Im thinking about picking up one of the two of these, mainly to play some of the older fighting games that came out in SNK's heydey. I have a few questions: 1> Are either of the systems region locked in any way? 2> One of the main games Im looking to play is Samurai Shodown 2. Is this available on both systems? Which would you recommend, in a general sense?
They arent region-locked. There are some minor region differences though which mainly have to do with having "red blood" or not in some games, and some game titles change. Samurai Shodown 2 will play as Samurai Spirits 2 on a Jap machine (the same way that streets of rage turns into bare knuckle on a megadrive). I'd recommend neither. Neo Geo CD has horrible loading times and an AES is horribly overpriced. Use an emulator, and if you want the real hardware then get a consolized 1-slot MVS with joystick connectors. MVS games are a hell of a lot cheaper than AES. Although if you'd just want Samurai Shodown 2 and nothing else it doesnt matter much.
Uh well...MVS refers to the arcade version of the hardware which is cheaper...but can be used on a TV only with a Supergun...superguns can be expensive though...espcially if you're buying and not building...the real benefit of the MVS is that the games are so much cheaper. If you only want to play SS2 though, AES would be alright...as SS2 is one of the cheapest AES games...but other games can be a lot more expensive. (God forbid you want to play Metal Slug) Neo CD is your cheapest bet though. Gotta deal with some longish load times...but if you stick with older games, you should be okay....ooh...the software is generally cheaper too.
If you spending the dough and mostly want early snk stuff( im talking up till like king of fighters 96) i would mostly reccomend the aes. The cd while they do have cheaper games, deal with issues of laoding as well as the selection being limited to stuff up till king of fighter 99. The aes while some of its games are more expensive, the more popular ones like fatal fury serise or samurai showdown are dirt cheap (easily get some cartridge for $10) I would go with aes as well for stablilty reasons.
I bought myself an old MVS PCB for my JAMMA setup. If you intend to buy other arcade games (actual JAMMA arcade games) in addition to some NeoGeo titles, you might as well get a MVS board and by the MVS cartridges. If you are not wanting to get so technical though, you're better off with the AES or better yet, mod an original Xbox and use emulators. Buy yourself an Arcade stick for it. It may be a better use of your money, unless original arcade authenticness is something you must have. I've looked at NeoGeo AES and CD systems for myself before I bought the MVS board. From what I saw both the AES and CD are horiffyingly overpriced. The AES is worse in that the games cost more, but the CD is just as bad with loading times and a more limited game selection. So again, unless you have plenty of money to throw around, MVS or emulation are the way to go. That or a good console port if it exists.
The games have no lock, but the consoles will show different information from the same CD. The consoles from the US block some of the graphic blood and sexuality, the Japanese console don't. The Japanese consoles will boot up the game in Japanese, the America consoles will boot up the games in English. Etc.... For the CD vs. AES I'd just look at the type of software you want. If you want titles that are mostly cheaper on the AES then go for that. The console is much more durable and so are the controllers. You'll also get a decent price for it when you decide to sell it, especially if you resell from the US. I had an AES system and one controller (no boxes) that stayed on eBay at $99 for 3-4 days before someone finally bought it, so the prices have come down quite a bit. I sell the boxed CD systems for $99 so the price gap has fallen between the two consoles. The CD system is "hotter" right now and the CD prices are going up a bit, but these things are always in a cycle.
