Is the Neo Geo CD System good for shmups?

PsikyoPshumpPshooterP · Mon Feb 14, 2005 12:59 am

im pondering of picking up a neo geo cd system but only it has a good amount of shmups worth picking up..Any recommendations? ive looked in the xenocides files but only see Neo Geo shmups...Please list all the shmups available..and the best ones..Thanks!@

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 1:41 am

As far as I know, which are the ones I own:

Pulstar
Sonic Wings 2
Sonic Wings 3
Ghost Pilots
Ironclad
Ninja Commando
Twinkle Star Sprites

Ninja Commando is a bordeliner, but is a shooter in Ikari or Commando mold. In my opinion, if you are not into MVS, the CD is worth it simply for Sonic Wings 2 and Ghost Pilots. I know a lot of people despise Ghost Pilots because it is mundane and slow, but I always liked it. It's just old school in presentation and pattern and reminds me of my 80s upbringing.

I love the CD, I think the load times thing is pretty much a dumb argument. True, Pulstar is annoying with its load times, but for the most part the load times are minimal. Metal Slug and the KOF games, you have very minimal loading. The system is an old CD based system and the fact that these games even got onto a CD was an accomplishment.

And just for disclosure, Iron Clad is very, very expensive and my copy is, sadly a CDr copy. That is the only CDr in my Neo Geo CD collection.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 1:43 am

I only buy a Neo Geo CD system for, I don't know, KOF anyone?

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 1:57 am

I have sonic wings 2 and 3, viewpoint and last resort for sale. All on CD and most of them in excellent condition.

Viewpoint is excellent on CD, plays like zaxxon but with awesome sound and animation, the game is hard though. The music for viewpoint is great too. Last resort gets you an orchestral soundtrack to die for and is a good R-type clone that has great graphics, it just gets too hard near the end. Sonic wings are great too, but I prefer LR and Viewpoint. I just sold Pulstar, although its a technical show piece on the Neo CD, it does take longer to load and its hard as nails. It does have exclusive CD content like mini introduction and inbetween level animations.

Ironclad is a $200+ game, I had it but I never opened it. Sold it on because I didn't want to lose anything on it by opening it.

I think the neo CD is excellent if you like your shooters to have a more symphonic experience. In a way I want a neo CD back.

As for loading, the shooters do not suffer that badly.. Each level that loads in takes about 2-3 minutes to complete in playtime and only loads for about 25 seconds. Its the fighters that cripple the system, as each round takes 1 minute and the loading takes a minute.

A neo CD emulator was in the works for the DC. I think its probably 100% complete by now. If you can get it to work, send me a copy

It should cut down loading in half at least with the DC's ram and faster drive.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:00 am

Download the emulator here -

http://imrtechnology.ngemu.com/emulators.htm

I'm no good with this stuff, if anyone gets it working, please make me a copy

Kiel · Post by **Kiel** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:11 am

You can get Pulstar for cheap and the music is astounding. I say its worth it.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:14 am

New version of the dc emulator has a release planned around valentines day. fullspeed with sound fx

This way you don't have to deal with the load times.

ccovell · Post by **ccovell** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:07 am

ASO / Alpha Mission II is also a nifty shmup. It has an old-skool 80s feeling to it (but with good graphics and great sound).

bigbadboaz · Post by **bigbadboaz** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 4:17 am

I swear by the Neo CD version of Pulstar - it's not a game where between-level loads are a huge interruption, while it IS a game that gets loads of atmosphere from its graphics and sound. The extra clarity of the CD soundtrack pushes this version over the top. The first time I popped this game in ranks among my best gaming moments.

Disclaimer: yes, the game is hard as hell, and as such I haven't seen some of the later levels. It's possible there is more loading (in-stage)later on, but as far as I have seen the loading is easily outweighed by the soundtrack.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:15 am

For the Neo Geo CD DC emulator, get Neo CD. I know the guy who made the emulator, really! He said that the next emulator release will have Sound FX. Also he is working on a TurboGrafx-16 emulator with Hucard, and CD support for the DC.

TWITCHDOCTOR · Post by **TWITCHDOCTOR** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 4:07 pm

The CD versions may be worth getting for the above reasons, but you won't be able to play Blazing Star or Pre-historic Isle 2.

Blazing Star is great btw. I kinda think of it as Einhander meets ThunderForce V for the Neo-Geo. Not in play mechanics, but in overall look and style.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 4:17 pm

bigbadboaz wrote:Disclaimer: yes, the game is hard as hell, and as such I haven't seen some of the later levels. It's possible there is more loading (in-stage)later on, but as far as I have seen the loading is easily outweighed by the soundtrack.

I've played completely through my Neo-CD copy of the game. Loading only occurs before each cinema (which can be turned off in the Options menu) and before each stage (there is no mid-level loading).

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:39 am

Blazing star rocks. Although not as hard as Pulstar, its still bloody hard. I can only get to level 4 I think on default.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:01 am

I think it looks like a pretty good alternative to AES or MVS. Unless you really have to have Strikers 1945 Plus and Blazing Star, I'd say go for it. And keep in mind that there are plenty of good borderliners that you can pick up for the system too, like Metal Slug 1 and 2, Ninja Commando, and NAM-1975.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:03 am

BTW- www.egameaddiction.com sells Neo Geo CD systems. Has anyone here done business with these guys? I know the guy who owns it is on www.neogeocd.net Check that site out, they have some pretty good forums.

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:14 am

I don't want to be a wet blanket here, but I've got a Neo Geo CD and the load times are excruciating. Pulstar isn't too bad, but it's still a nuisance. Pulstar's much cheaper on the MVS, too.

You might like the Neo Geo CD when you get it, and you might like it for a few months after that, but eventually you're going to get really tired of the load times. It's like loading Commodore 64 games from disk. I'd go for the MVS.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:26 am

dave4shmups wrote:BTW- www.egameaddiction.com sells Neo Geo CD systems. Has anyone here done business with these guys? I know the guy who owns it is on www.neogeocd.net Check that site out, they have some pretty good forums.

It's one guy and he's a great seller and guy, I've done business with many times, highly recommended.

The ideal choice is an MVS since it has the most available games, but the Neo CD is a great alternative to an AES unless you want to play fighting games.

bigbadboaz · Post by **bigbadboaz** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:30 am

I was in the process of being really surprised by how different Lander's and my opinions of the loading times are... and then I remembered I have the CDZ, with the faster drive. So maybe you want to fixate on that particular model. Doesn't hurt that it's smaller and sleeker, too. Hard to say if it's just a difference in personal tolerance or the difference in system speed, but I really don't have a big problem with the loading for most games. The shmups, especially. Pulstar, again, just loads pre-level and pre-cinema, and many games just load the whole damn game at boot and don't load again. Very tolerable IMO.

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 2:38 am

From what I've heard, the CDZ is only a bit better. It's probably a lot of personal preference. Somebody ought to clock how long Pulstar, King of Fighters 99, and Metal Slug 2 take to load up so this guy can have an impartial idea of what he's looking at. I think Metal Slug 2 was the worst as far as load times go. There were load times in the middle of the freaking levels! And I always hated waiting between matches in KOF. It ruined the pace of the game for me. I'm always geared up after winning a round, and the last thing I want to do is sit around and watch a monkey juggle grenades or whatever.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:20 am

It doesn't really concern me if there are long loading times at the begining of some games, like Pulstar, if there are no interruptions in the games-like the ones you mentioned in Metal Slug 2, Blue Lander. Do you know of any shmups or other borderliners on the Neo Geo CD that have loading times interrupting the games?

As far as going MVS or AES, both of those options are far to expensive to me. With the former, the carts are cheap, but so are Neo Geo CD games, and the hardware is enormously expensive. With the AES the hardware isn't much more costly then a Neo Geo CD console, but the games are outrageously expensive. That's why I'm so interested in the Neo Geo CD.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:26 am

you can get an adapter to play mvs games on an AES...problem solved.

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:39 am

dave4shmups wrote:It doesn't really concern me if there are long loading times at the begining of some games, like Pulstar, if there are no interruptions in the games-like the ones you mentioned in Metal Slug 2, Blue Lander. Do you know of any shmups or other borderliners on the Neo Geo CD that have loading times interrupting the games?

The only other shmup I had was Sonic Wings 2, and that one didn't have any in-level interrupts as I recall. To be honest, I haven't touched the Neo Geo CD since I bought an MVS.

As far as going MVS or AES, both of those options are far to expensive to me. With the former, the carts are cheap, but so are Neo Geo CD games, and the hardware is enormously expensive.

Really? I don't keep up with MVS prices, but I thought the hardware only ran around $150 for a single slot deal. Isn't that about what a Neo Geo CD costs?

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 6:18 am

Any Neo-CD game that was a port of a cart that was under 100 Megs will only have to load once innitially (the entire game gets loaded into memory all at once). Examples: Viewpoint and Ghost Pilots.

All the rest of the Neo CD shmups load before each stage. There is no mid-level loading (like in Metal Slug 2).

99pence · Post by **99pence** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:31 am

The Neo Geo CD is a joke. You can't even get alot of the best Neo Geo games for it.

There's this great adapter you can get to play MVS on your TV. I think it's called a superfun or something like that.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 10:33 am

I have a consolized 2 slot MVS system for sale if anyone is interested. You can play all the Neo titles released (99% of them anyway) and there is no loading times at all. The most expensive MVS game is about $200, but 90% of them are easily in the sub $50 margin.

You can buy MVS Metal slug for $40, the CD version is usually $80+. Pulstar is about $55 on MVS, the CD is about $70+. On MVS you get all the fighters like Mark of the wolves, you get Blazing Star, you get Viewpoint, Last resort, sonic wings.. You just cannot go wrong with MVS.

Its a plug and play system, stereo sound, svideo output, almost totally concealed. You can play in jap or USA mode, blood/no blood, MVS or AES mode, you can listen to the OST's from the cart. Basically it does everything. Oh, it takes standard neo geo joysticks/pads as well and you can plug 2 games in at one time just like an arcade MVS cabinet.

To choose the CD over this is just simply crazy.

Mine looks like this but it only has 2 slots -

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:20 am

Just finish play the DC version of a Neo Geo CD emulator. It's really good, faster loading times, sound is start being used in the emulator.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:31 am

Can someone do me a neo emulator?

I've got a few games left, my decision to sell them rests on this emulator..

Cheers.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:56 pm

Yeah, but how much did that three-slot unit cost you?

And as far as a one-slot unit, I've never even seen those for sale anywhere.

"you can get an adapter to play mvs games on an AES...problem solved."

I've seen those for sale and they are extremely expensive-we're talkin' at least $200.

OmegaFlareX · Post by **OmegaFlareX** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:24 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:Its a plug and play system, stereo sound, svideo output, almost totally concealed.

Is there RGB output? How much are you looking to get for it?

Can someone do me a neo emulator?

If you have the system specs to run it, MAME. If not, Kawaks and Final Burn Alpha are the ones I use, and they rock.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 12:44 am

So does anyone know where I could get a one-slot consolized MVS? I really don't want more then one slot.