NeoGeo Torrance Olden Days

I used to love to visit them back in the early '90s. Chad(aka Gamelord)had the back office, but was never in there because he was always smoking in the back. They had only three techs to handle all of North America. They had the ultra-rare four player world hereos on video tape(using the muti-link cable). A prototype of Last Resort with no slow down(Nick of Neo World News owns that copy that one of the techs sold him and got fired for it also). The famous caged area with all the NeoGeo goodies suchs as stickers hats shirts stationary posters office supplies all witht the SNk logos. I received a christmas card from them with the characters from Samurai around the tree. Going to Aladins Castle nearby for KOF tourneys(some incredible matches!) Playing prototypes(the black cart case all taped up from the techs opening and closing it) on the Neo in Chads office on a 25" Sony PVM in RGB. Seeing hundreds of MVS in the back warehouse.

Sounds like it was great.

Vinh's also told me some of the stories of those Golden Days. Now if almost feels like we're in some kind of Guerilla War/Rebellion/Underdog mode wink The nadir was definitely the fall of SNK a few years ago. Then the phoenix rose.

Amazes me all the time.

What are you talking about? Anyway, does anyone remember the old Neo Geo Fanzines like New World News?

I still can't believe that I have lived 4 minutes away from the Torrance location my whole life and never knew of it's existance until after it closed. Here's a pic of building as it is now, I can just imagine how much better it would have looked with the SNK logo instead of the FCC logo.
<img src="http://members.aol.com/PORYGON000/FCC" alt=" - " />

Thats it! The lobby had two mini neo's and a desk for the receptionist. The marketing and management offices were upstairs. Fun times. Does anyone remember my Neo Geo only store, Visual Rush? I gave free MVS stickers with each order.

jruizleon:
Thats it! The lobby had two mini neo's and a desk for the receptionist. The marketing and management offices were upstairs. Fun times. Does anyone remember my Neo Geo only store, Visual Rush? I gave free MVS stickers with each order.

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No, I don't know any of this stuff.

Are you the unfrozen caveman neo fan?

"I may be just a simple caveman... but I think we can all agree that the early 90's were so much cooler than our current era..."

I was there often. I knew Chad Okata personally. SNK sent me company Christmas cards. He gave me a whole bag of memory cards, around 30 of them. I still have a sheet of the cart stickers that seal the games.

Boy this thread brings back memories My best buddy and I used to always call the neo geo hotline hoping the Gamelord might pick up the phone and have some new info for us. Usually we'd get that lame recording "hello...this is the gamelord...yada yada yada wink "

We were so amped when Chad invited us to SNK HQ. I think both of us took vacation days or called in sick. SS1 was the game of the day back then, and we were the kings in our local arcades. We wanted to challenge the Gamelord in SS1 and learn from the master...Was kind of a letdown to find he wasn't that good wink He had around 3 mvs machines in the tech station that he had set to freeplay which rocked.

We went back a couple more times after that and kept faithfully calling the hotline hoping for new releases.

NEO GEO!

jruizleon:
Thats it! The lobby had two mini neo's and a desk for the receptionist. The marketing and management offices were upstairs. Fun times. Does anyone remember my Neo Geo only store, Visual Rush? I gave free MVS stickers with each order.

Click to expand...

Javier was it?

My name is Billy Pitt. Do you remember me? I used to buy my neo carts from you cause you had the best prices! This will jog your memory...
(everyone else will get a thrill out of this too!)

November 1994

I called you just prior to the Samurai Shodown 2 scheduled release. I was just checking up and making sure that the game would not sell out or some crazy thing like that to ensure that I would get my copy in time for Christmas. You ASSURED me that I (being a good customer and all would have one set aside and reserved for me.

A few weeks later, my girlfriend Raquel (wife now btw) called you up to purchase the game as a surprise gift for me for Christmas. (coolest thing a chick could ever do man!) She MADE you promise her under no circumstances not to ruin the surprise, and to tell me the game was delayed, or sold out, or whatever to stall for time so that I wouldn't buy another copy of the game and/or ruin the surprise!

I called you when I heard the game was out from other people (unbeknownst to me this "plotting & planning" you had done with Raquel) only to have you tell me "sorry, it's sold out" or some other thing! I was FURIOUS! I wanted to kick ass! I felt COMPLETELY BETRAYED by you! (but of course you were only trying to what was best for me) What a huge mess that was!

Well, needless to say, on Christmas day what a beautifull site seeing that Samurai Shodown cartridge wrapped so nicely under my tree! I of course then called you a few days later to apologize for yelling at you and set things straight. I felt like such a jerk!

What a wonderfull memory that will always be.
It's great to see your still around.
Regards,
Billy Pitt

jruizleon:
What are you talking about?

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To summerize: a lot of interesting stuff occured between SNK's Torrance office and the present Cypress office.

Wow, I forgot all about that Billy! As far as the prices went, we were always competing with Dragon Video, another Neo Geo specialty shop. I had the advantage because me and Chad worked out a deal. He really didn't like talking on the phone with people, so he said on his message to call Visual Rush for the lastest secret info. He would tell me upcoming titles and secret moves. Also he gave me tons of Neo Geo stickers and mvs marquees. Check out my computer desk.
<img src="http://www.geocities.com/jruizleon/IMG_1617.JPG" alt=" - " />
The entire desk is actually covered in Neo Geo MVS stickers.

<small>[ July 22, 2003, 02:30 PM: Message edited by: jruizleon ]</small>

Wholesale price list. This is how much they actually cost
<img src="http://www.geocities.com/jruizleon/IMG_1623.JPG" alt=" - " />

A sheet of unused cart seals

<img src="http://www.geocities.com/jruizleon/IMG_1636.JPG" alt=" - " />

I wonder if the cart seals are worth any money?

jruizleon:
I wonder if the cart seals are worth any money?

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If you decide to sell a few, I'd buy a few off you.

Does anyone remember the "Master the Magic" contest for Art of Fighting? SNK ran a contest for whoever found out the secret move. No one actually found it so Chad had to pick a random fan from their fan club to give the MVS grand price. Also, Chad and I would go to local arcades for tourneys. One time during a Fatal Fury Special tourney, we came across a guy who was UNBEATABLE using Chang! It was funny watching him use Chang to beat everyone! I try and post as must as I can remember from the early days.