Neo Geo Panel

GeePM · Jan 12, 2015

Hey all,

So there's a local convention around here that I'm friends with one of the con staff, and they wanted me to do a panel about something. I figured, well shit why not the good ol' history of SNK/Neo Geo?

Disregarding JIPJAC's "knowledge", if one was to run a panel about the history of SNK & the Neo Geo, what do you think would be most important to talk about, showcase, or mention?

Tw3ek · Jan 12, 2015

Pachislot machines

GeePM · Jan 12, 2015

Tw3ek said:
Pachislot machines

Honestly I'd probably get a metal slug pachislot if I had the chance.

SNKorSWM · Jan 12, 2015

Expect NGF to show up and crash the party, claiming that they're part of the history. XD

Electric Grave · Jan 12, 2015

...but they are, an infamous part at that but it is part of the history and demise of SNK. Talk about Dion and Chris Ray and the Barone Family and the failure of SNK overall in the whole wide world except for Japan and South America 'cause everywhere else KOF means cough.

GeePM · Jan 12, 2015

ElectricGrave said:
...but they are, an infamous part at that but it is part of the history and demise of SNK. Talk about Dion and Chris Ray and the Barone Family and the failure of SNK overall in the whole wide world except for Japan and South America 'cause everywhere else KOF means cough.

I think that's something I'm not actually entirely informed about, the whole NGF stuff. Are there some good articles or videos I can watch/read about more of the deeper history?

Electric Grave · Jan 12, 2015

Read and then read some more. Plenty of info on wiki alone, there's more stuff in there than you can talk about, so yeah, research.

K-2 · Jan 12, 2015

you'll have to research the "best of" threads for a lot of the NGF beef.

Another good subject would be the whole AF3 homecart debacle, couple your research on that by reading "the Billionaire's Vinegar."

You got a lot of reading to do.

GeePM · Jan 12, 2015

So I read a few of the older threads and from what I can gather NGF was basically two guys who would resell Homecarts with their own shitty labels and ruin inserts and manuals?

xsq · Jan 13, 2015

that's part of it, yes. They also scammed people, did conversions... everything. The AOF3 story is pretty heavy.

But I don't think the NGF/DGE crap is the most important stuff to talk about, you should focus more on the history of the company, most important (and iconic) releases etc.

MidnightMonkey · Jan 13, 2015

Speaking of history, I'm a pretty data-oriented guy. Is there anywhere to find official sales and manufacturing numbers for SNK stuff? Hell, video games in general?

Samuray · Jan 13, 2015

Looking at that "Crystalis" thread I'm thinking a few early SNK games should also be mentioned. By no means a full overview or anything like that, but a couple of noteworthy titles to illustrate that SNK made stuff before their glory days on the Neo.

Electric Grave · Jan 13, 2015

xsq said:
that's part of it, yes. They also scammed people, did conversions... everything. The AOF3 story is pretty heavy.

But I don't think the NGF/DGE crap is the most important stuff to talk about, you should focus more on the history of the company, most important (and iconic) releases etc.

You're right, of course there's more to talk about than just drama, but if you're gonna make a panel you better hit it all the way home with a full fledge tale to start, this way you capture curiosity.

One important thing to understand what SNK was all about in those days (Pre and Post Neo) and their very traditional Japanese business model.

Get through some shit first and then you can talk about the games, the releases and pair it up with the times.

Anything that has to do with entertainment tells a story about its timeline culture ands society, I know that's pretty obvious to all of us but still, a point that should be fun to address as well.

There's so many things you can talk about and so much info just floating at the tip of your fingers that all you have to do is put a little effort and you'll have tons of source material, expecting to build your project or panel or whatever you got going on, from us is not the way to go, too many biases.

Hasuki-san · Jan 13, 2015

xsq said:
that's part of it, yes. They also scammed people, did conversions... everything. The AOF3 story is pretty heavy.

you mean AF3 and not AOF3, right ?

GeePM · Jan 13, 2015

Thanks for the advice guys. This is all extremely useful.

xsq · Jan 14, 2015

GeePM said:
Thanks for the advice guys. This is all extremely useful.

let us know how it goes... you could also share your script, I for one would find that interesting.

Hasuki-san said:
you mean AF3 and not AOF3, right ?

yup, that's a typo.

insaneben · Jan 14, 2015

GeePM said:
Thanks for the advice guys. This is all extremely useful.

As someone who's run Neo-Geo-themed panels at anime conventions, I can offer quite a bit of advice based on my own experiences.

(Bear in mind that it's been eight years since I've had a Neo-Geo panel.)

First off, how much time will you have to run your panel? 60 minutes? 90? 120? Depending on the length of your panel, you might want to either focus on one particular aspect (like the "lesser-known" games) or do a "best-of" panel (highlighting the most popular Neo-Geo games and their various nuances.

Second, don't devote too much time to one particular series. I've had entire panels devoted to the KOF series, and even 90 minutes wasn't enough to cover everything. If you do discuss popular series (like Samurai Shodown or Metal Slug), use one game that you think best represents the franchise.

Third, if possible, have the hardware on hand for people to try out. This has usually been a crowd-pleaser (especially hearing comments like, "This is so much better than playing it on my PC", and so forth). If not, try to go with the most accurate ports you can find. (The PS2 ones should suffice.) Use slides and videos sparingly. (I once had a KOF panel using only slides- it bombed, but at least it was a learning experience.)

Fourth, and finally, don't get too frustrated if things don't turn out right the first time. The first two panels I ran were atrocious, but I learned and improved upon them every time thereafter.

Hope this helps.

GeePM · Jan 16, 2015

insaneben said:
As someone who's run Neo-Geo-themed panels at anime conventions, I can offer quite a bit of advice based on my own experiences.

(Bear in mind that it's been eight years since I've had a Neo-Geo panel.)

First off, how much time will you have to run your panel? 60 minutes? 90? 120? Depending on the length of your panel, you might want to either focus on one particular aspect (like the "lesser-known" games) or do a "best-of" panel (highlighting the most popular Neo-Geo games and their various nuances.

Second, don't devote too much time to one particular series. I've had entire panels devoted to the KOF series, and even 90 minutes wasn't enough to cover everything. If you do discuss popular series (like Samurai Shodown or Metal Slug), use one game that you think best represents the franchise.

Third, if possible, have the hardware on hand for people to try out. This has usually been a crowd-pleaser (especially hearing comments like, "This is so much better than playing it on my PC", and so forth). If not, try to go with the most accurate ports you can find. (The PS2 ones should suffice.) Use slides and videos sparingly. (I once had a KOF panel using only slides- it bombed, but at least it was a learning experience.)

Fourth, and finally, don't get too frustrated if things don't turn out right the first time. The first two panels I ran were atrocious, but I learned and improved upon them every time thereafter.

Hope this helps.

Awesome, I'll for sure keep this in mind. I don't actually own a CMVS/AES of my own, but I think I might bring in a cart to show off to people, and to compare the size of different games with. I was given about an hour, so I was thinking I could do a quick history of the Rise/Fall/Rebirth of SNK, and covering their greatest hits, kinda showing why each series did so well. Depending on how I cut up my panel I was thinking of throwing in a gameplay session of some of the games. I was considering Windjammers to have two people play against each other, since it's pretty easy to pick up.

GeePM · Jan 20, 2015

Howdy everyone.
So I've compiled some notes and created a bit of a guide line for my panel/discussion points I'll use to guide myself when talking.
Lemme know what you guys think, and if theres anything worthwhile adding or cutting. I plan on hopefully having time at the end of the panel to hold a mini-windjammers tournament.

I'll have about an hour for my panel, so thats what my timeline is like.

Spoiler:

Please let me know if I'm wrong or off about anything!

GeePM · Jan 23, 2015

Just an FYI, my panel will be tomorrow down at the SeaGate center in Toledo from 7-8PM. The con itself runs from 11am to midnight, I believe.
Making some final changes now and gonna be assembling a slideshow for pictures and stuff.

xsq · Jan 23, 2015

break a leg.

GeePM · Jan 23, 2015

xsq said:
break a leg.

Thanks!

GeePM · Jan 24, 2015

POST-PANEL REPORT!
It went really well! I had about 15 or so people show up I believe. It went really smoothly and everybody had a good time. I really hyped up turf masters for people and taught people some shit they didn't know, so that made me feel good.
The con I went to actually had a lame neo geo X setup in their game room, so I asked to borrow their sticks to use for my panel which helped a lot. I brought in a couple MVS carts to kinda show how big they were.

Overall everything went awesome! Thanks you guys for the input and helping me shape my overall panel.

ChopstickSamurai · Jan 24, 2015

Very cool, glad to hear it went well! Did you happen to tape it by chance? Sorry I couldn't make it out, maybe next year will be a possibility.

GeePM · Jan 25, 2015

Nah, didn't really have a proper setup for that.
I'll be at Ohyaocon this coming weekend, not as a panelist though.

Neo Geo Panel

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