Advice on buying a NeoGeo

[aaron]

If you're on the edge and want to just try it without spending large sums to expand the collection, a Neo Geo X may be the way to go. Grabbing one of those and a mega pack is extremely cheap (comparatively) and may not be authentic, but it'll be a good start to see if they actually like it.

might as well just emulate if you're thinking about getting a NGX.

[ninjainspandex]

Well, more knowledgeable men than you and I bought it out of the neo-store at $700 a pop and they flew out of the store. Now they do almost double on the open market.

If it could be done at $400 w/profit i'm sure someone more well-liked would gladly take up the cause.

Also, nickles and dimes here, but the pcb's are custom, not donors. It is in a snapcase, not a shockbox. The snapcases are custom as well, but they are very close match to the originals which do $50-60 NOS and $40 used.

well you would be much better off spending $300 on a MVS to AES converter, that 161 in 1 is great but some games have issues, game breaking ones. Aero Fighters 3 is pretty much unplayable as bullets on the screen don't go away and makes it impossible to survive. Garou MOTW apparently is the beta Rom and lacks certain story elements and crashes during certain super moves. But don't get me wrong I love my multicarts, they are great for playing those super expensive games lake SSVS, SNK vs Capcom, Pulstar, and Twinkle Star Sprites, but spending $1200 on a buggy pirate cart is just insane. But hey this is the Neo Geo AES scene and money is no object.

[mjmjr25]

With the exception of the deadalus converter (also made by DavidG) the other converters all have some...or many issues though as well. You can have a legit MVS cart and still have issues with the conversion. The Phantom and !Arcade! converters both have bugs and lack full support.

I was unaware with issues with the 161-1 AES cart - it is different roms and programming than the Chinese MVS version.

[ninjainspandex]

I'd imagine they just convert the chinese 161 in 1 cart, I mean if they were hand making it from scratch do you think they would use all those crappy hack versions of games?

[arcadifvid]

ive been meaning to ask.. for my neo geo CD gaming needs (AES/MVS out of the question) .. is it more advisable to get a dreamcast instead? is the emulation 100% full speed and sound? ... just to note, i don't mind the load times of the neo geo cd....

[BoneSnapDeez]

Hey everyone my friend's wife is asking me for advice on buying a NeoGeo for him off of eBay. Japanese version, no games, comes with 1 joystick (ball is cracked but still works) and a battered but intact box.

NeoGeo is a pretty big blind spot for me. I don't know a lot about it. My friend wants pretty much every system even if it's "just because", and the NeoGeo is one he doesn't have yet. At the same time with the cracked joystick and the fact that the games are so hard to come by/expensive I'm just wondering if this is a worthwhile gift.

The only thing I've found out with (apparent) certainty is that the Japanese and American versions will play each other's games. Other than that I'm kind of lost. Going to read the intro article on RacketBoy but figured I'd post here for some "real talk" as well haha. Thanks

The cracked joystick balls are common. Generally it's a very small hairline crack. They just wear out overtime. By any chance is hit-japan the seller? He's very upfront about condition and little flaws like that.

I have a Japanese AES. It's awesome, but cart prices are huge turn-off. It's no exaggeration to say that since buying the system I have purchased an average of one cart per year for it. A quick glance at a price guide will show which games are cheapest to start with - stuff like Fatal Fury Special, Samurai Spirits, Magician Lord, Super Spy... Sometimes the Japanese versions are cheaper and since a Japanese Neo Geo is going to play games in Japanese anywhere there's no need for American games except for "collection purposes" or whatever.

I have since switched from AES to MVS. Be aware that the price you pay to enter the MVS scene is going to be steep no matter which route you take (cab, CMVS, converter, whatever). Case in point, my MVS to AES converter - which allows you to play MVS games on an AES - was more expensive than the AES itself! But now I have a much cheaper library of games at my disposal.

I guess ultimately it comes does down to how much money your friend has to throw around, whether he's a collector or someone just looking for games to play, and so on...

[ninjainspandex]

The ball tops on the AES are incredibly easy to replace, they are simply the 35mm standard ones and easily screw off. Will cost you $3-$5 to replace it if it bothers you. Replacing the buttons are a bit more difficult.