Your NGCD system? Best? Favorite?

[HMG]

I've had a Neo Geo CD front loader before and it worked pretty well. They may be harder to find but from what I've seen, they seem to be more reliable. Mine just needed a new belt for the drive.

I've never owned a CD top loader, but I do have a bit of anecdotal evidence that it's unreliable. There's always a mountain of them on eBay listed as junk and not working, probably can't read discs. I also know someone on here with a top loader that ended up with a failed laser, he hasn't bothered fixing it.

And the CDZ is too expensive.

I know the CD doesn't get much respect around here, but with the SD loader coming, it's looking better. It at least has an edge in a cheap way to play the low meg games if you are into those.

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

Bought a Japanese top loader in 2018, no issues. It was worth it for Crossed Swords and the best exclusive Crossed Swords II for me.
Kind of regret it that I didn't buy one earlier. The RGB quality is awesome and way better than the RGB quality of my Japanese AES. Running both consoles with good cables (thefoo.83).

 

[titchgamer]

I have 2 jap top loaders, Both run fine.
I am sending one away tomorrow to have a SD loader installed so once its done I will get back to you with my thoughts on it.

But as for the system as a whole if you are not playing fighting games its great!
Sucks ass for fighters though.
Also you can still buy replacement laser assemblies for them (well you could last year) as I got one “just incase”.

I think the pads are the most fragile part but I play mine with custom made sticks so my pads should out last me

 

[Massive Urethra Chode]

I never used NGCD pads until like two years ago. I played Shock Troopers 2 via an MVS to AES converter with one, and honestly i thought the stick was kinda awkward... i didnt like it at all... the NGPC to me is much nicer feeling. Maybe they were worn out, but the general feel of the pad still wasnt for me. Neo geo will always need an arcade stick in my world. I had a SFC pad modded for AES but it too was awful, even worse than the CD pad. To me playing samsho or KOF or FF competently on a pad is impossible.


Yes i am that member HMG speaks of whos NGCD laser died and i never bothered to replace it.. thats just because i had better things to do like worry about MVS and supergun related things. I’ll do it soon i guess.

 

[redfield0009]

I'm on the wait list for a SD loader so I'm eager to finally have an excuse to pull my top loader out of the garage and hook it up.

 

[1992 is real as fuck]

I'll be honest, I'm more interested for the Neo CD as a cheapo game delivery system for my homebrew (if I ever get off my ass to program one) than anything. Loading times are a joke and, to be honest, would have been acceptable if it was SINGLE LOAD like you see in early games converted to the CD format. Fitting the entire game on the console at once.

But of course games on the Neo went overboard with ROM sizes so a lot of the CD library is starved for RAM space, so you have the system "juggling" shit in and out of the CD-ROM way too often, and sometimes to the point of ridiculousness in the SNK fighters that matter.


I'm on the CD SD Loader waiting list, and while I signed up way too late for it I'd still rather wait for that "loading" of the waiting list one time than be subject to the loading on the vanilla CD driven system. It's great for homebrew development, and it finally makes the Neo CD not make you want to kill yourself.

 

[kitkit.com]

Used to own a US top loader and a Japanese top loader but sold them. I still own a CDZ with regional switch. The only CD games I still play on the CDZ are Neo Turf Masters, Iron Clad, Baseball Stars 2, Metal Slug 1 & 2. Although NGCD is not mainstream, I still love NGCD as it brings back all the memories. I remember driving my friend to the SNK headquarter in San Jose and he blew $2,000 on a NGCD system and games back in the days!

 

[redfield0009]

I'll be honest, I'm more interested for the Neo CD as a cheapo game delivery system for my homebrew (if I ever get off my ass to program one) than anything. Loading times are a joke and, to be honest, would have been acceptable if it was SINGLE LOAD like you see in early games converted to the CD format. Fitting the entire game on the console at once.

But of course games on the Neo went overboard with ROM sizes so a lot of the CD library is starved for RAM space, so you have the system "juggling" shit in and out of the CD-ROM way too often, and sometimes to the point of ridiculousness in the SNK fighters that matter.


I'm on the CD SD Loader waiting list, and while I signed up way too late for it I'd still rather wait for that "loading" of the waiting list one time than be subject to the loading on the vanilla CD driven system. It's great for homebrew development, and it finally makes the Neo CD not make you want to kill yourself.

The only "homebrew" I ever made for NGCD was replacing the music in Cyber Lip to tracks from Rob Zombies Hellbilly Delux. That blew my 20 year old mind back in the day.

 

[Neo Alec]

I've never owned the front loader; only played one at a game store back in the day. They are pretty nice-looking.

My pick would have to be the CDZ with the bottom metal shielding removed.

 

[NeoSneth]

Your anecdotal evidence is likely just that.
Front loaders were the first, so it's likely they ended up in the hands of people that really wanted a Neo. They have more moving parts.
Top loaders have a much higher production run. Of course you will see more of them in non working condition, but you will also find more of them in working condition.

Check compatibility with the SD loader. I thought they had some guidance around which model to get.

 

[ysselcneogeo]

Love my CDZ and well worth the investment. I've had it since 06 now and it gets regular weekly play and still works like a champ.

 

[GohanX]

I had a toploader first, then got a CDZ. The toploader was cool, but there were a good chunk of games that I found unplayable due to load times, which was fine at the time since I mostly just got it for shooters that were (at the time) cheap on CD and expensive on MVS. Then the CDZ fell in my lap and it really opened up the library since a lot of the fighters were now actually playable. If it weren't for the Z I probably wouldn't have half the games I have now on CD.

That said, I'm looking forward to installing Furrtek's ODE in a toploader and trying it out.

 

[titchgamer]

Check compatibility with the SD loader. I thought they had some guidance around which model to get.

Yeah its only compatible with the top loader atm.

Hes working on the front and CDZ.

 

[famicommander]

I have a toploader with a NeoBiosMasta and UNIBIOS. I'd like a UNIBIOS'd CDZ but not for the price they tend to go at, so I'm happy with what I have.

I've had it for like 12 years. Great system, and an excellent complementary piece to an MVS. The fighting games are generally cut down and have intolerable load times but most other games are pretty much 1:1 with the AES/MVS versions for a much lower price.

 

[oliverclaude]

I use my CDZ since many years now and never had a problem with it. NTM works and looks great, I actually prefer to play it on CD. Comparing soundtracks is fun, too. I don't know if loading is actually significantly faster, but it's region free and its grays look slick.

 

[cr8zykuban0]

I own a cdz and a neo top loader. had the cdz for almost 7 years and love it! I got the top loader for cheap but would also love a front loader. really dig the design of the top loader.

 

[wyo]

I still have the EU/PAL toploader I bought used in '96 with a handful of games. The N64 had just been released but I wasn't on board for 3D fagit shit.

Modded it to PAL60 and a couple of years back I fixed a worn out part that was causing random resets. The original pads didn't stand the test of time. Other than that, it's been very reliable.

I've never owned a frontloader or CDZ but I do have a spare JP toploader I got from Neo Ash, which I plan on installing Furrtek's SD Loader into.

The NGCD puts out the best quality picture and sound of any piece of Neo hardware and the build quality is superior to the AES. Open one up sometime, if you haven't. It makes most other consoles look like Fisher Price toys.

 

[bulbousbeard]

Now that it's possible to play the MVS carts with redbook audio in MAME with no load times/no missing animation the appeal of the Neo CD has fallen off a cliff.

 

[titchgamer]

Now that it's possible to play the MVS carts with redbook audio in MAME with no load times/no missing animation the appeal of the Neo CD has fallen off a cliff.

Bit of a difference between mame and original hardware though.

 

[Massive Urethra Chode]

The NGCD puts out the best quality picture and sound of any piece of Neo hardware and the build quality is superior to the AES. Open one up sometime, if you haven't. It makes most other consoles look like Fisher Price toys.

This is so true, yet i rarely hear anyone mention it. The build quality of the top loader CD is far better than the AES. It’s S-video output is fantastic, cleaner than the Sega Saturn, for example.... on one of my TVs the NGCD in svid may as well be RGB.. i feel no need to even buy a NGCD rgb cable... i hear the CD has cleaner RGB than the AES too though

I find it ironic that the AES was the most expensive and high end LUXURY console.. the Ferrari of consoles of in its day.. yet it easily has the WORST build quality of any of its contemporaries. The AES’s plastic shell feels so light and crappy. And it cracks and damages easily, like the Sega Master System. NEO•GEO... its a NO•GO

The AES also has pretty ugly composite output in a lot of cases... the SNES especially the TurboGrafx-16 are much prettier in that regard. Another AES related complaint I have is the original old style sticks are just terrible in my opinion... why do the buttons have to be at such an unnecessarily STEEP angle? It doesnt work for my hands. I prefer the first generation CD “bean” sticks that were marketed with the front loader NGCD... those are my favorite SNK controllers ever. The oldstyle sticks have the same build quality issues as the AES itself, and the beans feel more solid like the NGCD.

Off topic, but i find it annoying when people insist the AES should only be referred to as “the home cartridge system” because apparently Dion Dakis and NGF started calling the home cart AES to differentiate it from the MVS.. and some people have NGF-related trauma that the term “AES” triggers... for fucks sake, arcade stuff also frequently says “ADVANCED ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM” on it... also 1 slot boards arent technically “multi” video systems... i’ve seen big red cabs that say simply “NEO•GEO SYSTEM” because they only hold one game. I only really say “home cartridge” and “arcade cartridge” to refer to different neo geos to explain to non-hardcore gamers the difference between them.. AES and MVS are convenient terms for every other time, even if they arent technically correct... all MVS’s are AES’s, but no AES’s are MVS’s... lolz

 

[Lach]

Calm the fuck down stefan.

 

[titchgamer]

Shiittt who pissed on your cornflakes this morning chode??

 

[FilthyRear]

Now that it's possible to play the MVS carts with redbook audio in MAME with no load times/no missing animation the appeal of the Neo CD has fallen off a cliff.

You should fall off the cliff with it.