NEO•GEO Premium Selection

[Fygee]

Shinkiro doing SNK artwork again just warms my soul.

Anyways, I think it's neat. Adding rollback netcode, artwork, a better training mode, yada yada is good stuff. Just needs to be priced correctly.

Like Grandmaster-C said, it's super odd to me that this and other newer release jukeboxes don't feature any of the original ASTs at all. You'd think they'd lost the original masters or there was some legal thing preventing it.

 

[Fygee]

I picked up KOF 98 Final Edition and KOF 2K2 Ultimate Match recently for 99 cents each. Those also came with online, extra features and even extra content that can't be accessed in "Neo Geo" mode. I'm not sure why these are way pricier or why SNK can't seem to figure out how to create awesome new things for their audience.

They didn't cost a buck when they were brand new. IIRC they were $20 or somewhere close to it?

 

[Viewpoint]

Saw this. I didn't see if they unlocked Alfred without having to input a code or something but yeah I saw him in the trailer so I'm assuming he's able to be played now.

 

[city41]

Online battle, training mode, jukebox ... all of that can be done with rom hacks and fightcade. The Neo just needs a better rom hacking scene.

If I had infinite time I'd make a jukebox app where you load it with the entire Neo collection and then you can make playlists, randomize, etc.

 

[HellioN]

Saw this. I didn't see if they unlocked Alfred without having to input a code or something but yeah I saw him in the trailer so I'm assuming he's able to be played now.

He's there.
Unlocked from the gate but no character select portrait.
Apparently you have a dedicated "Alfred" button.

 

[Burning Fight!!]

Online battle, training mode, jukebox ... all of that can be done with rom hacks and fightcade. The Neo just needs a better rom hacking scene.

If I had infinite time I'd make a jukebox app where you load it with the entire Neo collection and then you can make playlists, randomize, etc.

Now to be fair that *is* effort, and commendable. But not as premium as SNK seems to think, imo.

 

[KGRAMR]

I do like the idea of having the most complete version of the game, with all the bells and whistles from the home console ports. Like with Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: where it includes Alfred from the home console version as a playable character. But to be honest, 10$ bucks per game would have been the sweet spot for anybody interested in the game.

 

[Neo Alec]

[...] why SNK can't seem to figure out how to create awesome new things for their audience.

City of the Wolves is an awesome thing, but that audience they maybe hoped they had doesn't exist.

Old folks like us care about SNK, but not enough of us care enough about modern gaming. The younger generation of SNK fans doesn't exist in large enough numbers unfortunately.

 

[Neo Alec]

Online battle, training mode, jukebox ... all of that can be done with rom hacks and fightcade. The Neo just needs a better rom hacking scene.

If I had infinite time I'd make a jukebox app where you load it with the entire Neo collection and then you can make playlists, randomize, etc.

Sure that's great, but fan hacking will never be the same as having it part of an official release.

I do like the idea of having the most complete version of the game, with all the bells and whistles from the home console ports. Like with Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: where it includes Alfred from the home console version as a playable character. But to be honest, 10$ bucks per game would have been the sweet spot for anybody interested in the game.

The original Neo Geo release is the complete version, and always will be the most complete version.

 

[Neo Alec]

Like Grandmaster-C said, it's super odd to me that this and other newer release jukeboxes don't feature any of the original ASTs at all. You'd think they'd lost the original masters or there was some legal thing preventing it.

AST's would increase the download size, but probably by a negligle amount by today's standards. They included a ton of extra music in COTW. The game may be running under emulation, and updating the code to play different music rather than what's already baked in may have beem more than they were willing to do.

 

[city41]

Sure that's great, but fan hacking will never be the same as having it part of an official release.

Eh, an SNK that is now like 5 owners removed and owned by someone who put a stupid soccer player in their game? The SNK we know and love has been dead for decades, so to me the "official" releases are meaningless.

 

[Neo Alec]

Eh, an SNK that is now like 5 owners removed and owned by someone who put a stupid soccer player in their game? The SNK we know and love has been dead for decades, so to me the "official" releases are meaningless.

I know. I'm saying all the same.

Star Wars fans often still admit episodes 7-9 are canon even if they hate the Disney buyout. Official is official, and more people will access it.

 

[NeoSneth]

patch to make SvC playable?

 

[Viewpoint]

He's there.
Unlocked from the gate but no character select portrait.
Apparently you have a dedicated "Alfred" button.

Thanks.~

Edit: Complete Bells and whistles should include both the arcade and NeoGeoCD versions of the soundtrack.

 

[Yoshi]

KIZUNA ENCOUNTER: SUPER TAG BATTLE on Steam

Sudden-death tag team turmoil—with weapons! KIZUNA ENCOUNTER: SUPER TAG BATTLE rises from its 1996 arcade roots in this enhanced Steam edition. Includes rollback netcode for seamless online play, a swathe of new features, and a bonus jukebox and media gallery—plus even lets 4 players fight at once!

store.steampowered.com

 

[HellioN]

 

[Neo Alec]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1977080640555434394

I don't believe it's a separate build. This is in the normal game rom, and can be unlocked with a Unibios.

 

[KGRAMR]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1977080640555434394

I don't believe it's a separate build. This is in the normal game rom, and can be unlocked with a Unibios.

At least it is something different. The 4-player version was intended for use with a link cable right?

 

[lithy]

At least it is something different. The 4-player version was intended for use with a link cable right?

Not link cable, a special MV-1B bios and another board that split the signal to two JAMMA edges.

Newest 4 Player Setup at home. Kizuna Encounter Super Tag Battle Special Version.

So after a week trying to get the full 4 player enabled on this interface thanks to some useful information from a few dudes on here I finally got it working 100%. This fully changes up Kizuna Encounter and makes it soo much more fun to play! Very happy and fortunate to have this amazing piece...

www.neo-geo.com

 

[Neo Alec]

Actually I believe there's a separate (possibly earlier) revision of the rom floating around and in MAME called kizuna4p, but again, it's already dumped.

 

[NeoCverA]

Can 4 player be done on Mister?

 

[city41]

Not link cable, a special MV-1B bios and another board that split the signal to two JAMMA edges.

Huh, I wonder how that works. How can the bios discern four player inputs with standard Neo hardware?

 

[lithy]

Huh, I wonder how that works. How can the bios discern four player inputs with standard Neo hardware?

It seems reasonably well documented (he says as someone that doesn't necessarily understand what it all means) and there have been a couple people over the years that have made efforts at reproducing the board but it seems like it always peters out before reaching a stage of finalizing everything.

NEO-FTC1B board - NeoGeo Development Wiki

wiki.neogeodev.org

Neo geo Kizuna Encounter 4p board

I know of the NTM repro but has there been any work put into a more widely available repro board? Is this on anyones radar as a project at all?

www.arcade-projects.com

I'd like to try it at some point, but it's just the one game. So it's tough to want to spend tons to do so. Although I think the Block Panic DX 4 player is implemented the same way so that could be another reason to justify some expense I guess.

 

[Neo Alec]

Interesting to document, but with a Unibios you can play the same thing on one screen (even on an AES), and you just have to pass controllers.

 

[city41]

NEO-FTC1B board - NeoGeo Development Wiki

wiki.neogeodev.org

Ah, there is additional hardware.

I'm not a hardware guy at all, so this might be wrong. But I *think* it does this:

The BIOS sets the output wire either high or low depending on which set of players it wants the inputs from. The board reads those controllers and returns the corresponding inputs. Those inputs come into the Neo via the same REG_P1CNT/REG_P2CNT as any other game, but the BIOS knows which player they are for as it set the output line, so it copies them off into memory, where then Kizuna Encounter can read it.

If that is correct, it would only read inputs at 30fps, which is not great for a fighting game, but probably still good enough as this is really just a novelty.