Neo Geo and variants
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Top: The Neo Geo MVS. Middle: The Neo Geo AES. Bottom: The Neo Geo CD. | |
Developer | SNK |
---|---|
Type | Home video game console, arcade system board |
Generation | Fourth generation |
Release date | 1990 |
Discontinued | 2004 |
Emulated | ✓ |
The Neo Geo MVS (Multi Video System) arcade system was first released by SNK Corporation on January 1990 in Japan and on August 22, 1990 in NA. The Neo Geo AES (Advanced Entertainment System) home console was released on July 1, 1991. MVS and AES are technically the same systems, but their cartridges are not compatible with each other due to a different layout. The AES was retailed for $649.99. It had a Motorola 68000 at 12MHz and a Zilog Z80A at 4MHz with 64KB RAM and 84KB VRAM.
Neo Geo CD (NG-CD) was the CD version of the AES (not compatible with the game cartridges) released in January of '96 and $399. It had a Motorola 68000 CPU at 12 MHz with another CPU that being a Zilog Z80 at 4 MHz. It had 7MB of RAM.
Hyper Neo-Geo 64 (HNG-64) was the successor to the Neo-Geo with 3D graphics, there was no home console release. It was released in September of 1997 and had an NEC VR4300 at 100 MHz with 16MiB of RAM.
When emulating Neo-Geo games with RetroArch, the Neo-Geo BIOS files need to be in the game directory.
Emulators
Name | Platform(s) | Latest Version | NG | NG-CD | HNG-64 | Libretro Core | FLOSS | Active | Recommended |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PC / x86 | |||||||||
MAME | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
0.264 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓[N 1] | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
FinalBurn Neo | ![]() ![]() |
WIP builds | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
RAINE | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
0.96.7 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✓ | ✓ |
FinalBurn Alpha | ![]() |
0.2.97.43 | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Xe | ![]() ![]() |
2.16.2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ✗ |
Kawaks | ![]() |
1.65 | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
GnGeo | ![]() |
Git | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ✗ |
NeoRAGEx | ![]() |
5.4e | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ✗ |
Consoles | |||||||||
GxGeo | ![]() |
r23 | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
UOmvspsp | ![]() |
2.3.1 | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ✓ |
UOncdzpsp | ![]() |
2.3.1 | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ✓ |
Virtual Console | ![]() |
n/a | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
- ↑ As 0.153 (2014), 0.139 (2010), 0.78 (2003)
Emulation issues
- Hyper Neo-Geo 64 is poorly emulated. MAME is the only available option and, for now, Round Trip RV is the only game barely playable to the end. Excluding that title, no other game is working without nasty graphic errors, slowdowns (no matter what type of CPU/GPU you have) and terrible, glitchy sound emulation. There was a notable update for the MAME driver by Haze in 2018, but don't expect for good emulation in the short future. Hyper Neo-Geo 64 is one of the last pre-2000 Arcade platforms not playable on emulators by a "big" Arcade company.
Online Emulation On Web Browsers
Neo Geo is being emulated also on Web Browsers. Here is https://emulatoronline.xyz to play online. What great is the games can be played on mobile devices too. The online emulator detects the device and activates the virtual gamepad. It is also possible to save and load game.