Hyper Neo Geo 64 Explained

Hyper Neo Geo 64
Hyper Neo Geo 64
Manufacturer:	SNK Corporation
Family:	Neo Geo
Type:	Arcade system board
Releasedate:	September 1997
Lifespan:	1997–1999
Media:	ROM cartridge
Storage:	Memory card
Predecessor:	Neo Geo MVS

The Hyper Neo Geo 64 is an arcade system board created by SNK, and released in September 1997. As the successor of the popular Neo Geo (MVS), it was the first and only SNK hardware set capable of rendering in 3D, conceived to bring SNK into the 3D era that had arisen during the mid-1990s.

The system never managed to match the huge success of the 16-bit Neo Geo.^[1] Only seven games were produced, none of which proved particularly popular,^[2] and only one of them, , has been ported to home systems. A home console version was rumored to be in development but was never confirmed by SNK.^[3]

History

The system was first announced in late 1995, and planned for release in late 1996.^[4] 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.^[5] By mid-1997 test units were on display in Japan.^[6]

The system was released, only in arcade form, 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.^[7] The first title released for the system was Road's Edge, with Samurai Shodown 64 and following soon after. None were particularly well received. The system was a failure^[8] and by 1999 was discontinued, with only seven games released in total. SNK resumed releasing games on their older Neo Geo system.^[9]

Reportedly, SNK had been working on a successor hardware. This was reported in 2021 and dubbed SNK Millennium.^{[10] [11]}

Specifications

• Processors:
  • CPU #1 (main): 100 MHz NEC VR4300 (64-bit MIPS III)
  • CPU #2 (auxiliary, handles audio I/O): NEC 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:
  • L7A1045 L6028 DSP-A: 32-channel PCM audio, with maximum sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz (CD-quality) and 32 MB of sample RAM^[12]
• Display:
  • Color palette: 16.7 million
  • Maximum onscreen color palette: 4,096
  • 3D branch: 96 MB vertex memory, 16 MB maximum texture memory^[13]
  • 2D sprite branch: 60 frames per second animation, 128 MB character memory^[13]
    • Main functions: scaling, montage, chain, mosaic, mesh, action, up/down, right/left reverse
    • Sprites per frame: 1,536 sprites^[14]
  • 2D scrolling branch: Up to 4 game planes, 64 MB character memory^[13]
    • Main functions: scaling, revolution, morphing; horizontal/vertical screen partitioning and line scrolling

List of games

Title	Genre	Release date	Notes
Beast Busters: Second Nightmare	Rail Shooter		The only third-party game on the platform, developed by ADK
Buriki One	Fighting
	Fighting		Ported to Sony's PlayStation in 1999
Road's Edge	Racing
Samurai Shodown 64	Fighting
	Fighting
Xtreme Rally	Racing

See also

• Aleck 64

External links

• Hyper Neo Geo 64 games and statistics

Notes and References

1. https://www.theregister.com/2015/03/12/antique_code_show_25_years_of_neo_geo_console/?page=4
2. Web site: Zwiezen . Zack . 2021-03-18 . 24-Year-Old Neo Geo 64 Prototype Latest Game To Be Found In A Field . https://web.archive.org/web/20210319044056/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/03/24-year-old-neo-geo-64-prototype-latest-game-to-be-found-in-a-field/ . dead . March 19, 2021 . 2024-09-04 . Kotaku Australia . en-AU.
3. 1997 . Other Stuff . . 152 . 5 . 10.
4. Webb. Marcus. December 1995. Arcadia. Next Generation. Imagine Media. 12. 28.
5. April 1997. AOU. Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis. 93. 79.
6. In the Studio . Next Generation. 33 . . September 1997. 24 .
7. 1997 . SNK rolls out 64-bit hardware . . 12 . 48.
8. Web site: Extension . Time . 2022-07-14 . Fighting Game Fan Goes To Insane Lengths To Play Obscure Neo Geo 64 Game . 2024-09-04 . Time Extension . en-GB.
9. Web site: The History of SNK . 2024-09-04 . GameSpot . en-US.
10. Web site: Lyles . Taylor . 2021-07-09 . Evidence of a Secret, Unreleased SNK Millennium Console Has Been Discovered . 2024-09-04 . IGN . en.
11. Web site: Murray . Sean . 2021-07-12 . Gaming Collector Thinks They Have Found Evidence Of Unreleased SNK Millennium Console . 2024-09-04 . TheGamer . en.
12. Web site: mame/src/devices/sound/l7a1045_l6028_dsp_a.cpp at master · mamedev/mame . 2024-11-14 . GitHub . en.
13. October 1997. Hyper Neo Geo 64. Next Generation. Imagine Media. 34. 21.
14. Webb . Marcus . Arcadia: SNK to combine system and dedicated games . . 18 November 1997 . 36 (December 1997) . 33 .