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AES (home console)
SNK of Japan originally developed the home console as a rental system, but when gamers saw the power of the system and perfect home versions of arcade games, the demand for it to be available for consumer purchase changed SNK's plans. It was still an expensive piece of hardware and out of the range of most SANE consumers, but hardcore gamers didn't seem disuaded by the high price tag.
The 'gold system' packaging of the console came with 2 arcade style joysticks, 2 memory card slots (long before other consoles had them), a headphone jack and the cartridge Magician Lord (still a brilliant game to this day, though desperately in need of a sequel which was never released). The memory cards also worked in the arcade cabinets (the genuine 'dedicated' cabs, not the hacked- together kits cheaper arcades invested in).
"I was a Neo Geo addict...":
I can still remember (after a long time of saving up) taking my $600 to the local Babbage's and their surprise that someone was actually buying a Neo Geo console system...not to mention my surprise that they only wanted to give me one punch on my frequent buyer's card.
I also remember taking back the platform game Blue's Journey after my disappointment with beating it in a few hours (not worth the high price I paid for it) and exchanging it for Sengoku, a side-scrolling beat'em up similar to Final Fight but with a supernaturally-themed feudal Japan setting. Even with the limitation of 15 continues, I beat Sengoku in one day also, but thought it was a fun game for showing off the system. Baseball Stars (a wacky sports game) and The Super Spy (a first person beat'em up) were the only other carts I bought for a long time...until SNK hit it big with Samurai Shodown and later SS2.
When the original King of Fighters (KOF94) became difficult to track down (few retailers carried the games by then), I bought the CD system which had more affordable titles (same $50 price range as other consoles), but suffered from slow loading times between levels. Since those days I have owned Metal Slug 2 and 3...and later, when I was in need of cash, resold them online for about the same amount I paid for them.
I have since bought a Japanese import 4-slot cabinet and maybe 2 dozen carts since used arcade carts are now cheaper than the home ones. I actually owned several carts BEFORE I bought the cabinet...because I worked at a theater that had a hack-cab Neo Geo 1 slot and my manager let me swap carts out after closing (once I showed him the free play dipswitch so we could play my own carts without spending quarters and brought in Metal Slug 2 which he was dying to play :). After that job I realized it was time for me to take the plunge and invest in my own cabinet... because that's what Neo Geo fans do! Unfortunately, even the more compact import cabs take up space and it currently resides at a friend's house...though I retain visitation rights.
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