Neo Geo X

[BloodShed]

My Neo Geo X Gold arrived today.

Did anyone else get one? I'm really interesting in the hacking potential of this system.

It's a nice package. The joystick replicates the original Neo Geo AES perfectly except it has a USB plug. I've already tested and it works on the PC too. The strange part is, a total of 13 digital buttons are detected but there are only 6 on the joystick. It makes me wonder what type of gamepad encoder they're using.

The game card is a standard SD card. Ninja Masters is using a 64MB card. I found it odd but it even includes a yellow lock switch. They should have molded a permanent "switch" directly into the shell so it can't be overwritten by accident. The data is stored in a raw/unreadable format from Windows. I haven't done a lot of digging on it yet. I'm going to pop it into a Linux box to see if I can determine if it's a standard format.

 

[dickfour]

This thing has no potential whatsoever. It's a Blaze product. They abandon the gamegadget a device that is supposed to play Sega genesis games and some genesis games actually brick the device. The provide no support and there's no way to unbrick the thing. This is about $200. It's over priced and underpowered and has a screwed up aspect ratio to boot. There's a lot better options out there for a lot less money. Do you self a favor and stay away from anything that Blaze is involved in.

 

[BloodShed]

It's a Blaze product.

Actually, it was designed and manufactured by Tommo. I believe Blaze is only handling distribution in Europe. So, it really doesn't matter.

This is about $200. It's over priced and underpowered

Yep, $200. I disagree that it's overpriced. Try breaking it down. It's a decent enough handheld: 4.3" screen and 1GHz CPU. It's fair enough to ask $90 for the handheld system. The joystick is easily worth paying $50. 21 included games at $2 each is another $42. Then, another $20 for the dock which is both a charging station and TV/joystick interface. If you still don't agree; that's fine. Frankly, I wasn't asking this question.

has a screwed up aspect ratio to boot.

No, you're wrong. It supports both 16:9 (stretched) and 4:3. The left trigger buttons let you flip between display modes.

There's a lot better options out there for a lot less money.

Except for the Pandora, I already own every other option out there (from the Vita to the Caanoo). So, that's irrelevant to me.

 

[dickfour]

If you're a collector then collect away. I just don't see a point in spending that much to support one system that's easy to emulate. I might buy one if it were say $100 and had perfect emulation

 

[BloodShed]

Honestly, I wasn't starting a discussion to justify the purchase. I wanted to know if anyone else around GBATemp had bought one so we might start sharing information on opening up more potential for the system.

 

[dickfour]

You're going to be hard pressed. The lowest price I could find is $300. Ha ha why don't you buy it and tell us if it was worth it.

 

[BloodShed]

You're going to be hard pressed. The lowest price I could find is $300.

Yeah, because it sold out... months ago.

Ha ha why don't you buy it and tell us if it was worth it.

What are you talking about? I already bought it; on pre-order. I said that mine arrived today. Then, I posted a few details about my experience with the joystick and included SD card.

 

[Chary]

Your lucky. I kinda wanted one, but they all sold out before I could get the chance.

 

[substancej]

Got mine on Thursday, figured I'd play it cool and wait a day or two before searching "Neo Geo X hack" ....maybe I'd better not get my hopes up, based on the response to this thread. Why do so many people feel compelled to hate on this thing? I'm digging the handheld.

It's funny to me that they chose to release one single game on an SD card... as if they're begging for the encryption to be figured out. Maybe they are? Hmm...

 

[Arizato]

Got mine on Thursday, figured I'd play it cool and wait a day or two before searching "Neo Geo X hack" ....maybe I'd better not get my hopes up, based on the response to this thread. Why do so many people feel compelled to hate on this thing? I'm digging the handheld.

It's funny to me that they chose to release one single game on an SD card... as if they're begging for the encryption to be figured out. Maybe they are? Hmm...

Seems that they figured it out!

http://kotaku.com/5970850/well-that-was-quick-the-new-neo-geo-has-been-hacked

 

[jspicher]

This is great, the guys over at neo-geo.com have a great thread going on the progress of cracking the Neo Geo X wide open. It appears that the handheld is running FBA (Final Burn Alpha) to emulate the Neo Geo games, and there's been other reports of finding other emulators pre-baked into the system (SMS, GBA etc)...

Read up on it here: http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?239578-NeoGeoX-Hacking-and-Mods

I can hardly wait until this thing gets blown wide open!

 

[BloodShed]

Awesome news, Zmizk and jspicher. Thanks for the links. I was actually going to report back that I had checked out the SD card under Linux but it's still not in a recognized format. I was thinking that it might be stored as a binary data stream. I'd be surprised if Tommo developed their own file format.

Why do so many people feel compelled to hate on this thing? I'm digging the handheld.

In here there's just that one guy; and he's repeatedly proven his ignorance about the unit. The primary complaint that I've seen is related to the price. It's their loss though.

 

[jspicher]

Awesome news, Zmizk and jspicher. Thanks for the links. I was actually going to report back that I had checked out the SD card under Linux but it's still not in a recognized format. I was thinking that it might be stored as a binary data stream. I'd be surprised if Tommo developed their own file format.

In here there's just that one guy; and he's repeatedly proven his ignorance about the unit. The primary complaint that I've seen is related to the price. It's their loss though.

Howdy BloodShed,

Have you read the thread l've linked to above, around page 4ish they explain how they were able to get a dump of internal MicroSD card, and the game card as well using a program called testdisk.

 

[BloodShed]

Have you read the thread l've linked to above, around page 4ish they explain how they were able to get a dump of internal MicroSD card, and the game card as well using a program called testdisk.

I replied before I read it, but I've read the whole thing now. I also read some of the other NGX thread. I never expected there would be an internal microSD card. Luckily, I have version 337.

Now I'm thinking I'm going to have to take mine apart, image the internal flash (luckily it sounds like it's simply using ext3), and try to get it working on a larger (32GB SDHC) card. If the internal I/O can read SDHC, that'd be killer. I like the idea of remapping this "frontend" to source ROMs from the second partition that mounts when plugged into a computer. I'll have to mess around with it.

I'm also really interested in the solder points on the mainboard for WiFi. I'd like to see a hardware mod come from it.

 

[jspicher]

Take great care when you pull it open; especially around the power button! I snapped off a tiny piece of plastic and now my unit won't power on unless plugged in, or docked.

 

[BloodShed]

Yeah, well.... I have a bigger problem actually.

That microSD card was glued like I never expected. The glue was all the way up into the socket. I'm actually amazed it worked because it was up on the contacts too. I was using a pair of tweezers (with sharp needle point for surface-mount soldering) to slowly dig out the glue from underneath and it still wouldn't move. So, I grabbed some needle-nose pliers to get more leverage on the card. I ended up crushing two surface mount capacitors sitting next to the socket. I didn't even realize I was putting any pressure on the board.

So, now it doesn't work at all (powers on but no picture). Should be an easy fix but I have no idea what the farad rating is to replace them. I'll figure it out.

I did manage to get the card out eventually. haha

 

[Kamina84]

Had this since it's release. Gotta admit, i've been playing this more than the Wii U. Has anybody found tutorials on how to play Neo Geo roms and the unibios on it yet ? Do you have to open it up even if you have firmware 337 ? I've seen videos of people playing different roms, but they don't tell you how they did it. :\ Thanks.

 

[thaddius]

It I had the money, I'd get one. I love that it has that case that looks like the console.

 

[KidIce]

Are the sticks micro-switched?

 

[Superfrick]

Howdy. Hate to bump an old thread, but I'm not sure where the proper place for discussion of the X should be.
I'm in possession of a 337 unit, and I'd really like to install the HDMI fix and drop in Unibios to a couple of the built-in games. Problem is? Well I'm more of a direction-follower than a pioneer and I've been hard pressed to find any tutorials at all. There were threads over at neo-geo.com, but they were scrubbed of useful information ages ago. If anyone can point me in the proper direction that would be great.

What I'm trying to do:
1) Make a copy of the internal SD card, and use that copy instead of the one that came with the system. My way of having a "Factory restore" handy.
2) Inject the resolution fixes that were developed for it.
3) Unibios!