What’s YOUR ultimate MVS 4 slot line up?

[jonny5]

Neo Geo MVS has been a personal favourite since I was a kid. It’s funny, I say kid but I would have been in high school. Time flies.

Figured this might get some interesting responses

Mine is…

1. Nightmare in the Dark
2. Neo Drift Out
3. Shock Troopers
4. Bust a Move Again

What’s yours? Did anyone know anybody who owned an AES?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It'd be:

1.) Yumekobo's legendary Blazing Star (it had a proper February 1998 debut in both Japan and the USA, indeed, on the Neo-Geo MVS arcade platform)

2.) Psikyo's Strikers 1945 Plus -- an MVS exclusive STG based on Psikyo's earlier Strikers 1945 II STG arcade jamma pcb

3.) NGDev's Fast Striker

4.) Gryzor's Neo XYX

I'd see the SNK Neo-Geo AES console for sale at the MSRP of $600.00 usd at my local "Software Etc." speciality video game store back in 1991-1992 but since it was uber-expensive, I didn't know anybody whom owned/played at home -- it was for the "rich kids" whom had plenty of "disposable income" to get one. The cheapest AES games brand new were priced at $199.99 usd & up quite easily.

At the Babbage's speciality video game store in Dublin, CA, they had quite an extensive AES hardware & software collection all brand new -- this was back in 1993 - 1994 (this was before Software Etc./Babbage's/Funcoland/Electronic Boutique all merged together to become better known as Gamestop nowadays).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[jonny5]

The shmup lineup. Nice!

I knew someone who had an AES but it was a friend of a friend so I never went to their house and actually played it.

MVS was big here, but mostly titles like Bust a Move. I never saw a lot of the fighting games here. Bust a Move was EVERYWHERE!

This was the era where every convenience store had 2-3 machines and there were still arcades downtown

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yes, the Neo-Geo MVS placed inside those "Big Red" cabs were prevalent in the American arcades -- they were quite popular, especially with the MVS 4-Slot setups. I'd play the MVS arcade puzzler "Puzzle De Pon" -- an off-shoot of the popular Bust-A-Move series at the local Putt-Putt Golf/Gameworks arcade back in the mid-1990s.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[jonny5]

Yes, the Neo-Geo MVS placed inside those "Big Red" cabs were prevalent in the American arcades -- they were quite popular, especially with the MVS 4-Slot setups. I'd play the MVS arcade puzzler "Puzzle De Pon" -- an off-shoot of the popular Bust-A-Move series at the local Putt-Putt Golf/Gameworks arcade back in the mid-1990s.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I used to have that one, and the sequel Puzzle de Pon R. They both kind of sucked in comparison to the Bust a Move series to be honest. Magical Drop was pretty awesome too, you’d see those occasionally.

Oddly enough another one that was really common here was Soccer Brawl.

[To Far Away Times]

Garou
Last Blade 2
Metal Slug
Bust A Move

[BrianC]

Samurai Shodown II
Shock Troopers
Money Puzzle Exchanger
Neo Turf Masters

[Lemnear]

Maybe I've played too much Metal Slug to put it on the list; it's almost boring me. So I've chosen four endlessly fun 2-player titles... and Blazing Star because it's Blazing Star.

Blazing Star
Samurai Showdown V Special
Neo Turf Master
The Ultimate 11: SNK Football Championship

[jonny5]

Some good lists there. Did you see these titles locally, or is this based on experience since? In my experience here in Toronto, Canada for the most part I saw early titles, I never saw anything of the BIG names in person. Rarely ever saw anything of the fighting games aside from stuff like World Heroes, Street Fighter 2 was soooo big it kind of drowned everything else out

[it290]

Metal Slug
Neo Turf Masters
Garou
Strikers 1945+

[jonny5]

They used to have a beat to shit Neo Geo cab with Strikers 1945Plus in it at Funland arcade in Toronto. It closed like 15 years ago. I’d try to play it but it was so beat. Sadly by the end of the actual arcade era most of the machines were barely working and all of the focus was on the 2 or 3 cabs at the front with the newer fighting games. Then it was all over.

I saw some old videos of Toronto from the late 80’s and early 90’s recently. Seems there was an arcade on the east side of Yonge at Dundas too, before my time.

[Mero]

I've still got my MVS carts though I haven't been able to play them since about 2014. Thinking about what I've got and what I used to play, I'd say:

Neo Turf Masters
Zupapa!
Pop 'N' Bounce
Puzzle Bobble (1 or 2)

Also shout outs to Pulstar, Sonic Wings 2 & 3 and Nightmare in the Dark

[AGermanArtist]

There was an arcade on Northern Ireland's coast that had 2 red MVS cabinets side by side.
My choice would be

Neo Turf Masters
Metal Slug
Shock Troopers
Blazing Star

[jonny5]

I've still got my MVS carts though I haven't been able to play them since about 2014. Thinking about what I've got and what I used to play, I'd say:

Neo Turf Masters
Zupapa!
Pop 'N' Bounce
Puzzle Bobble (1 or 2)

Also shout outs to Pulstar, Sonic Wings 2 & 3 and Nightmare in the Dark

Look what they are going for on eBay. You may have a small fortune on your shelf

Seen a few for Neo Turf Masters. This is one I have loaded up over the years but don’t think I ever played a full round. Never had the cart. At one point I was mame’ing cabs for people at work, so there was often cabs in the warehouse. All the golfers definitely liked Neo Turf Masters. I showed them that one and they kept going back to it

Perhaps a hot take but I would say Nightmare in the Dark is the best game on Neo Geo, definitely one of the best looking. Close second Neo Drift Out.

[Mortificator]

Metal Slug X
The King of Fighters '98
Mark of the Wolves
Samurai Shodown V Special

Primarily fighting games, but sadly... I don't like most Neo-Geo shmups. My favorites are AeroFighters 2 and 3, and they're not as high up the vert tier list as primo Fatal Fury and KOF are in their genre.

Living in the US, I only saw an MVS in the wild a couple of times. Once was a comic book store where I played King of the Monsters, the other was a Pizza Hut that had Samurai Shodown. As well as Captain America and the Avengers, which I put more quarters into

I only got to try SNK fighting games in the 2000s, thanks to MAME. Fighting cabs around me were dominated by seven flavors of Capcom plus Mortal Kombat. I first became aware of SNK's lineage reading an EGM review of CVS, which talked a little about how Capcom fighters walk like THIS and SNK fighters walk like THIS. And I thought huh, SNK actually sounds more like what I'm into...

[jonny5]

Metal Slug X was my favorite of the slugs. It came in my Neo cab

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'd say that the best Metal Slugs of the MVS releases lineup are:

1.) Metal Slug 3

2.) Metal Slug X (I know SNK went back and fixed the slowdown issue with Metal Slug 2)

3.) Metal Slug circa 1996

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'd say that the best Metal Slugs of the MVS releases lineup are:

1.) Metal Slug 3

2.) Metal Slug X (I know SNK went back and fixed the slowdown issue with Metal Slug 2)

3.) Metal Slug circa 1996

Believe or not, SNK did release a single-layered jamma pcb of Metal Slug 5 that comprises of the MVS motherboard + Metal Slug 5 game all on a single layer pcb setup -- they even released SNK vs. Capcom as a single layer jamma pcb as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[it290]

Metal Slug 3 is incredible in terms of the branching paths and sheer crazy amount of animation, but I just find it too much of a slog to play through on a regular basis. The first Slug I think is exactly the sweet spot of length and difficulty.

[jonny5]

I'd say that the best Metal Slugs of the MVS releases lineup are:

1.) Metal Slug 3

2.) Metal Slug X (I know SNK went back and fixed the slowdown issue with Metal Slug 2)

3.) Metal Slug circa 1996

Believe or not, SNK did release a single-layered jamma pcb of Metal Slug 5 that comprises of the MVS motherboard + Metal Slug 5 game all on a single layer pcb setup -- they even released SNK vs. Capcom as a single layer jamma pcb as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I remember those, they were selling them off super cheap. Wasn’t there a KOF2003 one too?

Metal Slug 3 is incredible in terms of the branching paths and sheer crazy amount of animation, but I just find it too much of a slog to play through on a regular basis. The first Slug I think is exactly the sweet spot of length and difficulty.

Sounds like I need to give 3 some time. I’ve never played it much if ever.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'd say that the best Metal Slugs of the MVS releases lineup are:

1.) Metal Slug 3

2.) Metal Slug X (I know SNK went back and fixed the slowdown issue with Metal Slug 2)

3.) Metal Slug circa 1996

Believe or not, SNK did release a single-layered jamma pcb of Metal Slug 5 that comprises of the MVS motherboard + Metal Slug 5 game all on a single layer pcb setup -- they even released SNK vs. Capcom as a single layer jamma pcb as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I remember those, they were selling them off super cheap. Wasn’t there a KOF2003 one too?

Metal Slug 3 is incredible in terms of the branching paths and sheer crazy amount of animation, but I just find it too much of a slog to play through on a regular basis. The first Slug I think is exactly the sweet spot of length and difficulty.

Sounds like I need to give 3 some time. I’ve never played it much if ever.

Yes, SNK did release a single-layer Neo-Geo MVS-based KOF2003 jamma pcb as well.

Here's an Etsy listing to convert the Lego® Arcade Machine #40805 set to a customized Big Red Neo-Geo cab: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4496242390 ... ef02b4ee7a How cool is that?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Here's Terra Onion's NeoSD Pro MVS cart with Neo-Geo CD support sold through Stone Age Gamer's site: https://stoneagegamer.com/neosd-pro-mvs ... nload.html

and the latest NeoSD Pro MVS cart batch here that just arrived through Stone Age Gamer themselves just last week on 7/18/2026 (Saturday): https://stoneagegamer.com/neosd-pro-mvs.html

Through the High Score Saves site, they sell Dark Soft's "Neo-Geo MVS Multigame" cart: https://www.highscoresaves.com/Darksoft ... -Kit/DSMVS

and lastly,

The indie BackBit produced "Platinum MVS" flash cart: https://store.backbit.io/product/backbit-platinum-mvs/ which has the fastest loading times off of a micro SDHC memory card setup + link-up capability with certain Neo-Geo MVS titles including Thrash Rally, League Bowling and Riding Hero Neo-Geo MVS arcade roms. The BackBit Platinum MVS cart originally had an introductory $399.99 usd pre-order price back in 2024 (but has slowly gone up in $50.00 usd increments over time to it's current pricepoint of $599.99 usd which is still respectable and noteworthy these days).

Here's more pertinent information regarding the three aforementioned MVS carts of Thrash Rally, League Bowling and Riding Hero: https://wiki.neogeodev.org/index.php?title=Multiplayer

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Stone Age Gamer's recommended utility apps to format up to 32gb sized micro SDHC memory cards & 64gb and larger sized micro SDHC memory cards to FAT32 format spec as required with all console-based flash carts from KriKzz and Terra Onion: http://stoneagegamer.com/fat32.html

The listed utility apps work great in getting a brand new "blank" micro SDHC memory card to be used/interfaced with the KriKzz Turbo Everdrive/Turbo Everdrive Pro flash carts used on the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 consoles & even on the KriKzz Mega Everdrive X7/Mega Everdrive Pro flash carts for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis/Nomad consoles as well. Easy as pie.
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Here's a super mint Neo-Geo MVS "Blazing Star" full kit with matching numbers listed here (which you don't see appear for sale very often nowadays if at all): https://www.ebay.com/itm/327255959569?i ... Swi-VqUNkj

Note: Notice that the front hololabel sticker has a Yumekobo (C) 1997 copyright date but wasn't officially released until it's February of 1998 debut month for both Japan and the USA Neo-Geo MVS gaming markets indeed.
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~