My Neo Geo story...

I'm fighting some stupid insomnia right now, so while I wait for the melatonin to take effect, here's my Neo Geo story.

I guess it started during the whole Street Fighter II craze. Everyone was lining up to play this pretty awesome fighting game. I'd always get my ass kicked, no matter who I played as. SFII was everyone's first foray into the fighting game genre.

One day after school on a Friday, my friends and I went to the arcade to hopefully get some time in before all the best players got there and occupied the SFII machine for the rest of the night. While exchanging cash for tokens, I noticed a big, red machine. It seemed to have 4 games that were selectable, including one called Fatal Fury. A few people were playing it. It looked Street Fighter like, but only had 3 selectable players. 

I took a chance and played a few rounds. The game felt...stiff...the first time playing it. I wasn't used to the scaling of the characters, being able to go to the background and foreground for the fight. The move marquee was there, so I practiced with Terry Bogard, getting the Power Wave and Crack Shot moves down. All in all, the gameplay was fun, but really didn't make it that far into the game before going back to SFII. 

A few months or so later, Art of Fighting came out on the big red. It had many attributes that were similar to SFII, but the whole stamina gauge, it felt more strategy than fighting, and I just wanted to spam fireballs at my opponent. I wasn't a huge fan of that game, so back to SFII...and I think Mortal Kombat was out then as well.

As time went on, more games were released for the Neo Geo. Fatal Fury 2 was the next game that I played, and immediately fell in love with. As a typical male teen, I used Mai Shiranui as my main. It was mainly for her sprites, but after learning her moves, I mained her because it was easier to do combo moves. Kim Kaphwan was my second. Just gotta love that air kick move he does.

Now, it wasn't just for the fighting games that were good. The Neo Geo had some action games and puzzle games that I loved playing. In college, I fell in love with Bust a Move. It was a unique puzzle game that I just couldn't stop playing at the arcade. Magical Drop II was another one that was fun to play. But the fighting game I loved playing was The King of Fighters '94. KoF brought all the Neo Geo fighting game characters into one fighting game. 

With the release of KoF '94, I felt I needed to invest into getting a Neo Geo AES (home console). My friend, Sam, had one that he was selling off along with KoF '94 and another game. I bought it from him and played the hell out of it. I wanted to get more games, but all the games were pricey. And, since it was before internet shopping became a thing, I had to mail order games. The risk was the same as it is today. In most cases today, you could always do a charge back or dispute it. When sending out a check for a mail order, your risk never seeing your game or your money ever again.

Since it was hard to get another game without major risk, I ended up trading the Neo Geo AES for a modified PlayStation and Tekken 2...Biggest mistake of my life. I do love that PlayStation (I still have that thing, modded with an Xstation), but I still miss having that Neo Geo.

To sate my Neo Geo appetite, I tried emulators with my slow Windows '95 machine. At the time, the better Neo Geo emulator was Neo Rage X. To get it to run on my old computer, there was a lot of setting that I needed to change on my computer in order to get it to run at a decent speed with minimal frame skipping. I also didn't have a decent controller, so playing Breakers (another fighting game) was hard with a keyboard.

From there on, I've been trying to get my hands on another Neo Geo home console. However, because of the niche market the Neo Geo has, it was very costly. I gave up on that dream and kept on using emulators to play games. I've even gone so far as to get Neo CD games burned and play them on my Dreamcast via emulation. That was probably the best I could do to play any Neo Geo game. 

It was probably about the same time I discovered Neo-Geo.com. It was there that I discovered their marketplace, but also, I learned about consolizing arcade boards. Through the market place, I bought some of the Neo Geo MVS (arcade) carts and an MVS board. That's about the time I started this blog.

I acquired all the parts that was needed to consolize the MVS board and built it up. I was very excited to be playing KoF '94 again like I did with my AES. Shortly, I bought a different MVS board and consolized that, using parts from my first project. I also went ahead and bought up a bunch of games as well, ending up with a very hefty collection of Neo Geo games to play.

Later, I was able to get a Neo Geo CD console for insanely cheap, including free shipping. It did not have an adapter for it, but I managed to find one that works fine. All the old burns that I made for the Dreamcast emulator all worked perfect with the Neo CD. 

A few years later, I finally achieved something that I've always wanted since the first day I discovered the Neo Geo: An actual MVS arcade cabinet! I've already highlighted the plight I had with it to get it to where it was in a better working condition today...mechanically. Cosmetically, I still need to work on that. 

And here we are, about 30 or so years later. I still have my consolized MVS 2-slot board, my MVS-4 cabinet, and a Neo CD. I've since bought a 161-in-1 cartridge for the arcade cab, a NeoSD for my consolized Neo Geo, and a Neo SD Loader for the Neo CD. 

Once in a while, I will power on one of them and play a game of KoF, Metal Slug, or Bust A Move for hours, still having the exciting feeling that I had when I was a teenager. I don't think that feeling will ever leave me. 

....If the story went wonky, it's because the melatonin kicked in...