DREAMNEOCD vs GnGeo

DREAMNEOCD is a Sega Dreamcast emulator for Neo Geo CD games, including selfboot games. It can also be used through DreamShell with an SD card, without CDDA. The project was ported to Dreamcast in 2004 and its maker describes it as the first working Neo Geo CD emulator for the console. It is based on Foster's NeoCD/SDL; the README credits libSDL, using its sound component. To run, it needs a 512 KB system BIOS from an original Neo Geo CD console, named neocd.bin. The README warns that a smaller BIOS will not work with version 1.0 onward, and the repository cautions that the BIOS is copyrighted and users are not entitled to a copy unless they own an original Neo Geo CD console. The program is free, but the maker prohibits selling it and limits source-code and technical-knowledge reuse to noncommercial purposes. The repository lists a GPL-2.0 license. It does not support AES or MVS emulation, related SNK arcade games, netplay, or save states.

GnGeo is a free NeoGeo emulator for Linux, with the project also describing possible support for other Unix systems. It runs NeoGeo ROM sets identified by their MAME names; the listed example starts Metal Slug with `gngeo mslug`. Command-line options include home, arcade, and unibios modes, as well as fullscreen display, scaling, interpolation, raster interrupts, blitters, and visual effects. Sound and joystick support, player controls, and hotkeys are configurable. Settings can be supplied on the command line or in user and per-game configuration files. The project describes graphical frontends with features such as game previews and configuration options. GnGeo requires SDL 1.2.x, libz, and a NeoGeo BIOS; NASM 0.98 is optional for i386 assembly optimization. Games must be ZIP files, while the BIOS must not be, and the default search location is `$prefix/share/gngeo/`. The README describes a source build using `./configure`, `make`, and `make install`. The repository lists no releases, and its licensing notes forbid commercial use of GnGeo as a whole because of included code and licensing.