This is a story that didn't want to be released. There has always been a lot of rumor-mongering and whispered discussion about SNK's changes to the NeoGeo home cartridge system, but those 'in the know' were secretive bastards typical of the Neo Geo 'community'. They didn't want to tell people the whole story for fear their stockpiled, hoarded and artificially high-priced consoles would devalue. Or maybe not, as with any conspiracy, those who know won't say for sure. In any case, it would appear SNK's engineers were either incompetant, or seriously constrained by cost issues. Maybe there were other issues at play, but the bottom line is this: SNK made changes to the video output circuitry sometime around serial number 40,000.
These changes were dramatic, not so much initially, but by number 70,000 the changes drastically decreased the quality of the RGB output. The change was designed to increase the saturation of the composite video output, to allow for brighter, more vivid colours. This was achieved, at the expense of the RGB's super-clear output (Which, it could be argued, very few people were using). What this means to the consumer is simple: approximately 25% of the Neo Geo units produced have flawless RGB output, the rest have marginally better composite video output. If you're serious about your Neo, and let's face it, most Neo players are self-aggrandizing super-collector anal-retentives, then you want one of the first 40,000 units. Or you want to make some serious mods to your system. Or you want an MVS with a Jamma Gear/Supergun. Or you don't use RGB. Or you really just want to play the games, not brag about them and admire the spines of the cart boxes on the shelf. In any case, I'm digressing. Here's the proof, kids. These screengrabs were made two ways, one with a Data Translations DT-3154 RGB capture card and official SNK RGB cable, and the other with an AlphaData TVK554 composite video capture card using an official SNK Composite cable. Six systems were tested, including one from most serial number groups. Three revisions were not tested, accounting for the first 20,000 units. The serial numbers dested were: 52,607 85,570 126,156 232,699 Korean This is the serial number breakdown as it was passed on to me:
The Korean unit is reported to be the same as the 232,699 group, and the output seems to confirm this. One interesting discovery was made: The 85,570 unit has darker RGB output, leading me to believe the table is wrong, and that the change occurred somewhere around the 90,000 mark, not 70,000.
Also interesting, the 126,156 unit has RGB output different than the later units: It lacks the noticable vertical striping, but has an odd checkerboard effect instead. If you count this RGB as 'not bad' then the number of good RGB-producing units is nearly one third. Some might almost prefer this brighter, not-too-stripey RGB. Please forgive these overlarge pictures. I felt them necessary to give a really good idea of how the output of these systems differs. Please post in the forum (No registration required) if you have any corrections, comments or suggestions about this article. |
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Here's the first three models' RGB output. You'll notice it's a little dark, but typically nothing a monitor can't compensate for.
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And here's the big difference in RGB output. As you can see, the striping is quite pronounced, especially on the bright colours.
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As you can see, the two units on the right suffer some nasty striping artifacts. The next picture shows the earlier 3 revisions, and I apologize for the 30,675 unit, that's an American system so the logos don't match up. And there's the proof. Clearly the first units have better RGB output.
Here's a quick comparison of the RGB vs Composite output, just in case any of you were wondering why RGB matters to anyone at all:   |
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For reference, here's the entire screen divided into six sections, showing all six units' RGB output:
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And the composite video output, from all six:
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