Thanks to developers IQ_132, H0ffman, Blastar, NeoHomebrew and Justingibbins, Neo Geo CD owners are enjoying a recent plethora of releases not seen since SNK themselves supported it in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. In addition to ported and original titles like P.O.W, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Karnov, and Block Panic DX, Neo Geo CD owners can now enjoy converted titles that were formerly AES or MVS only on the much cheaper CD platform.
In many cases, these conversions come without the constant and excessive loading that the Neo Geo CD was infamous for. Better yet, most of the time there are no additional loading interruptions after the initial load to start the game. Some of these CD loads are quicker than loading an AES or MVS ROM on a Neo SD Pro cart! Especially if you have Furrtek’s Neo Geo SD Loader.
But enough waffling around, thanks to developer IQ_132, CD owners are now able to play AM Factory’s Nightmare in the Dark, a now formerly MVS only title that should be enjoyable to Bubble Bobble and Snow Brothers fans.
The conversion script (IQ_132 does not provide ISO files to copyrighted material) can be found here. Simply follow his instructions in the included readme file and in a few seconds, you’ll have a converted iso that plays on real hardware.
Below are IQ_132’s notes regarding his conversion. The updated script adds the jump sound fix (it was crackly in the original game release) and nothing is cut from the original game. Keep in mind that not long ago, many of these conversions were deemed practically impossible.
———————————————————————————————————-
Hello again!
Here’s a conversion of Nightmare in the Dark.
Things of note:
– It has a rather long load between levels 4 and 5.
– I don’t know if the slowdown is worse than on cart, but there is slowdown on busy screens.
– Nothing is cut.*edit*
I updated the original package about 25 minutes after posting as I had failed to remove an “unlimited lives” cheat on the original.
added the “jump” sound fix, extract the zip over the “DATA” folder once you extract the package and rebuild the iso with the run me.
———————————————————————————————————-
Other than the initial loading screen, there is one full loading screen before the last level, but it’s trivial, especially for owners of the SD loader. As in the original MVS release, Nightmare in the Dark does have slowdowns on busy screens but remains playable. Maybe someone can test out both side-by-side and compare if there is any additional slowdown on the CD version? If there is, that information would be useful to the developer.
Otherwise, Nightmare in the Dark is a fun co-op title that is fully playable and sounds slightly better than the unpatched original MVS release.
As always, if you are interested in supporting devs who perform this type of work, IQ_132’s patreon page can be found here. The page also goes into great detail about how these conversions were achieved. It’s great info for any developers who might be interested in creating their own ports and conversions as well as for those who are just technically curious.
