Discussion

NeoGeo AES+: SNK announces reissue of retro console without emulation

fooqux: FYI, SNK is owned by Mohammed bin Salman.I think I'll pass giving them a single cent.

lamasery: The main problem with playing older games in a modern media-hardware environment is the screen. You've got the problem that lots of them look worse, or even outright wrong (see: transparency-layering effects on things like Sonic the Hedgehog) on anything but a real CRT without some serious shader work. This is also true of older TV shows, to some extent, incidentally, especially if the only sources available are things like broadcast rips.Then problem #2 with the display (mostly) is latency. Those CRTs were fast. Even 50ms of rendering latency is noticeable on a some of the console games that require very-precise input timing.You get emulation latency (this may avoid that by using ASICs, at least); input latency above what the original hardware had, if you're not using the real thing (bluetooth...); any picture-conversion latency (this might avoid that, but I wouldn't bet on it) to digitize the signal into HDMI if you're working with real hardware with analog outputs; TVs that struggle to get under 50ms of latency, especially without making the picture look a ton worse; and then shader-induced latency if you're trying to make it look semi-correct. Like, getting it down to where it doesn't feel wrong is tricky as hell.

tombert: 50ms is pretty high, even by LCD standards. I have one of those MiSTer Laggy measuring things, and when I have my cheap Vizio TV in "Game Mode" the latency is around 24ms, a little lower on the top of the screen and a little higher on the bottom, but still considerably lower than 50ms. Moreover, I think that OLEDs can get less than 10ms nowadays (though I do not have one to test at this moment). Since most retro games ran around 60fps, so about 17ms, we're talking about 1.5 frames of latency for the LCD, and about half a frame of latency for an OLED.With something like the MiSTer, you can also enable high speed USB polling, which I believe is roughly 1000hz. My understanding is that it doesn't work with all controllers, but it has worked with all the controllers I have tried it with.The composite video artifacts are definitely noticeable though; I noticed the weirdness of the waterfalls in Sonic when I was playing it recently. It doesn't bother me that much but I could see why it bothers other people.

kraquepype: That's a shame, I've always had a thing for Neo-Geo and SNK games.He won't get a cent when I play on my MVS carts on actual hardware, so there is that.

ndiddy: Assuming this is well done, it's an extremely cool product. The original Neo Geo systems and cartridges are ridiculously expensive on the used market and bootlegs are rampant. Even though they're charging $90/cartridge, that's still thousands of dollars less than what a lot of these games go for used.The biggest concern I have is accuracy. SNK wouldn't be able to just start manufacturing their old chip designs from the 90s again because a lot of the chips in the Neo Geo from other companies are no longer made, such as the 68000, Z80, and YM2610. This means that they'd have to make a new SoC that incorporates the IP from those chips. At that point there's no real benefit to the ASIC over an FPGA. It means the system costs less to produce, but if they find any inaccuracies in their new SoC design they won't be able to release an update to fix them. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'm not going to place a pre-order until they release more details about what exactly is going on under the hood.

IronBacon: One can buy right now a MISTerFPGA from aliexpress for around €150 and that can emulate both MVS and AES. On this side of the pond, a VGA to SCART cable is all that's required to connect it to a CRT TV.If instead one want the real HW, a working MVS PCB can be found for less that €100. A JAMMA cabinet would be the perfect place to use it, but with a supergun a CRT TV can give the same results. Cheap superguns can be found or built for around €30, fancy models can cost between €200 to €300 tho.The carts aren't cheap tho, specially if original. I've only a battered "Puzzle Bobble" cart, it's a really fun game in PvP, but probably not the more iconic NeoGeo title.

10729287: Puzzle Bobble, actually, is definitely one of the more iconic Neo Geo title. If you open it, you may have a surprise. The game was such a success that Snk itself had to butcher other, less successful games, to produce conversions/bootlegs.

bityard: NeoGeo! The system I will always remember as having fun fighting games in the arcade with a home console that only kids with "status symbol" money could afford...

bigfishrunning: I never knew anyone that had one, but i knew lots of kids who wanted one

NoMoreNicksLeft: There must be three dozen commodity Z80 clones, no? I get it that the other asics and dsps are impossible to source, but that's a strange example.

HerbManic: Latency has improved in the last decade or so but yes, it is still off.As John Carmack said once, we can send a data packet across the atlantic faster than we can get a pixel out the back of a computer nowadays.

pipes: Ha! The only multi player game my wife will play with me :)

7jjjjjjj: >transparency-layering effects on things like Sonic the HedgehogThat only worked because they expected to run over composite. Arcade cabinets used RGB which doesn't have the bandwidth limitations of composite.

mrob: >or even outright wrong (see: transparency-layering effects on things like Sonic the Hedgehog)If you're talking about the waterfalls, I'm not convinced blurring was necessary or intended. RGB support was rare in televisions in the USA, but it was common in PAL regions via a SCART cable, and the Mega Drive had native RGB output. Furthermore, the waterfalls are drawn as vertical lines, which I interpret as representing individual streams of water. If it was purely a pseudo-transparency effect it would make more sense to use a checkerboard pattern, e.g. as in the spotlight effect in Streets of Rage 2.