Part 3. New Generations with Some of the Same Old Problems
A screenshot from The King of Fighters ‘94, the first in the long-lasting and successful series.
While the Neo-Geo was a very smart and economical choice for arcade use since up to six different titles could be fit into a single cabinet, the price was very steep for those who wanted to bring the system home as a gaming console: $650. And if that wasn’t enough, each cartridge had a price tag typically between $200 and $300. Obviously, this made the system not really viable for the home market but made it a coveted item for a niche market of hardcore enthusiasts and collectors. The Neo-Geo was able to handle colorful graphics (up to 4,096 colors) and big sprites. Several fighting game franchises like The King of Fighters and Samurai Showdown, and scrolling action games like Metal Slug, were originally developed for it. Overall, 154 games were released, with the last official title, Samurai Showdown V Special, released in 2004.
3DO Interactive Multiplayer The 3DO Company12 was founded in 1991 by Trip Hawkins, one of Electronic Arts cofounders, together with key industry players such as LG, Matsushita, AT&T, Time Warner, and Electronic Arts itself, with the idea of bringing to market a new CDbased gaming console that, by following a strict set of specifications, could be manufactured by several partners. The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer was released with a lot of hype in 1993 (see Figure 144). However, the very steep launch price of $699 prevented it from building a user base wide enough to attract game developers despite the generous royalty program offered by the company and the advanced technical capabilities of the system, which was built around a 32-bit ARM60 CPU with two custom video chipsets and a math coprocessor. 12
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The original name was SMSG Inc.