I couldn't resist, guys! I had to write a letter to the article's author! Here's what I wrote:
Dear Sir,
Being an avid Neo-Geo gamer myself (and publishing a Neo-Geo / Arcade
periodical), I was elated to find your piece about the Samurai Shodown
series on IGN. While your article was reminiscent of the gaming days of
yesteryear, it reluctantly forgot to mention the system that Samurai
Shodown was released on first; the Neo-Geo system. While the Neo seems
dated by today's standards, games like Garou: Mark of the Wolves and
Metal Slug 3 are still being released, and they are every bit as good as
some of Capcom's CPS II / III games. This letter is being written from a
concerned standpoint -- the Neo-Geo system is rarely credited for its
contribution to the videogame community, and your article would have
been the best outlet to give the system some credit. While not cheap by
any means, this system was a technical marvel and it still is today.
Games like Garou:Mark of the Wolves and Metal Slug 3 (which were
released during the latter half of 2000, rivaling anything Capcom can
produce on their CPS II / III boards) are phenomenal efforts that
produce miracles on a system classified as 'dated' and 'defunct' (MVS
arcade systems are still a large source of income for SNK (who still
exists and had never closed its doors in Japan), and the most recent
release, Nightmare in the Dark, for Neo-Geo is proof of this). Let's not
forget the recently released King of Fighters 2000 (released in home
cartridge format as well) which is sweeping the Neo community by storm.
The rumors of the home cart system's demise were bogus; a Canadian-based
company called !Arcade! Solutions has devised an MVS-to-home system
cartridge adapter that will allow MVS games to play on a home cartridge
system. That's right; the MVS games are compatible with the Neo-Geo home
cartridge system -- the only difference being is that the MVS carts were
too big to fit into the Neo-Geo AES's cartridge slot. The MVS arcade
unit and the Neo-Geo home cartridge system are the same systems, but
their cartridge slots were designed differently so people could only
play home releases. In either case, many MVS adapters have been released
for the Neo-Geo system, but none of them could play games beyond KOF '99
because of a ROM encryption technique employed by SNK. !Arcade!
Solutions found a way to work around this protection, and both old and
current MVS arcade games (including ROM encrypted games like Garou,
Metal Slug 3, King of Fighters 2000, etc.) work perfectly on the home
cartridge system. You might want to investigate this for your readers --
they might still enjoy playing Neo-Geo. !Arcade! Solutions' e-mail
address is: r.young@neogeousa.com
Ask for Ray Young.
To steer back to the subject at hand: the primary reason for this
letter's creation was to question your lack of acknowledgment of the
Neo-Geo system. Samurai Shodown was a fabulous series which spawned
many incarnations ( i.e. SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, 3DO and Game Gear) but
the series had originated on the Neo-Geo system first, had spawned 4 sequels
on the Neo-Geo platform, and played better than any conversion ever
made. I believe you owe it to your readers to educate them on this
subject.
Cheers,
Michael Pittaro
Editor-In-Chief
Neo-News Magazine
Http://neonews.cjb.net <-- site best viewed using Internet Explorer
and 800x600 screen resolution
------------------
NeoLord
Neo-News and much more!
neonews.cjb.net
[This message has been edited by NeoLord (edited January 18, 2001).]
