Terraonion -- PLEASE FIX THIS! | 1st Revision AES Consoles Are OUT OF LUCK!

[@travisbowmanmusic]

Before anyone mentions the wavy glitching at 2:38 on the word "CURVE" on the right side of the screen. This is the RetroTink 5X upscaler having sync issues with my AES. This is a completely separate problem that's quite common with early AES consoles. Right now, it's fixed by tinkering with a few settings on the RetroTink 5X. Usually bringing up the menu will kind of "reset" the sync, and for the most part, gameplay is not affected in any way. You can also see at 2:44, the top part of the screen tends to lean toward the right. Also an issue with the RetroTink 5X. It can be fixed by messing with the menu/settings each time you load a game. Not entirely game breaking... but super annoying, though... It looks like this early revision AES is quite the problem child. Now I see why most other Neo Geo fans prefer to go the MVS route instead of AES. A lot less headaches!

[@michaeleconomides4054]

I have the same issue with the RetroTink 5X and my AES. I have tried playing around with settings but no luck. You mentioned: "It can be fixed by messing with the menu/settings each time you load a game." Do you recall exactly which settings? I basically gave up on playing NG on the 5x because of this

[@esar8183]

Just wanted to update. I bought a Japanese non first gen 5V Neogeo. NeoSD pro works flawlessly. Thanks again for your video. Guess I will play my original carts on my old us neogeo.

[@ultimateman55]

Thanks for posting this. Terraonion unfortunately has a reputation for terrible customer service online. The worst part about the Pro not working with the first revision of the AES is that the people who have that revision are often the most hard-core neo geo fans out there, as of course, those consoles have a reputation for having excellent video quality and are more rare and expensive. The Neo SD Pro is on my list for purchase someday soon, but there's no chance I'd ever purchase directly from Terraonion. Stoneagegamer, on the other hand, they're great. Sorry to hear you've been dealing with this. What should have been an exciting purchase turned into a huge hassle. What a bummer.

[@Ace_of_DiscaL]

Big TerraOnion fan & NeoSD PRO owner here; I just wanted to say that I have posted your video on their official Discord channel. It all seems to be firmware related since the older batch of PRO cartridges had a different manufacturing procedure. Anyway, things are bound to improve according to the company.

[@travisbowmanmusic]

I've put it in the Discord channel too. I don't have high hopes of this ever getting fixed. Alex is currently on vacation and seems to have no interest.

[@victorromero8010]

Thanks for this. Makes me want to consider getting a console style MVS instead of an AES.

[@travisbowmanmusic]

Honestly that's likely the best decision. The AES is such a cool part of gaming history but it's so inconsistent and sometimes it's hard to know what you've got until you open them up. Some revisions are better than others I guess!

[@GameLifter]

My AES is a first revision 5V US model that I re-capped myself. I used the cap kit from Console5 with the updated cap and resistor values for the RGB lines. The Neo SD Pro I got is from the batch from Stone-age Gamer that they sent out early March of this year. I can confirm that it works fine on my AES. I've played my AES with the Neo SD Pro through RGB on two different monitors and both are working fine. I did have issues with the cart at first, it was due to my SD card and a firmware bug that was remedied soon after.

[@cesarventura2535]

thank god for that, my friend is recapping my AES and i also have a SD pro from SAG. hopefully i have the same luck as you and it works fine

[@travisbowmanmusic]

It's likely this particular batch that I purchased in late July or early August. It seems that this new batch has problems that earlier ones do not.

[@ryoandr]

On the early AES revisions, all the current goes through a power transistor (big green one usually, black in your pic). It is known to get weaker over time, I had to change one on a AES as it simply couldn't power even regular games. Maybe the NeoSD Pro just goes above what the transistor can do. It might be a good idea to swap it for a beefier one too and retry.

[@travisbowmanmusic]

Yeah its possible... But all my research points to this particular batch of Neo SD Pro just not working with this revision. The Neo SD works fine.

[@joaquin6726]

Hi there. Just wanted to confirm my NeoSD pro works perfectly fine with my early NEO-AES (serial number 026692). I had some issues with it at some point, apparently caused by voltage drops within the board and (long story short) fixed it by cleaning the power switch since I couldn't get a replacement. Most of the voltage drop was occurring within the power switch. BTW. I've tried two different power supplies and both of them worked for me: A Triad WSX050-4000-R and a Mean Well GSM60A05-P1J (with reversed polarity!!!) which I bought because I thought the Triad PSU was the problem. I can confirm both of them work just fine.

[@travisbowmanmusic]

When did you get your Neo SD Pro? I'm thinking it's this specific most recent batch that has issues. It was purchased in late July/early August of 2024.

[@joaquin6726]

@@travisbowmanmusic That makes sense, I bought mine in February 2021 and was shipped in May the same year.

[@justinmoravetz4544]

I have an original AES as well. My Neo SD Pro is in the way. I know my way around when it comes to electronics. I’ll see if I can solve the voltage issue without added stress to the 5v board and report back.

[@travisbowmanmusic]

I wish you luck, man! I already washed my hands of the situation and now I'm just using the Neo SD with my AES.

[@neoradjoao7701]

There are also problems with the 9v version, random error, impossible to finish certain games, capacitor replaced, transformer replaced, voltage regulator replaced, and it's never perfect, even with cleaning, but with original games no problem

[@travisbowmanmusic]

I'm starting to see why people prefer the MVS over the AES....

[@TheRealGara]

Dang that's rough. I wonder if this is all because of hardware revisions. They revised the hardware on a batch of Mega SD carts and those things are still broken on some revisions of the Genesis. If older revision NeoSD Pro units are more compatable then that kind of pisses me off. With what they charge they should be bending over backwards to address this.

[@onidensetsu3721]

I'm just going to stick with buying authentic MVS cartridges until the community gets a real flashcart with drag n drop SD card solution & hopefully instant loading, available firmware, top tier customer service like most other great flashcarts have. Thanks for covering these issues.

[@travisbowmanmusic]

That's not a bad idea, but you might be waiting for quite some time. Selling your MVS collection might end up paying for that cart though!

[@gabrielacevedo6201]

The AES has been my Holy Grail system. I finally bought one for $550 a week ago and decided to plunge myself further into debt by getting the NeoSD Pro from Stone Age Gamer. I got the cart last night, inserted my SD card that I had already prepared while I waited for the cart to arrive, and was immediately disappointed to see the graphical glitches. I happened to buy a first gen NEO-AES console. I thought it was power related since the power supply I was given is only 5V 3A and it should be a 5V 4A, so I bought a Triad power supply last night, but I guess that won't resolve the issue. The strangest thing I noticed is the firmware version on the cart. According to Terraonion's site, the latest firmware is 1.07 R08, but my cart has 1.08 R07! Could there be a newer firmware on the latest batch of carts that's causing the problem?

[@travisbowmanmusic]

You seem to be having the exact problem that I am. This is the exact reason for making this video, to prevent this from happening to others. I still haven't found a solution to this problem, and have heard nothing from Terraonion. However, I do know that I'm on some sort of blacklist from them, because they prevented me from getting a digital review copy of one of their games called Vengeance Hunters. My "solution" is just to use the Neo SD, and not the pro. No extra power supply with different amps will help you with this, so please don't waste your money.

[@GenialLongplay]

Hi, i have the same aes revision with the nec card and no yellow coil. Everything worked fine with my neosd pro till today. I had a glitch on main screen, and now it s totally frozen, i think my neosd pro is dead... I m also looking for alex... But my neosd pro is a first batch, i think i s different, also...witch fpga chip. Maybe it s why it worked fine... But i didnt play more than 10 hours on it, i used it to do the geometry on my crt, and i played a little on blazing star.... Best regards !

[@travisbowmanmusic]

It's absolutely insane that every issue has to be sent to this one guy: Alex. I hope you get it fixed whenever this guy decides to come back from a relaxing vacation that his customers likely paid for....

[@GenialLongplay]

@@travisbowmanmusic hope you too. I think i will sell my neosd pro after that. I dont want that thing inside my neo geo... I got 15 original games, i t will be enough. You have a great guitar ahah, my job is guitar teacher :) see you soon !

[@esar8183]

Thank you for the update. I will reached out to stone age gamer.

[@esar8183]

I used my aes sd pro on a friends 5V aes that is not a first revision and it works fine.

[@travisbowmanmusic]

Yeah, seems to be a problem with this specific latest batch of Neo SD Pro and the NEO-AES console.

[@robr487]

If you load games into one of the ram slots do the graphical glitches go away?

[@travisbowmanmusic]

Nope. Same issue with both flash and ram slots

[@robr487]

@@travisbowmanmusic Gotcha, was pretty sure you wouldn't have made a vid if you didn't already run that troubleshooting gambit. I hope this helps bring more attention to the issue.

[@alec0065]

I have problems but no so bad as you I have chance my power supply and have less artifacts

[@travisbowmanmusic]

Seems a lot of people are having issues with these carts lately.

[@joelwrose]

I have that same board revision (although my daughter board is different) so I’m out of luck it seems.

[@travisbowmanmusic]

It seems to be this particular batch of Neo SD Pro. I've heard others saying that their older carts have no issues with the 5V NEO-AES consoles.

[@locked01]

Yes, Terraonion is bloody slow with their customer service. They also try a lot to collect various issues feedback about their products, group them and produce general answers, which might solve the problem but leave the customer puzzled as of why he/she did not receive a proper cistomized answer, instead of waiting the next ten people to have the same problem. That said, this is because there a lack of competition in the product they sell, and also, they sell them at incredibly high price

[@travisbowmanmusic]

This whole thing has taught me two things: The Neo Geo AES is a headache of a console that likely just isn't worth it. And --- never buy anything from Terraonion ever again.

[@CaptSpeirsB744]

Talk to Luke fro Retrosix he is extremely familiar with the Neo Geo.