I had an idea just today, well, more of an old idea resurfacing. Anyway…
I’m wondering if anyone would be interested in a Neo Geo “Mini-Cab” arcade machine. This would be a bar-top single-slot MVS arcade machine with coin slot, arcade joysticks, swivel base, stereo sound and CRT screen. It would be about the size of a CRT “Mega Touch” machine and likely be themed, material and color-wise, like my own Neo Geo arcade machine.
I have admit part of my desire to build this is to use up the small CRT RGB monitor I have laying around so it’s one less thing to move this fall. But more than that, I am fairly dismayed at the death of “real” arcade machines out in the world today. All that’s left are Golden Tees and Mega Touches. Blah. At the very least a Neo Geo can give you a REAL golf game, yes of course I refer to the sublime NEO TURF MASTERS! Plus tons of other games that can be swapped out and are usually only $25-$40 each.
Anyone interested in such a thing? Neo Geo loving bar owners? MVS home conversion fans with limited space? The price would be well below that of a modern “arcade” machine. Shoot me an email if interested.
I still love Neo Geo, but everything around it is so darn expensive! Surprisingly enough, I’m still seeing games released for it. A new game, however, is $100-200. I still see games like SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom and Metal Slug 5 in arcades (namely GameWorks in Schaumburg, IL), but I don’t understand why all these are single slot MVS when the 2 and 4 slot ones aren’t much more. Maybe they just don’t want to shell out the hundreds of dollars for the carts, but yeah, as you said, the older games are cheaper. I loved KOF’99. Still do. I love Leona. Why isn’t she in other fighting games like all the SNK vs games? Or they could have OverTop, or Shock Troopers. or how about this 4 slot setup? MVS Chaos, Shock Troopers, Metal Slug 5, and OverTop. Nice, varied, and a different style game for each slot. I guess it almost seems embarrassing for a state-of-the-art gaming arcade to have an arcade system that was originally manufactured in 1991, but it’s that longevity that proves its worth. Neo Geo is timeless, and can still handle pretty much anything thrown at it…just as long as it’s 2D and sprite-based.