____________________________________________ This Page Last Updated on October 10, 2007________________________________________
THE NEOGEO CD GAME SYSTEM
Here in this section, we will discuss and analyze the 8 NEOGEO CD "exclusive" games. We have confirmed that 4 of these 8 games were developed and assembled onto prototype game cartridges as they were also intended to be released to the MVS market as well. The other 4 games were clearly put together strictly for use on the CD system, and assembling them onto the cartridge format although possible, would be quite tedious, and would really serve no purpose anyhow.
1)The King of Fighters '96 Collection is merely an enhanced collectors edition CD that covers the KOF96 game in great detail. It contains some extra bonuses and special features that are aimed soley at the home gamer.
2) ADK World was a promotional sampler CD that contained information, previews, and demos of upcoming ADK games. It was an advertising tool. It was not a normal fully functional game and thus was of no interest or use to a home cartridge console owner, much less an arcade operator with a coin operated MVS machine.
3) NEO GEO CD Special was a promotional sampler CD that contained information, previews, and demos of upcoming SNK games. It was an advertizing tool. I was not a normal fully functional game and thus was of no interest or use to a home cartridge console owner, much less an arcade operator with a coin operatd MVS machine.
4)Samurai Shodown RPG was made specifically to tantalize those considering the purchase of the CD unit. Arcades are not an RPG environment. Quick play is the way. Granted, exceptions like Capcom's Dungeons and Dragons and Atari's Gauntlet Legends exist, but they are few and far between, and not quite as intricate and involved as a full fledged home RPG game)
These 4 games were originally designed and developed for the regular NEO-GEO cartridge based system. However, they were ultimately delayed, or indefinitely postponed for various reasons and therefore ended up becoming exclusive to the CD format by mere chance. Some of them might have remained as "unreleased" NEOGEO protos, were it not for the fact that they were released for the CD system.
ADK's Crossed Swords 2 was a 78 meg swords and magic action game. Its older 1992 era NGM software product number predates the 1995 CD system by 3 years. Originally intended to be released in 1992, CS2 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 probably still be lost today.
Idol Final Romance 2 was an 86 meg Mahjong game. The NEO-GEO already had 4 other mahjong games, so perhaps it seemed unneccessary to release a 5th Mahjong game on the cartridge format. In addition, FR2's theme was intense as it contained a large amount of adult content. Either of these reasons may have been the cause for it's cancellation on the cartridge format.
ADK's Zintrick was a 74 meg puzzle game. It is also known as Okidashi Zintrick, Droppers, and 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.
Ironclad by Saurus was a 178 meg shooter. It was also known as Chosetsu Brikinger. Advertisements for its release were abundant and well documented. I actually played the game on cart in an MVS cabinet at the 1996 ACME trade show. So this one was indeed 100% real and ready for the MVS cartridge market, but was ultimately canceled and thus ended up a CD exclusive as a result of that
One further point to make is that of the 8 CD games, these 4 were the only releases whose meg counts were provided by SNK and stated in magazines of the time. 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 exclusives did or did not exist in cart format, all 8 of the games were actually assigned sequential software product code numbers, so the NGM numbers had already been found. Finding these games in cart format was nice, but it did not help complete the NGM puzzle.
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Samurai Showdown RPG & KOF 96 Collection
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