Homebrew Best way to play uncensored Neo Geo games?

bobshark · Mar 16, 2019

In a nutshell: I'd like to discover a few Neo Geo games. Fully uncensored (with blood, bouncing breasts, swearing and so on) and featuring English text (menus, post-battle quotes, endings).

I know such versions of titles I'm interested in were re-released on PC and current consoles (The Last Blade 2, Samurai Shodown V Special, ...).
However I don't like playing SD sprite-based games upscaled on a HD screen. It just looks ugly to me. They weren't meant to be displayed in such a way IMHO.

I still own a CRT, so I decided to look for PS2/Wii collections. Unfortunately most of these Western releases suffer from censorship (i.e. Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol. 2, The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match) or from poor emulation (i.e. Metal Slug Anthology). Or they weren't even released in the US/Europe!

Then I learned there are several romhacks that are fully uncensored and feature the English translation. However a few of them alter the games too much for my liking (color edits, gameplay changes, ...). I just want an English uncensored game (with playable bosses).

The Wii seems easily hackable so I wondered if I could use it to play these romhacks. So could people knowledgeable about Neo Geo games answer the following, please?

Is the Wii powerful enough to properly emulate the games listed hereafter?
Which emulation method should I go with ?
Which versions/romhacks of said games should I be looking for in order to experience them uncensored and in English?

Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior

Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
Real Bout Fatal Fury 1, Special, 2
Garou: Mark of the Wolves

Metal Slug 1-2, X

Samurai Shodown I-IV, V Special
Samurai Shodown RPG (French fan translation)

Sengoku 1-3

The King of Fighters '94
The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout
The King of Fighters '95-'98
The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match
The King of Fighters '99: Millennium Battle
The King of Fighters '99: Evolution
The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match

The Last Blade 1-2

niuus · Mar 16, 2019

bobshark said:
Is the Wii powerful enough to properly emulate the games listed hereafter?

The Wii can play every single Neo Geo game without performance issues, AFAIK.

bobshark said:
Which emulation method should I go with ?

I think you best bet would be the Retroarch build made by Wiimpathy.

bobshark said:
Which versions/romhacks of said games should I be looking for in order to experience them uncensored and in English?

I very rarely play romhacks, so i couldn't say. But i got into the same conundrum some years ago. I figured that you can change the Neo Geo region to bypass the censure. Give it a try.

Sonic Angel Knight · Mar 16, 2019

Define uncensored? I mean I don't think there is nudity in the games. Stuff like jiggle physics and blood were common censors, but what else is there? If there was nude, I don't think it was in any version, so it must be a mod hack.

bobshark · Mar 17, 2019

Sonic Angel Knight said:
Define uncensored?

Here are a few examples of censorship in those games (what I want to avoid):

- Blood: red blood in the Japanese version often turned green/white in the Western releases or was completely removed.
Examples: The Last Blade 2 for Dreamcast/Wii Virtual Console, Fatal Fury Battle Archives Volume 2, The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match

- Fatalities: in most Samurai Shodown fighting games, a character can let out a huge spray of blood or be cut into pieces under certains conditions.
Example: removal of blood spray/bisection in Samurai Shodown II in Samurai Shodown Anthology

- Boucing breasts: the female character wears clothes but her covered breasts bounce in the Japanese version. Often not in the Western releases.
Examples: Mai in Fatal Fury/King of Fighters games

- Intros / Endings / Game Over screens / Pre-fight animations
Examples: Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: Game Over screen: removal of the losing character's bloodied portrait
KOF '98: Intro song: removal of lyrics featuring profanity
KOF '99: Intro and pre-fight animations: removal of alcohol

Sonic Angel Knight said:
I mean I don't think there is nudity in the games.

In Real Bout Fatal Fury, if you play a round in the Sound Beach stage using Blue Mary and win under certain conditions, she'll end up topless.

soniccomcisbr · Mar 18, 2019

You dont need patch your rons for this. You can configure everything using the unibios. I just played right now the Real Bout 1 in english and did the topless victory of Blue Mary

niuus · Mar 18, 2019

soniccomcisbr said:
You dont need patch your rons for this. You can configure everything using the unibios. I just played right now the Real Bout 1 in english and did the topless victory of Blue Mary

Yep, that's what i suggested him. It remains to be known if he did the region change, for which he did not replied.

bobshark · Mar 18, 2019

niuus said:
I figured that you can change the Neo Geo region to bypass the censure. Give it a try.

soniccomcisbr said:
You dont need patch your rons for this. You can configure everything using the unibios.

Okay, thank you both for your help. It seems like the best way to proceed according to other sources as well. Unfortunately I kind of lack free time right now, but I'll try it someday.

ScarletDreamz · Mar 19, 2019

If you want to remove censorship in games, they are only locked via region, you can simply use unibios, and set the region to "Japan".

And done, enjoy your blood and bouncing breast.

TheManHimself · Apr 9, 2019

Simply setting unibios to Japan has never actually uncensored anything for me, at least when it comes to blood in the Last Blade 2 and the Metal Slugs. That being said, what does work is holding down B,C,D at the unibios boot screen, going to the soft dips, and enabling the blood option for whatever game you're playing (It's called Cruel Fight in LB2) is probably the solution you are looking for.

Homebrew Best way to play uncensored Neo Geo games?

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