Noob "Which to buy" questions

Hopefully someone can provide some 2nd opinions for me.

I'm interested, and have found, a few sites which carry pre-modded Neo Geo's, some with serial numbers below 100K, and some with Japanese Neo's which they claim can be modded for me.

If I get a Japanese Neo (b/c it is in much better shape, the box is pristine, all packaging is complete, and it has a low, low serial #), can I have it modded with the UniBios 2.0 with no problems?


What should I be aware of, if anything, when buying a Japanese Neo?

My end goal is to have a Neo which plays any AES game from any country with no problems. While most internet FAQs discuss a lot of Neo Geo topics, I've yet to find one which just "spells it out"- most just assume the reader already knows what is being discussed.

Also, I am interested in getting a Phantom-1. Would this be a problem with a modded Japanese Neo?

On the otherside, I could get an American/English Neo, with a serial under 100K, modded with Unibios 2.0, box, manuals, etc, but for $125 less.

Is there any benifit to getting one system over the other?

Thanks for the help!

to my understanding, if you but a unibios in both of the systems, there would be no difference between the two.

That's what I figured, but it is rather pricey, and not something I want to FUBAR a purchase on. ya know? Better be annoying in the forums than out $500-$600 for nothing, heh.

bendor said:

to my understanding, if you but a unibios in both of the systems, there would be no difference between the two.

Click to expand...

What he said.

Also, the lower serial AES's have better RGB output which would make a difference to the picture, especially if you have the S-Video mod. So, Ive been led to believe.

Phantom-1 should work fine, they have better compatibilty with lower serial AES's so if those Japanese AES's have low serials then you should definately be fine. However, Ive heard that AES's with 3-6 boards (written on Neo circuit board when you open up your AES) have some issues with the Phantom-1 but I don't know how you can find this out before buying the Neo. My AES is A US one with serial #059366 & its board is 3-5.

My advice would be go with the Japanese AES since it would be in good condition with box & I think it generally cheaper to buy & then mod an AES rather than buy an already modded AES, plus you can then choose what mods you want done.

If I were you, I'd definitely get an ordinary JPN AES system and would have it modded by Jeff Kurtz (JMKurtz). His neobitz board seems to be the best thing going right now. It bypasses the video encoder on the AES, so it doesn't really matter what serial number the unit has - so you don't have to deal with that.

So, send a PM to JMKurtz, and tell him that you want the neobitz board installed, and that you want the uni-bios 2.0 installed along with stereo sound. He may be working on a digital sound mod as well, but I'm not sure he's got that perfected yet, so personally I'd just go with normal stereo sound.

The place which is selling the Japanese Neo is offering mod service on it, and all the Neo's on their site are done by Jeff Kurtz. I'll ask about this Neobitz board. Have there been any negative reviews of this Neobitz board?

I did ask the place if they could mod the Japanese Neo with S-video or component video out, so hopefully it'll all be good.

Thanks everyone for your advice, it's been an education!

Oh, does anyone have anything to say about me sticking a Phanton-1 into this Japanese Neo? Good/Bad?