SNK Corp. Readies Multi-Game Neo•Geo Video System

For World Release; Stateside Debut Slated for ACME

After numerous months of behindclosed-doors "tweaking" at their Osaka R&D engineering facility, SNK Corporation went public on Jan. 31 with its Neo•Geo video game system at an international open house and press conference held in Japan. As the dealers saw, this multi-game selectable attraction offers some provocative differences when compared to any other "system" yet launched. On top, the company will devote its entire coin-op R&D efforts toward designing and marketing game cartridges for use on the new attraction.

Its first showing for the North American industry will take place at ACME Chicago, where its oversized marquee, topping a stylish upright cabinet, will make it easy to see. When its features are spelled out to operators by SNK personnel, it will also make it easy to see why SNK is plowing its total coin-op ener

gies into the product at this time.

Neo•Geo (standing for "new land") is aptly named. For starters, all games will be brand new for the coin market (no reprogrammed home titles, for example). The game advertising in the marquee is also noteworthy: a foot-high display will tout Neo•Geo on the top with the selection of individual game title cards spread beneath. As players "scroll" through the titles, each is backlit in turn while an attract mode of each simultaneously plays on the screen.

Two versions will be available. The 25" monitor model will hold up to six different game titles, while the 19" monitor version can carry up to four. Operators do not have to "fill them up" right away if they elect to use fewer games at the outset. Game software comes in cartridges that are roughly twice the size of a VHS

Into 1990 and beyond: Shinichi lkawa (2nd frorn left) explains the features of the new SNK Neo • Geo system at the Jan. 31 debut. To his left is Mr. Nishiyama and to his right is Mr. Hasegawa, the head engineer.

cartridge. They snap onto the pin settings on the 16 bit CPU board inside. All cartridges come with their respective game advertising title cards in the package.

SNK believes they have hit "all the right buttons" with this system, not the least of which is the price of

SNK Corp. President PAUL JACOBS.

the software (which they say will sell for approximately 1/4 to 1/3 the present cost of a universal conversion kit). As mentioned, the company has discontinued working on any future kits or other uprights now that its R & D people are concentrating solely on Neo•Geo software. "That fact alone should demonstrate our excitement about this product," said SNK American chief Paul Jacobs.

Jacobs also said "there's absolutely no doubt" that Neo•Geo will generate new respect for the multigame "system concept" within the trade and on the player level. "We have done our homework here. For example, all games will play out on `lives' rather than on `time.' And, these are not warmed-up home ti

tles but fresh, new games that are targeted toward the various player groups serviced by operators," he said.

All Neo•Geo games are 2-players (one alone, however, can still play