A quick look at a Hyper Neo Geo 64 Kit

Here's a quick look at a full kit of Samurai Shodown Warriors Rage on the ill fated Hyper Neo Geo 64 (HNG64). Released as replacement for the ageing Neo Geo MVS system, the HNG64 never really took off, and rumour has it that a lot of unsold stock was bought by someone in Europe and imported. The kits now can be picked up for as little as £20, and can often be found on Ebay for reasonable (and unreasonable) prices. There are 4 motherboard variations, 2 for the 4 released fighting games, 1 for the 2 driving games, and 1 for Beast Busters 2nd nightmare, which is a sequel to previous SNK light gun shooter Beast Busters.

Here's the box label:

Here's a quick shot of the contents of the kit, which are: 3 different move strips, a poster, an instruction manual, and of course the cart, which came wrapped in anti static bubble wrap.

I enjoy the games I've played on the system, but the early 3D models haven't aged as well as the 2D sprites from the MVS games. Ironically, SNK continued to release 2D sprite games on the MVS long after the HNG64 had been discontinued.