Crash zone, unreleased 1996 viccom game featuring snk characters.

[SignOfGoob]

Yes, some magazines say “Arcade/Neo” but those were magazines that actually covered Neo. Other mags would just put all arcade games in the arcades section and call it good, especially by 1996 when most people thought the Neo was dead already and the 500 people who were still buying home carts world wide were demographically insignificant.

So whatever is normal for this magazine would have to be determined. It’s pretty obviously Neo though...or some other 90s 68k based system so similar the difference can’t be seen.

One of the original characters looks like Gouki cosplaying as Iori, or the other way around.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

Yes, some magazines say “Arcade/Neo” but those were magazines that actually covered Neo. Other mags would just put all arcade games in the arcades section and call it good, especially by 1996 when most people thought the Neo was dead already and the 500 people who were still buying home carts world wide were demographically insignificant.

So whatever is normal for this magazine would have to be determined. It’s pretty obviously Neo though...or some other 90s 68k based system so similar the difference can’t be seen.

One of the original characters looks like Gouki cosplaying as Iori, or the other way around.

Of course there are always exceptions, but in 1996 I don’t recall any sentiment across gaming publications that the Neo Geo was “dead already” since many popular arcade ports from that era (Street Fighter, Samurai Shodown, King of Fighters, Metal Slug) were either coming directly from Capcom’s CPS2 or the Neo Geo at the time.

 

[Raguy]

Hey whats up BillyJoelZeta. That was the case for most arcade titles, but a lot of Neo Geo games that were covered/previewed back in the day usually mentioned that they were being made specifically for Neo Geo hardware because it also meant that the game would be available to pick up for the home console as well:

This second screen of sengoku 2 is clearly about a beta version.
This firing boss doesn't exist in the final version.
My dream is to play this beta version where the two heroes can fight with bare hands.

 

[SignOfGoob]

Of course there are always exceptions, but in 1996 I don’t recall any sentiment across gaming publications that the Neo Geo was “dead already” since many popular arcade ports from that era (Street Fighter, Samurai Shodown, King of Fighters, Metal Slug) were either coming directly from Capcom’s CPS2 or the Neo Geo at the time.

You and I knew this, sure, punters didn’t. To most people KOF and Street Fighter just went from “the arcade” to the PlayStation. In 1996 the Neo and CPS were at their peak but home cart sales were so low that you’d get more people playing the same MVS machine on one day than you’d sell home carts total worldwide.

If this mag is the Korean version of Gamefan then I would say the lack of any mention of MVS/Neo would almost prove that it isn’t. If it’s a more mainstream mag then I’d say the other case is probably true.

Are there any Game Pro reviews of any AES carts in 1996?

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

You and I knew this, sure, punters didn’t. To most people KOF and Street Fighter just went from “the arcade” to the PlayStation. In 1996 the Neo and CPS were at their peak but home cart sales were so low that you’d get more people playing the same MVS machine on one day than you’d sell home carts total worldwide.

If this mag is the Korean version of Gamefan then I would say the lack of any mention of MVS/Neo would almost prove that it isn’t. If it’s a more mainstream mag then I’d say the other case is probably true.

Are there any Game Pro reviews of any AES carts in 1996?

Sup BillyJoelZeta, Neo Alec already clarified that Neo Geo wasn’t mentioned in the korean article. I definitely agree that it’s safe to say that “Crash Zone” was not specifically a Neo Geo game.

Regarding your statement about home cart sales and AES magazine reviews, I don’t think any of us were positing that AES games in particular were being reviewed in 1996. We were discussing if “Neo Geo” was being mentioned in video game magazines in 1996 when they were discussing new arcade games for the hardware, which they definitely were as seen in the previous magazine scans posted above. Regardless of whether your average gamer was aware of the continued lifespan of the hardware itself, gaming publications were not ignorant of this and continued to report on the games themselves and their multiple ports to home consoles.

Even in the late 90’s when games like Garou Mark of the Wolves and Last Blade 2 were being talked about in gaming magazines back then, the articles made sure to let you know that they weren’t just upcoming “arcade games”, they called out that they were Neo Geo titles specifically.

 

[KGRAMR]

Interesting, so Crash Zone is a game with SNK characters not intended for the Neo Geo hardware. We really do have a weird title to investigate more about it...

 

[Neo Alec]

We can't know if the game was for MVS/Neo Geo or not based on the article alone. It simply doesn't mention it.

We shouldn't expect Korean arcade gamers in the late 90's to care whether the game is MVS or not, so the magazine wouldn't necessarily mention it. It doesn't say it's for different arcade hardware either after all.

The articles you posted were for US gamers in the early 90's who would've been familiar with Neo Geo as a console. The one from Game Pro is console coverage.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

We can't know if the game was for MVS/Neo Geo or not based on the article alone. It simply doesn't mention it.

We shouldn't expect Korean arcade gamers in the late 90's to care whether the game is MVS or not, so the magazine wouldn't necessarily mention it. It doesn't say it's for different arcade hardware either after all.

The articles you posted were for US gamers in the early 90's who would've been familiar with Neo Geo as a console. The one from Game Pro is console coverage.

Sup Neo Alec, fair point; there’s not really a way to confirm one way or another solely based off what is given.

To avoid confusion, those usa magazine scans had nothing to do with the korean article or Crash Zone. That was a separate discussion about the use of the Neo Geo designation during 90’s gaming magazine coverage in general.

 

[Mouse_Master]

Lets shift the perspective.......

At this point in time, how often were SNK characters showing up outside of Neo-Geo produced software (besides direct ports)? 1996 was a rich year for the arcade/MVS side of the house.

Another point to look at is how many other Viccom games are there? I am only aware of Fight Fever and the unreleased (for Neo Geo) Eye of the Typhoon, but are there more known inside the Korean speaking world of gamers?

 

[Neo Alec]

Lets shift the perspective.......

At this point in time, how often were SNK characters showing up outside of Neo-Geo produced software (besides direct ports)? 1996 was a rich year for the arcade/MVS side of the house.

Another point to look at is how many other Viccom games are there? I am only aware of Fight Fever and the unreleased (for Neo Geo) Eye of the Typhoon, but are there more known inside the Korean speaking world of gamers?

Viccom's name is on the Korean releases of Quiz Daisousasen and Quiz King of Fighters (in-game).

 

[SignOfGoob]

Lets shift the perspective.......

At this point in time, how often were SNK characters showing up outside of Neo-Geo produced software (besides direct ports)? 1996 was a rich year for the arcade/MVS side of the house.

Another point to look at is how many other Viccom games are there? I am only aware of Fight Fever and the unreleased (for Neo Geo) Eye of the Typhoon, but are there more known inside the Korean speaking world of gamers?

Sometimes companies erroneously believe they have the rights to something and then end up spending real money on projects that can only be scrapped because things said while drunk and exhausted from a late light business meeting abroad turn out to not be possible. This may have been something like that, in which case it could still be Neo and I’d wager that it was, whatever there is of it.

The reason I say this is because from a financial perspective, since they are a known Neo dev, unless the dev has a way to make more money selling the game on their own PCB then MVS was for sure the platform to use. The carts were like %35 less than a standalone PCB (broad guess) and the MVS was really popular at this time and had been for some years, internationally. Making it for anything other than MVS would have probably been a bad move. I also can’t think of any reason SNK would want SNK chara on non SNK hardware.


They were still communicating by international FAX by this point (or had just transitioned from it) communication was not as smooth as it is now with Xoom and Google Translate and stuff. Whatever went into the game may have been completed between two meetings, and at the second meeting the SNK guy who didn’t make it to the last one said, “Ha! Oh, that looks great! But who said you could this?”.

Or perhaps SNK was totally on board but delayed the project until it eventually became KOF Battle de Paradise. (I only keep mentioning that game because nobody else is for some reason and it’s basically what a portable version of what Crash Zone would be).

 

[Neo Alec]

Viccom seemed to have a very close relationship with SNK, but this would've been the first time they produced their own game with SNK's IP's.

 

[Neo_Mike_81]

Cool to know about this.