Neo Geo: Why Windjamming is A Thing Panel:
PT1: Intro to SNK/History:
-Founded in 1978 by Eikichi Kawasaki in Japan
-Means “Shin Nihon Kikaku” or “New Japan Project”
- First games were Ozma Wars, Vertical Scrolling space shooter & Vanguard
-Considered predecessor to Gradius & R-Type
-Most successful game Ikari Warriors, had various ports
-SNK of America opens in 1981 in Sunnyvale Cali, wanting to make own brand of Coin-OP games
-Survives crash of 83’, becomes 3rd party licensee of Nintendo
-Develops NES ports of arcade classics, and original games for the NES
PT2: Neo Geo Family/MVS/AES/
-88’ SNK develops idea for multi game arcade systems, using cartridges, called “Neo Geo Multi-Video System”, Neo Geo MVS for short.
-SNK releases in 1990 with 1, 2, 4, & 6-slot varients
-System was instant success, created less floor space for arcade ops, cartridges cost less than 500 dollars for OPs
-Featured memory card slots on some models, could transfer data between arcade & home console
-Same year SNK releases single-cart home console, Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System, Neo Geo AES for short in Japan
-Same physical hardware as arcade system, but brought to the home. At first, could only rent at bars or hotels
-Eventually, was brought to home market in US
-Silver System Bundle - 399.99 MSRP
-One Joystick controller, no Game
-Gold System Bundle- 649.99
-Two Joysticks, Magican Lord, Fatal Fury, NAM-1975, or Baseball Stars Professional
-Launch games were 200+ dollars, causing poor sales for the AES system, only appealed to niche market.
-AES Aggressive ad-campaign
-hotdog, balls, naked ladies
PT3. GAMEZ
-Sengoku, King of Fighters/Mark of The Wolves, Fatal Fury, Metal Slug, Art of Fighting, Neo Turf Masters, Windjammers, Samurai Showdown, Baseball Stars, Blazing Stars, Pulstar, Puzzle Bobble/BAMA
*Metal Slug, KOF, Bobble/BAMA, Samurai Showdown, NTM/Windjammers important mention
-Briefly mention IREM/Nazca history
-Nazca made up of ex-IREM employees
-After MS1 released, Nazca gets dissolved into SNK for MS games up to 3
-KOF popularity in Mexico due to easy to bootleg arcade carts
-KOF series still going strong today
-CD/CDZ
-To try and recoup AES losses, created CD based system
-Games were cheap, but suffered from awul load times.
-CDZ released to help improve load times, but didnt help much.
-Hyper Neo Geo 64
-SNK develops 64bit, 3D arcade machine
-Very few games released for it
-Doesn’t make big of a splash as the MVS, is quickly pushed out of the market
-Pocket/Pocket Color
NGP released in Japan in 98’, but soon replaced by NGPC one year later
NGPC releases in US, but with poor sales
PT4. DEATHZ
-Crippling losses from CD/AES/NGPC system, SNK is acquired by Aruze, Pachinko company in 2000
-Used SNK licenses to make Pachinko games under KOF/Metal Slug names
-2001 Founder Eichi Kawasaki & execs leave to form Playmore
-2000 Capcom & SNK make respective fighting games featuring each other characters. Popular game Capcom vs SNK does well, but most profit goes to Capcom.
-October 2001 SNK files for bankruptcy. Employees disband, IPs licensed out to companies. MEGA for Metal Slug 4, Eioth for KOF 2001 & 2002
PT5. RESSURECTION
-Kawasaki’s Playmore acquires SNK IP rights in late 2001
-Rehires much of old staff
-Regains rights to SNK name in 2003
-Now known as SNK Playmore
-Also buys ADK, who was a 3rd party NG developer
-2004 SNK Playmore ceases AES development, makes games on SAMMY Atomiswave system(Metal Slug 6 is released on this system)
-Very last MVS game developed was Samurai Showdown 5 Special, released in 2004
-2006, moves over to TAITO X-2 for arcade games
-SNK Playmore shifts focus to home console market, main focuse on its franchises on home/portable market
-2012 SNK Playmore & Tommo Inc release Neo Geo X, pre-loaded portable NG handheld with AES games included on small carts. System includes AES looking dock and AES style fight sticks
-NGX is slammed for poor build quality and bad emulation of games.
-Less than a year later, SNK Playmore terminates license agreement
-Currently SNK mainly focuses on making cell phone games and Pachislot/Pachinko games
*Homebrew scene
-CMVS systems, Homebrew Games, Bootleg Carts, current MVS/AES pricing
PT6. The Scene
-Due to the NG being niche, has had die hard fans
-Still today people making MVS/AES games
-Developer NEOBitz with Knight’s Chance
-NG
EV with Gunlord, Fast Striker, Razion, Last Hope
-CMVS systems. MVS motherboards made to act like a console
-James from JNX with fiercely customizable options, Analogue CMVS with overpriced wood
-UNIBIOS by Razoola. Allowed deeper customization with MVS/AES & currently CD hardware
-NeoSaveMsata by TurfMasta, custom neo geo memory card with bigger memory banks, no suicide battery
-Memory patching, cheat codes, pausing and much more
-MVS/AES scene has had big issues with bootlegging carts
-High $$$ AES carts like MS games biggest victim, using gutted MVS parts
-AES $$$, MVS $
-NG community is still thriving, with fiercely passionate members!
-” "Certain french and italian members of the community are hated in this hobby since they charge absurd prices, a big source make boots and rip off people. They also believe taxes that they have to pay their government increase the price of the item when reselling it for their insane prices."