Neo Geo AES / MVS

The Neo Geo is a cartridge-based system that SNK launched in 1990 in two forms. The MVS (Multi Video System) was an arcade board that could hold up to six games in one cabinet, and the AES (Advanced Entertainment System) was a home console that ran the same games with the same hardware.

At first the AES was only rented out to hotels and video shops in Japan, but SNK soon sold it to the public. At about 650 US dollars for the console and 200 dollars or more per game, it was far more expensive than any other console of the time, and it became known as a luxury system.

The MVS was a great success in arcades because operators could swap games cheaply. SNK kept releasing games for the platform until 2004, far longer than any other console of its generation. The library is best known for fighting games such as Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown and The King of Fighters, and for the Metal Slug run and gun series.

Cartridges grew from 55 Mbit at launch to over 700 Mbit, and SNK advertised the system as having “Max 330 Mega” power, to stress how much larger its games were than those on other consoles.

FinalBurn Neo and MAME both emulate the Neo Geo very accurately. FinalBurn Neo is the lighter of the two and has netplay, while MAME covers the widest range of boards and bootlegs.