The Neo Geo was indeed an amazing but of kit. Just a shame it was beyond the reach of most gamers.

Retro Core , It's true, in Brazil, the price of Neo Geo AES was extreme expensive.

Same in most countries I beleive. Back in the UK the avarage price of a Neo Geo game was around 150 to 200 pounds. That 4x more than the Mega Drive or SNES.

Exactly!

I agree! The Last Blade Neo Geo CD soundtracks are especially fantastic to the ears! Neo Geo CD soundtracks are bad!? Madness!

20 seconds to load a new stage? No, thanks. They can keep their arranged soundtrack.

Rutubo Games practicality always delivered quality. That dev house should get far more recognition than they do.

fantastic voyager 20 Wonder if the X68000 could run a port of this?

I'm glad you enjoyed the video, Marc.

Vive la NE♡

Marc Yourath my is kof 94 on my neo geo aes

I've got that box set or had it. Can't remember if I sold it once I got the MVS system.

KoF 95 on the PS1 is actually quite easy, it's the only version I can blow through without any problems. Could regularly take Mai or Athena alone and beat the game quite handily.

Good job you didn't join with the first game :) that's a bit of a turkey.

Well to be fair, I was able to afford a Neo Geo and KOF 94 so I had to go with the PS1 version of KOF 95.... which is notorious of bad loading times lol.

@@RetroCore I don't know why you dislike KoF 94. For me 94 and 95 plays the same, that's why i've always prefered 96 onwards.

I used to be good with King and a few other characters too. For making this video it was the first time I had played the KOF 95 in almost 10 years.

King is one of my mains too.

Yep, you have to admit that Sega Europe sure had the edge of Sega US. So many Japanese games git the European treatment. Even stuff like Parodius and Dragon Ball made it.

Sadly the Saturn version is only cheap in Japan but even then it's not that cheap. About 3000 yen these days.

Yeah I looked at the PAL version, 60 pounds upwards. The Japanese version is cheaper yeah, but I've seen a few people selling it without the cart. Like I said I have the Japanese PS2 Orochi collection, so the Saturn version is just something I will keep an eye out for, if I can get a good deal on it. Theirs plenty of other games to collect first :D

Man, I feel sorry for anyone who gets sold the Saturn disc without the cart. It's useless unless you have the cart to go along with it.

Yeah that's what I was thinking, good job I watched your video before :) otherwise I would have no idea.

At least you're in luck as the Saturn KOF 95 did actually get a UK release. Those in America have no choice.

You're welcome, GWNBF

This is true. I always thought that stage in the park? Looked cool when it rained.

Yeah, I agree. The amount of damage you can sustain in a few hits is a joke.

Wow, you must have been in the money to buy the AES version back in the day.

Thanks to Die Hard GameFan magazine, I saved all my pennies for it based on their review. Was lucky enough to find the console and many games second-hand bitd. Otherwise, it would of been impossible lol

Die hard game fan was such a great magazine. We used to import it in to the UK.

Nico Toscani probably the cause of it is expensive also saturn is infamous for hard to program, many developer also angry to sega coz rushing saturn launch make them cannot study saturn tools in time make it another reason many people say saturn is the worst 5th gen console to program and move on to Play Station which more easy to program and have better tool than saturn.

Because the RAM cart/CD combo is flexible and a lot cheaper, requiring a one time purchase of the RAM cart by the user instead of a unique ROM cart for each game. Would've been great if Saturn KOF95 was reworked to use the 1MB RAM cart for the KOF Best Collection re-release, where the game loads the content of the KOF95 ROM cart (which holds 1MB of data) to the 1MB RAM cart.

I guess the biggest reason is cost. There's only one other game that works like this and that's an Ultraman game and to be honest I struggle to see why the game even needed a ROM cartridge.

The animation in Ultraman was so bad.

Sega of America and Sony of American come to think of it were both a joke back then. Why didn't they want 2D? That's what the consumer wanted. At least Sega of Europe were more in touch with their fan base.

They maybe a tinny amount but to my ears they sound on par with the Neo CD. Maybe that's also compressed a little?

Yeah a little.

You're right there. It's nit a bad little fighter for the hardware it's running on.

PS1 and Saturn version uses red book audio and there isn't enough space on the CD to contain the entirety of both the arcade and arranged soundtrack. Street Fighter Alpha/Zero 2 ports never had an option for the soundtrack, it was always the arranged version on the PS1 and Saturn. Not even Street Fighter Alpha Anthology gives you a choice; it was always the arcade soundtrack for Street Fighter Alpha 2 and the arranged soundtrack for Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold.

That's interesting but the arranged and original soundtracks were indeed on the PS1 ports of Alpha 1 and 2. At least in the options menu they were, perhaps I remember the playthroughs incorrectly but I'm fairly certain. I had both soundtracks recorded onto audio cassette tapes back then, both arranged and original stage music.

Street Fighter Alpha 1 PS1/Saturn ports gave you the choice of the arcade or arranged music. Street Fighter Alpha 2 PS1/Saturn ports gave you no choice, it was just the arranged music.

Ahh, ok, well that makes sense then. It was 20 years ago give or take, I've long lost that old audio tape I had. Good tunes though, I used to fall asleep listening to it.

The Saturn was Awesome! I beleive the PSP and Wii versions are based on the US PS2 version with is actually emulated.

I'm a big fan of Athena in KOF 96.

always loved athena and her shouts or PYSCHO BALLLLL!!!!!! throughout the years, love playing her 2 arcade titles as well athena and psycho soldier

I used to have Psycho Soldier on the Master System. It was a pretty cool game.

Ah, you are thinking of the US PS2 release. That is indeed emulation. I will mention this in next week's video which is KOF '96

thanks, any possibility of doing input lag test ?

I should try that on the Neo CD

I guess I have a soft spot for the Yamaha sound.

They certainly were some of the best of the time.

Hahaha, oh man. I've done that so many times. It's even worse when you go and buy something then realise you already have it and now have two.

That's coming next week :)

Have you seen the GB version of KOF '96? That's even better.

I have to admit, I was surprised at how well the port was on the PSX. I was expecting much worse but in the end it was very good. Just a shame about that loading.

I know what you mean. There are some awful PSX fighting games but KOF 95 isn't one of them. It's a pretty solid port.

They'll be coming over the year :)

I've tried both and I do agree the Japanese release is best BUT it looks soft compared to the crisp Saturn port. It's something to do with the video output on the PS2. I run my PS2 via D-Terminal which is the Japanese version of Component while the Saturn is run via RGB.

@@RetroCore The Saturn port's sound issues really do irk me for KoF 97 and 96, like the characters swallowed helium. Plus there's no load times in the Japanese compilation, a major plus in my book, but that western PS2 release, ugh unnecessary load times (the Wii Orochi Saga in the west had no load times, the PS2 western version was botched badly).

If I had the money the AES would have been the way to go but for a fraction of the price the Saturn port is fantastic.

I agree.

Have you played the KOF'96 on the GameBoy? That's everything better.

I've played a little, but only on emulator. When I played 95, I had the actual cart and a super game boy, so I spent a lot of my time playing it. Since I played 96 many years later on an emulator, I didn't get to appreciate it as much as I should have. I know you're 100% right on this though (also saw your video on it). I also remember playing Nettou King of Fighters 97, but that may have been a rom hack. I should've googled it before posting this. EDIT: Yeah it was a rom hack.

I may cover the KOF 96 in a few weeks and then 97 and 98 if I can find enough ports which aren't emulation.

Yes, I was playing it via the Super GameBoy. I should have mentioned that during the video.

Ah, the PS2 version is different in japan. The Japanese games are actually ported and vastly superior than the western release. Please check out my KOF '96 video where I mention this. I should have mentioned it in this video. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d7SiY5p0ydebpps.html&lc=UgycX-0ix1XDHt0rwrl4AaABAg I'm not sure what animation frames are missing from the Saturn game. To be honest I couldn't notice any but the hard core fans say there are missing frames.

Yep, KOF 95 and a crappy Ultraman game.

I was once a really good KOF player but once KOF 2002 had passed I lost interest in the series. Now I suck at them.

I suck at most fighting games because I usually don't know the control combos to pull off the special moves, which are basically required if you want to get very far in the game. And even when I DO know the combos, they only seem to work about half the time. For example, you might need to press A-B-C in sequence, but if you don't time it perfectly, it doesn't work. And forget any combos that require directional movements as well, if you're playing with a D-pad. I can't even get it to jump diagonally half the time. Even third-person action games that include fighting frustrate me. Such games usually have a tutorial mission at the start which is supposed to teach you the controls, but which require you to execute the combos in order to progress. "Just press Square-Square-Circle-Square to do a whirlwind kick!" Yeah right! 20 minutes later and I'm screaming at the screen and ready to throw the controller against the wall. The only fighting games with special moves that I was ever any good at were Body Blows and Mortal Kombat for the Amiga. Body Blows was designed for a one-button joystick and the port of Mortal Kombat was designed so that the special moves didn't require precise timing or complex moves to do. A special move might just require Back-Back-Button.

It's funny you should mention Mortal Kombat because that's one fighting game I can't do the moves on. Fighting games take time to learn and master. For example I'm great as Sega 3D Fighters since they share similar play styles as do the Dead or Alive games but I'm awful at any Tekken game due to the different play style and that I've never got on with it.

Well, I was only good at the Amiga port of Mortal Kombat. I imagine other ports make use of more buttons for the specials and therefore are probably harder to play. As it was, I could never beat Goro. Anytime I got anywhere near him, he'd grab me and take off about a third of my health. I can usually win the first 2-3 matches in most games just by mashing the buttons and spamming any special moves I might happen to know, but after that I usually get my ass kicked. I'm semi-decent at the Soul Calibur games, even though I don't know most of the special moves. I don't even know what the charge-up button does. Your character stands still and seems to be charging up, but I never seem any more powerful than before. You probably need some special move to take advantage of it... Have you ever played the Rival Schools games? They're 3D fighters with characters that represent the students and faculty of rival schools. You have a team of two characters and can tag-team your opponent with ridiculous attacks. The action is really over the top, with characters sometimes getting knocked back, or up 30-50 feet. The first was in the arcade and on the PS1 and PS3, the second was only on PS1 and the last one was in the arcade and on Dreamcast. To be honest, I never really got into the games enough to follow the story and learn all the mechanics, I just like the silly, over-done moves and action.

Yep, I've played the rival school games. I own the second one on the Dreamcast. It plays more like Tekken than Virtua Fighter so I'm pretty bad at it. I do love Soul Calibur. That was another game were I was a God on it. I played the Dreamcast release to death. These days im average at best. I really need to get back in to that game.

All of those re-release versions are just emulations of the Arcade ROM so I'm afraid they can't be included in Battle of the Ports since they're not really ports.

Thank you for the reply! Now I know your reasoning for not including them, and also not to bother you with any such questions on any future games that might have received a similar treatment.

No worries, Remy L. Sometimes it's difficult to know what is and isn't emulated. This particular video has an error because I failed to mention that the US release of the PS2 game is in fact emulated. It's not the same as the Japanese release which was reprogrammed. I'll be addressing this oversight in the next video, The King of Fighters '96 as that also has the same issue when it comes to the PS2 port. Fans of the game say the US release is horrible. Bad screen resolution, unresponsive gameplay and just overall poor emulation. Can't say I've tried the US release myself but a lot of people have mentioned this in the comments of this video.

that was emulation not a port.

Sadly thats emulation :)

I'd have to agree with you there.

I have the saturn cartridge to this day ! I was mad about this game back in the day ! But only 20 years later got to play on the saturn

rbocalini nice I have 96.

Retro Core Besides the graphics the controller and control is my favorite of the retro consoles. I alway feel lag in other console button inputs after a Saturn marathon.

PS2 Orochi Hen begs to differ, even closer to the arcade version, and no need to have an extra cart to run it. And if controllers are an issue, Sega did create a PS2 version of the Saturn pad, but it doesn't sell for cheap these days. Plus SNK did bundle in their Online Collections, this included, a fightstick pad, but that too will cost you a bundle.

Just imagine if your brother sold that now. It's worth a small fortune.

Omg i never let him do it again hahaha :D seriously its not a question of money, video games are a real passion for me (for us gamers) i mean its something related to our childhood and deep souvenir, if i got a time machine haha i will stop it like Trunks in DBZ hahhaha :D . Thank you again for the video, if you could made others it will be great ;) GG

I'll be doing the KOF'96 next.

Retro Core oooooh yeaaaah great 96 is my favorite episode with the 97 i like the Orochi saga 👍👍👍

Vice didn't come around til 97 and Kula after that... That's like complaining there is no Rolento , Gen ,Sodom, Sakura, Rose or Adon in Street Fighter 2. Your "point" is invalid.

I'm aware of that. I was half-joking.

ViDi Games Vice was on team Iori in KOF 96

tra0459 That's why it's my favourite team. ;)

ViDi Games Team Iori was my favorite 2.

The PS2 version in this video was the US version. The PlayStation port was the Japanese one running via PS2. Maybe that has an effect on the look?

hmm... usually PS1 games should output the same resolution when running on a PS2 as on real PS1 hardware. Don't know exactly what's wrong here. But after looking at it again, the PS1 Version does indeed look a little bit more pixelated than the Saturn version. It's like Symphony of the Night but only the other way around, where the Saturn version was more pixelated than the PS1 version.

I'd say KOF '97 is vastly superior to' 95. Better ballance and more characters.

Kof 95 has mostly better backgrounds than 97 (except the Bali stage on 97 which is incredible) and ofcourse much better music (97 is missing tunes in half of the stages in favour of ambience effects-a formula never used again in Kofs) Other than that its a more simplistic game than 97,97 is among the most competitive KOFs along with 98 and 2002.

I reckon it could have done so but that may have impacted memory usage and resulted in lower sound effect samples.

Retro Core I thought it would be contrary, taking the example of the MD where their processor Z80 + YM2612 were famous not to take any resources to the M86k processor and leave it all its capacity. I thought that this was the way to free loading times to the digital samples and avoid decompressing them if they were; or prevent these samples from occupying space in the Ram for more sprites or graphics.

It does run slower as we can see form the side by side comparison but it is actual graphics.

Still really can't take my eye off of how jagged it looks, though. It's somewhat distracting.

I wonder if a modern metal Slug would be any good?

I hope so, coz i dont see many run and gun game now day.

I can understand that. The first game, KOF 94 only came to the Neo Geo CD.

David Granados no way those are hacks.

+Magnum force Mopar I take it you haven't played the Japanese Orochi Hen then, which is the best versions of 95-97 to have besides the MVS and AES originals. You're thinking of the western compilation, which is gimped, a little research goes a long ways. +David Granados, agreed, wipes the floor with any other home versions of these 3 games, besides of course, the AES versions.

At first glance it seems that way but there is an awful lot missing.

I've never liked the design since the original PlayStation pad. They just hurt my thumb when playing fighting games.

That's emulation, not an actual port.

There was a Chinese or should I say Taiwanese game for the Saturn that ran from cartridge. It's amazingly rare though. I have no idea what game it is either. The only other game to load data from a cartridge is Ultraman, a 1 on 1 fighter that's pretty awful. I also can't see any reason why it needs the cartridge.

The Saturn port doesn't use the 4mbit ram cart. It uses its own proprietary Rom cart. Maybe you were thinking of the king of Fighters 96 or 97?

Retro Core You're right. It uses it's own cart. I used the 4MB cartdrige for the others, it makes the function of region converter too (doesn't exist PAL versions of 96 and 97)

Ah, that's just the same as the western Neo Geo versions. The Saturn game is like that if you set it to English. Put it in to Japanese an it's uncensored.

IcedEarthaholic same

Oh yeah it is. Especially in KOF 96 with Kim and Chizuru's theme

Slade Joseph Wilson and KOF97 with Yashiro, Chris and Shermie's theme, which is called "Bloody".

The Neo Geo chiptune bgm are amazing. it s one of the best part of video game history. Composers or neo geo CD never get the point and it was almost always desappointing.

It's a matter of taste, actually. Personally, I like both, as each version has its own charm and merits on their own right, and this applies for the entire Neo Geo KOF series.

I owned a Neo CD and compared to my Saturn and PlayStation, the load times were most certainly an issue, especially in fighting games.

@@RetroCore yes i know they are, i still have 7 of them including one each front and top loaders still new in the box. The loading times in some games was appauling, but this wasn't one of them. 20 seconds is nothing. You won't even make it to the fridge and back.

Isn't that obvious 😁

@@RetroCore Hell yeah it is, bro. 😂😂

I hope you get that 20 pounds :) the Saturn version is vastly better than the PlayStation. It gets worse for PlayStation fans when we move onto ー KOF 96

No, it's 480i, but I think the Wii version may be 480p

Omar Garza Wii version is 480p.

The Wii version is just an emulation of the Arcade ROM :)

Ah, I'll just get the Virtual Console version. It runs it true 240p, and with far better scaling.

Really? I wasn't aware of that.

Ah, but KOF '96 and 97 do have some good arrangements :)

Fair comment although I thought it was pretty obvious with the boarder around the screen. I'll mention it next time.

I agree. I just wasn't a fan of the arrangements used on Neo CD games for the most part.

It sure did. I was surprised it lasted as long as it did.

I don't have it anymore but I remember it not having Vs mode, so to play two players you had to go to Arcade mode and have the 2nd player join in.

No, PS pads are just not good for fighting games. Just how the Xbox 360 pad isn't any good either. The best pads are the Japanese Saturn pad and Neo Geo CD pad.

Retro Core Actually I played a lot of pads for fighting games, and the PS2 pad was considered one of the best for fighting games, no wonder there were a lot of fighting games released for it & kept that same design for 3 gaming generations. If PS pads aren't that good for fighters according to you, then explain to me how a competitive player like Luffy won a USF4 tournament at Evo 2014 using a PS1 pad?..

Because thats all he probably ever used and that's what he was accustom to using. That doesn't mean its the best. People follow what's popular, not what's good. That's just the way the world is. Let's just say this, in China and Japan they mod Arcade cabinets to use control pads for fighting games. What pads do they use? Japanese Sega Saturn pads. If you think that the PSX pad is the best (despite having no diagonal on it) then that's fine. We all like different things and have different options. There's even people who think all control pads are rubbish and that only joysticks work well for shooters and Fighters. It's all personal preference. I've been playing console games since the mid 80s and have used so many console official controllers. For the longest time the SNES pad was concidered best until the Sega 6 button Mega Drive pad arrived. Following that came the Japanese Saturn pad and Neo CD pad.

Retro Core Lol, ok they mod control pads in japan and use the saturn pad, and? That's in Japan, it doesn't change anything, maybe you should do your research and ask people how is the PS pads on fighting games because they have being used favorably in fighting games, just like the mistake you made by saying Alpha 2 was a port of the PS1 version when in fact it was an emulation. I said it's one of the best controllers for fighters, not simply the best, yeah, and I agree with Saturn & Dreamcast also being on the list, but PS is also part of it. I used a lot of controllers just like you, maybe you didn't play with that enough, if you base your preference based on the 6-face button, fine, PS had a great dpad, to me it was all about the directionals/analog, I could handle any button layout, like I said, Sony had a good reason for keeping that design for a long time. Last but not least, Luffy had the choice of going with a different pad, but he chose that one, so do me a favor, just base your opinion as being simply an opinion because you tried to base it as a fact, later..

Looks like unless I agree with you that the PSX pad is best then you will not be happy. I don't think it is and that's that. If you do then that's great. Any true fighting game master would chose a joystick anyway over any pad since that's how all arcade fighting games are designed to be played.

Try using a Japanese Saturn pad and you'll see just how bad the PS1 and PS2 controllers are for fighting games. The Saturn pad is the best controller ever made for Fighters and shooters. So good that some Japanese arcades even modded them in to arcade cabinets.

I agree, just like the NEO GEO pads, the Saturn pads are great as well. I have a Saturn 6 button style for all my consoles and is what I prefer to use for all my fighters. I personally just thought it was a little harsh saying that PS2 pads are just straight horrible when they aren't. As far as the main stream systems, if you are playing on a first party pad, I would have say the PS2 is the best from that generation of consoles for fighters. I had to get PS2 adapters so I could play the Xbox fighters properly due to the Xbox D-pad being horrible. I want to get a Brook adapter so I can use my PS2 Saturn style pad on PS4, but my HORI Fight Commander has been a pretty good to me so far though.

Ah, I do agree that the D-pad on the 360 controller is absolutely awful when it comes to fighting games. Far worse than the PlayStation style.

Just wait until next week's show which will feature KOF '96. I've heard the PlayStation port of that is pretty poor. I'll be playing it tonight.

Retro Core every KOF was the shit

ure not the first 1 to say that.im honestly curious why is that? is it because its censored,or there´s more to it? thx

It turns out that the US release is all emulation and poorly done emulation at that. The Japanese release is actually ported so the games have been reprogrammed to run on the PS2.

And I must say, KoF 95, 96, and 97 run as smooth as silk in the Japanese compilation. If I weren't a collector, I would have never needed any other versions of these 3 games (but alas,I bought the PS1, and Saturn versions, minus Saturn 95 for obvious reasons, no cart swapping on a US Saturn. Plus the Wii Orochi Saga, and the Gameboy version of 95 I had to have, still need 96 on GB, and 94 Rebout).