Greetings from Norway (new owner of an AES console)

Hello, and thank you for letting me join. I live in Norway and have only now in newer time learned more about Neo Geo, first through the Retrogamer magazine issue covering SNKs history and more recent two weeks ago when I took the plunge and got an AES console complete with several games I have been eager to try.
Games I now own include Flying Power Disc, NAM 1975, Top Hunter, Samurai Spirits, Alpha Mission 2 (sealed, not sure how long it will stay that way, I really want to play the darn thing) and Garou Mark of the Wolves.
I did buy this collection first and foremost as an investment opportunity, and have ordered some tool bits to check the PCBs of the games to make sure they are not fakes, as it sadly seems fakes are flourishing the market.
With that out of the way I must say that I have been having alot of fun with my games so far and have ordered a Bean controller for some multiplayer goodness, and I have invited another collector for some trading tomorrow. Not sure if I am going to buy a Hori stick or another original stick aswell.
Another reason for my Neo Geo interest is that I`m making a bartop Neo Geo arcade for a friend who won a contest I held last christmas for a norwegian gaming site (an annual christmas calendar quiz) so I will probably post more on this forum about that project when I have something cool to show

Welcome to NG.com fellow fan. Sounds like you are going in deep, we like doing that here as you'll no doubt experience.

My only advice would be to private message our moderator, Rot, to enable some the features of the forum for you.

lachlan said:

Welcome to NG.com fellow fan. Sounds like you are going in deep, we like doing that here as you'll no doubt experience.

My only advice would be to private message our moderator, Rot, to enable some the features of the forum for you.

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That is solid advice. Rot is always helpful, day or night. He can also judge the authenticity of any boards you might have and write you a certificate at the meagre cost of €10

That is good to know. I was wondering about sending my games to the neo store for authenticating my games. I will reach out to him when I have taken some pictures.

Welcome to the site. You should be able to pick up and add Samurai Spirits 2 to your collection on the cheap.

Play your games, don't keep them as shelf queens.

ganon said:

I did buy this collection first and foremost as an investment opportunity

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Quoted for posterity.

Who's troll account is this?

ganon said:

Alpha Mission 2 (sealed, not sure how long it will stay that way, I really want to play the darn thing)

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Play it, Neo seals tend to peel off by themselves anyway.

ganon said:

Not sure if I am going to buy a Hori stick or another original stick aswell.

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Buy it, in comparison, "bean" sticks are a waste of money.

Cheers oliverclaude, I will be on the lookout for a Hori then.

@Niko not sure if it`s popular to create troll accounts here, but this is not one. I write as I mentioned on a norwegian site aswell with the same username and you can see pictures of what I have enquired here: http://www.spillegal.no/threads/den-abnormalt-gigantiske-snk-neo-geo-tråden.18935/page-3

It`s in norwegian, but I have heavily pictured the whole unpacking of what I bought. I got it for about 1200$ total so you can see why I mentioned that I saw it as an investment. The lot had been for sale on the norwegian equivalent of craigslist for over a month before I contacted the seller and eventually got it down from ebay prices to what I bought it for.
I have been in contact with another collector that vouches for him, so there is that and the fact he lives very close and we got along and have kept in contact with other trades that makes me pretty sure I have gotten a good deal.
The making of a user on here on the forums was to ask questions about how to authenticate games, what to do next now that I have this system, which games to be on the lookout for etc.

€1200? Without seeing the games, I can tell you MotW is a boot or a conversion in that case. It goes for 3x that amount if complete and mint.

People who see the Neo as an "investment opportunity", dont typically survive here. They think they can come here, buy cheap, flip high, and hoard 4 copies of each game to store in box protectors and put on display behind a glass wall like it's a piece of art.

Dont be like that

ganon said:

...not sure if it`s popular to create troll accounts here...

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There's just so many trolls in Norway, chances are you're one of them.

You should really contact Rot about this, he can confirm wether or not you're a troll if you just send him your life's story in a pm!

@adeneo Hah good point.

So, I can tell some clarifying is needed.

1. I was not familiar with Neo Geo stuff until recently.

2. I found what appeared to be a bargain, or fakes and got hustled, time will tell. Took the plunge.

3. Played the games, enjoyed them.

4. Made account here.

5. Got some more games yesterday through trading. Magician Lord and Sengoku (carts only), Ninja Combat CB, Robo Army CIB, Art of fighting 2 CIB, FF real bout 2 CIB, and Fire Suplex CIB.

So yeah, I am not a CIB collector, mostly have loose retro Nintendo games, and buying this lot was out of the ordinary and hopefully a good future investment as there seems to be a demand for CIB

games. I play games for fun, and am not interested in having them collecting dust on the shelf indefinitely, so I will pass them on after a while. <-- investment part (where I get to sell my games for

more games) And finding a place where the games are appreciated (this community) will help me do it, with me enjoying the games and letting them go people who cares about them.

PS: Mark of the Wolves was not part of the original lot, but a game the seller wanted 800$ for, but after not having any luck selling it locally I got it for 550$ as part of a trade.

I don't ever want to see the words "investment opportunity" on this site.

Go and buy some bitcoins or something.

ganon said:

...buying this lot was out of the ordinary and hopefully a good future investment as there seems to be a demand for CIB games.

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Generally speaking, buying videogames as an investment is not a very good idea.
If you buy them because you enjoy them or like to collect etc, and happen to make some money, I think that's fine.

I think most collectors, myself included, don't like resellers or people trying to take advantage of good deals just to sell at marked up prices, as it just drives prices up for everyone, and makes it harder for the rest us, who actually collect and enjoy the games.

Some of the retro-stuff have gone up a lot in price the last decade, and I think a lot of that is probably middle-aged dudes buying the shit they had as a kid, or the shit they wanted and couldn't afford.
At some point though, that wears of, and people get old and buy other things, dentures, diapers etc.

In a few years you'll have a new lot of middle-aged a-holes that grew up with the Wii, PS3 and what not, that won't have much interest in Neo Geo or older systems, and prices will most likely go down again, at least that's my 2¢.

Yeah sure, I see your point, and agree to a point as well. While it is hard to consider buying games a solid longterm investment I could have just bought a bunch of games from the dude and put it on ebay slightly higher and called it a day, and I wouldn`t have been the first, or the last for that matter, to have done so, (with this particular seller no less, the one who traded me some stuff the other day had bought for about 10k$ from him and resold it afterwards)

However, I only bought the games that interested me, and some were in much better shape than I usually see games in. Especially the sealed game, which I am still on the fence about opening or trade to someone who would love to have a sealed game, and get another opened game and something extra in return. Do I think I`m a better person for seeking out collectors in online communities to make trades/sells instead of flipping it on ebay? No I don`t necessary belive so, but I like the hobby and social aspect of gaming and meeting likeminded people so it`s more fun than trouble for me.

Anyway, my investment statement doesn`t seem to have hold any longer. I have been having real fun with the games so far, and preordered KrautBuster the other day, so now I have another system to play on.
With that said I`m actually going to Manchester to visit the Arcade club the weekend 24.05-26.05 if someone would like to say hello.
I will also be visiting the retro convention "Retrospillmessen" in Norway 22.06-23.06 where they will amongst other things have a KoF-98 tournament as part of the Neo Geo world Tour (I played the game for the first time yesterday, and liked it, but prefer Garou). If anyone is familiar with the gamechasers they have an episode from when they visited the convention in 2016 I belive.

TLDR: Sorry for jumping in like a used car salesman flaunting my wares, not my intention. See you in the other threads.