¶ Technical data
- Manufacturer: SNK
- Year of release: 1994
- CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 12 MHz
- Sound co-processor: Zilog Z80 @ 4 MHz
- RAM: 7 MB (56 Mbit)
- Resolution: 320x224
- Colors: 4096 on screen from a 65,536 color palette
- Sound chip: Yamaha YM2610, 15 channels, plus CD audio tracks
- Media: CD-ROM (1x drive, 2x on the CDZ model)
- Models: Front Loader, Top Loader, CDZ
¶ Presentation
The Neo-Geo CD is the optical-media version of the Neo-Geo, launched by SNK in September 1994 in Japan. Its goal was simple: keep the power of the machine while fixing its main commercial flaw, the prohibitive price of cartridges. A Neo-Geo CD game cost a fraction of its AES equivalent, which finally made the SNK catalogue affordable to a wider audience.
The hardware is that of the AES, plus 7 MB of RAM meant to hold the data read from the CD. That is where the shoe pinches: the drive of the early models runs at single speed and loading times are long, sometimes between each round of a fighting game. The CDZ model, released in late 1996, doubles the read speed and clearly improves matters, but too late to turn the tide.
In exchange, the CD medium made room for CD-DA quality soundtracks, animated cutscenes and extra content absent from the cartridges, as well as a few exclusive titles. The console comes in three variants — Front Loader, Top Loader and CDZ — each with its own BIOS, which explains the list of files below.
¶ Emulators
New in Recalbox 10.1: the Libretro Geolith core, a dedicated Neo-Geo emulator, gains Neo-Geo CD support and becomes the default emulator of this system.
Emulator availability per board:
| Emulator | RPI3/RPI02W | RPI4/400 | RPI5/500 | OGA/OGS/RG351 | PC | RG353 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Libretro geolith | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Libretro fbneo | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Libretro neocd | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
All three emulators are available on every board. Geolith is the default emulator as of Recalbox 10.1; NeoCD remains the most complete alternative when it comes to BIOS choice (Front Loader, Top Loader, CDZ, Universe BIOS), and fbneo can read .iso or .bin images. Only Geolith supports netplay. CRT output is handled by all three cores, as are RetroAchievements. Light guns are not used on this system and softpatching is supported by no core.
¶ BIOS
Each emulator needs its own BIOS, and those are mandatory: without them, no game will start.
| File name | Description | MD5 | Emulators |
|---|---|---|---|
neogeo.zip |
Neo-Geo BIOS (mandatory) — several revisions accepted | — | fbneo |
neocdz.zip |
Neo-Geo CDZ BIOS (mandatory) — several revisions accepted | — | fbneo |
neocd/neocd.bin |
CDZ BIOS (MAME version) — mandatory | f39572af7584cb5b3f70ae8cc848aba2 | neocd |
geolith/neocd.zip |
Neo-Geo CD BIOS — mandatory | 3711783a59ef875c31076512e3f9f0e5 | geolith |
geolith/neocdz.zip |
Neo-Geo CDZ BIOS — mandatory | 724bc64e63d073cf81f986adfb1f1b78 | geolith |
The NeoCD core additionally accepts a set of optional BIOS files, allowing you to emulate the various console models or to use the Universe BIOS:
| File name | Description | MD5 |
|---|---|---|
neocd/uni-bioscd.rom |
Universe BIOS CD 3.3 | 08ca8b2dba6662e8024f9e789711c6fc |
neocd/top-sp1.bin |
Top Loader BIOS (MAME version) | 122aee210324c72e8a11116e6ef9c0d0 |
neocd/front-sp1.bin |
Front Loader BIOS (MAME version) | 5c2366f25ff92d71788468ca492ebeca |
neocd/neocd_sz.rom |
CDZ BIOS (SMKDAN 0.7b DEC 2010) | 971ee8a36fb72da57aed01758f0a37f5 |
neocd/neocd_z.rom |
CDZ BIOS | 11526d58d4c524daef7d5d677dc6b004 |
neocd/neocd_st.rom |
Top Loader BIOS (SMKDAN 0.7b DEC 2010) | f6325a33c6d63ea4b9162a3fa8c32727 |
neocd/neocd_t.rom |
Top Loader BIOS | de3cf45d227ad44645b22aa83b49f450 |
neocd/neocd_sf.rom |
Front Loader BIOS (SMKDAN 0.7b DEC 2010) | 043d76d5f0ef836500700c34faef774d |
neocd/neocd_f.rom |
Front Loader BIOS | 8834880c33164ccbe6476b559f3e37de |
neocd/000-lo.lo |
Zoom ROM | fc7599f3f871578fe9a0453662d1c966 |
neocd/ng-lo.rom |
Zoom ROM | e255264d85d5765013b1b2fa8109dd53 |
Place your BIOS files like this:
/recalbox/share/bios/
├── neogeo.zip
├── neocdz.zip
├── neocd/
│ ├── neocd.bin
│ ├── uni-bioscd.rom
│ ├── top-sp1.bin
│ ├── front-sp1.bin
│ ├── neocd_sz.rom
│ ├── neocd_z.rom
│ ├── neocd_st.rom
│ ├── neocd_t.rom
│ ├── neocd_sf.rom
│ ├── neocd_f.rom
│ ├── 000-lo.lo
│ └── ng-lo.rom
└── geolith/
├── neocd.zip
└── neocdz.zip
You only need the BIOS files of the emulator you actually use:
geolith/neocd.zipandgeolith/neocdz.zipfor the default emulator,neocd/neocd.binfor NeoCD,neogeo.zipandneocdz.zipfor fbneo. The.zipfiles are MAME-style romsets: keep them zipped and do not rename them.
¶ Roms
Put your games in:
/recalbox/share/roms/neogeocd/
Supported extensions per emulator:
| Emulator | Extensions |
|---|---|
| Libretro geolith | .chd .cue |
| Libretro fbneo | .bin .ccd .cue .img .iso |
| Libretro neocd | .chd .cue |
The
.chdformat is strongly recommended: a single losslessly compressed file, audio tracks included, compatible with both the default emulator and NeoCD.
If you use a .cue image, always keep the .cue file and every track file that goes with it in the same folder: the .cue is what you launch, but it only contains the description of the disc.
Neo-Geo CD games make heavy use of CD audio tracks for their music. An image stripped of its audio tracks (for instance a plain
.isoextracted from the data track) may well start, but it will be silent. Always prefer a complete rip of the disc.
Also have a look at the Neo-Geo CD guide and its FAQ.