If you wanted proof that video games could be a serious luxury business, look no further than the Neo Geo AES. Released by SNK in Japan in 1990 and hitting Western shores shortly after, it was, quite frankly, ludicrously expensive. At launch the console itself retailed for around £400 in the UK — and individual game cartridges cost anywhere between £100 and £200 apiece. For the price of a decent second-hand car, you could own one Neo Geo AES and two games. The machine was so expensive that Blockbuster Video famously rented out Neo Geo cartridges rather than sell them, reasoning (correctly) that most punters would never stump up the cash to own one.
The reason for the eye-watering cost was that the AES was literally the same hardware as SNK's MVS arcade system, shrunk into a home console. You were not getting an approximation of the arcade game — you were getting the actual arcade game, running on the same hardware. The Neo Geo became the machine that every serious gamer aspired to own, particularly for fighting games. Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters — these were genre-defining titles, and on the Neo Geo they were pixel-perfect arcade conversions. The controller, a proper arcade-style joystick with four large buttons, felt magnificent.
In the UK, the Neo Geo was the stuff of playground legend — almost nobody actually owned one, but everyone claimed to know someone who did. Those who claimed they themselves had one always managed to find excuses why it was unavailable when other kids visited. Very very few genuinely had one, and were treated as demigods in the playground.
SNK sold a more affordable "CD" format later in the console's life, which reduced software costs considerably but introduced painfully slow loading times. The AES hardware soldiered on throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, a remarkable run. Today, original AES cartridges change hands for hundreds of pounds and complete systems for considerably more - it remains one of the most collectable consoles ever made.