___________________________________________________________________________________________ This Page Last Updated on October 10, 2007_______

NEOGEO GAMES ON CD ONLY?

The NEOGEO CD System There are a total of 8 games that SNK released and made available for the NEO-GEO CD home game system that were NOT released for the NEO-GEO cartridge system. SNK's mindset around that time period (1995-1996) was to try to promote the new CD home system. One such way that they did so was to increase interest in the item. Exclusive games are, needless to say, one such stradegy that is often used by companies for promotional purposes. However, some of them may not have been intended for just the CD system but also for the cart system as well. Here is an explanation for why some of the 8 "exclusive" games are different, and may very well have been either originally intended for regular cartridge release and/or at the very least, a simultaneous release for both of the formats.

Here in this section, we will discuss and analyze those 8 games. We have confirmed that 4 of these 8 games were developed and assembled onto prototype cartridges and were intended to be released to the MVS market as well. The other 4 games were put together strictly for use on the CD system, and assembling them onto the cartridge format would be next to impossible, and would serve no purpose really anyhow.



______________________________THE 4 CD EXCLUSIVE GAMES______________________________

The Compact Disc Media These 4 games did NOT have a cartridge format release:
1)The King of Fighters 96 Collection....2)SNK NeoGeo Special....3)ADK World Special.... 4)Samurai Shodown RPG

KOF96C is merely an enhanced collectors edition CD version of the KOF96 game. It contains some extra bonuses and features aimed soley at the home gamer. The ADK World and SNK Special CD's were promo CD's that contained information, previews, and demos of upcoming games. This is of no interest or use to an arcade operator with an MVS machine. Lastly, in regards to SSRPG, video arcades are not an RPG environment. SS RPG was made specifically to tantalize those considering the purchase of the CD unit. (granted games like Capcom's D&D and Atari's Gauntlet Legends have crossed the RPG boundry in arcades, but they are extremely rare, and not quite as intricate and involved as a full fledged home RPG game)


______________________________THE 4 CARTRIDGE RELEASES______________________________

These 4 games were designed and developed for the NEO-GEO cartridge format. They were cancled just like the other 16 protos were, and would have remained as "unreleased" protos just the same, but the differance is that they actually did see a release, albeit in another format so they are not as much of a mystery.


NGM-054 Crossed Swords 2 is a 70 meg action game. Its low NGM product number predates the CD system. Originally intended to be released in 1992, it was shelved and abandoned due to marketing trends which showed it was no longer "desirable" or "economically viable" in the arcades. Although obsolete and indefinitely postponed, CS2 was "unearthed" merely to assist with the CD system's promotional program. Otherwise, it would still be lost today.


NGM-098 Final Romance 2 is an 86 meg Mahjong game. The NEO-GEO already had 4 other mahjong games so officials may have opted to keep it as a home CD exclusive. But the game is no larger then any of the other mahjongs and would therefore be quite easily a cartridge candidate. (An assembled version of the Final Romance 2 game code was done in 2004 and is available for play on cartridge format)


NGM-111 Zintrick is a 74 meg puzzle game. It is also known as Okidashi Zintrick, Droppers, & Joint Link. Originally scheduled to be released as a cart in 1996 and advertized as such, but for whatever reason, perhaps the clutter of puzzle games that were also being released at that time, it was abandoned. (An assembled version of the Zintrick game code was done in 2001 and is available for play on cartridge format)


NGM-120 Ironclad is a 178 meg shooter. It is also known as Chosetsu Brikinger. It easily fits onto a second generation cartridge boardset. Advertisements for its release are abundant and well documented. I actually played the game on cart in an MVS cabinet at the 1996 ACME trade show. This one is indeed 100% real and it's out there somewhere waiting to be found. It is also THE most highly desirable of the 4 protos. (read my article on this site)

One further point to make is that of the 8 CD games, these 4 are the only releases to have had their meg counts provided by SNK. Something that is usually reserved for programs stored on ROM media and hardly ever for programs stored on CD media. But regardless of which "cd exclusive" titles may or may not exist in cart format, all 8 of the games were assigned product code numbers, so the NGM numbers have already been found. Finding these games in cart format is nice, but it does not help complete the puzzle. Furthermore, they exist in a "playable" status (the CD versions) so at least we can enjoy them while staring at pics is currently the only way to enjoy the other 16!



______________________________SCREENSHOTS OF THE CD EXCLUSIVE GAMES______________________________

Samurai Showdown RPG & KOF 96 Collection
Samurai Shodown RPG was completely in Japanese and would require translation if it were to be of interest to most players outside Japan. This title was probably intended to be the biggest "draw" to the cartridge system owners and used as a lure to draw the players attention to the defunct CD console. It was simply not enough. Rumors have surfaced in the past that work was being done on translating and converting the game from the CD format to the cartridge format. However as of this writing, there is still no solid proof or real evidence to report. King of Fighter's 1996 Collection was merely a "Special Edition" disc meant to accompany the King of Fighter's 1996 game. It contains all kinds of "FAQ" style information on the characters in the game as well as other interesting facts and figures. Since KOF96C is not really a "game", it is highly unlikely that it was ever intended to be manufactured as an expensive cartridge title. However it is an official part of the GAME CODE list.

 

Neo Geo Special & ADK World Special
These two CD's are just about the most "useless" of all four. They are not really "games" per say, but rather "advertisements" and "previews" for other games on the Neo-Geo made by their respective companies (SNK & ADK). They do contain a few "Easter Eggs" such as some silly "mini-games", but for the most part they are merely demo and promo discs. It would be very doubtfull that these would have ever even been considered for cartridge format release as sales of such an item would be virtually non-existant! The importance of the 2 CD's is however in that they WERE INDEED assigned OFFICIAL neogeo game code numbers and as such are official parts of the NEO-GEO game code list.

 

 

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