The Neo Geo (Greek for "New World"), named NEO•GEO, is a video game platform released in 1990 by the Japanese company SNK Corporation. It was first released in two formats: an arcade system board called the Multi Video System (MVS) and a home console called the Advanced Entertainment System (AES). In 1994, a CD-ROM-based version of the home console, called the Neo Geo CD, was released. The MVS arcade system had multiple cartridge slots, allowing operators to swap out games. This was different from other arcade machines of the time, which had only one game per cabinet.

The Neo Geo was advertised as the first 24-bit system. Its main processor is a 16/32-bit 68000 chip paired with an 8-bit Z80 coprocessor. Its graphics processor uses a 24-bit data bus. When it was released, the Neo Geo was more powerful than any other video game console. It remained more powerful than rival systems, such as Capcom’s CPS, until 1993.

The Neo Geo AES was first sold only as a rental console for Japanese game stores. High manufacturing costs prevented SNK from selling it for retail at first. Later, due to high demand, it was released as a luxury console. Adjusted for inflation, it was the most expensive home console ever, costing $649.99 in 1990 (about $1,540 in 2025). The AES had the same hardware as the MVS, allowing home users to play games exactly as they appeared in arcades. However, the cartridges for the two systems were not interchangeable because of differences in size.

The MVS arcade system was popular in the 1990s because of its low cost, multiple cartridge slots, and compact design. Many successful game series were released for the platform, including Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters, and Metal Slug. Game production for the MVS continued until 2004, making it the longest-supported arcade system ever. The AES had limited sales in Japan and very few in the U.S. due to its high cost. It is now considered a collectible. Worldwide, one million MVS units and 980,000 AES and CD units were sold.

History

The Neo Geo hardware was an improved version of an older SNK/Alpha Denshi M68000 arcade platform used in the game Time Soldiers in 1987. This platform was further developed for P.O.W.: Prisoners of War in 1988. Unlike other popular arcade systems of the time, the SNK/Alpha Denshi hardware used sprite strips instead of tilemap-based backgrounds. The Neo Geo was mainly created by Alpha Denshi’s Eiji Fukatsu. He added features like sprite scaling using scaling tables stored in ROM, support for more data on cartridges, and better sound hardware. The system’s hardware specifications were finalized in December 1989.

Takashi Nishiyama left Capcom, where he had created the fighting game Street Fighter (1987), to join SNK after they invited him. At SNK, he helped develop the Neo Geo. He suggested creating an arcade system that used ROM cartridges like a game console and proposed a home console version. His goal was to make the system more affordable in regions like China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Central America, and South America, where selling arcade games was difficult due to piracy. Nishiyama also created the Fatal Fury fighting game series as a follow-up to Street Fighter. He worked on other fighting game series, such as Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters, as well as the Metal Slug run-and-gun series.

The Neo Geo was announced and shown on January 31, 1990, in Osaka, Japan. SNK displayed several Neo Geo games at Japan’s Amusement Machine Operators’ Union (AOU) show in February 1990, including NAM-1975, Magician Lord, Baseball Stars Professional, Top Player’s Golf, and Riding Hero. The system made its overseas debut at Chicago’s American Coin Machine Exposition (ACME) in March 1990. It was released in Japan on April 26, 1990. At first, the AES home system was only available for rent to businesses like hotels, bars, and restaurants. After seeing customer interest, SNK expanded sales to the home market in 1991.

The Neo Geo’s graphics and sound were better than other home consoles, computers like the X68000, and even some arcade systems. The Neo Geo AES was designed to match the quality of the arcade MVS system. The MVS was one of the most powerful arcade units at the time, allowing games to be loaded from interchangeable cartridges instead of using custom hardware for each game.

In the United States, the console’s initial price was planned to be $599, including two joystick controllers and a game: either Baseball Stars Professional or NAM-1975. However, the price increased, and the American launch debuted as the Gold System at $649.99 (about $1,536 in 2025). Later, the Gold System included Magician Lord and Fatal Fury. The Silver System, priced at $399.99, included one joystick controller and no game. Other games cost around $200 or more. Because the Neo Geo was much more expensive than competing systems, it reached only a small group of buyers. However, its full compatibility with arcade games meant SNK did not need to spend extra money on adapting or marketing games, as the MVS’s success automatically supported the AES, making the console profitable.

In January 1991, Romstar released an arcade conversion kit in the United States, allowing arcade cabinets to be changed into Neo Geo systems. That same month, the Neo Geo home console debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in North America. SNK announced that most Neo Geo games would be released on the home console about six months after their arcade versions.

When real-time 3D graphics became common in arcades, the Neo Geo’s 2D hardware could not produce them. Despite this, Neo Geo arcade games stayed profitable until the mid-1990s. The system was one of three 1995 winners of the American Amusement Machine Association’s Diamond Awards, which are based on sales. SNK created a new home console in 1994 called the Neo Geo CD and a new arcade system in 1997 called the Hyper Neo Geo 64. However, these systems were not popular and had few games.

SNK stopped making home consoles by the end of 1997 but continued creating software for the original 2D Neo Geo. Even though the system was old by the end of the decade, it still had popular releases, such as the critically praised The King of Fighters 2002. The last official game for the Neo Geo, Samurai Shodown V Special, was released in 2004, 14 years after the system was introduced.

On August 31, 2007, SNK stopped providing maintenance or repairs for Neo Geo home consoles, handhelds, and games.

Technical specifications

Each joystick controller measures 280 mm (width) × 190 mm (depth) × 95 mm (height) (11 × 8 × 2.5 in.) and has the same four-button layout as the arcade MVS cabinet.

Arcade machines use a memory card system that allows players to save a game and return to it later. These cards can also be used to continue playing on the SNK home console with the same name.

The arcade version of the video game hardware is called the "MVS," or Multi Video System. It comes in 1-slot, 2-slot, 4-slot, and 6-slot versions, which differ based on how many game cartridges are loaded into the machine at one time. The home console version is called the "AES," or Advanced Entertainment System. Early versions of the main circuit board included additional circuit boards to improve the clarity of the video output.

The MVS and AES hardware can run the same machine code. Players can move EPROMs (special memory chips) between the arcade and home versions, and the game will still work. Every game ROM (a type of memory chip) contains the program details for both the MVS and AES versions, whether the cartridge is for home or arcade use. However, arcade and home cartridges have different pinouts (the way electrical connections are arranged). This was done to stop arcade operators from using cheaper home cartridges in arcades. Some home version games can unlock the arcade version by entering a special code.

The original ROM size limit was up to 330 megabits, which is why the system displays "Max 330 Mega Pro-Gear Spec" when it starts. Some games larger than 100 megabits, like Top Hunter, displayed an animation called "The 100Mega Shock!" after this message. Later, cartridges with bank switching memory technology increased the maximum ROM size to about 716 megabits. These updated cartridges caused the system to show "Giga Power Pro-Gear Spec" during startup or in attract mode, showing the improvement.

The system uses seven specialized processors to handle visuals, audio, and gameplay.

• CPU: Motorola 68000 (often from Toshiba or Hitachi) running at 12 MHz (1.75 MIPS)
• Coprocessor: Zilog Z80 running at 4 MHz (0.58 MIPS)

Memory details:
– Main 68000 RAM: 64 KB (32 KB SRAM ×2)
– Video RAM: 84 KB SRAM (64 KB main VRAM + 16 KB palette memory)
– Z80 sound RAM: 2 KB SRAM
– Battery-backed save NVRAM: 64 KB SRAM

Onboard ROM: 512 KB
– Zoom look-up table: 128 KB
– Fix layer graphics: 128 KB
– Z80 sound: 128 KB
– 68000 BIOS: 128 KB

The SNK custom video chipset allows the system to draw sprites (small graphic elements) in vertical strips of tiles (16×16 pixel blocks) up to 32 tiles tall (512 pixels). It can display up to 380 sprites on the screen at once, with a limit of 96 sprites per scanline. Each tile can use a palette (a set of 15 colors + transparency). The system can show 256 palettes at once, allowing 3840 colors on screen simultaneously. Unlike most other consoles, the Neo Geo does not use scrolling tilemap backgrounds. Instead, it uses a single non-scrolling tilemap layer called the "fix layer," and scrolling backgrounds are created by arranging sprites side by side. This system represents a middle ground between traditional sprites and tilemaps.

GPU details:
– Chipset: SNK LSPC2-A2 (24 MHz), SNK PRO-B0, SNK PRO-A0, NEO-B1, NEO-GRC
– Graphics data bus: 24-bit
– Display resolution: 320×224 px (many games use 304 px)
– Color palette: 65,536 (16-bit, RGB666 format)
– Maximum colors on screen: 3840
– Maximum sprites on screen: 380
– Minimum sprite size: 16×16 px
– Maximum sprite size: 16×512 px
– Maximum sprites per scanline: 96
– Maximum sprite pixels per scanline: 1536 px
– Static tilemap plane: 1 (512×256 px fix layer)
– Aspect ratio: 4:3
– A/V output: RF, composite video/RCA audio, RGB (21-pin FCG-9 or SCART cable)

The onboard Yamaha YM2610 sound chip provides 14 channels of sound:
– FM synthesis: 4 channels (4 operators per channel)
– SSG channels: 3
– PCM channels: 7 (6 ADPCM-A at 18.5 kHz, 1 ADPCM-B at 1.85–55.5 kHz)
– Interval timers: 2
– LFO: 1
– Sound/Work RAM: 2 KB
– Sound ROM: 128 KB onboard (less than 32 KB used), up to 512 KB on cartridges

Power details:
– Source: DC 5 V (older systems) or DC 9 V (newer systems)
– Consumption: 8 W (older systems), 5 W (newer systems)

Dimensions:
– Console: 325 mm (width) × 237 mm (depth) × 60 mm (height)
– Controller: 280 mm (width) × 190 mm (depth) × 95 mm (height)

Memory card details:
– Removable memory card: 2 KB or 68-pin JEIDA ver. 3 spec (any 68-pin memory meeting this standard works)
– Cartridge: Composed of two PCBs.

Reception

The Neo Geo MVS was very successful when it was first sold in arcades around the world. In 1990, it became one of the top-selling arcade machines in places like North America and Australia. In December 1992, three Neo Geo games were among the top ten highest-selling arcade software packages in North America: Art of Fighting was first, World Heroes was second, and King of the Monsters 2 was tenth. The Neo Geo MVS won Diamond awards from the American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) for two years in a row. It was among the top four best-selling arcade machines in 1992 and 1993, along with Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, Mortal Kombat, and Terminator 2. In 1994, the Neo Geo MVS was the best-selling arcade printed circuit board (PCB) worldwide.

In 1990, the Neo Geo received a Special Award at the Gamest Awards. In 1991, it won the "Most Innovative New Technology" award at the AMOA Awards, given by the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA).

In 1993, GamePro gave the Neo Geo CD a "thumbs up" in a review. While they mentioned some problems, such as the system not being as strong as the upcoming 3DO and having few games that were not fighting games, they praised the hardware and game collection. They suggested that people who could not afford the $649.99 console should play the games in arcades instead.

The Neo Geo was the first home game console to include a removable memory card for saving game progress.

The GameTap subscription service has included a Neo Geo emulator and a small collection of Neo Geo games. In 2007, Nintendo announced that Neo Geo games would be available on the Wii’s Virtual Console, in partnership with D4 Enterprise. The first games released were Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, The King of Fighters '94, and World Heroes. Neo Geo games were later made available on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network (called NEOGEO Station on PlayStation 3), and through the Arcade Archives service on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Nintendo Switch under the ACA Neo Geo label. In 2019, Antstream Arcade also included Neo Geo games during its early years.

After the Neo Geo console was no longer produced, people began creating their own games, both for fun and for sale.

The Neo Geo has a group of collectors who value its games. Because only a few copies of some Neo Geo cartridges were made compared to the large number of arcade games available, some rare Neo Geo games can cost more than $1,000. The most valuable game is the European AES version of Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle. The MVS arcade system offers a less expensive option than the rare and expensive home cartridges. Complete MVS arcade kits are very valuable. MVS cartridges, which are usually cheaper, can be played on the AES home system with special adapters.

In 2009, the Neo Geo was ranked 19th out of the 25 best video game consoles of all time by the website IGN.

Recreated hardware

Since the 2010s, SNK has brought back the Neo Geo in new versions. These versions include built-in games made by SNK and officially licensed companies.

The Neo Geo X, an officially licensed device with a collection of Neo Geo games pre-installed, was first released in 2012 by TOMMO Inc. After one year, the device received little interest due to its high price and poor game performance. On October 2, 2013, SNK Playmore ended the license agreement and stopped all sales of the device.

On June 9, 2018, SNK announced the Neo Geo Mini, a small, semi-portable arcade cabinet that looks similar to the Japanese Neo Geo MVS. It includes 40 built-in SNK games and was released in Japan on July 24, 2018, to celebrate SNK's 40th anniversary. The games are versions from the AES home console, which have limited continues. However, the Neo Geo Mini includes a save/load system that allows players to save progress and load it later, with up to four save files per game. It has a 320×224 pixel display, can connect to a TV via HDMI, and includes ports for external control pads based on Neo Geo CD designs.

An international version of the Neo Geo Mini was released outside Japan on October 15, 2018, and in Japan on November 15, 2018. This version has the same features as the Japanese version but includes 14 different games (including all Metal Slug titles) and a different interface. Together, the two versions include 54 unique SNK titles. SNK stopped selling the original and international versions of the Neo Geo Mini on July 19, 2019.

In December 2018, a limited-edition Christmas-themed Neo Geo Mini was released, featuring nine games not available on other versions. On June 27, 2019, a limited-edition "Samurai Shodown" version was released in white, red, and blue, with a black version later. This edition includes 40 games, all Samurai Shodown titles, and three new games not in earlier versions. Another limited edition called "Samurai Spirits Kuroko" was released in Japan on September 30, 2019, with 48 games.

In September 2019, SNK announced the Neo Geo Arcade Stick Pro, a large white arcade stick with a joystick and eight buttons. It includes 20 built-in games and an HDMI port for TVs. It can connect to Neo Geo Mini units via an adapter and works with older game pads. SNK added more games through updates, increasing the total to 40.

In November 2020, a special Christmas edition of the Neo Geo Arcade Stick Pro was released. It includes a Neo Geo CD-style control pad, a cover for the stick, a ball cover, a sticker sheet, and a Neo Geo 30th anniversary artbook. All 40 games are included and unlocked from the start.

In August 2020, Unico announced the Neo Geo MVSX, an arcade table system that can play MVS and AES games. It has a 17-inch screen, supports two players, and includes 50 pre-loaded games. A 32-inch stand is available to make it look like a vintage MVS cabinet. It was released in North America in November 2020.

In late 2023, Unico released a new Neo Geo Mini styled like an MVS arcade cabinet. It could be bought with or without a red controller and an HDMI cable. It includes 45 pre-loaded games, most of which match the MVSX, but five games are missing.

In April 2026, SNK and Plaion announced the Neo Geo AES+, a recreation of the original AES hardware using ASIC chips. It includes options for overclocking, language selection, and display settings. It has both composite and HDMI video outputs. Replicas of original arcade sticks, gamepads, and memory cards will also be released. Ten original Neo Geo games will be reprinted in cartridge form and will work with original AES consoles. These games include Metal Slug, The King of Fighters 2002, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Neo Turf Masters, Shock Troopers, Samurai Shodown V Special, Pulstar, Twinkle Star Sprites, Magician Lord, and Over Top.