Compatible emulators

Description

The Neo Geo is a game system created by SNK in 1990, available in arcade version (MVS, Multi Video System) and in high-end home version (AES, Advanced Entertainment System) sharing exactly the same hardware: a main processor Motorola 68000 clocked at 12 MHz supported by a Zilog Z80 dedicated to sound, as well as the same game cartridges. This BIOS file (often named neogeo.zip and consisting of several chips like sp-s2.sp1, sfix.sm1 or 000-lo.lo depending on the revision) contains the system boot firmware: It manages the boot screen, the game selection menu on multi-game MVS terminals, memory management, backups and system settings, as well as the low-level routines used by all games to dialogue with hardware. There are several variants of this BIOS depending on the region and model (Europe, USA, Japan, AES vs MVS), each with slight differences in behavior (starter screens, region checks), as well as an unofficial version very widespread in the homebrew scene and emulation, the BIOS Universe created by Razoola, which adds an advanced configuration menu, regional unblocking, and debugging tools missing from the original BIOS. This file is essential for almost all Neo Geo emulators (FinalBurn Neo, MAME, NeoRAGEx...) that work in low-level emulation (LLE): Unlike a high-level emulation (HLE) that directly simulates the expected behavior of the system without executing the real boot code, these emulators actually execute the original BIOS instructions to ensure maximum compatibility and fidelity. The Neo Geo game ROMs, on the other hand, contain only the code and data specific to each title and are totally unusable without this BIOS to accompany them.

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