The Future is Now: Neo Geo CD Overview and Super Sidekicks 2 Mini Review

 Now Loading...

Welcome the latest edition of the Teeezy game console collection, the Neo Geo CD. As a fan of arcade action, beautiful sprite work, and obscurity/history, the SNK and Neo Geo brand has always interested me. So much of the gaming experiences in the 1990's was bringing the arcade experience home, whether it was actual ports of games, improving technology, or even control schemes. So what did SNK do? Literally bring the arcade technology home! The Neo Geo AES was released in 1990 and had the same hardware framework as their arcade cabinet counterpart, the MVS. Those same games were brought home from the MVS to the AES playing exactly the same as their arcade counterpart. Being ahead of the home competition allowed SNK to support the MVS well into the 2000's well after the PS2 and Xbox had released, despite the architecture not being comparable to those systems. So what's the catch? The cost! The system originally released for $650 with games costing around the $200-300 dollar mark. Just as a reminder, that's 1990 $650. Adjusting for inflation, that puts the AES at $1553.30 in 2024. Needless to say the AES was a boujee console for a boujee consumer. A status symbol if you were lucky enough to own one as a kid. Because of this, SNK wanted to make their games more accessible to a larger audience, and with the revolution of CD-ROM technology they had a solution.

Enter the Neo Geo CD. Released in 1994, the Neo Geo CD was created to capture that larger audience by appealing to a more reasonable price point. Instead of placing the games on a large cartridge, SNK opted to place their games on a CD-ROM to charge around $40-$60 dollars for a game. In addition to the cost change, the larger storage capacity of CD's allowed for clearer red book audio, and added bonus content like concept art or exclusive content. This sounds like a dream scenario, but if you research the console or read reviews/coverage of the console in its heyday one common point of contention comes up, and that's the loading. The reduced memory and the nature of CD-ROM technology means that the larger your games, the more loading is required for a particular game. This works fine for smaller, earlier Neo Geo releases, where loading either happens all at the start or are comparable to other games of the time. As games got larger however, the loading times grow exponentially, especially with fighting games, the Neo Geo's bread and butter. On larger games like King of Fighters '98 or The Last Blade, loading happens sometimes after only seconds of gameplay followed by almost a minute of loading. SNK realized this issue, and in Japan actually released the Neo Geo CDZ featuring a double speed CD-ROM drive which helps load games faster, but it was too little too late. It is unavoidable if you're playing on original hardware, you will feel it. Nowadays, Neo Geo games are regularly available across multiple platforms or on original hardware with multi-carts, so is there any reason for playing on a Neo Geo CD today? Well for one, how can you ignore this fun little boot screen?

Charm aside, there were a few other reasons I was looking out for the console. There are a handful of console exclusives released that caught my eye, like Crossed Swords II a action RPG played from a pseudo 1st person perspective. As a fan of Saturn and PlayStation I also appreciate the packaging of NGCD games. They look good on a shelf together, and I might have a slight obsession with spine cards... Additionally, after playing lesser ports of Neo Geo games on consoles released in the same generation, you get a closer experience to the original on the CD because its built off the same hardware as the AES, just with a different mechanism to load the games. Personally, those loading times aren't something that I've been concerned with, as I play on a lot of other CD-based systems and deal with loading all the time. Some of the larger games I probably wouldn't look to play on the NGCD, but as another console to collect for, the library itself is very well balanced and doesn't have a lot of filler/shovelware. A perfect example of something that I would have no interest in on other consoles, but I've been enjoying on the NGCD is a soccer game. 

Super Sidekicks 2 is that soccer game, and was released the same year as the CD console. The game itself isn't very deep, but instead offers fast paced action with fun presentation. You play as the country of your choice, and go through a world tournament until you eventually become the world champ. The game is easy to pick up with a 3 button setup for both offense and defense, and the game gives you a brief tutorial before starting each session. Personally, the defense doesn't work as well as the offense with slide kicks and shoulder checks being difficult to hit, so I don't bother with it outside of some desperation plays. I wouldn't be talking about this game without its presentation. When you score a goal you get a fun cutscene of your player celebrating, or the opposing goalie punching the ground in anger. After halftime or at the start of a game you can hear the crowd chanting "Oleeee Ole Ole Oleee!". The best is when someone gets fouled, which shows both the player that got fouled and the player that committed the foul's reactions. It can turn into the player going super saiyan if you get fouled, and the computer player getting so pissed he screams and runs off the field. Outside of the main single player game, there is an exhibition mode if you want to play a single match or a 2-player game, and even the option to view the arcade attract mode which is fun. Not many sports games grab my attention outside of racing games or the occasional golf game, but this is the first soccer game that I can appreciate and for that I applaud the Neo Geo CD. 

Thanks for reading! I don't think I'll be prioritizing my collecting efforts for the Neo Geo CD, but any stand out experiences I play on the console I'm sure I'll talk about here. In the meantime, I'll be plugging away on a larger group of posts releasing later this year, with other content ideas in the meantime. I also really appreciate any feedback, so let me know if this kind of thing is interesting or if I should focus more on other content!

Sources:

https://www.giantbomb.com/neo-geo/3045-25/

https://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg90-neo_geo_cd.htm#page=reviews

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo_CD

 5 Peripherals I'd like to own 

Peripherals for video games, while still something that is used in games today definitely had it's heyday in years prior. Whether it was something that you had to have in order to enjoy the game, like a memory card or 2nd controller for multiplayer, or something more specialized that gave a new way to play or offered more options and content for a game. After collecting games more seriously over the past few years, I realized that I had a lot more peripherals in my possession than I realized. From light guns to arcade sticks, from cables to adapters you end up amassing peripherals as your collection grows. Today I want to highlight 5 peripherals that I have some interest in getting, whether to experience a game in the best way possible, or to expand the possibilities of a specific system. 

Saturn Taisen Cable

A big part of Sega's experience on the Saturn and their marketing behind it was that they were trying to bring the arcade experience home. All the favorites were available, from arcade wheels to light guns, the mission stick to the Netlink modem for online play. One that I want to highlight today and have on a gaming bucket list is obtaining and using a Saturn Taisen Cable. The Playstation had a similar option for its OG models, but the main idea behind it is you link 2 systems up to one another, and play multiplayer games on 2 separate screens as opposed to a split-screen. For a lot of people, this would be the closest experience possible to having an arcade experience at home (at least in the late 90's, way before Arcade 1Up made aftermarket machines more accessible). There aren't very many games supported by the cable, but the main one I want to play multiplayer in this way is Daytona USA Circuit Edition. It'll require 2 Saturns, 2 copies of the game, 2 TVs, and another person. A boy can dream...

E Reader

The E Reader was an add-on for your Gameboy Advance that let your read specialized cards that unlocked items in certain games, play games that are bound to the cards and more. My main reasoning behind this are the Animal Crossing E Reader cards that let you unlock certain items in the original Animal Crossing on Gamecube, along with artwork with each of the villagers. The Amiibo Cards for New Leaf and New Horizons were something that let me scratch my card collecting itch, so it would be nice to have another set of cards to compare and contrast with the newer ones. There were also some pretty cool expansions for games like Pokemon Pinball, F Zero GP Legend and others that I would be interested in taking a look at, so at least it's multi-purposed.

NeGcon Controller

Early on in the Ps1's lifespan the controllers didn't have any sort of analog option. That wasn't more regularly available until the Dualshock 1 controller got released a few years after the console got released. How are you supposed to enjoy racing games or other games that require more finesse? That's easy with the NeGcon controller! Instead of having a normal analog stick, Namco actually designed the controller to twist in the middle as the analog. The controller was made for the Ridge Racer series and continues to work even into the Ps2 era of games, but it also has compatibility with games outside of Namco games which is really interesting. I know the controller was created with racing games specifically in mind, but I wonder how the older Ridge Racer games play with this controller.

PSP GPS

I just found out about this the other day, but apparently there was a GPS released for the PSP that has data saved on it as opposed to accessing the information from the internet or satellite. The data itself is old, but it's still usable today and I always need an excuse to use my PSP more. Definitely more of a novelty but kinda neat. 

Vectrex Light Pen

One of the coolest systems that I have is the Vectrex, although I don't take advantage of it as much as I should honestly. With the official games I'm on the lookout for dwindling to 2-3 games, I'm starting to turn my attention to the homebrew and peripheral scene. The 3D imager is completely out of the question because of its price, but the light pen gives enough novelty to be interesting. This allows you to use specific cartridges as a drawing program straight onto the Vectrex. I'm not much of an artist myself, but if there's a way to draw on a system I like spending some time with it to see how it works. I got a kick out of a homebrew Saturn title a few years ago Sartist and took an evening to create a little landscape using my Saturn controller, so I imagine I'll do something similar to that. Personally the Vectrex will always fill more of a party trick role in my library as opposed to something that I play on a regular basis, so having another trick to show off would be cool.

So yeah, that's some more obscure items I have on my radar to expand my peripheral collection. Some of them will definitely take longer than others, like the Taisen Cable or Light Pen, but my local store has a NeGcon controller so maybe I'll get them closer than I expected! I wanted to make a bit of a shorter post after the longer review of Sega Touring Car, so let me know if the shorter content is something I should do more often? Or stick to more in depth reviews that get put out at a slower pace? Let me know! Otherwise thanks for reading as always!