its not "simply an arcade box that you could plug into your tv"
it doesn't used the same carts at all
how can you ever draw that conclusion?
do you even know what AES stands for?
Of Course I do...I happen to own one, but I mostly collect for my CMVS as those are much more affordable (provided you dont' get bootlegs ugh)..
Come on..it was nothing more then an arcadee in a box..
same boards
same everything ...same games!
The only thing they did was make it so arcade owners couldn't buy the then cheaper AES ports and play them on their arcades....
All they did with SOME home ports (which was no diffrent apart from the shell) was maybe MAYBE add things like the removal of blood, color swaps, ability to listen to music from the game on a select screen, and take away the need to insert a coin ...
They NEVER developed a game for the AES that wasn't first an Arcade game for the MVS
They even omited one or two games that ONLY came out for the MVS arcade cabs
They NEVER ported any other game that wasn't a direct MVS port...NEVER........
So yes it was JUST an Aracde with some pretty lipstick, that you could play with your friend on your tv........
The best part of the AES to me was that you could have the memory card and use it with some of the Arcade systems (and a jack for headphones).....
Let's face it the number of people I have met who owned a TG-16 VASTLY outweighs anyone who owned a AES (when it first came out).
Hell I didn't even have a AES until 4 years ago around the same time I bought a CMVS...
and I have only ever bothered to get 2 AES games, where as I have like 20 something MVS games...
and even then I am the only person I have met in real life or with in my circle of friends who even knows what a Neo Geo AES/MVS or TG-16 was let alone have one......which makes for weird conversations when I try and tak about games for these systems...sure most know or remember playing Neo Geo in the Arcades but when they learn that you could play them on your TV on original hardward they flip.......
not enough to buy said hardware though...they just mooch off of my stuff...which makes for fun drunken retro nights that don't just involves a NES, SNES, and ocasonal Dreamcast or SMS/Genesis game.....