Buriki One is the most criminally underrated fighting game on the Hyper Neo-Geo 64. Instead of being a normal fighting game, it's more like a UFC-ish fighting game, but hey at least Ryo Sakazaki is in the cast though (as Mr. Karate). Man, that hardware sure looks good that makes N64 and Sega Saturn weak.
Yep had this succeed all of Theron current 3D game would have probably had some of the best graphics on the market. They were able to get the feel of their 2D games fairly well with The Samurai Showdown and Fatal Fury games. Looked better than the Street Fighter Ex games to me.
The Arcade I work at recently got probably one of the last dedicated Hyper Neo Geo's in existence! It was made dedicated for Sam Sho 64, but Warrior's Rage is in it at the moment. Even if it never really impressed, it's a unique experience in it's own.
@@NimhLabs What do you mean? I'm not a big Saturn fan (aside from Nights and Radiant Silvergun) but I know that making two arcade-focused consoles in a row while Sony made a broader audience machine wasn't Sega's smartest move
@@NimhLabs What do you mean by "Amiga Persecution Complex" ? The thing that made the Saturn fail was Sega themselves first (especially since most good game didn't get localized in the west so you'd better get a Japanese one)
I played a lot of the MVS in arcades, could never afford the AES. I picked up a Neo geo pocket and enjoyed it very much back in the day. I also imported many of the home ports for my Sega Saturn in the late 90s and had a BLAST!! Still love SNK to this day!
I was in a LA Gang from 88-93 and with all the money that we had from various enterprises we had quite a few expensive goodies including a AES on launch as well as a launch 3DO and a few Superguns.
The funny thing is that Sega basically stole the NeoGeo's gimmick when making NAOMI: Cram it full of the highest-end hardware feasibly possible at the time, then make it a multi-game system so it's affordable to arcade owners. (And as a result the NAOMI ultimately had a *much* longer and happier life than its sibling, the Dreamcast...)
NAOMI was more then that though. One of Sega's Genius Decisions was "What is the completion doing wrong? Let's NOT do that." At the time, hard drives and CD Drives were the big thing for Arcades. But, they failed due to constant usage. So, Sega said "Let's load the game in it's entirety, into RAM." If the NAOMI hardware had the RAM storage installed for that. Neat trick. The Hardware would check every 3 days to make sure you didn't take out the Disc from the Drive as well.
Love this video series. It completely fills in the gaps of all the questions I had about video games growing up, and now the price point and the large cartridges of the Neo Geo AES finally make sense. Neo Geo were absolute *masters* of 2D sprite graphics, but Dear God, the graphics in Samurai Showdown 64 looked like ass. So glad they went back to 2D for another decade or so. Better to be the best at what you know rather than fail to chase the current trends.
Shin Nippon Kikaku? The True/Super Japan Plan/Project? Is that what SNK stood for this whole time? You know... there is some real irony here in that the company's name is literally "True/Super Japan Plan/Project"... I'm just processing that...
I remember reading about the HNG64 from Madman's Cafe years ago. Even from their reports, the system sounded promising, but was lackluster in sales. Great ideas, just lots of roadblocks & cost. Bummer it hurt them in the long run. But SNK bounces back
Wow. There u are, just posting a silly little comment, born from the joy u felt at there being a new upload from a favourite content provider, and not one, but TWO people actually took the time out to respond with such negativity. Aw man, this world is an evil, hopeless, mess. On behalf of decent HUMANS everywhere, I apologise to u mate.
@@WestSide1207 let me explain the joke: nobody = all people around the world. Saying nothing = no one cares about these consoles. Tophatgamingman = the host Yeeeeaaahhh = only he is exited about these cap consoles
Thank you very much for this Top Hat! I was recently thinking what killed SNK and could only think of the VERY expensive home console. I didn't know there was more to it.
I agree, but would like to add that an entire video dedicated to Pole Calibur tournies and game play should be present. Pole Calibur, as we all know (but for the person behind that game controller) is when you play Soul Calibur with a fishing rod.
I have the fighter board and all the games, it's a quirky system that I enjoy from time to time, but my MVS is used way more! Thanks for the awesome vid 👌
There was an ex RAF chap that bought all remaining uk stock of MVS cabs and hyper 64s along with all the hyper games and was planning on releasing new games was pretty well reported within the snk fanworld back in early 2000's I bought an mvs cabs from him and went to there HQ in Darlington of all places, was an incredible sight seeing well over 50 working cabs and lots lots more being worked on, I then went on an ebay spending spree for carts bought about 30 off one seller in Apeldorn In Holland and decided to catch a ferry and drive there, the chap had his own games shop and in his flat he had most of the neo geo aes games including most boxes all within glass cases.
I remember seeing the two page spread for Samurai Showdown 64 and was extremely disappointed the game never saw release stateside on the N64 or PS1 while I was glad to own Wild Ambition on the PS1 and had a ton of fun with it despite its poor reception here in the US
5.55 I was sent that video tape in the mail by SNK back in the day. I wrote to them to advise them not to go 3D if they ever made a successor to the aes system... Then they sent me the vhs tape with an advert for the hyper 64 and it had clips of samurai showdown 64.. i was severely dissapointed. But they also sent me some other cool stuff i got a folder with the neo geo logo on it, and inside were various arcade flyers of some of their latest games.
I think SNK really just wasn't prepared for the transition to 3D. The thing is, as a kid in the early 90's, 3D was already quickly becoming the next new, amazing thing. You had Virtua Racing arriving in 1992, which blew everything before it away, and then Virtua Fighter in 1993 which just looked absolutely incredible at the time. Even back in 1990, there was Race Drivin', so 3D games were quickly becoming the norm even early on in the 90's. The games I always wanted to play most were those early 3D games, albeit with a few specific exceptions. Games like Afterburner looked positively archaic in comparison. It's hard to blame SNK for the slow transition given how successful the MVS was. The funny thing is that whenever I encountered a 4-game cabinet, I always assumed it had cheap, low-quality games due to there being multiple games inside a single cabinet. I knew of SNK and the Neo Geo name, of course, but I just couldn't help shake that feeling. With the rise of 3D arcade technology, it further felt like SNK were falling behind technologically. 1994 brought both Daytona USA and Sega Rally Championship, two of the best 3D arcade racing games ever made, and in such a short time, 3D was dominating in the arcades. Pick a genre of game, and compare a 3D version to a 2D version. Even with relatively chunky polygon graphics and primitive textures, 3D felt modern while 2D felt antiquated. I think even if SNK had decided to transition to 3D sooner, they still would have had trouble competing with the likes of Sega and Namco. And that's the biggest problem: Hyper Neo Geo 64 was SO late. If you ask me, the graphics aren't that bad, rather on par with something like a Playstation on steroids. I can't recall when I read about the first rumors, but I was pretty excited by the prospect of new, 3D-oriented 64-bit SNK hardware. SS64 certainly looked pretty good in magazine still shots. But this was hardware that needed to be available in 1995, not just barely being shown in 1997. I just don't think SNK had the engineers to develop such sophisticated hardware. They probably would have been better off just contracting the hardware design out to someone else or buying an existing hardware design. I can't help but think that maybe part of SNK's problem was their own hubris. They were well-known as an exclusive, high-end brand, but they kept iterating on the same games over and over again. To an average gamer like myself, I didn't see SNK pushing the envelope. I saw Sega and Namco doing that. Just the thought of playing Daytona USA at home was enough to make me lust for a Sega Saturn (even if the port wasn't very good). Namco's System 11 proved that hardware doesn't have to be cutting edge to make great arcade games, but SNK's entire advantage was its cutting edge hardware. I don't see how they expected to compete with the hardware that eventually came to be, especially as late as it was. Nor do I understand how they expected their software to stand out when it was, by all measures, largely generic compared to other titles at the time. As I try to think through all this, I keep coming back to the same thought: SNK just seemed completely unprepared, in every way, for the transition to 3D.
I remember seeing a Hyper Neo-Geo 64 at a mall in Texas years ago. IIRC, it had Samurai Shodown 64 on it. For me personally, the failure of the Hyper Neo-Geo 64 kind of prevented SNK from getting into 3D games, not to mention SNK would continue 2D gaming into the SNK Playmore era. The sad reality is that SNK failed to change with the video game market. I kind of wish that there was a more detailed documentary about SNK's fall because this year mark's twenty years after the company went bankrupt.
Samurai Shodown 64 (both parts) are very underrated! There are some spectacular moves/combos that can be performed, which are entirely absent from other Samurai Shodown games, including the 3D offering on the PS1. But the thing that makes these games stand out is the atmosphere - more deeper than SS3/4 even! Also, unlocking mid-bosses and other secrets seemed to not be fully understood or documented.
Hmm ... the failure of Capcom's 2D oriented CPS3 suggests SNK wasn't wrong to try and branch out to 3D. But obviously things didn't work out well with mediocre 3D hardware either. Therefore, the idea of either Capcom or SNK developing their own next gen arcade hardware may have been a mistake. After all, Capcom teaming up with Sega to use Naomi hardware worked great! I wonder if SNK could have done a similar thing with Nintendo a bit earlier. Since Nintendo didn't have a strong arcade presence by the 1990s, it could have been a good business fit. Imagine an MVS64 board which combined an MVS board with an N64 board. It could be an easy upgrade for MVS arcade operators, while also offering 3D games - albeit limited to a digital joystick and 4 button controls. For simplicity, the MVS and N64 boards are pretty much independent. In N64 mode, the MVS board does little more than handle joystick input and maybe sound. The point is - it's not about cutting edge 3D graphics in the arcade, but rather providing an upgrade path for the MVS system. Even N64 level graphics would be adequate for, say, a ripoff of Star Wars Arcade. Instead of a House of the Dead clone, a Cabal type game with zombie theme would work better with joystick controls. Attempted 3D fighters probably would still be mediocre, but with less of an investment wasted on them. Importantly, the MVS64 hardware could still play the successful 2D SNK fighters. For SNK, this partnership means avoiding the cost and risk of developing their own 3D hardware and dev kit. For Nintendo, this means some easy money to help fund GameCube development, tapping into a market which does not compete with their home sales. If the partnership is successful, then SNK could use GameCube based arcade hardware in the future. Obviously, if SNK is partnering with Nintendo, this means they won't be trying to edge in on Nintendo's Gameboy. Thus, they would avoid a somewhat expensive uphill battle in the Neo Geo Pocket.
Had a Neo Geo 64, Buriki One (once you get past the mental controls) was a fantastic 3D fighter with lots of depth. Many a night was spent in front of my Astro City playing this gem.
An episode about Capcom's fighting games based on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure would be interesting. At the time these games were released, none of the JoJo comics or anime OVAs had been localized in America, and the first arcade game was renamed "JoJo's Venture" for some reason.
I do remember Samurai Shodown 64 when the game was released in the arcades. I only played it a couple of times at Dave & Busters and it was interesting. However it was the only game I've played on the Hyper NeoGeo 64. It was only there for a month and then it was gone. You will see more NeoGeo MVS machines than Hyper NeoGeo 64 out in the wild.
SNK is one my favorites. I owned a Neo Geo pocket as a kid. Loved KoF '98 on Dreamcast and really started playing Neo Geo games on emulator like I'm sure most of use did back in '01-'02. Today I owed a Neo Geo AES and a Sammy Atomiswave arcade machine with Metal slug 6 and king of fighter neo wave. I of course can't afford any of the expensive carts for AES or Atomiswave (I'd love to get my hands on Fist of the Northstar) but I enjoy what I have 👍
I remember seeing Samurai Spirits 64 on arcade.For a second, i was stunned by its 3D environments....then i saw how it played.It was not good....slow and clunky animations,very plain textures and unresponsive characters.I could not believe SNK had released the game in that state.The multi tier environments were unique,but after the novelty ended you were left with the plain polygons.
Top Hat Gaming have you ever heard of a cult classic puzzle game called Zoop: America's Largest Killer of Time? It was marketed heavily over in America and was thought to be the next Terri's by the developers on over 9 consoles including Atari jaguar. It flopped however as despite positive reviews puzzle games were thought to be dead. It was also a blockbuster rent one get one free also. I'd love to see a puzzle game covered on this channel! :)
I remember hearing about the Hyper Neo Geo 64 back then and I was not the least bit excited about it. I thought it was SNK's desperate attempt to transition to 3D graphics when their strength was 2D The graphics were ugly and uninspiring even for that time period(which made you question if there was even any advantage for the system to have a 64 bit architecture) The only recognizable games were ugly, lackluster 3D versions of successful SNK franchises such as Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown. SNK had to learn the hard way that they could not get away with taking a familiar franchise and slapping 64 on it like Nintendo could. I have a request for you Top Hat Gaming Man. Can you make a video about the obscure arcade fighting game anomaly that was Fighting Bujitsu? I only ever personally saw an arcade cabinet for it once. It seemed like an interesting concept but it never took off.
One of the main reasons SNK went under was the failure of the Neo Geo Pocket, they spent a ton of money on that in the late 90s and it failed big time. In hindsight they should have made the Hyper Neo Geo 64 with a more powerful CPU (literally had the stock model of the N64 CPU, N64 had a cheaper version of the NEC VR4300 that SNK used) and way more main memory than the 4MB!!! what a damn shame. I love SNK and I am so happy they are making a comeback !
3D was such a massacre for software and hardware companies. The better of a 2D developer you were, the harder the shift to 3D was. And I get how exciting 3D was, but I'm still salty that 2D graphics haven't reached the highs of Street Fighter 3 again even in 2019.
Even today most 2D games are made by indies... I mean do you imagine a big AAA company announcing a pure 2D game at the next E3? Fat chance for it to even sell well compared to their 3D cousins
If only the engineers at SNK Made the Hyper NEO-GEO 64 like the 3D systems created by Sega & Namco, it would have have been a real contender in the arcades.
Nice video. I own a Hyper Neo Geo 64 system and all 4 fighting games. Best of me is Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition although both Samurai Shodown’s aren’t bad. Agree it was a flop though. Too little too late. Cheers
Did SNK really revolutionize the arcade industry with the modular system though? According to this article there may have been a cassette based modular system prior to this, the DECO cassette system from Data East: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECO_Cassette_System It's possible this didn't have a significant enough impact to be relevant, but man I loved me some Lock 'N Chase, and Bump 'N Jump as well. These two titles were later ported to and were great games on the Intellivision. And it even has Mr. Top Hat's favorite game, Burgertime.
Well the graphics capabilities looked between the N64 and 3DO M2 arcade hardware so it would have been decent. Now I'm totally confused with the Hyper64 ram. Only 4MBs for programming texture ram is 16 MB, vertex 64 Megabytes which is overkill for a system with the polygon capabilities between 250K to 350K polys per second. Now if SNK went with 32 MBs of unified memory (N64 had it and uses the same CPU as the N64) you would have had a decent console for 97 tech.
I don't understand why they did not try to use the power of that board a little bit more... You had a 100 MHz NEC VR4300 - The N64 had something similar as a CPU, it's not the GPU though... Then you had a V53@16 MHz 16-bit microcontroller: hey, that's a bit like an old 16 bit Intel processor at 16 mhz... Not great, but it is adding to the power here and it is just a microcontroller... KL5C80A12CFP@12.5 MHz 8-bit - Ok, so a Z80 at 12.5 mhz, not great again but it's adding up to something, and it's just a microcontroller (technically). And than you add some weird GPU. To me it seems like it could rival the N64, and given the size of Neo Geo cartridges, probably rival the Playstation and Saturn.
There were definitely giant cartridges. As I read, there were specific fighting, racing, and shooting boards due to different requirements, but there was definitely a little bit of interchangeability.
I guess between the original Neo Geo not having a very big install base, coupled with there being more capable competition coming from all sides, the system never stood a chance.
Always feels like these super ambitious company console exclusives hurt themselves with limited releases and no outside country distribution. Hell, Dreamcast lasted a little longer in the US than Japan in this case
I love my Hyper Neo Geo 64. Samurai Shodown 64 is easily the best game for the system, with interesting gameplay additions and tough (& challenging) opponents. Arguably, it's the only reason to own a Neo Geo 64, as the sequel is actually slightly worse. The main reason the board failed was that compared to it's contemporaries, it was an obviously underpowered system. It didn't help that the neo geo fans themselves took an instant dislike to the system, preferring the latest releases for the MVS to anything the new system offered. [Edit] I SO want a dedicated candy cab to house my system.
@@TopHatGamingManChannel I hope you come back to New England again soon (Hope you had a chance to visit Weir's beach and Lake Winnipesaukee while you were here!) I love your work, especially the clap back video on all those Street Fighter III 3rd Strike (why it failed in arcades) deniers, SNK (my uncle had the CD home version with KOF '96) and Capcom Vs series!
I don't think it helped that there was a bombardment of 3D fighting games in the PlayStation era, many of them mediocre. 2D fighting games (some 3D games but played in a 2D style) are still around because the controls feel so precise Starting from the PlayStation era as well, the PC started to really pull ahead of consoles to where most consoles today use GPUs derived from PC GPUs. (PCs before the 386-486 era had some major disadvantages when it came to action games)
At least the Samurai Shodown games on the Hyper Neo Geo were better than Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage for PS1 and Samurai Shodown Edge of Destiny for XBOX360.
SNK was always a niche market for people who have a large amount of money and fancied true arcade games lets face it as ten year old did we actually know that altered beast really wasn't arcade perfect or mortal kombat wasn't...no because we was kids. As adults we know this now but then I don't think it was relevant compared to the relatively cheaper snes and megadrive. Plus SNK was known for fighter's and shooters so it kinda limited maybe? I honestly didn't know about the story of this system. 👌👌👌
oh, i knew. it was quite clear .. tmnt the arcade game on nes was crap, golden axe and altered beast were 1player only on sms with black screens when you did your magic and boss fights. I spent most of my 11 yr old life chasing arcade quality and not being able to get it at home until the snes.
@@NB-1 It is a shame your "functionig eyes"dont aid you in your spelling. Well I can only speak for me and as a 8 year old child and very limited amounts of places to play coin ups (45 miles away roughly) it was an every day thing for me .I can only wish I was as hardworking as you so could afford a neo geo as an 8 year old ??? Lol
🍁IT FAILED BECAUSE 3D WAS/IS WAAAACK. I ALMOST fell for its charm ... I mean, I DID like Virtua Fighter 2, Tekken, Power Stone, Tech Romancer, Virtual On, Plasma Sword, Rival Schools and Project Justice tho 🤷🏾♂️
Buriki One is the most criminally underrated fighting game on the Hyper Neo-Geo 64. Instead of being a normal fighting game, it's more like a UFC-ish fighting game, but hey at least Ryo Sakazaki is in the cast though (as Mr. Karate). Man, that hardware sure looks good that makes N64 and Sega Saturn weak.
Yep had this succeed all of Theron current 3D game would have probably had some of the best graphics on the market. They were able to get the feel of their 2D games fairly well with The Samurai Showdown and Fatal Fury games. Looked better than the Street Fighter Ex games to me.
The Arcade I work at recently got probably one of the last dedicated Hyper Neo Geo's in existence! It was made dedicated for Sam Sho 64, but Warrior's Rage is in it at the moment. Even if it never really impressed, it's a unique experience in it's own.
Making an arcade-focused machine during the era of 3D realism, like for the Saturn
This comment being only two hours old is why there is no Saturn Fan Salt in its comments... yet...
@@NimhLabs What do you mean? I'm not a big Saturn fan (aside from Nights and Radiant Silvergun) but I know that making two arcade-focused consoles in a row while Sony made a broader audience machine wasn't Sega's smartest move
@@ikagura ... I guess the whole Amiga Persecution Complex that Saturn Owners seemed to have a decade ago has gone away somewhat...
@@NimhLabs What do you mean by "Amiga Persecution Complex" ? The thing that made the Saturn fail was Sega themselves first (especially since most good game didn't get localized in the west so you'd better get a Japanese one)
The problem with the NEOGEO 64 is that it just didn't look impressive like some of it's contemporaries like the Model2 Arcade at the time
They should have used cel shading art style instead.
I played a lot of the MVS in arcades, could never afford the AES. I picked up a Neo geo pocket and enjoyed it very much back in the day. I also imported many of the home ports for my Sega Saturn in the late 90s and had a BLAST!! Still love SNK to this day!
I was in a LA Gang from 88-93 and with all the money that we had from various enterprises we had quite a few expensive goodies including a AES on launch as well as a launch 3DO and a few Superguns.
My MVS-6 arcade machine was Y2K prone, and Geese Howard died in the year 1900 on the first Fatal Fury game.
The funny thing is that Sega basically stole the NeoGeo's gimmick when making NAOMI: Cram it full of the highest-end hardware feasibly possible at the time, then make it a multi-game system so it's affordable to arcade owners.
(And as a result the NAOMI ultimately had a *much* longer and happier life than its sibling, the Dreamcast...)
Quite ironically, just about everyone copied the MVS format (to much success) while SNK was attempting to abandon it (to much detriment).
NAOMI was more then that though.
One of Sega's Genius Decisions was "What is the completion doing wrong? Let's NOT do that."
At the time, hard drives and CD Drives were the big thing for Arcades. But, they failed due to constant usage.
So, Sega said "Let's load the game in it's entirety, into RAM."
If the NAOMI hardware had the RAM storage installed for that.
Neat trick. The Hardware would check every 3 days to make sure you didn't take out the Disc from the Drive as well.
@@hegyak Nice, I hadn't heard about that feature. Cool.
Beast Busters was a fun game that needs more love, I am surprised SNK made a sequel to it
Love this video series. It completely fills in the gaps of all the questions I had about video games growing up, and now the price point and the large cartridges of the Neo Geo AES finally make sense. Neo Geo were absolute *masters* of 2D sprite graphics, but Dear God, the graphics in Samurai Showdown 64 looked like ass. So glad they went back to 2D for another decade or so. Better to be the best at what you know rather than fail to chase the current trends.
Shin Nippon Kikaku? The True/Super Japan Plan/Project? Is that what SNK stood for this whole time?
You know... there is some real irony here in that the company's name is literally "True/Super Japan Plan/Project"... I'm just processing that...
"New Japan Project" is the translation I've heard of multiple times in the past.
Damn Richard, I learned something new today, didn't know the Neo Geo 64 even existed...YEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!
Yeaahhh!! Very informative, I'd never heard of this before. Excellent upload as always mate.
Small editing mistake, you brought up a model 2 game on screen when mentioning the model 3
Joyconboyz forever
Ow yeah this is my topic, I like your channel :D
Keep it coming these awesome video's !
I remember reading about the HNG64 from Madman's Cafe years ago. Even from their reports, the system sounded promising, but was lackluster in sales. Great ideas, just lots of roadblocks & cost. Bummer it hurt them in the long run. But SNK bounces back
Nobody:
Tophat Gaming Man: yeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhh
@@Nov-5062 I don't even understand it. Is it supposed to be funny? Witty? What is it referencing? You probably have to have an IQ
Wow. There u are, just posting a silly little comment, born from the joy u felt at there being a new upload from a favourite content provider, and not one, but TWO people actually took the time out to respond with such negativity. Aw man, this world is an evil, hopeless, mess. On behalf of decent HUMANS everywhere, I apologise to u mate.
@@WestSide1207 let me explain the joke:
nobody = all people around the world.
Saying nothing = no one cares about these consoles.
Tophatgamingman = the host
Yeeeeaaahhh = only he is exited about these cap consoles
@@dreamspheree thanks for explaining. So like I thought, not funny at all, and each time I read a comment like that my IQ is lowered by a few points.
I didn’t say nobody cares. Y’all need to relax. I was poking a little fun at this catchphrase. That’s all. I like the guy.
Thank you very much for this Top Hat!
I was recently thinking what killed SNK and could only think of the VERY expensive home console. I didn't know there was more to it.
Please, make videos like these about the Soul Calibur and Capcom beat them up games (Dungeons and Dragons, Aliens Vs Predators, etc).
I agree, but would like to add that an entire video dedicated to Pole Calibur tournies and game play should be present.
Pole Calibur, as we all know (but for the person behind that game controller) is when you play Soul Calibur with a fishing rod.
He did make a video for 'Alien Vs. Predator'. Maybe he'll do one for 'Dungeons & Dragons', too.
I have the fighter board and all the games, it's a quirky system that I enjoy from time to time, but my MVS is used way more! Thanks for the awesome vid 👌
great video with a great backstory, specially because the games pale in comparison with SNK past achievements...
There was an ex RAF chap that bought all remaining uk stock of MVS cabs and hyper 64s along with all the hyper games and was planning on releasing new games was pretty well reported within the snk fanworld back in early 2000's I bought an mvs cabs from him and went to there HQ in Darlington of all places, was an incredible sight seeing well over 50 working cabs and lots lots more being worked on, I then went on an ebay spending spree for carts bought about 30 off one seller in Apeldorn In Holland and decided to catch a ferry and drive there, the chap had his own games shop and in his flat he had most of the neo geo aes games including most boxes all within glass cases.
I remember seeing the two page spread for Samurai Showdown 64 and was extremely disappointed the game never saw release stateside on the N64 or PS1 while I was glad to own Wild Ambition on the PS1 and had a ton of fun with it despite its poor reception here in the US
That's because the PS1 port was horrible. Lower resolution, smaller arenas, lower polygon count and the kicker - missing background animations!
Hey, Top Hat Gaming Man. Can you please do a video on Street Fighter Alpha 2?
5.55 I was sent that video tape in the mail by SNK back in the day. I wrote to them to advise them not to go 3D if they ever made a successor to the aes system... Then they sent me the vhs tape with an advert for the hyper 64 and it had clips of samurai showdown 64.. i was severely dissapointed. But they also sent me some other cool stuff i got a folder with the neo geo logo on it, and inside were various arcade flyers of some of their latest games.
5:55
I think SNK really just wasn't prepared for the transition to 3D. The thing is, as a kid in the early 90's, 3D was already quickly becoming the next new, amazing thing. You had Virtua Racing arriving in 1992, which blew everything before it away, and then Virtua Fighter in 1993 which just looked absolutely incredible at the time. Even back in 1990, there was Race Drivin', so 3D games were quickly becoming the norm even early on in the 90's. The games I always wanted to play most were those early 3D games, albeit with a few specific exceptions. Games like Afterburner looked positively archaic in comparison.
It's hard to blame SNK for the slow transition given how successful the MVS was. The funny thing is that whenever I encountered a 4-game cabinet, I always assumed it had cheap, low-quality games due to there being multiple games inside a single cabinet. I knew of SNK and the Neo Geo name, of course, but I just couldn't help shake that feeling. With the rise of 3D arcade technology, it further felt like SNK were falling behind technologically. 1994 brought both Daytona USA and Sega Rally Championship, two of the best 3D arcade racing games ever made, and in such a short time, 3D was dominating in the arcades. Pick a genre of game, and compare a 3D version to a 2D version. Even with relatively chunky polygon graphics and primitive textures, 3D felt modern while 2D felt antiquated. I think even if SNK had decided to transition to 3D sooner, they still would have had trouble competing with the likes of Sega and Namco.
And that's the biggest problem: Hyper Neo Geo 64 was SO late. If you ask me, the graphics aren't that bad, rather on par with something like a Playstation on steroids. I can't recall when I read about the first rumors, but I was pretty excited by the prospect of new, 3D-oriented 64-bit SNK hardware. SS64 certainly looked pretty good in magazine still shots. But this was hardware that needed to be available in 1995, not just barely being shown in 1997. I just don't think SNK had the engineers to develop such sophisticated hardware. They probably would have been better off just contracting the hardware design out to someone else or buying an existing hardware design.
I can't help but think that maybe part of SNK's problem was their own hubris. They were well-known as an exclusive, high-end brand, but they kept iterating on the same games over and over again. To an average gamer like myself, I didn't see SNK pushing the envelope. I saw Sega and Namco doing that. Just the thought of playing Daytona USA at home was enough to make me lust for a Sega Saturn (even if the port wasn't very good). Namco's System 11 proved that hardware doesn't have to be cutting edge to make great arcade games, but SNK's entire advantage was its cutting edge hardware. I don't see how they expected to compete with the hardware that eventually came to be, especially as late as it was. Nor do I understand how they expected their software to stand out when it was, by all measures, largely generic compared to other titles at the time.
As I try to think through all this, I keep coming back to the same thought: SNK just seemed completely unprepared, in every way, for the transition to 3D.
I remember seeing a Hyper Neo-Geo 64 at a mall in Texas years ago. IIRC, it had Samurai Shodown 64 on it. For me personally, the failure of the Hyper Neo-Geo 64 kind of prevented SNK from getting into 3D games, not to mention SNK would continue 2D gaming into the SNK Playmore era.
The sad reality is that SNK failed to change with the video game market. I kind of wish that there was a more detailed documentary about SNK's fall because this year mark's twenty years after the company went bankrupt.
Samurai Shodown 64 (both parts) are very underrated! There are some spectacular moves/combos that can be performed, which are entirely absent from other Samurai Shodown games, including the 3D offering on the PS1. But the thing that makes these games stand out is the atmosphere - more deeper than SS3/4 even! Also, unlocking mid-bosses and other secrets seemed to not be fully understood or documented.
Being that you touched upon SNK's bankruptcy, I think you should cover the story behind all that.
Yes I intend to do it probably withing the SVC Chaos video as that was released after bankruptcy.
Always wanted to play the 3D SamSho games...there's gotta be some way.
emulation?
Hmm ... the failure of Capcom's 2D oriented CPS3 suggests SNK wasn't wrong to try and branch out to 3D. But obviously things didn't work out well with mediocre 3D hardware either.
Therefore, the idea of either Capcom or SNK developing their own next gen arcade hardware may have been a mistake.
After all, Capcom teaming up with Sega to use Naomi hardware worked great! I wonder if SNK could have done a similar thing with Nintendo a bit earlier. Since Nintendo didn't have a strong arcade presence by the 1990s, it could have been a good business fit.
Imagine an MVS64 board which combined an MVS board with an N64 board. It could be an easy upgrade for MVS arcade operators, while also offering 3D games - albeit limited to a digital joystick and 4 button controls. For simplicity, the MVS and N64 boards are pretty much independent. In N64 mode, the MVS board does little more than handle joystick input and maybe sound.
The point is - it's not about cutting edge 3D graphics in the arcade, but rather providing an upgrade path for the MVS system. Even N64 level graphics would be adequate for, say, a ripoff of Star Wars Arcade. Instead of a House of the Dead clone, a Cabal type game with zombie theme would work better with joystick controls. Attempted 3D fighters probably would still be mediocre, but with less of an investment wasted on them. Importantly, the MVS64 hardware could still play the successful 2D SNK fighters.
For SNK, this partnership means avoiding the cost and risk of developing their own 3D hardware and dev kit. For Nintendo, this means some easy money to help fund GameCube development, tapping into a market which does not compete with their home sales. If the partnership is successful, then SNK could use GameCube based arcade hardware in the future.
Obviously, if SNK is partnering with Nintendo, this means they won't be trying to edge in on Nintendo's Gameboy. Thus, they would avoid a somewhat expensive uphill battle in the Neo Geo Pocket.
The Story of Neo Geo AES and its cult following today... would be an interesting video :)
Had a Neo Geo 64, Buriki One (once you get past the mental controls) was a fantastic 3D fighter with lots of depth. Many a night was spent in front of my Astro City playing this gem.
An episode about Capcom's fighting games based on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure would be interesting. At the time these games were released, none of the JoJo comics or anime OVAs had been localized in America, and the first arcade game was renamed "JoJo's Venture" for some reason.
I was really not aware of this, thank you for this.
I do remember Samurai Shodown 64 when the game was released in the arcades. I only played it a couple of times at Dave & Busters and it was interesting. However it was the only game I've played on the Hyper NeoGeo 64. It was only there for a month and then it was gone. You will see more NeoGeo MVS machines than Hyper NeoGeo 64 out in the wild.
SNK is one my favorites. I owned a Neo Geo pocket as a kid. Loved KoF '98 on Dreamcast and really started playing Neo Geo games on emulator like I'm sure most of use did back in '01-'02. Today I owed a Neo Geo AES and a Sammy Atomiswave arcade machine with Metal slug 6 and king of fighter neo wave. I of course can't afford any of the expensive carts for AES or Atomiswave (I'd love to get my hands on Fist of the Northstar) but I enjoy what I have 👍
I remember seeing Samurai Spirits 64 on arcade.For a second, i was stunned by its 3D environments....then i saw how it played.It was not good....slow and clunky animations,very plain textures and unresponsive characters.I could not believe SNK had released the game in that state.The multi tier environments were unique,but after the novelty ended you were left with the plain polygons.
Great vid! Never heard of this thing before today. Very interesting.
Cool. I never saw this machine nor its games. The HOTD knockoff looks like the best title, other than perhaps the MMA game.
That Neo Geo pocket in the beginning was great lookin
The original Daytona USA was on the Model 2 board.
Thanks again top hat man. What ever will we do when we talk about every console that has been?
Top Hat Gaming have you ever heard of a cult classic puzzle game called Zoop: America's Largest Killer of Time?
It was marketed heavily over in America and was thought to be the next Terri's by the developers on over 9 consoles including Atari jaguar.
It flopped however as despite positive reviews puzzle games were thought to be dead.
It was also a blockbuster rent one get one free also. I'd love to see a puzzle game covered on this channel! :)
The sammy...atomiswave...arcade unit...from the early 2000s
Episode suggestion: Naomi/Atomiswave Hardware featuring its mainline fighting game franchise: Guilty Gear X
I'm always for more Guilty Gear
I remember hearing about the Hyper Neo Geo 64 back then and I was not the least bit excited about it. I thought it was SNK's desperate attempt to transition to 3D graphics when their strength was 2D
The graphics were ugly and uninspiring even for that time period(which made you question if there was even any advantage for the system to have a 64 bit architecture)
The only recognizable games were ugly, lackluster 3D versions of successful SNK franchises such as Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown. SNK had to learn the hard way that they could not get away with taking a familiar franchise and slapping 64 on it like Nintendo could.
I have a request for you Top Hat Gaming Man. Can you make a video about the obscure arcade fighting game anomaly that was Fighting Bujitsu? I only ever personally saw an arcade cabinet for it once. It seemed like an interesting concept but it never took off.
One of the main reasons SNK went under was the failure of the Neo Geo Pocket, they spent a ton of money on that in the late 90s and it failed big time. In hindsight they should have made the Hyper Neo Geo 64 with a more powerful CPU (literally had the stock model of the N64 CPU, N64 had a cheaper version of the NEC VR4300 that SNK used) and way more main memory than the 4MB!!! what a damn shame. I love SNK and I am so happy they are making a comeback !
3D was such a massacre for software and hardware companies. The better of a 2D developer you were, the harder the shift to 3D was. And I get how exciting 3D was, but I'm still salty that 2D graphics haven't reached the highs of Street Fighter 3 again even in 2019.
KOF XIII and Rayman legends
Disagree on Banner Saga. It's beautiful art, but like, 3 animation frames.
Even today most 2D games are made by indies... I mean do you imagine a big AAA company announcing a pure 2D game at the next E3? Fat chance for it to even sell well compared to their 3D cousins
Arc-system works still make nice 2-d games right?
@@sega_kid4288 Arcsys is still pretty niche compared to most AAA companies and the mainstream Fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat
If only the engineers at SNK Made the Hyper NEO-GEO 64 like the 3D systems created by Sega & Namco, it would have have been a real contender in the arcades.
SvC chaos is next right?
Nice video. I own a Hyper Neo Geo 64 system and all 4 fighting games. Best of me is Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition although both Samurai Shodown’s aren’t bad. Agree it was a flop though. Too little too late. Cheers
Fighting Golf ! Hahaha
the Neo geo CD was good, because of the cheaper Games. What about the next gen Neo Geo, they have talked about this year? Can´t wait to see it.
Very interesting review.
Did SNK really revolutionize the arcade industry with the modular system though? According to this article there may have been a cassette based modular system prior to this, the DECO cassette system from Data East:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECO_Cassette_System
It's possible this didn't have a significant enough impact to be relevant, but man I loved me some Lock 'N Chase, and Bump 'N Jump as well. These two titles were later ported to and were great games on the Intellivision. And it even has Mr. Top Hat's favorite game, Burgertime.
Well the graphics capabilities looked between the N64 and 3DO M2 arcade hardware so it would have been decent. Now I'm totally confused with the Hyper64 ram. Only 4MBs for programming texture ram is 16 MB, vertex 64 Megabytes which is overkill for a system with the polygon capabilities between 250K to 350K polys per second. Now if SNK went with 32 MBs of unified memory (N64 had it and uses the same CPU as the N64) you would have had a decent console for 97 tech.
Shodown was good enough. It's a shame they didn't do 64 quite right!
I don't understand why they did not try to use the power of that board a little bit more...
You had a 100 MHz NEC VR4300 - The N64 had something similar as a CPU, it's not the GPU though...
Then you had a V53@16 MHz 16-bit microcontroller: hey, that's a bit like an old 16 bit Intel processor at 16 mhz... Not great, but it is adding to the power here and it is just a microcontroller...
KL5C80A12CFP@12.5 MHz 8-bit - Ok, so a Z80 at 12.5 mhz, not great again but it's adding up to something, and it's just a microcontroller (technically).
And than you add some weird GPU.
To me it seems like it could rival the N64, and given the size of Neo Geo cartridges, probably rival the Playstation and Saturn.
Bit Wars of the 90's and that number 64
I could have sworn the HNG64 had cartridges, at least for some games.
There were definitely giant cartridges. As I read, there were specific fighting, racing, and shooting boards due to different requirements, but there was definitely a little bit of interchangeability.
They should come out with rereleases through the ACA on modern systems
I guess between the original Neo Geo not having a very big install base, coupled with there being more capable competition coming from all sides, the system never stood a chance.
Always feels like these super ambitious company console exclusives hurt themselves with limited releases and no outside country distribution. Hell, Dreamcast lasted a little longer in the US than Japan in this case
I love my Hyper Neo Geo 64. Samurai Shodown 64 is easily the best game for the system, with interesting gameplay additions and tough (& challenging) opponents. Arguably, it's the only reason to own a Neo Geo 64, as the sequel is actually slightly worse. The main reason the board failed was that compared to it's contemporaries, it was an obviously underpowered system. It didn't help that the neo geo fans themselves took an instant dislike to the system, preferring the latest releases for the MVS to anything the new system offered. [Edit] I SO want a dedicated candy cab to house my system.
Top hat's at Funspot!
I was indeed!
@@TopHatGamingManChannel I hope you come back to New England again soon (Hope you had a chance to visit Weir's beach and Lake Winnipesaukee while you were here!) I love your work, especially the clap back video on all those Street Fighter III 3rd Strike (why it failed in arcades) deniers, SNK (my uncle had the CD home version with KOF '96) and Capcom Vs series!
What sony TV is being shown at the 37 second mark of the video ? Is the image stretched or is that a 16:9 aspect ratio CRT ?
I don't think it helped that there was a bombardment of 3D fighting games in the PlayStation era, many of them mediocre. 2D fighting games (some 3D games but played in a 2D style) are still around because the controls feel so precise
Starting from the PlayStation era as well, the PC started to really pull ahead of consoles to where most consoles today use GPUs derived from PC GPUs. (PCs before the 386-486 era had some major disadvantages when it came to action games)
I remember Fatal Fury wild Ambition for the ps1. I thought it wasn't a bad game but the graphics were very ugly for the time
Can those 7 games be emulated somehow?
With m.a.m.e but with slow FPS , you need the bios , emulation has been abandoned for a long time now
1:33 Coda - Fighting Gold
At least the Samurai Shodown games on the Hyper Neo Geo were better than Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage for PS1 and Samurai Shodown Edge of Destiny for XBOX360.
YES #BIGDADDYTOPHAT IN THE HOUSE!!!!
SNK was always a niche market for people who have a large amount of money and fancied true arcade games lets face it as ten year old did we actually know that altered beast really wasn't arcade perfect or mortal kombat wasn't...no because we was kids. As adults we know this now but then I don't think it was relevant compared to the relatively cheaper snes and megadrive. Plus SNK was known for fighter's and shooters so it kinda limited maybe?
I honestly didn't know about the story of this system. 👌👌👌
oh, i knew. it was quite clear .. tmnt the arcade game on nes was crap, golden axe and altered beast were 1player only on sms with black screens when you did your magic and boss fights. I spent most of my 11 yr old life chasing arcade quality and not being able to get it at home until the snes.
@@NB-1 It is a shame your "functionig eyes"dont aid you in your spelling. Well I can only speak for me and as a 8 year old child and very limited amounts of places to play coin ups (45 miles away roughly) it was an every day thing for me .I can only wish I was as hardworking as you so could afford a neo geo as an 8 year old ??? Lol
I only know Hyper Neo Geo because of Beast Buster
At 1:53 what is the name of this game? I kinda remember playing it once but never got to see it again. Anyone know?
Great work 👍 like
if you know where i can purchase one of those hyper neo geo 64 cabinets, please let me know
Great minds think alike
Gud info🙌🏾
4:26 what game is that? Godzilla?
King of the monsters
@@drdrght I found out already thanks
Is this system emulated?
Somewhat on mame, it takes some cpu power to run.
🍁IT FAILED BECAUSE
3D WAS/IS WAAAACK.
I ALMOST fell for its charm ...
I mean, I DID like Virtua Fighter 2, Tekken, Power Stone, Tech Romancer, Virtual On, Plasma Sword, Rival Schools and Project Justice tho 🤷🏾♂️
I remember playing Ff wild ambition during a holiday in Sydney, Australia. It wasn't that bad untill an Asian guy challenged me and kicked my ass....
Hyper Neogeo 64 what?
Never even heard of it
Hey, you went to Funspot!
Your opinion on atGames, Top Hat man?
I don't like Big Daddy Top Hat, I prefer Papa-Top!
What a bad idea for a system!
Man, the rpg music.....
can you look at Yoshi's Safari🐊
It failed so miserably that no programmers are interested on updating its m.a.m.e emulation
this thing was pitiful
I hated the Nintendo 64
2 words: overpriced and underpowered
와 이거로 습하습하 하고싶다
No clickbait girl this time?
Erm...first?
Nope
@@LyingSecret proof?
@@obiiWan7 My proof is, reply to this comment to prove me wrong.
Someone tell “Metal Jesus Rocks “
It didn't fail u just couldn't afford it
I have one lol