Why?

Why does the Neo-Geo stay so popular even to this day? I have an Atari Jaguar which technically should blow the Neo away. And my Jaguar is dead and there is virtually no support for it on-line. And my SNES is dead too. And my Playstation is alive but is not near as ancient as a Neo and the Playstation's death is right around the corner. My Dreamcast is alive and kicking ass but I can almost promise you that it won't live as long as the Neo has. What's the deal Neo people? Why do you think the Neo has survived so long? Even with almost no 3D capabilities at all? Even without Stereo sound? Even without TRUE RPG's. Why has the Neo survived? I love my Neo but can't answer that question... can YOU?

Well Omega...the answer is quite simple...QUALITY...SNK is known for replay value. I would take an SNK fighter over a Capcom fighter any day. Another reason that the neo has kept up this long is because of the wide fan base that shells out shitloads of money for the homecarts. The Neo is ARCADE PERFECT and you pay for what you get. Nothing takes a hit when the game is put in the AES shells. I think that SNK just wanted to give players what they wanted after they put out 700$ for the neo...I meen I did...well 600...but still...hehe

Bryan -NGF will never replace SNK-

Well. That makes sense... but not every SNK fighter is better than a Capcom fighter. I would take some Capcom fighters over SNK ones and vice versa. And as for quality... 10 years is a long time... some of my later-generation Neo games cause a little bit of slowdown and stuff... it seems the old graphics processor is struggling to keep up at times. I still don't know why the Neo has remained so strong all these years. Even the newest arcade games by SNK (excluding Hyper 64) are not up to par with some of the other companies' arcade games. The Neo's hardware is ancient, the games are beginning to prove that. Yet still people stick to their old gun the Neo-Geo...

Originally posted by Omega-NEO:
Well. That makes sense... but not every SNK fighter is better than a Capcom fighter. I would take some Capcom fighters over SNK ones and vice versa. And as for quality... 10 years is a long time... some of my later-generation Neo games cause a little bit of slowdown and stuff... it seems the old graphics processor is struggling to keep up at times. I still don't know why the Neo has remained so strong all these years. Even the newest arcade games by SNK (excluding Hyper 64) are not up to par with some of the other companies' arcade games. The Neo's hardware is ancient, the games are beginning to prove that. Yet still people stick to their old gun the Neo-Geo...

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The answer is simple: SNK wanted a versatile platform to support for many years. In case
no one has noticed, SNK doesn't like change, and this is why they supported the Neo for
as long as they have. Besides, SNK is churning out CPSIII quality games on old hardware
and it shows. MS3 and Garou look and play like CPSIII games, and while the Neo
hardware sometimes struggles to keep up, you have to give credit to SNK for supporting
their system for as long as they have. SNK might not be the most organized company in
the gaming industry, but at least they cared enough to support their system. I have a
question, Omega: why so many questions about the Neo-Geo?

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NeoLord
Neo-News and much more!

Well you see NeoLord, I am on an information-gathering quest at the moment. I have been digging up FAQs on my Jaguar, TG 16, Dreamcast, and other various systems to try and become an expert on each one of them. Since this board is alive and well and so many of you understand what makes the Neo tick I figured I'd just ask you guys for the answers instead of reading a long FAQ that I probably won't understand. The reason I look for FAQs on my other systems is because most of them don't have boards like this where people discuss them. The Dreamcasr does, but the Jaguar certainly doesn't have a forum as big and ever-changing as this one. So, thats where the questions are coming from, my inner-desire to understand and become an expert on my cart system...
Also, can you honestly say you haven't ever wondered why the Neo-Geo has survived for so long when other companies trash their old systems and build shiny new ones every 4 years?

Originally posted by Omega-NEO:

Also, can you honestly say you haven't ever wondered why the Neo-Geo has survived for so long when other companies trash their old systems and build shiny new ones every 4 years?

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The answer to that is simple....Money. The neo is/was a profitable system. With over 1 million MVS units made it makes sense that games will ber sold. The minute the profits are no longer there will be the last minute that games are produced (comercially) for it.

Anthony

I think another answer to your query lies in the talent of the game designers and, again, the focus on replayability. There are also a whole generation of people in their 20s + that prefer 2D games over 3D.

(Throws $.02 up in the air)
SNK has some top talent for game and character design. Let's face it, who could forget Mai, Terry, or anyone from the Samurai Shodown series? SNK takes risks, and gamers love them for it.

SNK also makes games that people love to come back to. Most of these are fighters, but there are a few exceptions, like Metal Slug, that keeps people coming back. Why is this? Replayability. A person can only take so much FMV and flash and dash. When the smoke clears and all is said and done, it doesn't really matter what shell it's in, playability is what counts. SNK recognizes this.

Also, many people 20+ grew up on 2D games and don't feel that 3D games offer the same playability 2D did. Neo Geo and SNK serve as a sanctuary to all that is 2D.

Yes, I agree with you DigiPunk. SNK made some truly original games that people love. Neo Geo games all have a certain feel and appeal that draws me to them. Replay value is high on many of the games. But that is exactly the point in previous post. Replay value in the arcade brings profits to the arcard operators, who will in turn buy more games as a result. The home carts are kind of an offspring of the MVS games. It is probably relatively inexpensive to produce a homecart after the MVS is done. If it were not for the arcade sales, the Neo would be long dead by now.

The Neo Geo is over 10 years old. And still the most bowerfull 2D system to date. The people who love 2D, finds the absolute best 2D games on earth on the Neo Geo. Not even Dreamcast has won over the Neo Geo AES system. They where close with the KOF' 99 convesrion but still did not be equal or better that the old Neo Geo AES/MVS. Games like SS2, KOF series, WW7, M Slug series, each are pieces of 2D art and are nowhere else to be found....

Robi15

[This message has been edited by Robi15 (edited December 25, 2000).]

Sorry to bring the old topic back, it takes a while for me to come up with the rationale, but 4 top reasons I can think of that Neo-Geo is still around:

1. Quality of games: NG games may not be the most advanced graphically (although it is for 2D) but it's certainly most fun.

2. 2D animation: the only other company I can think of is Capcom, the fact is, people still love 2D animation and games, since no one else does it now, people have to turn to SNK.

3. Artwork/packaging of the home cart: While Nintendo and Sega are trying to save the cost per game, even on Genesis (switched from plactive to cheap paperboard boxes) and SNES, SNK uses the top quality packaging with the newer home carts (clam shell cases) with top notch artwork on the insert, thisis the main reason people are trying to convert MVS oly titles to home carts with home made inserts, although they'll never match up with the quality of official SNK inserts.

4. Long term commitment: Who else would support a system this long even though it's not making money, luckily, they have MVS to fall back for revnues and they simply keep making quality games. The fans, like us, continue to support SNK in return for that reason. I'm sure the old SNK loves to make games over profit, else the system would've been dead long ago.

but the Jaguar certainly doesn't have a forum as big and ever-changing as this one.[/B]

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I'm a big fan of both the Neo Geo and the Jaguar, and I would have to say the online Jaguar community is just as dedicated to the system, if not more so then the Neo community. There are many Jaguar forums out there, you just need to look. The biggest one is definitely Jaguar Interactive II and there is usually some interesting discussion going on there (they even link to my NUON/Jaguar site Tempest X000) Just thought I'd clear that up.

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