LaserActive:
Nope your missing the point, I know that the AES / MVS system is going to be better. What I would like to do is produce a list of all the differences (if any) there are between the Neo Geo CD versions and the AES / MVS versions so people can see what they are at a glance. For example a few Neo Geo CD games have a few extras the MVS / AES versions don't have. Will work on a template in the next week and post it somewhere so people can have an idea of what it is and if it can be useful.
I'm also likely to add converstions of Neo Geo games to other consoles (including FM Towns Marty) for completeness sake.
I'm trying to compile such a list for a long time now. I wanted to put it all up on my site, but over the time, I gave up. Believe me, it's simply too much work for one guy alone.
For a
comprehensive list of all differences between Cart and CD versions, you'd need to play and beat/complete BOTH versions while noting down the things you see; to do it effectively, you'd have to run them side by side because most differences are very subtle. If you want to be on the safe side, you'd have to make a comparison between the original/genuine games (no roms).
Next, there are different sounds, even different sample qualities; many CD games have 11Khz samples for various effects while their cart counterparts are only 8Khz, then there are OSTs vs ASTs, the additional goodies you mentioned, differences in menu setups, loading screens, changed (not cut, just rearranged) vids and anims, etc..etc..etc..etc...
Wait until you see Metal Slug cart vs CD; there are more than 100 (no joke) differences, ranging from the missing squirrels on the opening of level 2, missing voices and anims like the air raid siren that one of the grunts operates at the end of level 1 to slightly different boss behaviour (boss #4), etc.
A member of this forum, Gemant, is an expert when it comes to Metal Slug, specially part one. He also knows about many differences between both versions and always was my source for questions like this, perhaps you should shoot him a PM.
Anyway, trouble is that some differences are very, very small. Sometimes, a tiny object/sprite/piece of the background is missing, or if it's there, it's only partly animated (or not animated at all). It's no problem with very obvious stuff (such as the missing rock in SS4 CD's beach stage), but the Slug 1 example shows you that there's more to it.
That said, I have a decent NGCD collection of 70+ games and a couple of homecarts, count me in if you need help, I still think it's an interesting and worthwhile project because there are some CD versions that are actually better (IMO) than the cart, for example Neo Turfmasters, it contains a whole new play mode, same with the Slugs. What's more, such a list (should it be complete one day) could help to put an end to the "cart or CD?" discussion once and for all.
I admit I don't know much, but I think there are plenty of people around who do.
