De Neo Geo by SNK was in Japan one of the most succesfull
systems and ahead of its time. SNK (Shin Nihon Kikaku, New
Japanese Project) had been a developer for the NES until
then. It was a 24-bit (actually, a combination of a 16-bit
and an 8 bit) console and something to fall in love with.
It could be described as the most Japanese of console. It
was hardly promoted in Europe and only the hardcore gamer
bought one. One can see this by the Japanse character of
the games.
The system was used in many arcades in its MVS version. A
Neo Geo was simply converted into a cab. Many Europeans
played Neo Geo games this way, without even knowing.
A Pocket version was lauched in Japan and was nr. 2 after
the Gameboy in the land of the rising sun.