So whats the deal with the arcade card?

[BigusSchmuck]

Curious, I know it was made for Neo Geo ports and the ever so awesome Sapphire, but whats the story behind it? Why did NEC make so few games for it and what made them stop developing more games like Sapphire? Yeah I know they had another system (PC-FX), but come on, this thing could have easily competed with the likes of the next gen consoles at the time! Makes one wonder...

[nat]

Why did NEC make so few games for it

Well, it had three or four times (or five or six times if you count the Super CD/Arcade CD hybrids) as many games as one of NEC's bona fide consoles (the SuperGrafx), so "few" is certainly subjective.

But I think you answered your own question; they had the PC-FX. The Duo was getting phased out in 1995/1996.

[SignOfZeta]

The AC didn't really take off because it was expensive and it was the end of the PCE's life. By the time it was released the user base had been fragmented from so many expensive-ass upgrades that only the most hardcore remained. Most of the good games for it were Neo stuff, and with the Neo CD out...they didn't make much sense.

And then there was the FX and the Saturn. And the fact that a lot of the famous PCE-era devs were going out of business.

The good/bad/weird news is that as pathetic as the AC selection was, it's still better than the FX library.

So...Super CD is where its at, basically.

[thesteve]

the fx has a few great games, but i agree, the acd has at least as many great games

[T2KFreeker]

All I know is that I thought Strider and Art of Fighting was cool as Hell when it came out. Most people hated Strider, but I liked it.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, I was extremely impressed with AoF. These days you can get better ports of all the Neo games somewhere else, probably on PS2. Hell, you can get the actual MVS carts for most of these games for less than $15.

[Edmond Dantes]

Yeah, all of SNK's major fighting games are on the PS2 as part of various "anthologies" and "battle archives."

I still bought Garou Densetsu 2 for my PC-E though just because I don't always have the PS2 hooked up, and its great to have another version of a game you're gonna play that much.  Which is also why I own three different ports of Street Fighter II Champion Edition.

Getting back to the topic, I think the deal with the arcade card was NEC was trying to make their console able to compete, spec-wise, with the Super Famicom which was the reigning champion at the time.  And perhaps it simply didn't work as well as expected, which is why they pushed the PC-FX instead... which also didn't perform as expected.

[thesteve]

games like zenki prove the FX is quite capable of producing arcade quality games.
we just need more for it.
saphire proved the arcade card as well

[SignOfZeta]

The FX hardware might have been a bit lopsided, but there was nothing really wrong with it. It easily could have done something like Sapphire or Fatal Fury Special or Kaze Kiri or Rondo, it just didn't.

All Zenki proves is how all beat-em-ups pale in comparison to the Kunio series.

[thesteve]

ok i dont know Kunio.
as to the genre i not a big fan of beat-em-up's.
i was however impressed with how fluidly the animations and game play went together, and the use of paralax.

[T2KFreeker]

Hmm, I had forgotten that Fatal Fury 2 was released on the Arcade Card. I still need to see that one in action.

[Arkhan]

Hmm, I had forgotten that Fatal Fury 2 was released on the Arcade Card. I still need to see that one in action.

I could make a video.

I have it, but it would be a crappy video.  AKA: me holding a digital camera and hitting record while I play one handed.

[BigusSchmuck]

My brother got me a arcade card for around 2,000 yen, waiting for it to get here. I wonder if the chopsado converter will work well with it?

[T2KFreeker]

Hmm, I had forgotten that Fatal Fury 2 was released on the Arcade Card. I still need to see that one in action.

I could make a video.

I have it, but it would be a crappy video.  AKA: me holding a digital camera and hitting record while I play one handed.

Well, I could at least see it, so yeah, that would be really cool.

[Necromancer]

There's always .