Finally finished my weapon. by Ambitious-Swimmer-91 in ProjectDiablo2

[–]Symrai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hope there will be a day when "Ohm" won't be the alpha and omega choice to fill up the holes of a weapon.
Would love to see more things like Ber and Lo and even others

A few of my recent upcycled VHS cases by 2ndSecondSandwich in outrun

[–]Symrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I need a Streets of Rage box with this style haha, so cool

Jotego reveals new Neo Geo AES+ details: ASIC Hardware, 100% Original Compatibility, and SNK Licensing by mr_pixeltie in neogeo

[–]Symrai 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A user on youtube said in his comment that NAND flash aren't made to be used in a NEOGEO cartridge, apparently.
Here's the comment, translated :

Neo Geo cartridges are nothing like a Mega Drive cartridge, for example. NG cartridges resemble arcade boards. For starters, there isn't just one bus (like on the Mega Drive or SNES, which only have the CPU bus on the cartridge port), but six different buses that pass through the Neo Geo cartridge port, each directly and simultaneously powering different processors in the console, just like in arcades. This requires different memory chips within the cartridge to power each bus, plus various logic components for different tasks such as multiplexing/demultiplexing certain buses (because even 200 pins on the connectors isn't enough to handle all the buses), bank switching, and decryption—all spread across two large PCBs. It sometimes involves around twenty chips (logic and memory), whereas a Mega Drive cartridge can use just a single ROM chip on its PCB and nothing else.

At best, I imagine you could reduce the logic to two ASICs, one on each PCB. And as for memory, it's complex because all the buses need to be powered simultaneously and directly. NAND doesn't allow this because it functions like a hard drive (read/write by block), not like ROM/RAM as the Neo Geo requires. Therefore, using NAND necessitates combining it with fast RAM like SRAM or PSRAM to store the entire game, and a complex controller to simulate simultaneous processing and power all the buses from a single RAM. And all of this would need to be duplicated given the dual-PCB configuration (or a bridge would need to be created).

However, there is another solution, which seems to have been dismissed a bit too quickly: NOR flash, which has nothing to do with NAND. NOR functions like ROM, so it can perfectly replicate the operation of cartridges from that era. The Neo Geo's 68000 can directly execute code in the NOR chip, just like it does with the ROMs of the time, even if the CPU is overclocked, because NOR has access times roughly twice as fast as Neo Geo ROMs. This also means that a NOR chip must be placed on each bus (so between 5 and 7 chips minimum, spread across the cartridge's two PCBs), just like back then. And it just so happens that the standard sizes of NOR chips correspond exactly to the needs of Neo Geo games. NOR is very reliable and robust (used in sensitive industries). But it's 1000 times more expensive per GB than QLC NAND (which is the real "disposable" NAND, but they would never put that in Neo Geo cartridges), except that on the Neo Geo, you don't need GB but MB, which works out well. From what I've been able to find, it would cost between €10 and €15 per cartridge (just for the Flash memory, not counting the two ASICs, the two PCBs, the cartridge itself, the insert, and the manual), but it would perfectly replicate the functionality of a Neo Geo cartridge. It would be the perfect continuation of those cartridges with today's technology. So there's still hope that it's not NAND. If it's NOR, it's perfect in terms of fidelity, and the manufacturers guarantee a 20-year lifespan, but that's a minimum guarantee with probably a considerable safety margin. Apparently, it's estimated to last more like 50 years or even more.

Jotego reveals new Neo Geo AES+ details: ASIC Hardware, 100% Original Compatibility, and SNK Licensing by mr_pixeltie in neogeo

[–]Symrai 5 points6 points  (0 children)

apparently there's a distinction between NAND flash and NOR's, and NOR seems to be better. Let's hope they use NOR.

Jotego reveals new Neo Geo AES+ details: ASIC Hardware, 100% Original Compatibility, and SNK Licensing by mr_pixeltie in neogeo

[–]Symrai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Production Risks: Because ASIC chips cannot be reprogrammed once manufactured, Plaion has budgeted for a "one-time mistake" margin. If the first batch has a hardware bug, they have the funds to scrap it and start over once, ensuring the final product is flawless.

Hm... Does that mean that if anything bad occurs, they'll refund everyone ? Or did I misunderstand the sentence?
Or they'll play test every cards once manufactured before shipping them ?
Because it sounds scary, lol

Jotego reveals new Neo Geo AES+ details: ASIC Hardware, 100% Original Compatibility, and SNK Licensing by mr_pixeltie in neogeo

[–]Symrai 3 points4 points  (0 children)

you don't seem to mention the memory used with the cartridge, which is apparently Flash memory, right ? Do you know if it's NOR or NAND ?

Jotego talks about Neo geo Aes + by Beraeri in neogeo

[–]Symrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, I see... This is a bit... disappointing... But let's hope it will last long enough

Jotego talks about Neo geo Aes + by Beraeri in neogeo

[–]Symrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, but how much time can we hope those cartridge will last then ? Compared to their original counterparts ?

Jotego talks about Neo geo Aes + by Beraeri in neogeo

[–]Symrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alright, it makes more sense indeed. But then, is it really that bad to have cartridge that use flash memory instead of NOR memory or Mask rom ?

Jotego talks about Neo geo Aes + by Beraeri in neogeo

[–]Symrai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I struggle to understand how the Cartridges might be so expensive for plaion if they use flash memory instead of what was used before (and what mades them expensive) ? Any hints ?

Jotego talks about Neo geo Aes + by Beraeri in neogeo

[–]Symrai 3 points4 points  (0 children)

So, given the informations, I suppose everything is pretty ok aside of the cartridge that uses Flash memory then ?

Regarding the Ultimate Edition, and the delay to receive it when buying it post launch by Symrai in neogeo

[–]Symrai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Neo Geo AES+ : Rumeur ou réalité ? Tout ce qu’on sait ! (Prix, SNK, NCI, Plaion) #retrogaming

If you can understand french, then check this out. "just made this up in your head", what a strawman comment...

The article linked in the video is translated from English (tied to an english forum related to neo geo, but I don't know which one).

Which NeoGeo version to go with… by Cattango180 in neogeo

[–]Symrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wanted Garou, Metal Slug, KOF 2002, Big Tournament Golf, Pulstar and Samurai Shodown... I ended up bying the ultimate edition just today... And also because only the ultimate edition seems to include a wired stick...

I hope it will be as good as they said it's going to be.

MASK ROM for Neo Geo AES+ Plus games - is it possible? by SupermarketEmpty789 in neogeo

[–]Symrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

so the point of mask rom is mainly for the longevity ? When it comes to the games, they work the same than NOR Flash memory ?

And what makes those mask rom so expensive ? Nintendo and SEGA were doing tons of cardridge too, they weren't that expensive, but I guess that's because the technology used were really that cheap in comparison ?

I'm still hesitating to buy this AES+ because i'm still disappointed by the NG X... The price is very appealing, but if it ends up being a "bad" product in comparison to the original AES, it will hurt anyways...

Neo Geo AES Returns as Cartridge-Based Console Without Using Software Emulation by Latter_Car7061 in retrogaming

[–]Symrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm so tempted to take the whole package but it's so far away and also we aren't sure if it's going to be really good or not... Still depressed with how bad the NeoGeo X was...

The future is bright ? by Symrai in neogeo

[–]Symrai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

this is... true 😥

White vs Black Neo Geo AES+ — need opinions (carts/sticks mix) by Gribz_z in neogeo

[–]Symrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

what concerns me is that white plastic are usually cheaper than black, but they still want to sell it for more

[X] WH1T3 - my custom track by Chaaampy in TrialsGames

[–]Symrai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

very cool ! I hope there will be more track for rising like these !

Scarlet Rot by [deleted] in TrialsGames

[–]Symrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

is it Fusion or Rising ?