SNK's NeoStar System

Xian Xi · Sep 7, 2008

Found this on another site and thought it was interesting.

Via well placed sources close to the developement team working on the
next generation of SNK cartridge machines, information and an
artist's impression has been given for what the next machine to be
launched by the company could look like.

The machine is being considered to be called the Neo-Star, and is a
much bigger system than the one we have all become familiar with for
these past three years. The main differences are obvious from the
artist's impression, showing clearly the new dual CD-1/CD-ROM drive,
able to play special Neo Geo games.

The next major improvement of the machine is the wire-less, Infra-Red
joysticks, allowing the player to sit well away from the machine but
still able to control the action on screen. The other feature is the
new larger capacity memory card, which is a specially created card disk
storage device able to hold 20x more information, and rumoured to be
used in the planned new Home-banking service that would be available
for Japanese users.

The last major external change to the machine is the inclusion of an
Expansion Port that will allow the system to be plugged into a number
of new add-ons due to follow the release of the machine.

The specifications of the unit are still shrouded in secrecy, and will
undoubtedly change as SNK up-grade or down-grade certain features to
keep the machine at a certain price point, but the rough out-line has
been made exclusively to our reader.

The Neo-Star is proposed to be a 32-bit system, against the original
16-bit of the Neo Geo, and will use RISC central processing units, and
is claimed to have a clock speed of around 14.5 MHz, that will make is
seven faster than any of the competition.(five times faster than the
Neo Geo).

The machine is meant to be capable of a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels,
and uses a new Super-Scart system to increase the resolution of the
normal displays it is connected to. No details on the number of colours
or the speed at which it will be able to move sprites around, but we
will have to wait for that information as other manufacturers will also
be keen to know it.

The big news is that the machine is aiming to be able to do polygon
graphics and there is speculation that the Neo-Star could be the first
3D games machine that will be able to create truly interactive virtual
reality style games. The CD-1 Features allows for movie quality
sound/graphics to be played with video game interaction via the
cartridges. The CD-Rom dual feature allows for bigger games to have
extra graphics or information stored on special CD's.

The machine has Infra-Red joystick controllers, as well as sockets for
normal joysticks meaning that four players could take part in one game.
The new joysticks are made to be lighter and more comfortable than the
original with a new "palm grip", and a head-phone socket built-in.
Special surround sound sockets are also included on the machine
allowing it to be plugged into a stereo Hi-Fi to offer mind blowing
sound.

The expansion Port must be the one feature that has the most potential,
with suggestions of a new cable-TV/Modem connector that would allow
multi-player gaming, as well as home-banking features, buying goods off
the TV. Along with a 3D goggles system, and best of all a keyboard
facility, (possibly to be used in-conjunction with the home-banking
features).

For all you Neo Geo owners that do not want to give up their machines,
there is a speculation that SNK are talking about creating a Neo-CD
unit that will allow existing Neo Geo's to be plugged into a kind of
CD drive unit, offering some of the features of the Neo-Star. The unit
is being considered to be launched before the replacement system."

By original poster:

That reminded me, SNK had several, entirely different generations of home & arcade hardware in development that never came out at all, and one that remained arcade-only. The NeoStar was the first of the totally unreleased SNK consoles that I am aware of.

16-bit:
NEO-GEO MVS/AES, NEO GEO CD. SNK's main platform which outlasted all other 16-bit & 32-bit consoles, as well as SNK's own handhelds & 64-bit 2D/3D arcade board.
The original NEO-GEO arcade/home platform was 16-bit, but POWERFUL 16-bit because it had truly arcade quality hardware thanks to powerful custom chips that supported the fast CPUs. Was always hyped as a '24-bit' system which was just silly. Think of NEO-GEO as "industrial strength, arcade-level 16-bit".

32-bit:
NeoStar (mid 1990s, unreleased) At first was the codename for a CD-ROM expansion/upgrade for existing 16-bit NeoGeo but then discovered to be a successor platform with new chipset

64-bit:
Hyper Neo Geo 64 ( 1997 or so, arcade only) SNK's only new hardware beyond NeoGeo MVS. had impressive specs on paper but was SHIT compared to Sega's MODEL 3 board that launched roughly a year earlier. Was somewhat better than PlayStation and perhaps on par with MODEL 2 created in 1993. but ultimately a flop with only a handful of games made.

handheld:
Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Color

'128-bit':
SNK Millennium ( very end of the 90s, early this decade, 1999-2000. This console had super high polygon specs from apparently a Matrox graphics chip, like the peak theoretical polygon & pixel fillrate specs for PS2 and Xbox, only higher. unreleased)

'256-bit'
(SNK Playmore President hinted at the possibility of a Neo Geo system of the same generation as Xbox2, PS3 but nothing more was ever uncovered

tsukaesugi · Sep 7, 2008

Great find.

IIRC quite a few years ago there was another thread about this hybrid system, with a different picture.

It's too bad that Aruze ran SNK into the ground, it would have been nice to see some of this "next-gen" hardware come out.

Praise the Lard · Sep 8, 2008

Pretty neat, isn't this what eventually became the Hyper Neo Geo 64?

I like how the article mentions the "home banking features" numerous times, it's a bit ironic isn't it? Lord knows I wish my AES had some banking features..

n3xt_rekka · Sep 8, 2008

hm, so there's somebody thas knows about the neostar... I believed that this image was a fake...

Tacitus · Sep 8, 2008

Knowing the scale of the homecarts, that thing was easily going to be the size of a fucking steamer trunk.

Awful.

Interesting read though. "Virtual Reality" "Home Banking" all the buzz 90's garbage.

The last thing any Neo owner needs is access to their bank account on their system.

"Congraturations, you have bounced checks to pay for new Ninja Combat cart."

"Aww, round-eye american no be able to afford to eat because he want KOF"

Tarma · Sep 8, 2008

Christ, is it me, or is that design so 1980's?? Look's like some sort of fucked up betamax player. Maybe to real kill it they should have put an LDROM in it instead of a CD...

Now YOU can relive all the action of DRAGONS LAIR in the comfort of your own home....

TheJiggler · Sep 8, 2008

Would've been atrocious. Home banking? computers do have the internet.

The Hyper shits on this thing.

astar617 · Sep 8, 2008

LOL. Steamer trunk... that's great. I have one right next to me, and almost want to dremel an AES-sized slot into the top.

If this had ever been greenlit for production, it would've carried the Atari 5200 torch for 16-bit consoles--sure it might technically capable, but nobody cares because the thing has its own fucking ZIP code.

The more I look at it... the more it looks like the 6000 SUX from Robocop.

joe8 · Sep 9, 2008

Did SNK ever do a design for the console version of the Hyper 64?

Jag-Master · Sep 9, 2008

Banking hmmmm, that thing does sorta resemble an old time cash register

Neo Alec · Sep 9, 2008

There are other threads about this. Look for them. That's a nice picture of it though. Make fun of the design all you want, game systems were more interesting in the early 90's.

Actually, the "banking" thing is a typo. They meant "home baking." It has an oven built-in; that's why it's so big. You see, it's uncommon for Japanese houses to have ovens, so the built-in oven was considered an asset to the design.

joe8 · Sep 9, 2008

The expansion Port must be the one feature that has the most potential,
with suggestions of a new cable-TV/Modem connector that would allow
multi-player gaming, as well as home-banking features, buying goods off
the TV. Along with a 3D goggles system, and best of all a keyboard
facility, (possibly to be used in-conjunction with the home-banking
features).

Wasn't the original Neo Geo AES promoted as though it was going to have home banking in the future, as well as a keyboard for it?

joe8 · Sep 9, 2008

Actually, the "banking" thing is a typo. They meant "home baking." It has an oven built-in; that's why it's so big. You see, it's uncommon for Japanese houses to have ovens, so the built-in oven was considered an asset to the design.

The Japanese seem a little crazy sometimes, so anything's possible. They go for things Westerners don't buy, like used panties openly sold in vending machines on the streets.

TheJiggler · Sep 9, 2008

joe8 said:
The Japanese seem a little crazy sometimes, so anything's possible. They go for things Westerners don't buy, like used panties openly sold in vending machines on the streets.

Then again Japan in the early 90's is different than today. They made tons of different weird ass peripherals and hardware extensions. Now, they really dont do that anymore. too "risky".

Tarma · Sep 10, 2008

Early 90's or not, the design is an absolute abortion imo. Reminds of the monstrosity you could make out of your megadrive by buying all the add ons - megacd, 32X, karoke...

It would have been cool to see a successor to the AES, but not if it looked anything like that!!

Xian Xi · Sep 10, 2008

It reminds me of those all-in-one fake component stereoes from the late 80s early 90s.

Pocketgamer · Sep 13, 2008

wouldn't mind owning one of those bad boys, would like it in a display with monitor sorta like a nintendo or sega kiosk etc.

Neo Alec · Sep 13, 2008

Well, there's always the Neo hotel system if you want something like this in your collection. What I really want is to play the AOF4 cart in the pic.

Ghost-Dog · Sep 17, 2008

Holy shit, that thing looks like it jumped right out of Bladerunner.

Gotta love the electronic designs of the 80's and 90's.

If only this were real, I would buy one, no matter the cost. I really wish someone would release a new cart-based system so that we could experience a 2D revival. Something with the power of the Saturn but with no load times..

n3xt_rekka · Sep 18, 2008

hmmm... a laserdisc instead a cd...
adding the size of the carts and the size of the laserdisk, the result is a machine large like a keyboard...

kuk · Sep 29, 2008

Hello the picture was take in my page on this Neo Star project, :rolleyes:

it's a colored by yvesffr (neogeofans forum) on the only picture of we have publised in a fanzine "The Official NEO GEO Newsletter N°5"

all pictures and textes (only in french...)

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/neogeoCDworld/Dossiers/Protos/Protos.html

TheJiggler · Sep 29, 2008

kuk said:
Hello the picture was take in my page on this Neo Star project,

it's a colored by yvesffr (neogeofans forum) on the only picture of we have publised in a fanzine "The Official NEO GEO Newsletter N°5"

all pictures and textes (only in french...)

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/neogeoCDworld/Dossiers/Protos/Protos.html

LOL

Xian Xi · Sep 29, 2008

kuk said:
Hello the picture was take in my page on this Neo Star project,

it's a colored by yvesffr (neogeofans forum) on the only picture of we have publised in a fanzine "The Official NEO GEO Newsletter N°5"

all pictures and textes (only in french...)

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/neogeoCDworld/Dossiers/Protos/Protos.html

LOL

Obviously someone took it from your site and posted it on another which is where I found it.

SNK's NeoStar System

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