The Official NEO-GEO Thread!

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

Back with Mike and Corey from BitBeamCannon on the progress of DaemonClaw. Enjoy. 

 

From the description,

"We're on schedule, Gareth (the second playable character for the Megadriver version) is now partially working on the Megadrive and we should be able to begin refining his gameplay soon, and lots of art is being properly formatted for NeoFid to get Levels 1 and 2 and the Level 1 boss fight working on the Megadrive version. Programming work has already begun for the level 1 boss. Meanwhile Mike got a rough version of the level 2 boss fight and a level 3 sub-boss fight sequence working with place-holder art. Please subscribe to stay up to date on all our progress!"

 

 

 

 

Anthony...

[SlidellMan]

It just so happens that I suggested a few games for their Forensic Pixology series. (E. G. Star Ocean for Super NES, Star Ocean: Blue Sphere for GBC, and Lemmings 3: The Lemmings Chronicles for Amiga/DOS.)

[+Charlie Cat]

5 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

It just so happens that I suggested a few games for their Forensic Pixology series. (E. G. Star Ocean for Super NES, Star Ocean: Blue Sphere for GBC, and Lemmings 3: The Lemmings Chronicles for Amiga/DOS.)

That's great to know Slidel. I'm glad you help with giving suggestions to help them as much as possible bro. Nice work.  

 

Anthony...

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

 

Lunar Phase@LunarPhaseProd

 

KOFXV for Lunatic Perilune #29 is part of @SNKPofficial Special Support Esports Program! Entry into KOFXV is free, we encourage everyone to try out this game out. Register over at http://start.gg/LP

 

 

 

10:05 PM · Oct 31, 2023

·

 

 

Anthony...

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

 

SNK GLOBAL @SNKPofficial

 

Check out the SNK World Championship global qualifier tournament this week! Thaiger Uppercut 2023 Bangkok, Thailand Nov 3rd - 5th (ICT) https://start.gg/tournament/tgu-2023/… #SNK #KOFXV #SWC2023

 

 

 

9:00 PM · Nov 1, 2023

 

 

Anthony..

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

 

SNK GLOBAL @SNKPofficial

 

【KOF XV】 DLC character HINAKO SHIJO arrives this winter! Celebrate the occasion with a look at some past character art! #KOF15 #KOFXV #HinakoShijo #KOF2003

 

 

 

10:00 PM · Nov 1, 2023

 

 

Anthony..

[+Charlie Cat]

@ColecoGamer @SlidellMan @GoldLeader @wolfy62 @M-S @Madwindoman @Punisher5.0 @evilevoix @Stage_1_Boss @INTVCruise @retrorussell @Reaperman @roots.genoa @Razzie.P @Zap! @neogeo1982@KidGameR186496 @Kiwi @SoundGammon @Serguei2 @bent_pin @Tanooki @Cobra Strike Down @Rick Dangerous @128Kgames @eightbit @ECWfan @SpicedUp! @Mikebloke @Hwlngmad @Steril707 @OldSchoolRetroGamer @NeoPancho @Franjo @MarkoCG77 @masschamber @joeatari1 @electricmastro @DJ Clae @Darrin9999 @Steven Pendleton @swlovinist  @drludos @japangameonline @awbacon @Bratwurst @GoldenWheels @SoundGammon @Songbird @PikoInteractive @eebuckeye  @Metal Jesus @aduffy1976

 

 

Hi guys,

 

 

Extraordinary!! Here's what you can do with the latest 161 in 1 MVS cart to have all the games included into it. 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Some really smart devs over on Arcade-Projects forum were able to come up with a solution of taking an inexpensive 161-in-1 Neo Geo multicart, add more flash memory to it and load the entire library to the cart. No hacks, no dups, just perfect execution. Here's how I did it. 1/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

First you need to start with the latest 161-in-1 (known as V3) What's unique about this cart is that it has 3 1Gb flash ICs holding all the data. These SMD flash chips use a stilt PCB to interface the memory to the main PCB. Get ready for a lot of soldering here. 2/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Before we program all the ICs, we need to generate the menu and game data. An app was created to generate all the code. But the app only works with the stock 2Gb game data; we need to patch the code and compile a new EXE to support 3Gb to load all the games on a single cart. 3/

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Delphi 11 only runs under Windows 10. Here I have Windows 11, running in a VM on my Mac. I patched the code and build a new 64 bit EXE to generate the new BIN files that get programmed on the cart using my custom config file. 4/

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Next, all 3 Altera MAX3000A FPGAs have new code loaded onto them using my FPGA dev environment; Quartus II v13 generates the svf files, a Raspberry Pi using OpenOCD then programs the FPGAs. 5/

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Custom firmware is loaded on a WeAct Studio STM32 programmer that supports all the different flash memory. Custom PCBs are also made to interface to all the different type of memory. It takes over an hour to program each 1Gb flash chip! 6/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

It takes a lot of meticulous work to remove, solder, program, remove, solder every memory and flash chip. Custom PCBs were made for the flash memory as the stock ones are surface mount and break by just looking at them (Yes. That's 1.27mm pitch pins and sockets) 7/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Another 161-in-1 cart was sacrificed for the extra 1Gb of flash memory, and a different custom dual stilt PCB was made. OE1/OE2 pins to support the extra flash are wired directly to the FPGA. Note the 2nd flash chip on the PCB. 8/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk @leonkiriliuk

 

Because none of the games were hacked to add the ability to return to main menu, a reset button will need to be added but that's a small inconvenience for perfect MAME ROM support with instant load. Up next, Neo Geo AES cart! /end

 

 

10:13 PM · Nov 1, 2023

·

 

 

Anthony..

[Hwlngmad]

2 hours ago, Charlie Cat said:

@ColecoGamer @SlidellMan @GoldLeader @wolfy62 @M-S @Madwindoman @Punisher5.0 @evilevoix @Stage_1_Boss @INTVCruise @retrorussell @Reaperman @roots.genoa @Razzie.P @Zap! @neogeo1982@KidGameR186496 @Kiwi @SoundGammon @Serguei2 @bent_pin @Tanooki @Cobra Strike Down @Rick Dangerous @128Kgames @eightbit @ECWfan @SpicedUp! @Mikebloke @Hwlngmad @Steril707 @OldSchoolRetroGamer @NeoPancho @Franjo @MarkoCG77 @masschamber @joeatari1 @electricmastro @DJ Clae @Darrin9999 @Steven Pendleton @swlovinist  @drludos @japangameonline @awbacon @Bratwurst @GoldenWheels @SoundGammon @Songbird @PikoInteractive @eebuckeye  @Metal Jesus @aduffy1976

 

 

Hi guys,

 

 

Extraordinary!! Here's what you can do with the latest 161 in 1 MVS cart to have all the games included into it. 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Some really smart devs over on Arcade-Projects forum were able to come up with a solution of taking an inexpensive 161-in-1 Neo Geo multicart, add more flash memory to it and load the entire library to the cart. No hacks, no dups, just perfect execution. Here's how I did it. 1/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

First you need to start with the latest 161-in-1 (known as V3) What's unique about this cart is that it has 3 1Gb flash ICs holding all the data. These SMD flash chips use a stilt PCB to interface the memory to the main PCB. Get ready for a lot of soldering here. 2/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Before we program all the ICs, we need to generate the menu and game data. An app was created to generate all the code. But the app only works with the stock 2Gb game data; we need to patch the code and compile a new EXE to support 3Gb to load all the games on a single cart. 3/

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Delphi 11 only runs under Windows 10. Here I have Windows 11, running in a VM on my Mac. I patched the code and build a new 64 bit EXE to generate the new BIN files that get programmed on the cart using my custom config file. 4/

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Next, all 3 Altera MAX3000A FPGAs have new code loaded onto them using my FPGA dev environment; Quartus II v13 generates the svf files, a Raspberry Pi using OpenOCD then programs the FPGAs. 5/

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Custom firmware is loaded on a WeAct Studio STM32 programmer that supports all the different flash memory. Custom PCBs are also made to interface to all the different type of memory. It takes over an hour to program each 1Gb flash chip! 6/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

It takes a lot of meticulous work to remove, solder, program, remove, solder every memory and flash chip. Custom PCBs were made for the flash memory as the stock ones are surface mount and break by just looking at them (Yes. That's 1.27mm pitch pins and sockets) 7/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk@leonkiriliuk 8h

 

Another 161-in-1 cart was sacrificed for the extra 1Gb of flash memory, and a different custom dual stilt PCB was made. OE1/OE2 pins to support the extra flash are wired directly to the FPGA. Note the 2nd flash chip on the PCB. 8/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon Kiriliuk @leonkiriliuk

 

Because none of the games were hacked to add the ability to return to main menu, a reset button will need to be added but that's a small inconvenience for perfect MAME ROM support with instant load. Up next, Neo Geo AES cart! /end

 

 

10:13 PM · Nov 1, 2023

·

 

 

Anthony..

Impressive.  But, what would be even more impressive would be a multicart that is ready right out of the box with no tinkering needed.  Not like it is not possible or anything.  However, as long as people are more than willing to buy the same 'ole thing and those people are making enough money then I guess who really cares.

[M-S]

How much would it cost though? The 161-in-1 is almost 40$ on Aliexpress, plus the flash memory and the reprogramming should maybe amount to more than 70$, cheaper than the flash cartridge still, the only problem could be that it isn't easy to sell illegal games outside of China.

[SlidellMan]

Wow, that was a lot of work, but for those who can't afford even a modest Neo Geo library; the trade-off is worth it.

[Madwindoman]

Pretty awesome work on the multicart. Definitely exceeds my skill level. I’m sure somebody will find a way to mass produce these in a couple years

[Tanooki]

That level of handiwork is over my head, but if someone started to manufacture these you can get the 161v3 in bulk for less than the $40  you end up more or less paying as an individual.  I'd be happy to see a $100-150 price point if someone had the equipment already to do this as I'd ditch my v3 for it.  Remove the trashy hacks, keep it MVS pure and stuff the library on there, plus the few other legit nuggets popped over from CD like with Crossed Swords 2, and the unreleased MVS (given out originally in humble bundle 10 years ago) Ironclad.  They could be the replacements for the awful unplayable quiz titles as space far better spent.

Edited November 2, 2023 by Tanooki

[Cobra Strike Down]

This is great but I can’t do this. If there was a service I’d be all for it. 

[+Charlie Cat]

3 hours ago, Cobra Strike Down said:

This is great but I can’t do this. If there was a service I’d be all for it. 

Same here Daz. I wonder if the Leon (the gentleman that shared the tweets) would be interested on making a few based on request. I have to ask him about it. Maybe he would be able to do some AES carts as well. 

 

Anthony...

[+Charlie Cat]

13 hours ago, Madwindoman said:

Pretty awesome work on the multicart. Definitely exceeds my skill level. I’m sure somebody will find a way to mass produce these in a couple years

I'm going to ask Leon if he's interested on doing a few upon request Matt. If he says yes, I'll mention it on the Neo-Geo thread for others to contact him. Maybe he's interested on doing AES carts as well. I would buy one from him 

 

Anthony..

[+Charlie Cat]

14 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

Wow, that was a lot of work, but for those who can't afford even a modest Neo Geo library; the trade-off is worth it.

I agree Slidel. Leon said he took a good amount of time doing so, but well worth the dedication to share this with us. 

 

Anthony..

[+Charlie Cat]

14 hours ago, M-S said:

How much would it cost though? The 161-in-1 is almost 40$ on Aliexpress, plus the flash memory and the reprogramming should maybe amount to more than 70$, cheaper than the flash cartridge still, the only problem could be that it isn't easy to sell illegal games outside of China.

Good point M-S. I was wondering about the cost as well. I was estimating maybe $120 all together from what I'm thinking. I could be wrong. But I feel that would be the right price. 

 

Anthony..

[+Charlie Cat]

16 hours ago, Hwlngmad said:

Impressive.  But, what would be even more impressive would be a multicart that is ready right out of the box with no tinkering needed.  Not like it is not possible or anything.  However, as long as people are more than willing to buy the same 'ole thing and those people are making enough money then I guess who really cares.

I'm going to head to his Twitter/X account and ask Leon if he would like to build a few MVS carts for those that would like to purchase one from him Ryan. Maybe if he says yes, I'll ask if he's willing to do a round of AES carts as well. Keeping my fingers crossed. 

 

Anthony... 

[Cobra Strike Down]

1 hour ago, Charlie Cat said:

I'm going to head to his Twitter/X account and ask Leon if he would like to build a few MVS carts for those that would like to purchase one from him Ryan. Maybe if he says yes, I'll ask if he's willing to do a round of AES carts as well. Keeping my fingers crossed. 

 

Anthony... 

I already even have that version of the multi cart, so that's already one expense down. I could just ship it to him.

[+Charlie Cat]

39 minutes ago, Cobra Strike Down said:

I already even have that version of the multi cart, so that's already one expense down. I could just ship it to him.

Ah, good to know Daz. I wrote to Leon and hopefully he'll reply soon on what he has to say about it. 

 

Anthony..

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

 

 

SNK GLOBAL @SNKPofficial

 

Announcement : GET HYPE ZONE - Hype Night has became the SWC global qualifier! Please check and join the tournament! https://start.gg/tournament/ghz-hype-night/… >SWC2023 website https://snk-corp.co.jp/swc2023/ #SNK #SWC2023 #KOFXV

 

 

 

9:00 PM · Nov 2, 2023

 

 

Anthony..

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

 

BAM BAM GAME MONSTER OSAKA @BBGM_OSAKA

 

THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII GLOBAL MATCH "KOF XIII is back! in OSAKA” イベント情報 店内イベントスペースのPS5では…… SNKさんのご協力で 発売前のKOF XIII GMを 一足早くPLAYしていただけます SNKさんありがとうございます #KOF #KOFXIIIGM #SNK #BGMO

Translated from Japanese by

THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII GLOBAL MATCH "KOF XIII is back! in OSAKA" Event information   On PS5 in the in-store event space... With the cooperation of SNK, KOF XIII GM before release You can play as soon as possible 

 

 

 

9:02 PM · Nov 2, 2023

 

 

Anthony..

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

 

BAM BAM GAME MONSTER OSAKA @BBGM_OSAKA

 

THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII GLOBAL MATCH "KOF XIII is back! in OSAKA” イベント情報 フォトスポットは一緒にバカンス気分を味わえるようになっております 京の持っているアイスを食べていいかも #KOF #KOFXIIIGM #SNK #BGMO

Translated from Japanese by

THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII GLOBAL MATCH "KOF XIII is back! in OSAKA" Event information  The photo spot is designed so that you can enjoy the feeling of being on vacation together  Maybe I should eat the ice cream that Kyo has  #KOF #KOFXIIIGM #SNK #BGMO

 

 

 

8:18 AM · Nov 1, 2023

 

 

Anthony..

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

 

SNK JAPAN @SNKPofficial_jp

 

毎月当たるSNK公式SNSフォロー&RTキャンペーンを開催！ 抽選で10名様に #Amazonギフト券 （500円分）をプレゼント！ ①このアカウントをフォロー ②この投稿をRT でs募完了！ キャンペーンは11/30（木）まで！ #SNK #KOF15 #KOFXV #プレゼント

Translated from Japanese by

SNK official SNS follow & RT campaign will be held every month! We will give away #Amazonギフト券 (500 yen worth) to 10 people by lottery! ① Follow this account ② RT this post The application is complete! Campaign ends on Thursday, November 30th! #SNK #KOF15 #KOFXV #プレゼント

 

 

 

10:00 PM · Oct 31, 2023

 

 

Anthony..

[Tanooki]

If someone does in fact hack up that 161v3 and sells it for a respectable price with the library to dodge the sheisty 500 dollar or whatever it is now slow flash carts -- notify me please.  Sure I can't run homebrew, but whatever, I'll live.