Crossed Swords 2 AES/MVS and Rom Thread.

#2 no doubt

No 2!

The #2.

my vote is 2#

HeavyMachineGun said:

Yeah, the black AES insert is the most time period appropriate.

However I would change the "SNK Corporation of America" on the spine to "SNK Home Entertainment" to complete the well aged cheese.

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Can you or anyone else expand more on this please (or other changes that could improve the 2nd insert). When I designed this insert I took a couple of things into consideration but maybe I was wrong in my logic so I will explain.

First I am assuming with the 2nd insert the MVS/AES release is in 1995 the same as the CD. On top of that I know we will supply the AES version with a snap case and not an old style case. For these reasons the insert I took as inspiration was the World Heroes Perfect AES insert (http://www.neogeosoft.com/?section=view&game=whp). This was released about two months after the Crossed Swords 2 CD version according to the master list so I saw it as closer than any of the other World Heroes titles.

This is why I placed "SNK Corporation of America" given its on that insert.

Is my logic somewhere flawed or have I missed something given there are people with more knowledge than me in this area.

Raz

No flaw in logic, I did the same thing coming up with the Ironclad label for MVS. Saurus was using bold slanted fonts ala Shock Troopers so I ised that as my starting point. Insert #1 is a nice throwback to CS1 but #2 would be a more accurate insert for the time of release.

Indeed #2 looks nicest.

Razoola said:

Can you or anyone else expand more on this please (or other changes that could improve the 2nd insert). When I designed this insert I took a couple of things into consideration but maybe I was wrong in my logic so I will explain.

First I am assuming with the 2nd insert the MVS/AES release is in 1995 the same as the CD. On top of that I know we will supply the AES version with a snap case and not an old style case. For these reasons the insert I took as inspiration was the World Heroes Perfect AES insert (http://www.neogeosoft.com/?section=view&game=whp). This was released about two months after the Crossed Swords 2 CD version according to the master list so I saw it as closer than any of the other World Heroes titles.

This is why I placed "SNK Corporation of America" given its on that insert.

Is my logic somewhere flawed or have I missed something given there are people with more knowledge than me in this area.

Raz

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In 1992, (towards the end of 1991 & until about early 1993) SNK decided to rename it's USA home cartridge product team as "SNK Home Entertainment". The 3rd party licensees were now coming of age. (companies like Visco with Andro Dunos, Sammy with Viewpoint, & Alpha with Ninja Commando) Alpha Denshi was a part of SNK & mainly an in house 3rd party developer in the beginning of the systems lifespan. The first two official releases by Alpha were released by SNK (Magician Lord & Ninja Combat) and Alpha did not receive full credits for those products on the packaging of the products. Now, SNK began to concentrate on producing higher meg games such as Baseball Stars 2, King of the Monsters 2, Sengoku 2, etc. The SNK Home Entertainment concept did not last for long, and only a handful of home carts have this designation on the packaging as well as on their title screens when in USA HOME mode only.

Crossed Swords 2 is a rather strange animal. It is NGM-054. Ninja Commando is NGM-050 World Heroes is NGM-053. Both are by Alpha as well and from 1992. Obviously Crossed Swords 2 was intended to be released at this same time period, 1992, and so it would have initially looked uniform with these two games. NO SNAP LOCK CASE! That was not until early 1995. Fatal Fury 3 is considered the first snap lock release. However, the CD argument that you make which was around the time of World Heroes Perfect cart release does make sense as well. IF and ONLY IF at that time SNK would have also released CS2 for the cart system as well as the CD system at that time. That too could have been a plan at one point, not sure though judging by how buggy you say the game is. Seems as if the only reason the game was prepped and released was for added hype & attention & incentive for neogeo fans to purchase a CD system.

So logically, CS2 should NOT have a snap case in 1992 & should look like Ninja Commando / World Heroes 1 had it not been canceled.
AND logically CS2, would have had a snap lock case if it would have been released in 1995 when the CD version was released.

But hey, if a snap lock case is what you have, and therefore what you will use because you have extras, then that is that, and it is no big deal.

It's like what happened with Bang Busters. It should NEVER have had a snap lock case. That game was 1994 and they didn't have them until 1995. But that is what NCI used.
And last but not least, look at Zupapa. Again, 1994 game. Should have been a standard case. But TECHNICALLY, released on mvs by snk in 2001. So hypothetically, had SNK released Zupapa on home cart as well in 2001. Then it would have had a snap lock case!. Kind of interesting.

Snap lock case>regular AES case.

This isn't meant to be an official release from SNK, Billy.

Jon

Jon said:

Snap lock case>regular AES case.

This isn't meant to be an official release from SNK, Billy.

Jon

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Yes, most people prefer the snap lock cases. And yes, this is not an official release
and therefore it doesn't matter what it looks like. These things are always at the mercy
of the subjectivity of the person in control and that is just the way it goes.

I've lost count how many Atari, Nintendo, & Sega after market releases I've purchased
and literally destroyed the included packaging to then reassemble it the way I wanted
it to be & felt it should have looked like. So I couldn't care less how CS2 ends up
looking. If I don't like it when I get it, then I will change it.

Raz was asking for some additional information, and so I gave it. That was all.

#2

I prefer the snap lock case.

SuperGun said:

Yes, most people prefer the snap lock cases. And yes, this is not an official release
and therefore it doesn't matter what it looks like. These things are always at the mercy
of the subjectivity of the person in control and that is just the way it goes.

I've lost count how many Atari, Nintendo, & Sega after market releases I've purchased
and literally destroyed the included packaging to then reassemble it the way I wanted
it to be & felt it should have looked like. So I couldn't care less how CS2 ends up
looking. If I don't like it when I get it, then I will change it.

Raz was asking for some additional information, and so I gave it. That was all.

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Someone call NGF, there's an insert shredding party about to start.

I have a penchant for #1. That classic look makes me feel warm and fuzzy...err hot n ready inside.

Vote for #1, like the classic style!

I imagine MVS and Home Cart will use the same insert, but If not... Maybe we could have both? One in a Shockbox style for the MVS guys and another for the home peeps that is more traditional to the games of the time.

Raz, both of those Home cart inserts look great but it definitely needs to be the second black insert.

The assigned NG number is between World Heroes and World Hereos 2, so it has to follow the design of both of those carts and not the orignal Crossed Swords.

The only changes I would suggest making is that the front cover should have the two red lines down the left hand side, and I would remove the 'Corporation of America' text on the spine as neither of the World Heroes carts has that on them. Also both the ADK and SNK logos are further up the spine.

I understand both those points, on the other side of that though is those games do not use a snap case (maybe I'm wrong?) and are not 1995 releases, only World Heroes Perfect is. The main difference between the snap case and the old case is the insert is 1.5 inches smaller in the snap case which could account for the 2 stripes in question being removed. It may look silly in a snap case cover if those 2 stripes are also included? Are there other games that use a snap case that have those stripes in?

le geek said:

Full Frontal Insert WIP

Cheers,
Ben

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Amazing job as always Ben !!!

Where did you get the front artwork without CS2 logo? Did you remove it by yourself?
If you're agree to share it, i'm really interested to have a copy of this artwork to make some enhancement to my own insert.

@ Razoola : I prefer the 2nd insert but the CS2 logo is too big and hide most of the characters and the artwork. Also fonts used for "NAUSIZZ OF GAUDA..." does not fit well to my point of view.

You can get that part of the knight off one of the other scans NeoturfMasta posted and impose it over the logo. You won't get the floor though. I based the yellow text on the WPH cover, I though it looked very close font wise.

Razoola said:

The main difference between the snap case and the old case is the insert is 1.5 inches smaller in the snap case which could account for the 2 stripes in question being removed. It may look silly in a snap case cover if those 2 stripes are also included?

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Yes, I guess the stripes do look silly and are almost irrelevant on snap lock inserts. As you said, there is a smaller canvas with which to work with on snap lock inserts so everything is more condensed.
One option would be to do what arcade did & have both inserts available. (standard size & snap lock size) Even if you decide to number them, you can just number them both the same as a set as he did.
But none of that is needed really if you yourself just make the final decision regarding the key question. Do you want this to look like a 1992 release or a 1995 release. It matters with regards to what case is used, what design is used, etc. Once you decide which of the two you want it to mimic, then just follow the patterns of that time period.

JacKc said:

If you're agree to share it, i'm really interested to have a copy of this artwork to make some enhancement to my own insert.

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Here you go

Cheers,
Ben

le geek said:

Here you go

Cheers,
Ben

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Thanks for that, I have used it with the mockup snapbox cover I did that people seem to like and also reduced and moved the logo a little.

Do people like this one better than the old one in relation to the cover (old one above)?

My vote goes to the version with the smaller front logo
(the new one)

I knew Kurtz said this was possible. Very cool. Raz the artwork looks great for #2.

Yeah, the one with small logo looks better.

Kind Regards
Macck