Every Unreleased Game Systems

did the neo geo cd come out or was that canned too?

 

it came out, along with the neo geo cdz.

 

what was the neogoe cdz?

 

CDZ was an upgraded Neo geo CD...and by upgraded, I mean it had a faster CD drive.

 

oh wow...and snk thought that deserved a new name?......the xbox had 3 different dvd drives but they didnt call it xbox 1,2,3

 

it had the same speed though. And belive me when i say this, loading times on a neo geo cd game running at 1x where pretty damn long, so you do like it when you hear the release of a 2x drive speed neo-geo cd, and it's was a big enough feature to be in the name (since it was the only thing the neo geo cdz had over the original one too)

 

CDZ has a 1x speed cd rom drive also, the upgraded feature is only more cache memory, which means a few seconds quicker loading, the bios/splash into sequence, and design.

There is a third Neo Geo CD, the original limited production front loading console, which is standard NGCD standard with a tray instead of flip top drive, it also shipped with the Pro *kidney* joystick instead of joy pads.

 

i'm sure i heard about a 2x speed neo geo cd, and they called it cdz. Maybe another version?

 

I'm seeing alot of posts about SNK Neo-Geo hardware. time to run down the list of hardware that SNK has *developed* (but often went unreleased) that has been mentioned in magazines and on the internet.


(1)
SNK Neo-Geo MVS (arcade) and AES (home console) developed from 1988 to 1989-1990. the MVS arcade units came in 1989 or 1990 - the AES home console units came out in 1990. this is the 16-bit Neo-Geo that most people are familar with. very successful - lasted 12-15 years.

(2)
SNK NeoStar - early to mid 1990s - 32-bit CD-ROM system which was either an UPGRADE for the existing 16-bit system (ala 32-bit SNES CD-ROM Nintendo Disc) or a standalone system. never came out. but was intended to be used for banking and gambling.

(3)
SNK Hyper Neo-Geo 64. mid to late 1990s - 64-bit 3D polygon capable Neo Geo system with enhanced sprite capabilities - ended up being used in arcades only - no home unit released. probably a home unit was planned though. In the end, the only CD-ROM that came out was a CD-ROM unit based on the original 16-bit NeoGeo MVS/AES technology, and this was released, but not the 32-bit NeoStar

(4)
SNK Millenium 128 circa late 1990s to about the year 2000 - a 128-bit system that used a Martrox graphics processor / accelerator capable of many millions of polygons per second, far more than Hyper 64. the SNK Millenium 128 would have been a NeoGeo to compete in the Dreamcast and Playstation2 era. it never appeared.


(5)
the SNK Playmore president, in 2003, even talked about the possibility of a future Neo Geo system for the "256-bit" era, the same era as Xbox2/Xbox360, Playstation3 and Gamecube2/Revolution.



this is FIVE seperate generations of Neo-Geo hardware that SNK either developed or was/is planning on developing. obviously only 2 of these generations were ever seen:

1.) The 16-bit MVS / AES (and CDROM systems)
2.) The Hyper Neo Geo 64 in arcades.

 

No pics - and not really a stand-alone system.

http://www.classicgaming.com/colecofaq/

There's a section about the "super game module" on this faq (3.2: Hardware known not to exist)

Scroll down on this site, though
http://my.ohio.voyager.net/~ngsippel/cv.html
to "My Current Wants" - and there's a pic of the Super Game Module prototype.

That's pretty much all there is about this "microwafer" thing, but I'm sure I've seen the pic elsewhere and read in another site about the same thing.

 

Isn't there supposedly a version of the VirtualBoy, but with red, green and blue LEDs locked away deep in Nintendo R&D1?

Canned due to the extreme costs of RGB colour.

 

here's some additional info on the Taito WoWoW console


* it was an advanced 16-bit console - most likely based Taito's 16-bit arcade hardware that powered one of the Darius games -

therefore it would've been more powerful than the PC-Engine, Megadrive and probably the SNES as well - although perhaps not quite as powerful as the NEO-GEO (thus my own speculation)

*it used CD-ROM

* could download games via satellite




http://darkwatcher.psxfanatics.com/console/wow.htm

 

i will always remember SNK for there 2d games.....they were the kings....and still are
they just never really translated that brilliant 2d into 3d....
imagine metal slug 3d.....

ahem.......little off topic there


the original GBA was going to have a screen the same size as the GBC.....

can you tell me more about project Atlantis and its 105mhz processor....

 

I've seen it in a museum actually (Game On expo), so yes, there is one at least.

 

Weren't there some games that actually had code to take advantage of the VR headset, or am I thinking of the modem (or link cable, which was released, if I remember correctly)?

 

I know not, my liege. Consult the Book of Armaments.

 

3rd parties that almost had their own home videogame console

back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, several well known Japanese 3rd parties were either developing their own home videogame console, or thinking about it.

that list includes


Namco ('16-bit 'Super' system which almost got renamed PC-Engine2)
SNK (the 16-bit Neo-Geo, obviously)
Taito (16 bit CD-ROM system called WOWOW)
Data East (NeoGeo-like system)
Seta (NeoGeo-like system, like Data East)

source for Seta, Data East having developed their own consoles
http://members.tripod.com/faberp/Future.htm

according to that page, Epson had a 32-bit system in the works, although I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else on the internet.

So, of these small to modest sized 3rd parties, only SNK made it to actually launching their own home system.

Do you guys know if there were any other 3rd party videogame companies that ever seriously looked into making their own home videogame system?

oh yeah there was Konix.. the MultiSystem, but that's pretty well known, as far as obscure consoles....

 

Taito/Wowow

I am the owner of the Strange and Rare Videogames Pcis Page. All the systems listed on my pages were mentioned on several videogame magazines from USA (Namco 16 bit, SNK post NeoGeo console and THX Multisystem), UK (Data East and Seta 16 bit) and France (Taito Wowow).

About the Taito/Wowow system (not WowWow or WoWoWo): all the pictures available on the net were scanned by me and so many people stole them! And in many cases without giving me credits!
Just to be clear, the pictures found on Dark Watcher (he asked me to use them, I denied it, but at least he gave me credits...) and Hawanja.com were not used with my permission! It's not a big deal but anyway it's one of the reasons why I stopped updating my site! I worked hard to collect pictures and informations on rare and lost systems only to see my work used by others!
Please note that several years ago I asked and obtained permission to use those photos directly from french magazine Console+ that originally published the pictures! The same apply for almost all the pictures used on my site!

Regards,

Fabrizio

 

That's quite a name for a system, Imagine if it ever became a major system, and some dude's like, hey.....wanna play with my Wowowo....hehehehe...

 

Wowow

Wowow is a japanese TV station that is broadcasting via cable and satellite.
They worked with Taito on the system to offer videogames to their subscribers on pay-per-play basis.
And yes, the name is quite strange...