NeoGeo AES purchase. Good deal?

[Thierry Henry]

Ok so I've managed to find an AES system on eBay, one that won't break the bank(my bank at least ).

As with my previous NeoGeo CD system purchase, I have hardly any experience at all regarding NeoGeo stuff. So just asking whether I found a decent enough deal here?
This auction wasn't really misspelled but there was no mention of the word 'system' in the item name. So many probably would have missed it, I guess?

The seller mentioned that the whole package (console and controllers) are in great working and cosmetic condition and he also specified a serial number of 280793. Whatever that means.
Anyway, my winning bid was for $118.59.
One last thing, the red knobs on those AES controllers, is that a standard thing or might that indicate that they have been replaced?

[dedalusdedalus]

No clue about the red knobs.

I don't know what shipping ran, but that's a wicked deal you got on the AES.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Yeah, the knobs have been replaced, the originals tend to dry out and crack due to having been made from crappy plastic.

Also the thing with the serial number is that earlier AES consoles tend to have higher quality parts resulting in cleaner sound with deeper bass and a better picture.

[Inazuma]

That's a very high serial number. The video quality is likely very poor. According to what I read, all AES consoles have less than perfect video quality since the original, pure video signal is degraded before it leaves the machine. The lowest serial numbered consoles are the best of them all due to minimal degradation; the ones above that are a little worse and the highest serial numbered ones are the worst.

However, there is a way to bypass the part of the machine that degrades the video signal so you can get the original clean signal with any serial number console.

Another thing is the bios. There is a really nice custom bios you can install on the AES that will allow you to toggle your games between MVS/AES and Japan/USA/Europe regions. You can also easily activate Game Genie like codes during gameplay.

Lastly, the AES puts out mono sound normally so you will need to use the headphone jack at the front to get stereo (like the Mega Drive model 1). I've seen custom RGB cables that include a wire to pick up on the headphone stereo, so you might want to consider that too.

I don't own a Neo Geo AES yet but I have recently been considering buying one so I've been doing some research on it. Hope I helped.

[Tercoil]

thats a great deal!
but with the red knobs im not 100% sure but im quite certain that means they have been replaced. all the aes knobs i've seen are like a dark purplish colour and i do know that these have the tendancy to crack thus making replacements more likely haha!

but even still madd deal

[pepharytheworm]

From japanese and chinese sellers I see it go for around that price regularily and with two controllers. Not always with memory card or a game though. I would say the price isn't a steal but you weren't ripped off and did a lot better then some auctions ended at. By the way where is the country of orgin for the console and is it US, PAL, or JP version. US versions tend to sell higher then the others. And what was the shipping?

[Breetai]

Decent deal! You definitely didn't get ripped off. It's probably a lower than average price. Plus, you got a memory card, so that's a bonus!

The memory card looks different than mine. Perhaps this is an American model?

As others have said, the knobs on the joysticks were either replaced or painted(!).

[Thierry Henry]

Thanks for all the replies and in particular - Inazuma. Very informative.

The system is NTSC-J. And the shipping was a tad over $100. Keep in mind though that I'm from South Africa and I've regularly been quoted amounts of between $150-180 in shipping costs for similarly weighted items.

[pepharytheworm]

Thanks for all the replies and in particular - Inazuma. Very informative.

The system is NTSC-J. And the shipping was a tad over $100. Keep in mind though that I'm from South Africa and I've regularly been quoted amounts of between $150-180 in shipping costs for similarly weighted items.

I figured it was the jp version, but if the shipping for you is around $65 cheaper for you then that makes the deal even better. Most jp sellers would ship it to the US for $70-$90 ems so thats only $10 more for you. Which method are they shipping to you? I hate SAL (by boat) it takes almost 3 months. Hopefully they don't realize they undercharged for shipping and change the price or switch it to a slower method of shipping. Enjoy your new console.

[dedalusdedalus]

So, what games are you thinking of getting for your AES?

The AES is God's way of telling a gamer that he has too much money...