NeoGeo: Unmatched, Global, Priceless

Arcade gaming is a wild frontier. The purest iteration of video games, arcade cabinets have been a fixture of social society for over 50 years. One of the hallmarks of the arcade experience is the lack of consistency. Even though the controls and objective of arcade genres are universally understood, games are not beholden to each other to operate the same way. Joysticks are common, but if the game works better with a trackball, it’ll have one. Steering wheels, light guns, whatever the game wants, it has. And buttons? For some games, one is enough, maybe two. Maybe four. Maybe six. Maybe none at all! And although this is all well and fun, what if there was a unified standard? Would it work?

Back in 1990, SNK tried a bold experiment. What if they could consolize the arcade market, and arcadify the console market? Enter the NeoGeo, based on the Latin for ‘New World.’ It was a standardized hardware setup, easily the most powerful combination of chips and processors of its time, matched with a joystick and four action buttons. The system came in two flavors: the arcade cabinet Multi-Video System (MVS), and the home console Advanced Entertainment System (AES). Outside of aesthetics, the devices inside were identical. Never before was this 1:1 parity sought out and accomplished. MVS cabinets famously featured multiple games selectable from a single unit, a boon for arcade operators wanting to rotate their offerings. And AES consoles were able to brag that they played the exact game found in the arcade, occasionally with options or modes more conducive to home play.

Bridging the AES and MVS together, achievable only by such identical hardware, was the memory card. Predating memory cards later found on the PlayStation and beyond, nearly every game supported its use. Player settings, stage progress, even high scores could transfer to the memory card which inserted into the arcade or console. Home players could continue their games in the arcade and show off their dominance, and arcade players could bring their progress home to practice. You could even just buy a card separately and turn any arcade into your arcade, wherever you would go. This transcendence really set the NeoGeo apart from its arcade and home contemporaries, and this card utility offered an analog networking option no other system could match.

Games were released on cartridges in both AES and MVS forms, primarily released by SNK themselves and their second-parties, with the occasional third-party making an appearance. They all followed the same script: they all used the joystick and up to four buttons, they all displayed a brief ‘How to Play’ tutorial, they all displayed their difficulty level on-screen (Level-4 being standard), they all supported the memory card, and they all shared a distinct look and sound given the NeoGeo’s capabilities. Simply put, you knew a NeoGeo game when you saw it, and it drew you in regardless of what it was. Every NeoGeo game was also required to have a MVS mode and an AES mode, ensuring it would be ready to go for its release on either system and locking in their hybrid nature.

Ideally, the NeoGeo experience was as follows: your arcade haunt would have a NeoGeo MVS cabinet or two, loaded with games old and new at the owner’s discretion. Enjoying these games eventually convinced you to buy an AES for your living room TV, with a game or two you first played in that arcade. You got particularly good at the ones you owned, given their high quality and practice-makes-perfect design, and finally you achieved a final stage. By bringing your memory card and inserting it into the MVS, there’s your accomplishment front and center for everyone to see and admire. Someone comes up next to you, quarter in hand, to challenge your mettle. But they don’t have the home field advantage you do, and their initials sit diminished below your reigning glory. You’re ‘that guy,’ you are great. 

But what’s this? A new game? They must have put this cartridge in last night. Oh and it’s good too! This is real fun. Made it to Stage 3 right when your quarters for the outing ran out. But that’s no problem as you save your progress to your memory card. As it’s a new game, you knew the home release was on its way. A quick pre-order via catalog or game store secured it, and eventually the day came when that hot new arcade game was on the shelf next to your TV. As you pop it in, its familiar attract mode starts, along with a question to load your memory card data. Within moments, you’re back at Stage 3 with all the credits you’ll need to reach Stage 4 and beyond.

Now, that wholesome cutesy story was just the optimal on-paper version of how SNK wanted you to enjoy their products… that very few gamers managed to make happen. Why? Scarcity and price. Mainly price. Oh and one other thing, did I mention the PRICE?? Now I’m gonna be real: everyone played an MVS machine, they really were everywhere from arcades to pizzerias to bowling alleys to bodegas. Everyone had a quarter to mess around with a NeoGeo game which never lasted long as arcade games are punishingly difficult by nature. But no one had an AES machine. No one realistic, mind you. It was a console for the rich. AES systems went for $650 and individual games ran for about $250 each. Each! In the 1990s!! And if you’re rich, let’s be honest, you’re not frequenting the places you found MVS cabinets. Mingling with the plebeians and showing off your memory card, are you serious? (Not to mention they’d probably mop the floor with you.)

And because the literal price for admission was so high, especially in the Western world, the NeoGeo AES barely had a presence in normal retail. Patronage was mostly found in electronic specialty stores, sometimes only ordering in products as personal favors only for their best customers. Games had very low production runs, sometimes skipping a wide release entirely and only available by mail order. So the narrative inevitably changed for the AES, with owners becoming part of an elusive club only known among themselves, building their community in stores by being the very few buying NeoGeo products and fledgling Internet forums that are still active to this day.

Meanwhile the MVS dominated every space a cabinet was set up in, and made short work of making the NeoGeo brand reverent to the masses. Gamers dedicated to Sega, Nintendo, and Sony always made room for SNK and its offerings, a neutral and united agreement among the bitter rivals. Non-gamers couldn't help but stumble upon a machine in their day-to-day, its distinct red-and-white marquee nothing if not familiar. And parts of the world where consoles could not reach welcomed the MVS with open arms, giving anyone with a hard-earned coin a reprieve and taste of the goodness of gaming.

There was something for everyone to love with the NeoGeo. Arcade-goers always had something new (and good!) to play and familiar enough to get good at quickly. Home players were able to build their collections and keep up status with their peers. And the lifestyle for the memory-carders was still supported with the same level of attention for years and years. There was a special place for everyone in the NeoGeo ecosystem, wherever that place was.

All the while the NeoGeo persevered though the 1990s into the early 2000s, steadily releasing games for the mass-market MVS and hardcore AES (with a brief detour into CD gaming, but that’s a different discussion). Even as the tech aged and arcades themselves lost dominion, the MVS still captivated attention and the cartridges were easy enough for operators to keep up with and maintain. The enthusiasts and the rich inversely did their part keeping the AES afloat, with the high prices offsetting the lower volume with just enough profit generated to keep things going ‘just one more year.’

Remember, this whole experiment simply wouldn’t work if the games weren’t among the best the arcade had to offer. We can’t lose sight of the cold hard fact that the NeoGeo has one of the most consistent, high-quality, peerless libraries of any console. Just the mention of a game being for the NeoGeo sets a tone that changes the whole conversation. And the graphics, sound, and gameplay just downright hold up, regardless of the year, and justify their asking price. Just for fun, let’s look at Neo Turf Masters, one of the top-tier and most beloved NeoGeo games. Since its release in 1996, it’s been playable in some form and at literally every price point. Let’s look at how much it has cost to play:

NeoGeo MVS per credit: $.25
NeoGeo AES upon release: $250
NeoGeo CD: $50
PlayStation 2 (in compilation): $20
Wii Virtual Console: $9
Mobile Phones: $4
Modern Consoles: $8
MVS at auction today: ~$400
AES at auction today: ~$30,000
ROM Emulation: free ;)

Look at that! Can you think of any other platform that has games so enigmatic their value ranges from tens of thousands of dollars… to a literal single coin? No other system commands such a range of price with a straight face, and people happy to pay it. What games could be so good that one would want to pay so much when they can pay so little? And the players of every version come together with the same heart and enthusiasm, even the single quarter MVS play.

Everyone knows the NeoGeo. Everyone’s played it. Everyone knows owning one is expensive. And crucially, everyone’s enjoyed their time with it. The NeoGeo occupies one of the most unique niches in the video gaming world and gets away with it. There is no other platform that blends arcade and console so seamlessly, with games that still draw people in. It can be found everywhere in the world, from the living room of someone with money to burn, to the laundromat of a developing country. Stories can be swapped of eBay auctions for AES cartridges sold thousands of dollars, and on the same day paper-and-pencil MVS tournaments could be held in community centers for villagers living without electricity in their homes. Playing the same exact games, mind you. Stories like these are not uncommon and can go back decades, or even up to last week.

Picture a man from Switzerland, a teen from Japan, and a boy from Honduras, huddled around the familiar joysticks and four buttons for a round of King of Fighters ’95, and they're all evenly matched. Three people from different backgrounds in every way. The man overpaid for his cartridge, the teen spent hours in his arcade, and the boy learned from watching the older kids hogging the machine after school. And here they all are, together. Now of course the NeoGeo cannot usher world peace, but there is something so beautiful and poetic about this thought. It’s no secret we’re living an awfully hostile decade, many lashing out in fear of those different from themselves. Easy as it is to get caught up in current events, we need to seek out common grounds more than ever, and remember that a lot of hatred comes from the superficial. The NeoGeo is a touchstone that everyone with simply a love for the game can reach to, all with their own personal history of doing so. There’s a universal joy in playing some timeless and just damn good arcade games, and sharing our skills and stories. From AES to MVS, the NeoGeo is a comfort and a hope, it is special. It represents the New World found right in its name. We need to remember this. We need to celebrate this. For the sake of our global family, we need this.