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NeoGeo AES+: SNK announces reissue of retro console without emulation
- fooqux 7mo agoFYI, SNK is owned by Mohammed bin Salman. I think I'll pass giving them a single cent.
- tombert 7mo agoI hadn't heard this, but looks like you are right. Makes me feel a little conflicted having bought one of those SNK bundles a couple years ago on Steam or Humble Bundle or something. Don't love the idea of giving money to someone like that.
- kraquepype 7mo agoThat's a shame, I've always had a thing for Neo-Geo and SNK games. He won't get a cent when I play on my MVS carts on actual hardware, so there is that.
- platevoltage 7mo agoI hate that we are in the era of Millennial dictators feeling the need to own things that they thought were cool when they were kids. I don't see how owning SNK could be considered a great investment opportunity.
- chongli 7mo agoI don't see how owning SNK could be considered a great investment opportunity It’s not. It sounds much more like a vanity or passion purchase. Like how Neil Young once invested in the Lionel model railroading manufacturer.
- platevoltage 7mo agoYep. I guess owning Metal Slug is better than his previous hobby of hacking up journalists.
- _--__--__ 7mo agoThe payoff for MBS was to use SNK's brand recognition to promote the esports World Cup (run by another of his foundations). He even got to buddy up with some celebrities (Christiano Ronaldo and some famous DJ) when he shoehorned real people into that new Fatal Fury game.
- ClimaxGravely 6mo agoProbably why Ronaldo and Salvatore Gannaci were DLC in the new KOF game. There was a pretty audible collective groan from the fighting game community when that was announced.
- doublerabbit 6mo ago"Jeffrey Epstein with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh between 2016 and 2017" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_bin_Salman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_bin_Salman Sigh.
- lamasery 7mo agoThe main problem with playing older games in a modern media-hardware environment is the screen. You've got the problem that lots of them look worse, or even outright wrong (see: transparency-layering effects on things like Sonic the Hedgehog) on anything but a real CRT without some serious shader work. This is also true of older TV shows, to some extent, incidentally, especially if the only sources available are things like broadcast rips. Then problem #2 with the display (mostly) is latency. Those CRTs were fast. Even 50ms of rendering latency is noticeable on a some of the console games that require very-precise input timing. You get emulation latency (this may avoid that by using ASICs, at least); input latency above what the original hardware had, if you're not using the real thing (bluetooth...); any picture-conversion latency (this might avoid that, but I wouldn't bet on it) to digitize the signal into HDMI if you're working with real hardware with analog outputs; TVs that struggle to get under 50ms of latency, especially without making the picture look a ton worse; and then shader-induced latency if you're trying to make it look semi-correct. Like, getting it down to where it doesn't feel wrong is tricky as hell.
- anthk 7mo agoMetal Slug and Garou looked fine-ish with 25% scanlines on LCD screens and 50% on PC CRT's.
- tombert 7mo agoMy first exposure to Metal Slug was actually in regular emulators, and I never used the scanline filters, so now when I use the scanline filters in Metal Slug they feel..."wrong". In my mind, Metal Slug is supposed to have really sharp, chunky pixels.
- anthk 7mo agoNot my case; I'm old enough to play it at mid-late 90's in both bars and arcade rooms. And that's the problem with current pixel art artists: they have no idea of what actual pixel art looked like. Hint: look at Garou with at least scanlines (or maybe a bilinear filter) enabled. That's what's Garou almost meant too look in CRT, far closer than raw pixel art.
- IronBacon 7mo agoOne can buy right now a MISTerFPGA from aliexpress for around €150 and that can emulate both MVS and AES. On this side of the pond, a VGA to SCART cable is all that's required to connect it to a CRT TV. If instead one want the real HW, a working MVS PCB can be found for less that €100. A JAMMA cabinet would be the perfect place to use it, but with a supergun a CRT TV can give the same results. Cheap superguns can be found or built for around €30, fancy models can cost between €200 to €300 tho. The carts aren't cheap tho, specially if original. I've only a battered "Puzzle Bobble" cart, it's a really fun game in PvP, but probably not the more iconic NeoGeo title.
- 10729287 7mo agoPuzzle Bobble, actually, is definitely one of the more iconic Neo Geo title. If you open it, you may have a surprise. The game was such a success that Snk itself had to butcher other, less successful games (essentially Power Spikes II if I remember correctly), to produce conversions/bootlegs and answer to customer's demand. It has one of the best replayability of the system, it's very fun playing versus, plus, girls absolutely love it. There have been many sequels, but none live up to the original despite the additions, and they’re all more or less unnecessary.
- 7mo ago
- ndiddy 7mo agoAssuming this is well done, it's an extremely cool product. The original Neo Geo systems and cartridges are ridiculously expensive on the used market and bootlegs are rampant. Even though they're charging $90/cartridge, that's still thousands of dollars less than what a lot of these games go for used. The biggest concern I have is accuracy. SNK wouldn't be able to just start manufacturing their old chip designs from the 90s again because a lot of the chips in the Neo Geo from other companies are no longer made, such as the 68000, Z80, and YM2610. This means that they'd have to make a new SoC that incorporates the IP from those chips. At that point there's no real benefit to the ASIC over an FPGA. It means the system costs less to produce, but if they find any inaccuracies in their new SoC design they won't be able to release an update to fix them. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'm not going to place a pre-order until they release more details about what exactly is going on under the hood.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 7mo agoThere must be three dozen commodity Z80 clones, no? I get it that the other asics and dsps are impossible to source, but that's a strange example.
- bityard 7mo agoNeoGeo! The system I will always remember as having fun fighting games in the arcade with a home console that only kids with "status symbol" money could afford...
- bigfishrunning 7mo agoI never knew anyone that had one, but i knew lots of kids who wanted one
- bigtex 6mo agoCorrect, but Incredible Universe had one on display for a very long time in the video games department and you could play World Heroes and other games for free! There would be a line of kids waiting to take a turn at World Heroes and I remember my friend and I playing the frisbee game. No need to goto the arcade when you could play these games for free.
- platevoltage 7mo agoThis is kind of cool, but is there an actual market for this? I kind of understand the Analogue FPGA based N64 systems that were released given that there are a lot of people with N64 carts lying around their house, but who just has a bunch NeoGeo carts besides collectors? I guess a multicart is an option, but at that point, why not just go with MiSTer?
- bigtex 6mo agoJust a shout out to Incredible Universe that was stupid/smart (you pick) for putting a Neo Geo on display to allow us to play arcade quality games for free. There would be a small line inside the Video Games sections of kids queueing up to play World Heroes.Fun memories.
- giannicmptr1000 6mo agoI had a turbo grafx 16 with r-type and bonks adventure, but what I really wanted was this. Lucky I'm old now and can buy what I want lol. Baseball stars and Samurai Showdown were great great games. Love Neo Geo!