Question about the Neo Geo CD system

[2600Lives]

I recentlty acquired several US release Neo Geo CD games (for, like, LITERALLY a song). Problem is, I don't actually own a Neo Geo CD system. Tooling around Ebay has turned up quite a few being sold, but they are mostly the Japanese system. My question is this. Will the Japanese system play the US games? This is one of the very few systems I need, and if it will play the US games, I'ma jump on the next BIN auction I come across!

[spacecadet]

As far as I know, no SNK system has ever been region-locked. The Neo-Geo FAQ seems to confirm this:

 

"----Are Japanese games compatible with U.S. NEOGEOs?

Games are fully interchangeable between regions on all systems, but the region of the system determines the language of play on default. For example, if one has a Japanese system, all English games play in Japanese by default. Japanese, English, and European are the only language/region markers in use by SNK."

 

The FAQ in general applies to cart, CD and MVS systems, so that answer should apply to all three.

 

You *can* change the language, although in all honesty it has been a long time since I fired up my (cart) system and anyway I only have one game so I don't really remember how it's done, whether all games have the option in a menu or you have to install a switch in the system or whatever. But the games *will* play.

[masschamber]

will play us games, they be in japanese but given the nature of the games, the language issue shouldn't be a big deal

[JagFan422]

my Neo Geo CD unit has a switch on the back that changes the region from Jap to US.

[Flojomojo]

As far as I know, that switch is not factory standard -- but is probably the most common modification people do on this machine.

 

Seems that there's a decent NeoGeo CD emulator for the PSP. I guess the memory size required to run these games is much smaller than that needed for the big Neo system. Compress the music files down to MP3 size and you've got a nice little portable game, probably better than the single-speed CD version one could play legitimately.

 

On that piratical note, can one play CDRs on this machine? I've got an Ebay bid out there ...

[JB]

On that piratical note, can one play CDRs on this machine? I've got an Ebay bid out there ... 

990882[/snapback]

I can't prove it, but an educated guess would be yes.

 

Pre-CDR means no copy protection, as a general rule.

[Starscream]

On that piratical note, can one play CDRs on this machine? I've got an Ebay bid out there ... 

990882[/snapback]

 

Yup

[Ze_ro]

Seems that there's a decent NeoGeo CD emulator for the PSP.

There are also NGCD emulators for the PC, so as long as you have a CD player in your computer, there's a good chance you could play these games in the emulator. I haven't tried any of these emulators though, so this is just an educated guess. Any emulator worth a damn would let you choose the region setting too.

 

And hey! It would actually be a LEGAL use for an emulator!

 

--Zero

[+remowilliams]

As far as I know, that switch is not factory standard -- but is probably the most common modification people do on this machine.

 

On that piratical note, can one play CDRs on this machine? I've got an Ebay bid out there ... 

990882[/snapback]

Yeah, I put a switch in mine the first day I got it. US/Jap games play on all systems AFAIK. The region thing determines stuff like 'no red blood' and displayed language (some games)

 

CDRs are most definitely not an issue