Critics Club V: Neo Geo

[Neon Ignition]

Time to wrap up the 16-Bit era now with a look at the generations offerings from SNK. One console and several hardware variants:

SNK Neo Geo

But which was the best looking model?




Neo Geo AVS




Neo Geo Portable




Neo Geo CD





Neo Geo CD Front Loaded




Neo Geo CDZ




Which of these consoles saw SNK most get the looks of the system right?

[Asura]

Which of these consoles saw SNK most get the looks of the system right?

Honestly, the original.

I have an anecdote about the NeoGeo AES, which is probably boring to most but your mileage might vary.

Did you have a bull****ter in your primary school class? I think everyone has one, or at least, maybe, a kid who goes through a bull****ter stage. Their dad works for Nintendo and met a premier league footballer at the weekend. They have a mobile phone (but won't show it to anyone). They've met Father Christmas, he's totally real. All the rest of it.

We had a bull****ter in our class. Let's call him Jack (he wasn't called Jack). Used to have these tall tales. As we got older, they got less outlandish, but still, pretty hard to believe. The one relevant to this story was that he owned a SNES, a Megadrive and a NeoGeo, and a range of the best games for all of them.

This was in the 80s/90s, in an area of the country that was still recovering from the strikes in the 80s. People were, generally, not wealthy. What's important here though is that I was ~9, and when you're a kid, you don't really know about your financial status; you just accept the life you have as life, and don't really dwell much on how life isn't the same for everyone. Now, we weren't destitute, I had parents who worked hard and did their best to get us everything we needed; I grew up housed, clothed, with the stuff I needed for school. I was never unhappy, or hungry. But we were at the level of financial hardship where a Megadrive was a big purchase for a kid - and when I did get one, years later for a birthday, it was one of the highlights of my childhood for good reason; it really felt as though it was something we could barely afford.

This is all to preface how, that year, Jack invited us to his birthday party, which would happen at his house. Prior to that, we joked among ourselves that this would be a bit of a ****show, because the chickens would come home to roost; all of Jack's years of tall tales would be exposed as falsehoods on that upcoming Saturday.

Well that Saturday came. And that's the day we all found out that Jack's dad owned an oil drilling & prospecting company.

His house was enormous (it probably wasn't; I was 9, but it was definitely big). The party had tons of people, our entire class as well as loads of his relatives. There was a stage magic act, and it was good!

Jack did have a Megadrive, SNES and a NeoGeo AES, and a whole shelf of games for each. I'm not totally sure about how many AES games he had but I remember they were numerous and as we all know, even having 4-5 AES games back then would've been a sizeable cost.

But more importantly, as I went back home at the end of the day, to my Amiga (which we only had because my dad was given it for work), I recall actually understanding for the first time that Jack's family were wealthier than mine, and people could be that wealthy without being, I dunno, a TV personality.

All because of the ****ing NeoGeo AES.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Even allowing for the fact that it isn't even an official SNK-made machine...Neo Geo "Portable"?

[wakka]

Honestly, the original.

I have an anecdote about the NeoGeo AES, which is probably boring to most but your mileage might vary.

Did you have a bull****ter in your primary school class? I think everyone has one, or at least, maybe, a kid who goes through a bull****ter stage. Their dad works for Nintendo and met a premier league footballer at the weekend. They have a mobile phone (but won't show it to anyone). They've met Father Christmas, he's totally real. All the rest of it.

We had a bull****ter in our class. Let's call him Jack (he wasn't called Jack). Used to have these tall tales. As we got older, they got less outlandish, but still, pretty hard to believe. The one relevant to this story was that he owned a SNES, a Megadrive and a NeoGeo, and a range of the best games for all of them.

This was in the 80s/90s, in an area of the country that was still recovering from the strikes in the 80s. People were, generally, not wealthy. What's important here though is that I was ~9, and when you're a kid, you don't really know about your financial status; you just accept the life you have as life, and don't really dwell much on how life isn't the same for everyone. Now, we weren't destitute, I had parents who worked hard and did their best to get us everything we needed; I grew up housed, clothed, with the stuff I needed for school. I was never unhappy, or hungry. But we were at the level of financial hardship where a Megadrive was a big purchase for a kid - and when I did get one, years later for a birthday, it was one of the highlights of my childhood for good reason; it really felt as though it was something we could barely afford.

This is all to preface how, that year, Jack invited us to his birthday party, which would happen at his house. Prior to that, we joked among ourselves that this would be a bit of a ****show, because the chickens would come home to roost; all of Jack's years of tall tales would be exposed as falsehoods on that upcoming Saturday.

Well that Saturday came. And that's the day we all found out that Jack's dad owned an oil drilling & prospecting company.

His house was enormous (it probably wasn't; I was 9, but it was definitely big). The party had tons of people, our entire class as well as loads of his relatives. There was a stage magic act, and it was good!

Jack did have a Megadrive, SNES and a NeoGeo AES, and a whole shelf of games for each. I'm not totally sure about how many AES games he had but I remember they were numerous and as we all know, even having 4-5 AES games back then would've been a sizeable cost.

But more importantly, as I went back home at the end of the day, to my Amiga (which we only had because my dad was given it for work), I recall actually understanding for the first time that Jack's family were wealthier than mine, and people could be that wealthy without being, I dunno, a TV personality.

All because of the ****ing NeoGeo AES.

Still at least you've let it go, eh?

[phillv85]

It's got to be the AES. I love mine, the CD is fine, but the load time on a lot of the later games is pretty bad and aesthetically it's not nearly as appealing.

[Asura]

Still at least you've let it go, eh?

NO!

[wakka]

Hehe, just yanking your chain

On topic, the AES is about a hundred miles ahead of the rest. One of the all-time classic console designs, I'd say, especially with that complementary stick. Having that packed in as the standard controller was an extremely cool move.

[teddymeow]

AES is the best.

Always wanted one, have never been able to afford it. Glad that so many games are available as arcade collections etc

[Baseley09]

Yeah og AES bit do dig the tank like CD frontloader.

Where is the hotel unit heh.

[Neon Ignition]

I have a soft spot for the CD model but that's only really because it's the one I owned, it was always weird how hollow it felt to hold. If I'm being more objective the CDZ is better looking

[samanosuke]

I like the MVS. No, not a consolised version, the full upright arcade experience!!

[dataDave]

It’s got to be the Neo Geo Portable for that gorgeous 16:9 display. They really knew what they were doing there.

[Yakumo]

I like the Neo CD front loader. That thing is a monster of a console to look at. Big and chunky. It as if it's looking at a 3DO saying, "You want some of this!?".
I'd never use one though. The loading would really annoy me.

[Asura]

I like the Neo CD front loader. That thing is a monster of a console to look at. Big and chunky. It as if it's looking at a 3DO saying, "You want some of this!?".
I'd never use one though. The loading would really annoy me.

I was always interested in how much the CD and CDZ kinda look like a Saturn.