Playing Neo Game Games without Buying an Extremely Expensive Neo Geo Console

[Fool's Requiem]

Been trying to figure out a realistic manner in which to play Neo Geo games without buying the Neo Geo AES or CMVS (consolized version of the arcade machine). The issue with Neo Geo is that the systems and games are prohibitively expensive because they're literally arcade games and machines. You need two things: Lots of money, and space to store the machines and carts. So, I need to figure out alternatives without going the emulator route. Not everything they released on the Neo Geo got a release on the Saturn and not everything on the Saturn is affordable enough.

Things I've found so far:

To start, I do have some of their ports.

- Fatal Fury (SNES)
- Fatal Fury 2 (Genesis)
- Samuari Shodown (SNES)
- Art of Fighting (SNES)
- Samuari Spirits Best Collection (Saturn) - Japan edition of Samuari Shodown 3 and 4 in a combo collection
- KoF '97 (Saturn) (supposedly the best KoF on the system)
- Fatal Fury Mark of the Wolves (Dreamcast) (I lost the box and manual )
- KoF Evolution (Dreamcast) (port of KoF 99)
- KoF EX Neoblood (GBA port of KoF 99)

As well as the following for the Neo Geo Pocket Color that I forever ago altogether:
- Sonic Pocket Adventure
- Pac-Man
- King of Fighters R2
- Fatal Fury Contact
- Puzzle Bobble Mini
- Metal Slug 1st Mission (my only copy of a Metal Slug game)
- SNK vs Capcom The Match of the Millennium
- Samuari Shodown 2
- The Last Blade
- Neo Turf Masters (it's a golf game)

If there's still a version of a game on the Xbox 360 marketplace still, I'm going to try them and maybe buy them before they close the marketplace in June. I think Samuari Shodown 2 still on the marketplace.

Things I'm looking into (note, I do not have a PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X):

- Trading in both Genesis and SNES Fatal Fury games for Fatal Fury Special for the SNES. FF 1 for the SNES is garbo, and FF2 for the Genesis is fine, but the FF Special port for the SNES supposedly the best port in those systems.
- Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol 1 - Fatal Fury 1-3 and Special for the PS2.
- Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol 2 - the FF Real Bout games, on the PS2.
- SNK Arcade Classics Vol 1 (Wii or PS2)
- Metal Slug Athology for the PS2 (supposedly the Wii version doesn't let you use the classic controller, so that's a no go for me)
- Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection for the Switch
- Art of Fighting Athology for the PS2

I won't be owning the newest Samuari Shodown game because of it's obnoxious price on the Switch (it's paltable on the PS4, but I don't have a PS4).

Any thought on ports I should be looking into? I've see certain devices designed to play a large host of Neo Geo games, but one is basically an emulator that is a half sized arcade cabnient and the other is the Neo Geo Mini, which is basically a mini arcade cabinent, and unlike the SNES and NES Minis, there is no HDMI port, you have to play on that tiny LED screen. Also, while the Neo Geo CD is much cheaper than the AES or even the MVS, I don't still don't know if that's an acceptable option. PS1 ports are unacceptable options.

Edti: I don't have a PC Engine (TurboGraphix 16).

 

[Smacktard]

No option is going to be as good as the authentic real-deal thing. Even Switch ports suffer from input lag in various games.

I don't have much to offer here, but it might be worth checking out jauce.com. You can find better deals there than eBay. You could find a neogeo for a decent price. Might require searching it in Japanese though.

Here's a Neo Geo CD with a few games currently going for around $130 US:

check bost

If you're confident with repair, might even find a good deal. This one is currently about $30 and probably only needs a laser repair:

check bost

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Neo Geo CD has long load times for Fighting games and Metal Slug, and those are the games I'd pretty much be getting for the system. Not to mention, games released after it got discontinued in 97 aren't in the library.

I have too many consoles as is right now. That's why I didn't really want to buy an actual Master System and went with a cheap adapter instead, and why I wanted to get a PS3 that has PS2 backwards compatibility. Not to mention an Atari Jaguar that doesn't work for some reason, and 2 Xboxs, 360s, N64s, and SNES'. Doubles I intend to trade in at some point. Plus, I don't really want to commit a bunch of time and money to another system. If I buy another system, I have to buy a bunch of games for it to make the cost worth it. It's a big reason why I've never touched the Sega CD, 32X, 3DO, and PS4/PS5, XBONE/Series S/X. Would prefer to stick to buying games for systems I already own.

I'm not exactly looking for perfect ports, and a slight "imput lag" isn't going to be that big a deal for someone who is a super casual gamer.

I will say, it took me WAAAAAAY to long to realize how awesome the Turbo setting is in fighting games. The original SF2 and SSF2 is borderline unplayable next to SF2 Turbo with turbo enabled.

 

[Smacktard]

I'm not exactly looking for perfect ports, and a slight "imput lag" isn't going to be that big a deal for someone who is a super casual gamer.

I've never thought of you as a "super casual gamer" given your knowledge and some of the games you rhyme off.

32X

Tbf out of all of the games, this would be the easiest system to buy for I think there's, what, 2 games worth owning?

Sega CD

This was my latest dumbass purchase. I thought the library was wayyyy smaller than it was and that it'd be happy with Snatcher and Popful Mail.... I've made a terrible mistake.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I've never thought of you as a "super casual gamer" given your knowledge and some of the games you rhyme off.

when it comes to actually playing the games, I'm pretty casual. I rarely finish games.

Tbf out of all of the games, this would be the easiest system to buy for I think there's, what, 2 games worth owning?

Hence why it wouldn't be worth the cost of buying the add-on. I'd get After Burner maybe. Not worth buying a system for a simple arcade game that has ports on many different systems (most of them shit besides the Saturn and 32x versions).

 

[Dead2009]

I won't be owning the newest Samuari Shodown game because of it's obnoxious price on the Switch (it's paltable on the PS4, but I don't have a PS4).

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/samurai-shodown---nintendo-switch/211476.html

Pre-owned, if you don't mind that.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/samurai-shodown---nintendo-switch/211476.html

Pre-owned, if you don't mind that.

There is no way you're getting Samurai Shodown on the Switch for 40 bucks. For some reason the price of that version skyrocketed, whereas the PS4 copy can be found for 20 bucks.

Samurai Shodown Prices Nintendo Switch | Compare Loose, CIB & New Prices

www.pricecharting.com

Those prices on Game Stop's website are BS, and you can't even add it to your cart because they don't and won't have any copies to sell for 40 bucks unless it's only the cart and it's in bad shape.

 

[Dead2009]

Your only other option then is to get it digitally where it's still $50 bucks. Otherwise you're going to come across all the high reseller prices.

 

[Smacktard]

Or this one for $50 including shipping:

Samurai Shodown: Neogeo Collection (Switch, 2020) 3770017623000 | eBay

Experience the thrill of the Samurai era with the Samurai Shodown: NeoGeo Collection for the Nintendo Switch.

www.ebay.com

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Or this one for $50 including shipping:

Samurai Shodown: Neogeo Collection (Switch, 2020) 3770017623000 | eBay

Experience the thrill of the Samurai era with the Samurai Shodown: NeoGeo Collection for the Nintendo Switch.

www.ebay.com

this is one of the options I've considered.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I bought the digital version of Fatal Fury Mark of the Wolves on the Switch.

You can't get a more barebones release than this. It's basically a direct arcade port with an online leaderboard.

It has 4 modes, all are slightly variations of the arcade mode. Japanese language version, English language version, a HI Score Mode, and a "Caravan" mode which is basically a "see how far you can make it in 5 minutes" time attack type mode.

No practice, no online multi-player (I assume local MP works), no extras. Plenty of settings and a digital version of the game manual (which includes the special moves for the characters).

For what is considered to be the pinnacle of the Fatal Fury series, SNK put no effort into bringing it to modern day consoles.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Ran across a copy of Fatal Fury Special for the SNES. It was 5 bucks over the market value according to Price Charting and it was not clean at all. The search continues. Still can't find copies of other SNK collection packs for the Switch, PS2, and Wii.

Meanwhile, I played Mark of the Wolves on my Switch with a controller a bit more. Outside of me still sucking at completing moves from the right side of the opposing player, it controls pretty well, despite the lack of modes and options. Learning characters on the fly is not my intended way of playing, but the easy difficulty level actually being easy makes me more comfortable in playing other characters besides Terry and Rock Howard.

I'm glad that SNK actually made the game playable, unlike Capcom's version of Alpha 3 in the 30th Anniversary Collection (supers are nearly impossible on a controller).

Definitely getting an arcade stick for the Switch when I get back home. The 8Bitdo one got a LOT of praise online. Searching for "best arcade stick on the Switch" comes up with that 8Bitdo stick as top responses on Reddit. I love that we actually have third party controller companies that don't suck now unlike back in the Mad Catz hellhole days.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

lol, not a day later I find a three PS2 SNK game collections. Both Fatal Fury Battle Archives which basically includes all of the Fatal Fury releases except for Mark of the Wolves, and the Art of Fighting Collection. No clue how arcade perfect the ports are in terms of gameplay and graphics, but the FF Volume 2 has training mode, and Vol 1 has FF Special which is the one I truly wanted (besides a complete copy of Mark of the Wolves).

All three were about 20 bucks, which is right at market price for those.

I can now confidently trade in FF1 for the SNES and FF2 on the Genesis... AND maybe trade in Art of Fighting on the SNES, but I'm not 100% on that. I still kinda want to get FF Special for the SNES because I have an arcade stick for the SNES, not the PS2 or PS3.

I'm definitely going to have to find a solid PS3 arcade stick, I think. I doubt my Xbox 360 SFIV one will work, but I'm definitely trying it before buying another stick. That said, having just retried using the stick on the 360, I kinda don't how the stick works.