Magician Lord is a side-scrolling platform game starring the wizard Elta. You only have 2 in health unless you pick up orbs that gives you more powers, you might even transform into other creatures. For example a 2-legged dragon-man spitting fire, or a ninja throwing swirling sticks :) but when you get hurt  you turn back into your magician self, with a big wizard hat. The various forms are: Dragon Warrior, Waterman, Poseidon, Shinobi, Samurai and Raijin, all with various abilities. I did however not find orbs to try them all out. Before the last boss you get to choose whichever form you would like to use. I choose Raijin but lost the power after about half a second ;D haha

Some stages are quite tricky since you have various paths to take and only one leads to the boss. Once you find a grey carved stone with a figure in it you find the first stage of the boss. It’s always a smaller creature to take out, once you’ve cleared him/her you will get warped up to the main boss for each stage. This is usually something larger but in my opinion easier to beat (easier to dodge). Before you encounter the big boss at the end of each stage you will get a warning from the main bad guy. These are hilarious since they are voiced! I put together a video clip of all the cutscenes before the bosses, check it out!

Sometimes hoards of enemies jump you, and you will die several times in the same spot before being able to move forward, however one nice thing is that if you die or even have to use a continue every single enemy you have taken out will still be dead (except for a few constantly re-spawning enemies) and you will begin at the exact same spot where you died.

The music of Magician Lord wasn’t very impressive, quite boring and repetitive. The graphics were ok though. There was a lot of variation in sceneries and also enemies. Here’s all the bosses:

After you’ve beaten the first seven stages and their bosses you will encounter every single mini-boss again, in a row, then you will get to the final boss.

And then it’s The End

One of the stage names really cracked me up! Hahaha.. “Anderground“, I wonder if it’s a typo or if that’s what it’s called.. ;D Judging from the cutscenes with the bad voiceovers it’s probably a mistake..

A Neo Geo X Gold, limited edition!

It’s a portable handheld new release of SNK’s Neo Geo, containing 20 classic Neo Geo games! I’ve always wanted a Neo Geo, but it’s always been really expensive, especially the good games!! But now I finally have one which I can play the games on, and it’s so shiny and pretty ^_^

With this package I also got a Neo Geo Station that looks like the original Neo Geo AES console!

It opens up so that you can plug in the NeoGeo handheld and then connect it to the TV (you can also connect the handheld directly to the TV) through HDMI or RCA. However the only way to charge the handheld is through this docking station.

There’s even a replica of the original controller, the arcade joystick! :D So you can get to experience the classic  way of Neo Geo gaming ^_^

The interface is really stylish :)

And in the package I also got an extra game card (apart from the 20 built in games). A game called Ninja Masters ^_^

It is possible to plug in these game cards on the side of the handheld, I’m not sure whether they intend on releasing more games for it, that would be cool though ^_^ Tonight I finished my first game on the system, I will make a review of it tomorrow probably ;D

In case you weren’t aware, there’s a new Neo Geo console on the block. It’s called the Neo Geo X and brings back more than a few pains of nostalgia for classic arcade games of the 90s. After receiving their brand new Neo Geo portables, members of the Neo Geo forum decided to do a teardown on one of their newest consoles and found something interesting: this thing was made for hacking.

Officially, the Neo Geo X will get new games released on SD cards. The first run of these consoles – the gold edition – have 20 games preloaded onto the system convientently stored on a microSD card buried underneath the screen. After looking at this microSD card, forum user [Lectoid] discovered the 20 preloaded games and the bios for the system, all completely unlocked and ready for hacking.

Already a few forum members have  the AES Unibios running on this tiny portability Neo Geo, giving them the capability to play every Neo Geo game ever made. Since the Neo Geo X uses the same processor as some other handhelds, there’s great hope for completely unlocking this new console and running emulators on it.

Tinkerers have also noted that once taken apart, you can swap out the ROMs on the internal MicroSD card for any other ROMs of your choice as long as you rename them to match one of the pre-existing ones. It doesn’t seem like Tommo/Blaze/SNK (delete as appropriate) invested much time or money into securing this thing, which is a probably a blessing in disguise for everybody involved.

Check out the links below for more info.

Kotaku
Engadget
Neo Geo

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We kick back and contemplate the apparent incoming apocalypse by discussing: The best place to build a Stronghold in the UK, The Queens speech is to now include basic Zombie attack survival tips, and we decide on our bucket list of films and games that we REALLY should have got round to experiencing.

News stories this week include:

*WAR-Z controversy escalates
*METAL GEAR 5 to run alongside MG Ground Zeros?
*STAR TREK the videogame confirmed for April 23
*Valve gives Plantronics licence to sell Aperture Laboratory headsets
*Capcom makes STREET FIGHTER X MEGAMAN free to download for Christmas
*NEO GEO X console has been released

*CITV to show weekend of classic kids TV shows in January

The original Neo Geo (or, more properly, the Neo Geo AVS) was a home console designed and manufactured by SNK.  Introduced in Japan in 1990, SNK released it in the United States the following year.  A company called Tommo, in partnership with current Neo Geo IP holder SNK Playmore, will be releasing the Neo Geo X, a portable version of the original system that doubles as a console via the use of a clever docking station that replicates the look of the original AES.

Despite being a huge fan of video games when I was 12, I never owned a Neo Geo.  Then again, neither did anyone else I knew.  Or many other people in the country, for that matter.  And there was a very good reason for that.

You see, what made the Neo Geo so unique at the time was that it finally achieved the elusive goal of every home console since the late 1970s: Arcade perfection.  I mean that literally: The hardware for the Neo Geo was nearly identical in every respect (and was identical in terms of performance) to the arcade version of SNK’s masterpiece.

The Neo Geo ad that first grabbed my attention, leading to a brief (if lingering) obsession.

This meant that the same game you played at your local pizzeria or movie theater could be played in your very own den, without the graphical, sound, or gameplay shortcuts necessary to bring games home, even on great consoles like the Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo.  In fact, the Neo Geo actually innovated the concept of memory cards for video games, and the home and arcade versions of the machine were identical to the point of using the same card interchangeably.  That is, you could save your progress on your home (AVS) machine, and then take your card to the arcade (MVS) machine and pick up where you left off.

This was the Holy Grail of gaming: A machine that could actually replicate the best that the arcade had to offer.  Going back to the Atari days, gamers had been playing for inferior versions of their favorite arcade hits, with the understanding that a drop-off in quality was necessary to bring those games home.

Duplication of the arcade experience was also a moving target.  As home consoles became more advanced, so, too, did their arcade counterparts.  The quest for “arcade perfect” seemed futile in some respects because of that phenomenon.  However, there was no doubt that the gap was closing, and that horrible Atari 2600 ports had given way to successively-closer home versions from more advanced consoles, all the way up to Genesis games that occasionally had to be seen side-by-side with arcade games to spot the differences.  But the differences were still there.

That is, until the Neo Geo.

Yet, this perfection came at a price—a hefty one.

The Neo Geo console retailed for a whopping $650, which is a little over $1,000 in today’s dollars.  When I first saw the retail price for the AES, I convinced myself that a year of saving, coupled with twelve months of equally-dedicated begging, could probably bring the Neo Geo within reach, even for a middle-class kid like myself.

For a brief time in 1990, I had become obsessed with the Neo Geo after seeing the initial print advertisements and drooling over the screenshots.  In fact, I was so infatuated by the SNK machine that I surreptitiously ran up a fairly substantial “1-900″ bill at my grandmother’s house calling a video game hotline  just to listen to some of the in-game audio for Baseball Stars Professional.[1]  Remember that, at the time, there was no internet.

So, I was totally on-board the Neo Geo bandwagon.  I was convinced I could get my parents to buy the console.  I would be the envy of my friends, and, more importantly, my hope was that I would be able to play bona fide arcade games in my own home by the following Christmas.

I quickly abandoned that hope when I saw the prices for the games.

Presented for a size comparison. Yeah, the Neo Geo cartridge (upper-left, next to the NES cart) LOOKS like it cost $250, and it did.

In a pre-CD, pre-flash-memory, pre-internet world, there was simply no medium by which to distribute games other than cartridges.  Cartridges meant expensive chips.  And games as advanced (and huge) as Neo Geo titles meant a whole lot of chips.

The long and short of it was that Neo Geo games retailed for $200–$300 each, which was as much or more than a competing system cost.

While I figured I could get the folks to pop for a $650 combination Christmas / birthday present, I also knew that owning a Neo Geo meant getting about one game per year.  That meant a game collection maybe three-or-four-deep by the time I got my driver’s license and possibly had bigger fish to fry.  I also went through my mental rolodex of video game purchases over the years, realizing that maybe one-fourth of those choices had been duds.  Advanced graphics or not, having a 25% chance of picking a bad game (and only playing that one game for a whole 12 months) seemed like a bad idea.

So, I abandoned the notion of owning a Neo Geo entirely, although somewhere, deep down, I still carried a little torch for the venerable machine.

The Neo Geo X allows the adult[2] version of me to embark on a journey of childhood wish fulfillment.  Based on everything I’ve seen so far, the system looks fantastic, featuring a Linux-based emulation that appears at first glance to be absolutely perfect.  The ability to hook up the Neo Geo X to a television and play with a USB-based version of the old arcade sticks has the 11-year-old version of me jumping for joy.

In addition to the handheld, the docking station, an arcade stick, and the connector cables (HDMI and composite), the system comes pre-packed with 20 classic games.  The selection is a bit fighter-heavy for my tastes, including such staples as Samurai Showdown II, Fatal Fury Special, and World Heroes Perfect, but fighters were unquestionably the bread-and-butter of the system.  There’s certainly variety, though, with games from a wide range of genres, like Baseball Stars II, Nam-1975, Cyber Lip, Magician Lord, Super Sidekicks, Puzzled, and League Bowling.  The limited edition initial run of the Neo Geo X also includes a bonus game, Ninja Master’s.  Ninja Master’s comes on a SD memory card that will be the format for future titles for the system.

The best part?  The system, the accessories, and all 21 games retail for a mere $199.  For those of us old enough to remember staring at lists of individual games that cost more than that, this seems like a major bargain.  I pre-ordered mine weeks ago, and I’m looking forward to giving it a test run sometime later this week when it arrives.

In thinking about the Neo Geo’s history, another thought occurred to me.

When I was growing up, duplicating the arcade experience was the fantasy of most gamers.  Today, two decades later, arcades basically don’t exist anymore, except as nostalgia pieces.

So, what changed?

The “arcade experience” meant two key things.  First, a video game that looked, sounded, and played like a game in the arcade.  Secondly, a game that allowed a social, celebratory gathering atmosphere.

Early games failed on both counts, but especially the former.  The Neo Geo was the first to change that.  Other systems, through peripherals that allowed more than two players, then, later, through online connectivity, erased the second.

The point is that we went from dreaming about emulating the arcade experience to asking “What’s an arcade?” in a generation.  And, for the same reasons, I think movie theaters are on the way out.

“4k” television sets cost a whole lot right now, but they won’t in three years. They have a better picture than most movie screens. Also, glasses-less 3D is coming soon as well, removing yet another theater trump card.

What three facets of the movie-going experience make it unique?  First, the actual sensory aspect, meaning watching a film on a large screen with beautiful picture quality and surround sound.  An increasing number of us are able to reproduce that in our own homes, coupled with the ability to pause and rewind.  Plus, the snacks are much cheaper.

Secondly, there’s the social aspect.  Again, our home theaters are so large now as to be able to accommodate the same number of people as would accompany us to a movie.  That works in tandem with the almost-limitless online communities and review sites where discussion about films takes place perpetually.  I will grant that it’s difficult to simulate the experience of being in a theater full of people enjoying an uproarious comedy, but, as with picture and sound, the experience is now so close as to have crossed a critical threshold.

Finally, there’s the first-run aspect.  This is the one remaining ace in the hole for the movie industry, but even that element may be drawing to a close.  Many low-budget and independent releases are already using an “on-demand” or “same-day digital” distribution model.  Many others have an increasingly-short lag-time between a limited theatrical run and a home release.  The hurdle for major motion-picture companies are the eligibility rules for the Academy Awards.  The short version is that it’s difficult (or impossible, by rule) for a company seeking to distribute a film by non-traditional means to avoid running afoul of Oscar eligibility.  There’s also a lingering stigma, especially among the old-school (and sometimes just plain old) folks who run Hollywood.

But the change is already happening.  On-demand distribution methodology will be the norm on television (except for live events) within five-to-seven years.  Theaters have already begun showing “one night only” events to try to create a new type of business to bolster a moviegoing public that increasingly chooses to stay home.[3]

Within a few years (and I mean very few, as in less than a decade), we’ll have inexpensive televisions that have superior picture quality to a typical theater screen of 2015 or 2020.  We’ll have more access than ever to movie discussion, debate, questions, and facts, whether with friends or with strangers.  Finally, it is more likely than not that major film releases will come to homes even more quickly than they do now, particularly with streaming options becoming more feasible and popular thanks to improved infrastructure in most parts of the country.

So, just as arcades died a surprisingly quick and quiet death thanks to home systems that could reproduce or nearly-reproduce what gamers could find in arcades, so, too, will the suffering of theaters increase exponentially under the weight of ever-greater and ever-cheaper home options that reproduce the best parts of the experience.

Metal Slug, with its beautiful art style

Maybe we’ll look back at HDTV, 5.1 surround sound, or Netflix as the beginning of the end of the theater industry in the same way that we look at the Neo Geo as an important first step toward the decline and fall of arcades as a money-making enterprise.

For now, I’ll be content to table that philosophical question for the sake of playing Metal Slug.

_____________

[1] It’s funny how puberty can change priorities.  Even by the end of the following year, the idea of spending money for the sake of listening to video game audio seemed ridiculous.

[2] I’m using the term “adult” very loosely, here.

[3] One thing that the movie industry very shrewdly obscures is the general decline of the business.  Film is the only entertainment business that uses total receipts as the measure of success.  TV uses number of viewers, music uses number of albums sold, and video games use number of games sold.  Instead of using number of tickets sold, the movies use total receipts (but don’t normally adjust for inflation), which gives the impression that the movie industry is always getting bigger and bigger.  The truth is that, when adjusting for inflation, only one of the the 25 most successful films of all time has been released in the past 15 years, and that’s Avatar, which ranks fourteenth.  On the other hand, when not adjusting for inflation, 20 of the 25 highest-grossing films of all time are from the past 15 years, including last year’s The Avengers, which checks in at #3.  That distortion allows the film industry to maintain the fiction that the movie industry’s health is better than ever.

Available 6th of December according to Amazon US, the special ‘Gold’ package is now available to pre-order for $199. For your money you’ll get the handheld, the dock (that supports TV output), an arcade stick and a Ninja Masters game card. The consoles also has 20 games built in. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think this is the first time we’ve seen a a photograph of the finished product. I have to admit it looks pretty swish, but given the shambles that was the GameGadget I’ll happily wait and see if Blaze are going to do it right this time. I’m also dubious if the emulation is going to be up to scratch – I would hope that the 20 pre-loaded games will all run flawlessly but if anyone figures out a way to load your own ROMs then I’d like to know that they’ll all play nice too…

You can also get the bundle, or the handheld on its own from Gamestop in the US for $129.99. No word on availibility in Europe yet.

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Looks pretty swish to be honest.

SNK Playmore have announced a worldwide 6th December release date for the new Neo Geo handheld, just in time for christmas. It is called the Neo Geo X and will cost $199.99 (£127.49) and come with twenty games pre-installed.

The Neo Geo X features a 4.3″ LDC screen, a game card slot, internal stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack. The package will also includes the Neo Geo X Joystick and Station which will allow you to charge the handheld and output the video and audio to a television or monitor for a full gaming experience.

The Neo Geo X pre-installed games:

• 3 Count Bout.
• League Bowling.
• Art of Fighting II.
• Magician Lord.
• Alpha Mission II.
• Metal Slug.
• Baseball Stars II.
• Mutation Nation.
• Cyber Lip.
• Nam 1975.
• Fatal Fury.
• Puzzled.
• Fatal Fury Special.
• Real Bout – FAtal Fury Special.
• THE King of Fighters ’95.
• Samurai Shodown II.
• King of The Monsters.
• Super Sidekicks.
• Last Resort.
• World Heroes Perfect.

I don’t know if I will be getting the Neo Geo X but anyone who likes these old games or didn’t get a chance to play them in the past should look into getting this handheld. I am sure whether they will release more games for it in the future or if they will provide some sort of digital store but the included twenty games seem like a quite good cross section of classic Neo Geo games.

If you are one of those people who like to play games with emulators then you should defiantly buy this handheld to give something back to the companies involved in these games seeing as you probably didn’t pay for those ROMs did you?

My other Neo Geo posts:

• The New Neo Geo Portable is Actually Real.
• Neo Geo Pocket Returns with Neo Geo Pocket 2? [Updated!].

Oh my god, it’s actually going to happen. SNK Playmore revealed that the Neo Geo X will be releasing on December 6. The handheld will set you back at $199.99 and will come with 20 pre-installed games. The portable device will feature a 4.3 inch LCD screen, expandable game-card slot, internal stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack. If that’s not enough for you, it will also include a Neo Geo X joystick and station, which will allow you to charge your device while displaying your favorite games on a television monitor.

Here are the list of games that the Neo Geo X will be coming with:

1. 3 COUNT BOUT
2. LEAGUE BOWLING
3. ART OF FIGHTING II
4. MAGICIAN LORD
5. ALPHA MISSION II
6. METAL SLUG
7. BASEBALL STARS II
8. MUTATION NATION
9. CYBER LIP
10. NAM 1975
11. FATAL FURY
12. PUZZLED
13. FATAL FURY SPECIAL
14. REAL BOUT – FATAL FURY SPECIAL
15. THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’95
16. SAMURAI SHODOWN II
17. KING OF THE MONSTERS
18. SUPER SIDEKICKS
19. LAST RESORT
20. WORLD HEROES PERFECT

[Source Joystiq]

Blaze, who you might know from various Megadrive/Genesis handhelds, is producing the “NeoGeo X” handheld under SNK’s license, shipping the device in Q2. The Neo Geo X will sport a 3.5 inch LCD screen, A/V output, internal speakers and an SD Card slot. As previously reported, the system will come pre-loaded with 20 classic Neo Geo games (listed below). A spokesperson for Blaze has told Eurogamer that the £500 price tag suggested in MCV’s story is incorrect.

Built in games list:

• Art of Fighting
• Baseball Stars
• Cyber Lip
• Fatal Fury
• Fatal Fury Special
• Football Frenzy
• King of the Monsters
• Last Resort
• League Bowling
• Magician Lord
• Metal Slug
• Mutation Slug
• Mutation Nation
• Nam 1975
• Samurai Shodown
• Sengoku
• Super Sidekicks
• The King of Fighters ’94
• The Ultimate 11
• Top Players Golf
• World Heroes

Well it turns out a new one is on the way. Prepare to be blown away.

The rather futuristicly named, NeoGeo X has been priced and given a release date. According to manufacturer Blaze, the system will cost around £500 upon release. That’s a hell of a lot of money.

So I hear you cry, what does it offer what other (cheaper) competitors already have? The answer to that is not a lot.

The device  includes an SD card expansion, a 3.5″ LCD screen, A/V output, internal stereo speakers and a headphone socket. Fan-favourite titles Metal Slug, The King of Fighters and Fatal Fury are among its launch library.

And that’s about it. If I’m honest, I think I’ll stick to my PS Vita.

In case you are wondering what it looks like, here it is below.

The Neo Geo X.

A while back I mentioned that a Neo Geo handheld was coming to the market this year. Which can be read here:

• Neo Geo Pocket Returns with Neo Geo Pocket 2? [Updated!].

It’s has now confirmed to be true.

It will be called the “Neo Geo X,” and will be released worldwide sometime in the second quarter of 2012 after the console’s 20th anniversary. It will include twenty officially licensed games, a SD card expansion, a 3.5” LCD screen, A/V output, internal stereo speakers and a headphone socket.

It’s being released by BLAZE a company that specialises in creating retro game devices.

The full Neo Geo X game list:

• Art of Fighting
• Baseball Stars
• Cyber Lip
• Fatal Fury
• Fatal Fury Special
• Football Frenzy
• King of the Monsters
• Last Resort
• League Bowling
• Magician Lord
• Metal Slug
• Mutation Nation
• NAM 1975
• Samurai Shodown
• Sengoku
• Super Sidekicks
• The King of Fighters ’94
• The Ultimate 11
• Top Players Gold
• World Heroes

Remember those pics of that Neo Geo branded handheld back in January? Well it’s apparently real and it comes courtesy of Blaze, just like the GameGadget. Blaze Europe’s main man Jason Cooper had this to say about it:

The NeoGeo console has always been a personal favourite of mine and I am delighted to be involved with the development of this new handheld console. We hope to re-ignite the excitement many of us felt 21 years ago, in a more affordable manner, to a much wider audience.

Some rather strange revelations come with this confirmation though, such as the fact that it’ll be a limited edition machine and could cost as much as £500. Though given Jason’s comments about affordability I can’t see that being true. I guess we’ll find out in Q2 of this year, as that’s when this thing is due to be released.

Check the source for more details.