Like all NEO-GEO hardware it also has no region coding. (There were only eight CD-exclusive titles.) It was $300, and games were $50, but with a 1x CD-ROM drive note A version with a 2X drive, called the CDZ, saw limited release in Japan it fell victim to Loads and Loads of Loading note On the other hand it also has no anti-piracy measures whatsoever and will happily play burned CDs, making it popular amongst the budget-minded collector that can't justify spending a week's salary on one AES game (which even today cost as much or more on the secondary market than they did back then). SNK released the Neo Geo CD in 1994 unlike the CD-ROM units for other 16-bit consoles, it was intended less to enhance the system's capabilities than to allow games to be rereleased in a cheaper format. Just a bit later, a bundle with no game and one controller sold for $400. The system launched in the US, with two controllers and the game Magician Lord, at $650. The games cost about $200, partly because their size was comparable to N64 carts half a decade before the N64 itself, and partly because of their architecture - the RAM chips needed to play the game were built into the cart rather than in the system. The cost was high, not just for the processing power, but for the joysticks and games. The format, however, wouldn't really take off until the advent and growth of CD gaming a few years later. The Neo Geo is notable for being the first console to save data on memory cards the principle behind this was that players could save their data from a session at the arcade and resume it at a later time from where they left off without the need for a password, either at the arcade or at home (though the latter required players to own the cartridges for the games they'd saved). At the time of release, it was the most powerful home video game system available. The Neo Geo was released to the general public in January 1990. When guests started letting the company know they'd be willing to buy them, SNK decided to put it on sale. At first, the AES was a luxury item for rent in hotels.

However, arcade machines cost a lot more than home consoles, and SNK knew that. A home version was the logical extension, and thus was born the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System (AES).

Unlike most arcade games, which have dedicated motherboards and ROM chips, the Neo Geo MVS used cartridges like a game console. In the late 1980s, SNK developed an Arcade system that could work with multiple games: the Neo Geo Multi Video System (MVS). Keith Apicary, Four Bright Buttons & Two Joysticks

Finalburn neogeo multislot