What's the best way to play?

I've always wanted to get into the Neo Geo, but before I do I wanna make sure I do the right thing for me.

I know the differences between AES and MVS. I would love AES, but eh cost of the carts is so much, so I think it might be better to go MVS, but I'm not sure. The onlt thing about MVS is that you would have to get a board and all of that and I really wanna play on my home T.V. I've heard about the supergun and stuff like that, but I mean I've never used them or seen them.

I know this question has of course been asked before, but I just wanna know what's the best way to play at home without going into a homeless shelter. Thanks for the help.

Well, it's almost impossible to get an affordable Neo Geo in your home. Starting up, the cost of an AES is cheaper than an MVS setup. All you need is the console, which will cost you anywhere from 250 to 350 bucks. MVS, you need to buy a $300 supergun, and a $200 board. Or you can go the cabinet route (highly recommended). The best thing you can dom is buy an MVS cabinet. If you have the room for it, it'll be your best friend. you can get them pretty cheap these days. Just check your local arcade dealer. Also, cabs give you the best possible video quality that you can get, and, you can charge your friends to play, so in time you can make back some of the money you spent

The whole thing is up to you. AES is a good way to go, dont be intimidated by the cost, there are so many great affordable games (i'd tell you to check the price guide.. but I dont trust that info as far as I can throw old ladies) . Unless you want the first Metal Slug, you'll be fine with AES.

Thank yo very much, I appreciate the info bigtime.

No prob.

And ofcourse, the cheapest way &gt hehehe... MAKE YOUR OWN SUPERGUN (thats right, I'll never stop whoring that!) It's fun and rewarding! Not to mention cheap! All you need to buy is a power supply, plastic, unlabeled (but keyed) JAMMA connector, a crimping set, and alot of wire
Optional things, like an RGB encoder (if you want to see your games in color on your TV) are only to enhance the fun . You can actually play your games in black and white without any special equipment. BUT WAIT! Theres more!
Call in the next 20 minutes and you'll recieve a FREE!! 1 gallon jug of Oxy Clean, the stain specialist.. ... ugh..... too much Neo Geo... making me.. insane.......

Sound advice, but I think SNKFreak's prices are a bit off. It's possible, if you shop around and get good deals, to pick up a 1 slot MVS board for about $80 and a supergun or test rig of some description for around $150. Bear in mind that if you get an MVS board with joystick ports then for controls you can pick up a 'proper' joystick or pad.

I made my first test rig using a spare pc power supply, jamma harness ($20) and a video connector I ripped off of something else. It's not clever or pretty, but it gets the job done...

You can do what i did. I bought a 4slot mobo and a Super Nova from <a href="http://www.massystems.com/" target="_blank">MAS Systems</a>. Board was $180 from Md Gamesales and the Super Nova was $300. With the Super Nova you get big ass, high quality arcade style controllers, so it has the whole arcade feel (the buttons aren't laid out exactly as they should be for the Neo, but you may be able to get them to do a custom set of sticks for you). Going this route is higher priced to start, BUT you save money in the long run for games.

Take the KoF 2001 for instance the home version runs $275 from the Neo Store 9only place to really get it). You can get the MVS NIB kit from <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2119512744" target="_blank">eBay</a> (the seller is MD Gamesales again) for $225. The only problem you will have is if you are interested in playing the newest releases as they are released. A new release ruins you about $800, new AES is around $350 or so. Of course, the price drops quickly, sometimes dramatically, on the MVS carts, so if you can wait a year you can get it for around the same price or lower as the AES version.

This is also the cheaper way to play the LB series, as the LB series is rather rare (English AES anyway).

If you have any more questions about my setup,feel free to PM me.

Check out garg's site:

<a href="http://www.neogeotemple.com" target="_blank">http://www.neogeotemple.com</a>

He describes all the different "ways to play".

i would suggest in getting a neo aes system and a arcade converter then you get the best of both worlds 1.you can play all the cheap mvs games like metal slug 1 2.you can also save alot of space with the neo aes since the ardcade converter is about the same size as a home cart 3.you can have arcade make custom arcade sticks for the neo aes system. and the only drawback i can think of is that you get better picture quality thru a mvs cab than an aes machine if you live in the us.also if you end up getting a aes system i would recomend getting it modded with s-video stereo,4x bios and rgb from arcade if it is avalible in your area.