, metal slug is great, hardly any sprites cut (not that you'll notice) and fast load times between levels only, hell , ms2 isnt that bad... in 1 player.


I'd definately go for puzzle bobble and the smaller games though, they only load initially being 11mbit games, and the machine having 56mbits of RAM.

Of course you can use homecart sticks with it too - beats those awful pads

[Team Andromeda]

but remixed soundtracks and some games being cd only make it worthwhile, stick in the game and use the cd player and you can listen to the cd as if it was a soundtrack cd - great with fatal fury special (Krausers stage)

and even games like turfmasters have extras, Turfmasters has an extra Scottish course

I couldn't agree more, the remix tracks make all the diff and Neo Turf Master is just ace onthe CD, and its great that every Neo Geo CD can be played back just like its a audio CD (great for the mindblowing Last Resort Soundtrack). I love my Neo Geo CD and even though I have all the ROM on my X-Box. I still have the Neo CD set up inthe other room, just for the CD only soundtracks inthe fighting games .

Ace console, such a shame it was killed off so soon . Plus the load time arn't as bad as some make out, I've seen some PS2 games take longer to load. That said I use to Mega CD load times which does help I guess

[Swaain]

Choices, choices... I think I might take the plunge, as inital costs are much lower than for a consolized MVS for instance.

What kind of audio / video output do these babies have?

Also : can I use a standard stepdown convertor (220/110 V)?

And : is it true, in your experience, that the CDZ units are much more prone to problems than the toploading "standard" model?

[Shinebi]

The power supply is external, custom connectors.