Four years into SNK's Neo Geo home console (the AES), they decided to jump into the game industry's move to discs with a new unit. While the vast majority of the games were exactly the same as their cartridge counterparts gameplay-wise, the CD format was immensely cheaper to produce and stock, meaning consumers could get $300-$400 (in '90s money!) games now for $50-$75 instead.

Sadly, their CD console wasn't destined for much - It was competing against the incredible Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and a handful of other disc-based units that were all selling more and gaining mass hype. The Neo Geo CD loading times were horrible (think up to 30 seconds between fighting game rounds!), and later units didn't speed up much. Also, there were no upgrades to the unit itself that weren't already seen in SNK's original home console - A lack of 3D ability made it inferior on the market.

One cool feature to mention, though, is that most titles released for the Neo Geo CD often had completely re-arranged, CD-quality soundtracks that were out of this world! My preference on any Neo Geo AES title is to play the CD version instead just because of this!