What was THEEE first Neo game you ever played, MVS/AES

[dspoonrt]

Sengoku/Ghost Pilots on a 2-slot cab in the front of my local grocery store sometime in the mid-90s. I believe I played Sengoku first.

Then I really fell in love when I played Bust-A-Move, Samurai Shodown, and Aero Fighters 2 at an arcade on vacation in Florida a little while later. Played the rest of the library on NeoRageX until I bought some Saturn imports, DC ports, and then eventually got an MVS cabinet of my own.

 

[prof]

Samurai Shodown on a red candy cab at Pizza Hut. Loved it immediately, and ended up getting it later for my Genesis. Pizza Hut was almost a weekly thing when we were kids because of those Book-It things from school where you could get a free personal pan for reading so many books. It seemed like a lot of my friends would be there as well. Aside from the Neo cab, they also had a jukebox, and I recall playing the Black Crowes - Hard to Handle frequently. Haha

 

[tangemo]

In the arcade I remember playing Nam 1975 and Magician Lord way back when they were new releases on a 4 slot MVS.

In high school I was lucky to be able to borrow a friend's AES (!) for a little while when World Heroes 2 was a new release. He owned that and Magician Lord. It was wild to play WH2 both at the arcade and at home.

When I got my own AES a couple of years ago the first thing was a 161 in 1 haha. And the cheap but great Samurai Spirits 1 & 2.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

First game I ever emulated was metal slug 2 or Garou MOTW

first MVS game I ever played was world heroes 2

I think the first AES game I ever owned and played was NAM-1975

 

[Beelzebub]

Sengoku in the early 90s at a local arcade. I was probably about 9 or 10 at the time.

 

[smokey]

Metal Slug or Area Fighters 2. On the Island of Gios in 1996/7. Arcades were long extinct here in Belgium. But in these touristy places in Greece you could still find them jampacked with Neo Geo games! I think that in late 1999 I bought a NGP KoF R1. Mobile was my SNK fix for the longest time

 

[donluca]

My memory is pretty cloudy, especially because there were some games which might have been Neo Geo but didn't recognize.

I'd say that the first is definitely Puzzle Bobble, the game was literally everywhere and everytime I entered any arcade I immediately heard the catchy music and would put a quarter in.

From there it gets pretty complicated, I would say that Samurai Shodown (could be second or third) is definitely there but then I'm unsure about the other.
It's a toss up between World Heroes, Metal Slug and Aero Fighters.

 

[SignOfGoob]

I don’t know why but these threads always surprise me. I always have this vision in my head of this place being filled with OG arcade maniacs…like it was on the mailing list that predated this forum, but I guess a lot of those guys grew up or died or whatever. People who’s first Neo experience ever was an emulator? Why didn’t you go to the arcade? Ten years before? I guess because you were all eight and weren’t allowed to bike to the mall by yourself.

I’m not picking on people for being young but rather I’m just taken back by how many noobs there are here. People who never were marketed to by SNK back in the day and who didn’t give them any money until the Neo was dead or PS2 collections started coming out. The forum has changed. There used to be almost nothing but people who knew SNK from Ikari and POW days.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

I don’t know why but these threads always surprise me. I always have this vision in my head of this place being filled with OG arcade maniacs…like it was on the mailing list that predated this forum, but I guess a lot of those guys grew up or died or whatever. People who’s first Neo experience ever was an emulator? Why didn’t you go to the arcade? Ten years before? I guess because you were all eight and weren’t allowed to bike to the mall by yourself.

I’m not picking on people for being young but rather I’m just taken back by how many noobs there are here. People who never were marketed to by SNK back in the day and who didn’t give them any money until the Neo was dead or PS2 collections started coming out. The forum has changed. There used to be almost nothing but people who knew SNK from Ikari and POW days.

Where I grew up, there were zero arcades in the nearby area. Occasionally you might find one or two arcade cabs in a random venue but never did I see a neo geo.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

I don’t know why but these threads always surprise me. I always have this vision in my head of this place being filled with OG arcade maniacs…like it was on the mailing list that predated this forum, but I guess a lot of those guys grew up or died or whatever. People who’s first Neo experience ever was an emulator? Why didn’t you go to the arcade? Ten years before? I guess because you were all eight and weren’t allowed to bike to the mall by yourself.

I’m not picking on people for being young but rather I’m just taken back by how many noobs there are here. People who never were marketed to by SNK back in the day and who didn’t give them any money until the Neo was dead or PS2 collections started coming out. The forum has changed. There used to be almost nothing but people who knew SNK from Ikari and POW days.

It’s just part of aging lol
As SNK continues to pull in new fans people our age will continue to become a minority in the hobby. This is actually a good thing since it means that SNK’s back-catalog is still appealing to newcomers the same way it drew us in 30+ years ago.

I’d hate to see the appeal of the Neo Geo remain niche and our hobby ends up with a primarily aging fanbase like model trains and Elvis collectibles.

The ACA rereleases did wonders for SNK’s bottom line a few short years ago and the addition of Terry Bogard to the Smash Bros. roster probably did more to introduce SNK to a new generation than all the PS2 collections combined. It’s all a good thing imho.

 

[doaal]

Slug 1, Puzzle Bobble and Magical Drop 2.

The 4-slot I played those on made its way to the local bowling alley after the arcade closed, and last I checked the cab was still there. The machine had been turned off for years but the owner wouldn't budge. Alley closed thanks to COVID. I imagine the cab is still down there next to Crazy Taxi and Area 51.

 

[Tripredacus]

Puzzle Bobble
Puzzle Bobble 2
Money Idol Exchanger

 

[2D_mastur]

SSII . It was all over the place when I was a kid... pizza shops, circle K, 7 eleven, skating rinks, walmart, grocery stores.

This was like early '95.

 

[Alphabet]

It was with Sylvie as much as we have played the Doctor.
. Kof 69... mmmm.
. Metal Slut... with Rocket Launcher.
. Stakes Winner... boost stamina.

 

[Pro_Gear]

I think it was Ninja Combat. I worked in a movie theater back then and one of my duties was emptying the change from all the arcade games after closing. The company that managed the machines (Tricorp Amusements if I recall) was in central NJ and our theatre was on one of their routes. They would change the machines fairly often at our location as it was a big earner so I eventually got a nice rotation of games to try including some Neo precursors like Gang Wars and Street Smart. I'll never forget the day one of the techs came on site to do maintenance and swap games and I was looking over his shoulder trying to get a quick glimpse of what I thought at the time would be an AES in a 1-slot cab.

 

[DaisyAge]

Metal Slug and Puzzle Bobble as they were my dad's favorite and we always played together. Later on Shock Troopers was the first game I played when I homebrewed a Wii back in like 2014

 

[cr8zykuban0]

First 3 games I’ve played
1. King of fighters 94 mvs. This was the first game I’ve played at the arcade area at my local swap meet back in the day. Loved the hell out of and still love it to this day
2. Fatal fury special aes
3. Samurai Shodown 2 aes
Samurai Shodown 2 and fatal fury special were the 2 games that came with my aes system when I bought it back in 2009! Such great classics on the system and top notch fighters

 

[KGRAMR]

IIRC and this is from a long time ago, the first time I played any Neo Geo game was via the SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 on Wii. That's where I first played Magician Lord, Last Resort, Shock Troopers and Metal Slug. I do know that my dad's first exposure to a Neo Geo game was at a little arcade bar close to where he lived with my mom where they had Metal Slug. As for the first MVS title I played on an arcade? I think it was either KOF 97 or Puzzle Bobble.

 

[KGRAMR]

It’s just part of aging lol
As SNK continues to pull in new fans people our age will continue to become a minority in the hobby. This is actually a good thing since it means that SNK’s back-catalog is still appealing to newcomers the same way it drew us in 30+ years ago.

I’d hate to see the appeal of the Neo Geo remain niche and our hobby ends up with a primarily aging fanbase like model trains and Elvis collectibles.

The ACA rereleases did wonders for SNK’s bottom line a few short years ago and the addition of Terry Bogard to the Smash Bros. roster probably did more to introduce SNK to a new generation than all the PS2 collections combined. It’s all a good thing imho.

I still wished Hamster released the rest of the Neo Geo catalogue via ACA. (The Visco Corporation titles, Panic Bomber, Neo Bomberman, Eight Man, Tecmo World Soccer '96, Rage of the Dragons, Nightmare in the Dark, Neo Mr. Do!, fucking Viewpoint for christ's sake)

 

[Tron]

Arcade/MVS
Magician Lord
Nam 1975
Baseball Stars Professional

 

[Atro]

I believe it was Alpha Mission II.

Not sure if it was that one or Thrash Rally. It was in 91. To this day, I still love this game.

 

[Leback]

The first one I got to play myself was Samsho 1 when it was released on AES. Played it in a huge local game/record store. I had seen Fatal fury and Ninja combat before that, but never got the chance to play them.

 

[NeoCverA]

Screenshots in magazines always looked so badass.
Anyway

first for me was likely Ninja Combat.

 

[NeoCverA]

I remember when I first started reading about the Neo in stuff like EGM, or seeing it for sale in the Electronics Boutique mailers (remember those?!) and they had images of Magician Lord and Ghost Pilots. I remember me and my friend losing our minds at the image of the giant explosion in GP.

Dude the grassy scene in the GP screenshots blew me away.

 

[Gentlegamer]

MVS
Magician Lord
Ninja Combat
The Super Spy