Neo Geo indoor amusement & brand expansion...

In the early 90's the SNK development teams ultimately fueled 3 pillars under the Neo Geo brand:

• arcade hardware (via the Neo Geo Coin Operated Machines Department)
• indoor amusement (via Administration of Amusement Facilities Department)
• home entertainment (via the Neo Geo Home System Department)

Let's look at the often unsung 2nd pillar of SNK's market focus and their brand expansion beyond video games.

SNK ambitiously sought to make the Neo Geo label synonymous with many forms of indoor entertainment apart from just video games and simple game centers. In addition to electronic games, the Neo Geo label was also famously attached to SNK's indoor entertainment locations. So as not to risk retreading too much information about Neo Geo Land Sports Amusement Parks, I'll just mention that they featured game center entertainment, karaoke, bowling lanes, and more.

Bowling tournament sponsorships and entertainment events were prominantly adorned with the Neo Geo banner and reinforced the concept that the brand was meant to represent fun beyond the confines of digital enteratinment.

SNK Neo Geo Cup Bowling Tournament '94

In addition to the product line of gaming systems ranging from arcade hardware to portable systems, there is another less celebrated piece of the neo hardware legacy:

The Neo Print


Essentially, a modified MVS photo machine; the Neo Print serves as an interesting example of how SNK explored expanded applications for the Neo Geo hardware in addition to the Neo brand itself.

SNK's heavy focus on the amusement industry as a whole was an interesting strategy that quickly seperated the company from many of its contemporaries in the 90's. Even though changing market conditions would prove to be a factor of their undoing, the strategic wide expansion of the Neo Geo brand no doubt played an integral factor in SNK's quick acquisition of a strong domestic fanbase. It is a shame that the amusement pillar was only limited to strong domestic support. It would have been great to see the expansion of the indoor Neo Geo Amusement Park concept overseas. With tournament gaming, cosplay, and japanese pop culture conventions growing in popularity across the globe today, had things played out differently, perhaps Neo Geo Land locations could have been hotspots for these events and a continued source of Neo sponsorship in the modern era.

The bowling video was pretty cool, SNK/Neo Geo hosted local events is news to me. You're pretty much the only one dredging this kind of information up here, keep it up!

I'd always heard of a neo print machine, cool to finally see one. Also, that video is rad, cool to see SNK was about more than just the Neo Geo.

You can see the design of the photo boot resembles the Mini Neo. I always felt the team behind all the hardware designs was pure genius, so many different cabs, most of them follow a very close pattern. The wood cabs were phenomenal, the first one being the absolute best, the curves, so well made. Even though wood cabs are all a dime a dozen and what have you, it is curious to see how SNK approached that venue with the MVS. The cab is perfect for what it is. The colors, the looks, art direction is a constant with SNK hardware. Before Neo, NES SNK had this very peculiar and classy look, all the titles had this vibe, aside from BBS of course. I feel that vibe was reproduced with the goldie cabaret, I so wish they made a US cocktail, sorta like the Taito ones, so classy. I'm not sure whether SNK subbed out the US arcade design or they just had their JP team do it. The NGPC, another constant. Everything about it felt SNK, I know it sounds dumb but you know what I mean, just holding it alone feels like an SNK product, it's a constant. Dat stick...no homo, lol.

Thanks for posting - only just spotted this. Great video. The bowling centres certainly seemed popular across a number of locations - just shows SNKs reach in that 1993/94 period. That really was their prime time.