How did you buy Homecarts in the late 90s?

[K-2]

The above is a question for the OGs of the forum.
I understand back in the early days Software Etc., and Babages sold the carts in stores, but what about some of the later English carts before the forum, or the Internet as we know it today?

I remember seeing advertisements in the back of magazines like EGM and Tips & Tricks for specialty shops like Tommo (or was it Tomy) and Chips and Bits that would mention having new Neo-Geo homecarts and CDs, but at the time I was snot nosed Saturn playing kid.

Just curious

 

[zinho]

Here in Brazil it was possible for us to purchase Neo Geo Systems and Carts on rental places that also sold games. I also remember seeing ads for shops in gaming magazines featuring huge cart lists, Silver and Gold Systems, you name it. I'd place an order and get the games in the mail after a week or so.
The internet made everything much easier though.

 

[Mr Bakaboy]

I bought all my imports at ncsx.com back in the day which included AES carts.

 

[Opethian]

toys'n'joys
ncsx
therage
japanvideogames
lik-sang


and lol Buyrite

 

[MCF 76]

I got my AES gold and several games from Diehard gamer out of California in '92-'93. They had killer import games as well loved that place. Got my first Megadrive game Midnight Resistance & a converter to Genny there also.

 

[YodaChips]

toys'n'joys
ncsx
therage
japanvideogames
lik-sang


and lol Buyrite

Chips and bit and japanvideogames

 

[city41]

ncsx was the shit back then. They're still around, but I haven't ordered anything from them in what, 15 years?

I got my carts from ncsx or used on the mailing list back then.

 

[Gamefan]

Back then, I use to go to Knights Video Games in Fremont, CA. I purchased Samurai Shodown II for like $325.00. I knew the owner and he would ask me what Neo games I was after and would get them for me.

 

[Liquid Snake]

Chips and bit and japanvideogames

Plus diehard gamefan & game dude

 

[Ip Man]

did not. the saturn was the only way i could play neo games at home in the 90'.

 

[ChopstickSamurai]

and lol Buyrite

I forgot all about Buyrite! That's a blast from the past.

NCSX is still great, the difference now is there are several reputable import dealers to choose from. It felt for years that NCSX was the only game around unless you wanted to roll the dice with a shady operation like Buyrite.

 

[K-2]

What about the English homecarts? Seems like those must have been sold through some quasi underground resistance force.
We're those sold through the import merchants also?

 

[city41]

I bought my English metal slug x from ncsx.

 

[Zerrminator]

ncsx.com

Pre-ordered KOF 99 AES US & Metal Slug X AES US from them back in the day. Don't even tell me what the street value of these are now...

 

[vinnieboy1]

The infamous Game Dude N. Hollywood, CA in the 90's, sold systems and games

 

[oliverclaude]

Here in Germany, usually through mail-order, less common on site. I remember Maro & Dynatex to be very competent. Buying directly from Japan or America wasn't an alternative back then, because of horrendous shipping costs and picky customs, but it also wasn't necessary at all.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

buyrite and lik-sang was the way I imported my stuff back in the day. Current ebay prices seem unreal to me and I definitely feel for anyone getting into neo hardware today. I don't recall really seeing the whole consolized arcade board thing in those days and remeber mvs carts being mainly for cabinet owners and eventually those who bought the adapter to make mvs carts run on aes systems.

Nowadays mvs carts seem to be the last way to go that actually makes sense from a value to price perspective. Apart from the neo store and the market forum here, auction sites seem to be the last place to find a variety of carts so long as you avoid BIN listings, etc.

 

[GohanX]

Yeah, MVS carts weren't really a thing until the 2000's for most people. In the early 2000's some of us had Phantom 1 converters, it wasn't until a few years later that consolized systems became more common. That also seems to be when more people starting picking up real cabs too.

 

[vaillian]

I wasnt into Neo Geo and probably couldn't afford as a kid but i remember in germany there was an official Neo geo distributor called Maro who had stores and you could just mail order games by just calling their number. There were plenty of advertisements and price listenings on videogame magazines.

Here is one in 1998 from a PlayStation magazine

 

[Kef9]

Those prices are ridiculous. Aerofighters 2 for 199DM????

 

[Geddon_jt]

SNK USA, ncsx.com and Game Dude in California were my main ones.

NCSX was the best though. I was in college and money was tight. When Slug X was released, they actually shipped UPS COD (cash on delivery). I skipped classes all day and got a USPS money order for like $292.53 or something and gave it to the delivery guy when he knocked on the door and the rest is history.

 

[Neo Alec]

I had MVS in the late 90's on a semi-consolized 2-slot I bought on a newsgroup for $250. Back then most people bought one of the expensive commercial superguns available to go MVS. The price of entry was high, but no one was buying the carts back then, so we basically had free reign to buy used carts.

 

[AirZonk]

I bought KOF 98 and Metal Slug X directly from SNK USA. I remember having to call them to place the order. There was only one woman who was able to take the orders and she was hard to get in touch with.

 

[djjimmyjames]

Ebay

 

[NeoKuroyume]

Had my original Neo Geo back in '94. Ordered from Japan Video Games a lot as well as Game Dude(they were almost as bad as NGF with the stickers). The first title I ever bought brand new was King of Fighters '95 and that was ordered directly from SNK.