Neo Geo CD (Platform)

Neo Geo CD

PLATFORM» NGCD» October 1994

The Neo Geo CD was released after its cartridge-based equivalent, in an effort to reduce manufacturing costs.

Overview

SNK (Company) released the Neo Geo CD in 1994, unlike many other CD consoles at the times such as Sega CD (Platform) and Jaguar (Platform) CD, the Neo Geo CD was not an add on for the Neo Geo (Platform) but rather a stand alone unit, nor did the system use extensive FMV sequences or showcase new graphical effects that the base system couldn't do. Rather the Neo Geo CD was an attempt by SNK to correct it's biggest hurtle to entry for adopters of the original Neo Geo (Platform), the price of games. Carts for the original Neo Geo system were exactly the same as their arcade counterpart, this meant that they were a higher quality than most console games, but it also meant that they cost a lot more, new releases for the system regularly retailed for $100-$300 upon release. With the new CD format SNK could release home conversions of their arcade releases for a more reasonable price point at about $50-$60. Unfortunately, the Neo Geo CD had it's own problems, most notably load times that regularly lasted several minutes. Most of the systems library consisted of Neo-Geo ports with only a small library of games like Ironclad (Game), Crossed swords II and Samurai Shodown RPG being exclusive Neo-Geo CD releases.

Technical specifications

Processor: Motorola 68000 running at 12 MHz
Co-Processor: Zilog Z80 running at 4 MHz
Colors On Screen: 4,096
Colors Available: 65,536
Resolution: 304 x 224
Max Sprites: 380
Max Sprite Size: 16 x 512
Number of Planes: 3

RAM specifications:

68000 Program Memory: 2 MB
Fix Layer Memory: 128 KB
Graphics Memory: 4 MB
Sound Sample Memory: 1 MB
Z80 Program Memory: 64 kB
VRAM: 512Kb (For graphics attributes)
SRAM: 2 KB (For high scores / general save data)

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