Neo Geo AES question

[SpoonyBard]

The Analogue and Omega CMVS units are probably the most polished and definitely the easiest to come across, but if you're not willing to spend that kind of cash on one, you can find a number of superguns or barebones CMVS systems for about half the price.

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you can always build your own supergun too. It's not tremendously difficult. I just finished mine up (aside from painting) over the weekend and with controls built in, it ran me about $300 for the MVS+Parts. It can definitely be done for cheaper than that.

The AES is great, but some games you will want, like Metal Slug, are stupidly expensive if you get them in NTSC-U.

They're pretty expensive regardless of region. Metal Slug 4 (the cheapest by far) can still set you back $400 easily for a JP copy. If you're into the Neo-Geo for Metal Slug, you really should be looking into MVS unless you're really well off.

Does anyone have anything positive to say about the Neo Geo X thingummabob or is it all bad, all the time?

I've yet to see much of anything positive about it. I don't own one, but given the price, the limited number of games and the fact that it's (allegedly poor) emulation - I can't imagine there is much of anything good to say about it.

It's a handheld? I guess that's kind of neat.

[Ghegs]

You can get one far cheaper if you find someone who will build one for you using a MVS 1-slot which looks something like this. My CMVS cost around $250-300 and is similar to that one, though mine has controller ports in the front. Of course the ones fastbilly1 linked to are more aesthetically pleasing, but that shows in the price as well. Functionally they are, however, pretty much the same.

[Fuzzy_Cthulhu]

I'd love the challenge of building something... but if I'm brutally honest with myself I'd probably screw it up. Probably best for me to leave it to the professionals.

[KalessinDB]

To throw in my 2 cents:

I have an AES and a CD system (because I'm a crazy collector with more money than brains -- and I don't really have that much money). I don't have a whole ton of GAMES for either, but I have both systems because I love hardware.

I happened to come into an American AES, which was a nice bonus. It also is of the "sweet spot" in serial numbers with the best video outputs... however, like everyone else has said, there's not a ton of text in most games.

One thing that I would definitely suggest for an AES (and I THINK you can do it on an MVS too but I'm not positive) is getting the Unibios installed. It's a replacement bios that lets you set the region code of your system, lets you change the system between AES and MVS mode, and has a built-in cheat engine.

If you end up getting the CD, region modding it is even simpler, it's literally just a jumper change. You can install a small switch to be able to change it on the fly. And while the load times ARE bad, they're not quite as bad as most people make them out to be (at least I don't think they are personally)

There's also the ability to throw in a Neobitz encoder and get YPbPr output (and S-Video), which I'd recommend if you end up loving it.

[fastbilly1]

And while the load times ARE bad, they're not quite as bad as most people make them out to be (at least I don't think they are personally)

They arent too bad till you see them side by side:

[mjmjr25]

NGCD load times are bad. Yes, that bad.
NGCDZ times improve, but are still bad.

If you are used to playing fighters or shooters on Dreamcast and then play NGCD - it's truly annoying. I'm sure some can stomach it, but for most people, myself included, it breaks any type of rhythm you have when playing a fighter or shooter.

I owned mine all of 2 weeks before I found it painful and got rid of it.

CMVS - you get what you pay for both aesthetically, bios-wise, AV out-wise, etc. $150-200 is your minimum buy-in and $800 is your top end. The games are almost, but not always, cheaper than the AES versions, often drastically so, as noted.

I am enjoying both MVS and AES. AES I try to get if the title is the same, or slightly to moderately more than the MVS version. If it is insane, then I go with MVS (Metal Slugs, Pulstar, Kizuna Encounter, Rage of the Dragons, etc).

If you don't want two systems, but do prefer the AES where price is reasonable, you can alwasy get an MVS-->AES converter or an AES multi-cart.

[ninjainspandex]

Fortunately many of the neo geo games were ported to the saturn and are pretty decent ports, like Metal Slug 1. All pretty cheap so I went that route