N64 and Neo Geo

I wanted to ask owners of N64 or Neo Geo (cart) systems a question:

I am interested in the higher level cart systems. I would like to know how either of these systems "boots" up a game. Is there any perceptible "load time". Considering they are carts, I would hope that it would be a minimum.

I have a genesis arcade hack and the carts take anywhere from 2 to 5 seconds to get to the demo screen after power up. How does this compare to n64 or neo geo? Is it about the same? Does it depend on the game?
 
Uh I dont think that the N64 has any boot up time really I mean they're carts so they never have to load but i'm not sure about neogeo
 
Thanks gal. I think there might be a "lull" before the games start after the cart is plugged in and powered up...

The genesis has that "sega" screen and a few seconds of black screen. Does the n64 or neo geo have a Title screen like CD systems, saturn and psx?

Also, is there any gap in time between levels?
 
I dont think there is really any blank time in there unless it's a part of the game itself like an intro. Why are you so interested may I ask?
 
Originally posted by Gallstaff@Jul 1, 2003 @ 05:56 AM

I dont think there is really any blank time in there unless it's a part of the game itself like an intro. Why are you so interested may I ask?

I like to modify arcade cabinets. Most people just do the same thing: M.A.M.E., which I don't really like for various reasons. So, I like to put consoles inside. My cabinet has housed many different systems. At the moment it is a 7800 and Genesis set-up for the greatest number of games.

I am now considering making a new cabinet or adding another system. I think Neo Geo and N64 are the only cart based alternatives. I would love to add a dreamcast, but CD systems don't really look convincing as arcades with the loading screens.
 
Mmm. OK. Here's the deal.

Yes. There is loading with a cartridge... the 'no load times' thing comes from cartridges having insanely quick random access, something optical media can't have (one laser, several centimetres of disc).

There's also compression, which is used very heavily on N64 at least.

Any cartridge game with an intro you can't skip, is generally using that time to pre-load and pre-cache (and pre-decompress) data before getting into the game.

You can also put additional RAM on a cartridge but that isn't done too often.

But anyway, cartridges DO have loading times, they're just extremely well masked and rarely have those infamous "NOW LOADING..." screens.
 
Here's a bit of trivia- one cart game that does have loading times (if I recall correctly) is Out of this World on SNES (though it coulda been Flashback). I think I remember reading somewhere that the Genesis versions of these games didn't have the loading.
 
Originally posted by jeff-20@Jul 1, 2003 @ 12:33 AM

The genesis has that "sega" screen and a few seconds of black screen. Does the n64 or neo geo have a Title screen like CD systems, saturn and psx?

Also, is there any gap in time between levels?

The N64 doesn't have a pre-made title screen. Some Nintendo games have the N64 logo when you turn the game on, but they're different on each game. The Neo-Geo has a Neo-Geo title screen on all games, but they aren't on memory, they are put on each cart.

About loading... Neo-Geo carts have no perceptible loading at all. The biggest loading time i've seen is 1 second.

On the N64 though, there is very perceptible loading on some games. Quake, for example: when starting a level, you see a message "Building..." which means the same as "loading..."!
wink.gif
You wait for about 5-7 seconds on that game. Hexen has loadings too, and try the first level of Goldeneye 007. You'll see that the MUSIC begins playing, but you wait something like 5 seconds for the level to begin.

SNES games also had loadings... Remember Batman Forever? The SNES version has a "Hold On" screen EVERYTIME you change a room!
damn.gif
That didn't happened on the Genesis version. :cheers

I just don't understand this: why don't they just put "Now Loading..." instead of "Hold On", or "Building"? Just because it's a cart? It's the same thing dammit!
smile.gif
 
Console manufacturers have lists of acceptable terminology, and "loading" may have been forbidden by Nintendo, especially on the N64 after all they said about CD loading times. Also, at least in Quake "building" is probably a very accurate description of what the machine is doing. The limited cart space means fully pre-processed levels can't be stored so there's some processing going on.
 
Neo-Geo is an arcade system to begin with, and you'd be better off putting the arcade version of the hardware (MVS) in the cabinet since that's what it's designed for, and there are fewer idiots driving up the price of the MVS hardware and software so you'd be getting a better setup for less money. It does have a (skippable) "title screen" advertising the system on both the home and arcade versions. In theory this depends on the game, but in practice ~95% of Neo games have the standard one. Also, Neo games typically have a (skippable) online tutorial/demo showing how the controls work.
 
id definatly go with mvs over the cart system

before you think about buying the cart system check out theprices of the games them selves and compare that to the prices of the mvs version

ive always wanted to get an MVS but never set up and arcade game set up

ie a jamma harness , giant controler, speakers, power supply, and rgb monitor - i used to plan i geting the comodore amiga monitor for that but the size keeps me back

heres an example of price -- sure there are cheap ones but there are pleanty of these too http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...1&category=4315
 
Originally posted by Jaded God@Jul 1, 2003 @ 01:55 PM

Have you not ever played an N64?
laugh.gif
tongue.gif
?? :huh

Not really... only in Toys R Us when they had the Mario 64 POP kiosk. But I wasn't really impressed. I guess I am trying to find the most versitle console to arcade conversion. The price of that Neo Geo cart scared me. Also, I worry that there are not enough Variety in the games. Is it all fighters?

If you were going to put a console inside an arcade cabinet, which console would you choose? My gut is telling me the order of preference should be: Genesis, SNES, Neo Geo, Saturn (ug.. load time).
 
Originally posted by googlefest1@Jul 1, 2003 @ 09:04 PM

to put a console in an arcade box -- id probbaly choose the saturn

I was thinking the same thing earlier, google, but would the "loading screens" bug you?
 
Originally posted by antime@Jul 1, 2003 @ 08:55 AM

Console manufacturers have lists of acceptable terminology, and "loading" may have been forbidden by Nintendo, especially on the N64 after all they said about CD loading times. Also, at least in Quake "building" is probably a very accurate description of what the machine is doing. The limited cart space means fully pre-processed levels can't be stored so there's some processing going on.

Yeah, it's like what I said. ROM memory is almost always compressed, and often some pre-loading has to be done to decompress and run code, to put basic 'building blocks' into memory and to put, say, an entire level of Quake 2 into RAM so that there's no 'swapping' to cartridge RAM (Q2 probably doesn't use any of that though).
 
Originally posted by jeff-20@Jul 1, 2003 @ 06:32 PM

If you were going to put a console inside an arcade cabinet, which console would you choose?

NES. I remember one I saw in a Nintendo Power, a custom built cabinet made for an NES... it had those advantage joysticks.... nice.
 
Originally posted by jeff-20@Jul 1, 2003 @ 10:10 PM

I was thinking the same thing earlier, google, but would the "loading screens" bug you?

Why would that bug you? I mean if it's a supiror game and/or console you shouldn't let a loading screen get in the way of a supiror gaming console
 
Originally posted by Nadius+Jul 1, 2003 @ 09:55 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Nadius @ Jul 1, 2003 @ 09:55 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'> <!--QuoteBegin-jeff-20@Jul 1, 2003 @ 06:32 PM

If you were going to put a console inside an arcade cabinet, which console would you choose?

NES. I remember one I saw in a Nintendo Power, a custom built cabinet made for an NES... it had those advantage joysticks.... nice. [/b][/quote]

I saw one of those in my local thrift store a few years ago. It had built in joysticks but you had to suppply your own tv on a shelf... no Bazel to hide it. It was $30 and I decided not to buy it because I was crazy for Atari at the time. Also, I didn't have the room. I am still not sure if I regret it, but I think about it often.

As for load times, Gall, it would just take away the "convincing facade" of having a coin-op arcade. I dunno, I probably would do it anyway... I just want to disagree with you because I am still mad at you for blowing on your carts.
 
Back
Top