interesting discussion about the neo

I talked recently with a video game addict which played a lot of neo games but without being a neo fan. We chatted about the life and the death of SNK and he told me something that surprised me a lot. For him, the neo died when SNK released the neo geo CD. I explained me that the success of the neo was based on the fact that it was a dream for most of the gamers. When it became affordable, the dream broke and it became like all the other supports.
I don't want to start a 100+ post topic on the pro and con the Neo CD but this idea of dreaming machine interested me a lot and sounds now more and more realistic.
I bought my neo in 1992 and at this time the fact of owning such a thing created the respect of most of the gamers. It was just like owning a ferrari. "whoo, you have a neo? May I come to your house one day?". I heard that a lot of time. I was a kid and this kind of consideration was important. But most of all, each new games ( I bought used ones) was a precious moment. I looked careful the box, read 4146551516 times the manual, plugged the game and watched 451456666554 times the intro and the demo before playing. I don't think that it would have been the same thing if the games were on Cd and cost 45$

Discuss

So basically this guy equates the Neo as an extension of his penis.

I disagree completely. For me, it's totally irrelevant wether a game costs $30 or $300, I love them all, and I give the same attention to a new CD-based game as to a new Neo cart. I don't buy games to be part of an elitarian circle of holier-than-thou system owners, y'know.

Of course a CD-based game is always some kind of mass product compared to the unique Neo homecarts, and there is the load time issue that puts some ppl off, but SNK never said that the NGCD would be an arcade console, it always was and will be an affordable home version for the non-tech Neo fan that doesn't want to/can't use an MVS-setup/supergun but is interested in playing the real stuff as closely as possible to the cart versions of the games. Nothing wrong with that.

Ok I understand the point but my opinion is that the neo would have been more succesful in term of selling if it was a CD based support since the beginning but I don't think that it would have the same fan following in the long term. The neo is cult object in the world of gaming. Releasing a support which cost 600 euros with games at 300 euros was a crazy project it that's why so much people now still love.
Ok, there is a lot of good games but many supports had a long list of hits and they don't have such a following. The neo was impressive, overpowered for the time and quite unaccessible ofr most of the players. I remember at the beginning that people stayed in front of running demos of neo games just like people do it in front of famous manufacters at motor show.
It's much more than a question of games

Hey Robert didnt you split from here a while back for some reason ?

I think I remember that ? hmmm If so , good to see you are back. wink

True, because I'm now in Lebanon for a training period and I thought was I wouldn't have been able to go to the forum but I have find a way to access web at work so I'm back.

I somehow agree w/ that. But I think Robert should have typed "Owning a Neo... in France", because it was pretty much like:

"-Oh, you do have a Neo, man? Kuddos... Wow, I'm overfuckin' whelmed... You must be so fuckin' rich."

The french people owning a Neo Geo were not judged on their tastes/skills/knowledge in video games, but on their financial firepower. At least, that's how it looked like to me.

But I do believe saying "the dream broke when SNK released the Neo Geo CD" is completely irrelevant and pointless. On the one hand, they sold expansive games (we all know why: components, big carts, expansive technology etc) and on the other hand, they made a part of the "dream" available to the gamers unable to afford a $300 cart game. So fuckin' what?... It's not a matter of dream, it's a matter of gaming. And not being an elitist. "I have a Neo and you don't!" Ridiculous...

We all know being part of the Neo Geo "community" means being somehow elitist. But I wouldn't go as far as saying that back then, owning a Neo was a "dream." It was just a way to gain more acquaintances! glee (second degree...)

That's why I wanted to speak about that on this forum. Like I said in my first post, this idea of dreaming machine surprised me at first but I must admit that it's not so pointless. I want other member to share their thoughts about that because it's a subject I didn't see here for a long time.

I don't think the NeoCD had that much of an effect.

When it was released, the NeoCD was a damn expensive system. Sure, the games were cheap, but the system was pricey due to the large amount of RAM included (for the time).

i imported a cd system to australia when it was released, cost me like $1200 australian for the system and a game... that is sorta expensive..

?

beelzebubble:
i imported a cd system to australia when it was released, cost me like $1200 australian for the system and a game... that is sorta expensive..

?

Click to expand...

What game did you get? Samurai Shodown??