Hyper Neo Geo 64

The Hyper Neo Geo 64 is an arcade system created by SNK, and released in September 1997, as the successor of the Neo Geo MVS, within the Neo Geo family.

Hyper Neo Geo 64
Hyper Neo Geo 64
(System board and Software)
ManufacturerSNK Corporation
Product familyNeo Geo
TypeArcade system board
Release date
  • JP: September, 1997
MediaROM cartridge
StorageMemory card
PredecessorNeo Geo MVS

It is the first and only SNK hardware set capable of rendering in 3D, and was meant to replace SNK's older MVS system on the market. Company executives planned for the project to bring SNK into the new era of 3D gaming that had arisen during the mid-1990s, and had planned for a corresponding home system to replace the aging and expensive AES home console.

However it never managed to match the huge success of the MVS, and reached its end of life in 1999. Only seven games were produced for the arcade variation of the system, none of which proved particularly popular, and the project was discontinued. The proposed home system never got beyond initial planning stages and only one of the arcade games, Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, has been ported to home systems.

History

The Hyper Neo Geo 64 was conceived to bring SNK into the 3D era as well as to replace their aging Neo Geo home system.

The system was first announced in late 1995, and planned for release in late 1996.[1] It was officially unveiled at the February 1997 AOU show, though all that was demonstrated at the show was a videotape containing a few seconds of footage of Samurai Shodown 64, which SNK announced would be the first game for the system.[2] By mid-1997 test units were on display in Japan.[3]

The arcade version of the system was released in September 1997, featuring a custom 64-bit RISC processor, 4 megabytes of program memory, 64 megabytes of 3D and texture memory, and 128 megabytes of memory for 2D characters and backgrounds. The first title released for the system was Road's Edge, with Samurai Shodown 64 and Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition following soon after. None were particularly well received.

By 1999, the system was discontinued, with only seven games released in total. Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition was ported to the Sony PlayStation home system.

Home system

Although details regarding the planned home system are sparse, it is believed that like the AES console, much of the hardware from the Neo Geo 64 arcade platform would also have been present in the home system, meaning gameplay would be identical or nearly identical whether a given game was played at home or in the arcade. It is unknown what media the home system would have used.

Specifications
  • Processors:
    • CPU #1 (main): 100 MHz NEC VR4300 (64-bit MIPS III)
    • CPU #2 (auxiliary, handles audio I/O): V53@16 MHz 16-bit microcontroller (V33 superset)
    • CPU #3 (auxiliary, handles communications I/O): KL5C80A12CFP@12.5 MHz 8-bit microcontroller (Z80 compatible)
  • Memory layout:
    • 0x00000000..0x00FFFFFF: mainboard RAM (16 MiB)
    • 0x04000000..0x05FFFFFF: cartridge RAM (16 MiB)
    • 0x1FC00000..0x1FC7FFFF: ROM (512 KiB)
    • Cartridge ROM mapping is variable.
  • Sound chip: 32-channel PCM sample-based synthesis audio, with maximum sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz (CD-quality) and 32 MB of sample RAM
  • Display:
    • Color palette: 16.7 million[4]
    • Maximum onscreen color palette: 4,096
    • 3D branch: 96 MB vertex memory, 16 MB maximum texture memory[4]
    • 2D sprite branch: 60 frames per second animation, 128 MB character memory[4]
      • Main functions: scaling, montage, chain, mosaic, mesh, action, up/down, right/left reverse
      • Sprites per frame: 1,536 sprites[5]
    • 2D scrolling branch: Up to 4 game planes, 64 MB character memory[4]
      • Main functions: scaling, revolution, morphing; horizontal/vertical screen partitioning and line scrolling

List of games

Seven games were released, all developed and published by SNK.

Title Genre Release date
Beast Busters: Second Nightmare Rail Shooter September 11, 1998
Buriki One Fighting May 21, 1999
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition Fighting January 28, 1999
Road's Edge Racing September 10, 1997
Samurai Shodown 64 Fighting December 19, 1997
Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage Fighting October 16, 1998
Xtreme Rally Racing May 13, 1998

See also

References
  1. Webb, Marcus (December 1995). "Arcadia". Next Generation. No. 12. Imagine Media. p. 28.
  2. "AOU" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 93. Ziff Davis. April 1997. p. 79.
  3. "In the Studio". Next Generation. No. 33. Imagine Media. September 1997. p. 24.
  4. "Hyper Neo Geo 64". Next Generation. No. 34. Imagine Media. October 1997. p. 21.
  5. Webb, Marcus (November 18, 1997). "Arcadia: SNK to combine system and dedicated games" (PDF). Next Generation. No. 36 (December 1997). p. 33.
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