____________________________________________ This Page Last Updated on October 10, 2007________________________________________

THE NEOGEO CD GAME SYSTEM

The NEOGEO CD System In 1995, SNK attempted to increase its' home video game market share by launching a newly designed and less expensive CD based NEOGEO game system. The home video game industry had evolved and the compact disc had become the format of choice for consoles. In an effort to promote and increase interest in the new system, SNK decided to give it exclusive games. There were 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. However, some of them were actually NOT originally intended to be exclusive to the CD system, rather they just ended up that way. Read on to discover why only 4 of the 8 CD exclusives were truly developed for the CD system, while the other 4 just ended up that way by chance.

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.



_____________________THE 4 SPECIFICALLY INTENDED CD EXCLUSIVE GAMES_____________________

The Compact Disc Media

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)


__________________________THE 4 ACCIDENTAL CD EXCLUSIVES_____________________________

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.


NGM-054

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.


NGM-098

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.


NGM-111

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.


NGM-120

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.



______________________________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. Over the years, translations have been attempted and almost completed.

King of Fighter's 1996 Collection was merely a "Special Edition" disc meant to accompany the KoF '96 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 was never intended to be manufactured on a cartridge. However, for whatever reason, it was assigned its' own unique software product code number (229), and as such is an official part of the NGM list. What makes no sense is that KOF96C was not the only "special edition" CD release. KOF '95, KOF '98, and Art of Fighting 3 also had special edition releases, yet they were NOT assigned software product code numbers.


Neo Geo Special & ADK World

DETAILED DESCRIPTION:

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 doubtful 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.

Recently, in 2022, the Brocken mini game (a comedic side scrolling shooter) was extrapolated from the CD and reformatted to work on an actual physical cartridge.

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