NeoCD/SDL vs NeoCDRX

NeoCD/SDL is a port of the NeoCD NeoGeo CD emulator to the SDL library. It can run many original NeoGeo CD games and is listed for Windows, Linux, BeOS, and Dreamcast; the project also lists ports for Xbox and PlayStation 2. Each of two players can use a keyboard or a separate joystick. Keyboard shortcuts control fullscreen display, video effects, frameskip, sound, screenshots, and quitting. To run the emulator, users need an uncompressed 512kb system ROM named neocd.bin. The documentation says users are not entitled to a copy of the copyrighted BIOS unless they own an original NeoGeo CD console. The emulator and its source code are free, but selling is not allowed, and the emulator cannot be provided on the same physical medium as NeoGeo game software. Source code and technical knowledge may be reused only for non-commercial purposes. Downloads include source and binary files. Windows builds require MinGW, MSYS, SDL development libraries, and NASM; Linux builds require SDL source and NASM. The program is distributed without warranty.

NeoCDRX is a free homebrew emulator for Neo Geo CD and CDZ games on GameCube, Wii and Wii U through Virtual Wii. It supports region settings for USA, Europe and Japan, which provide different languages and can affect some game content. The listed processor cores are Z80 3.6 and M68000 3.3, and audio controls include a three-band equalizer for music and sound effects. Supported controllers include Wii Remote, Wii Remote Plus, Wii Remote with Nunchuk and GameCube controller. Media options include SD/SDHC, USB and DVD, plus GameCube options WKF and IDE-EXI V1. Virtual memory card saves can go to SD or USB, or to a physical GameCube memory card. Setup requires a Neo Geo CD/CDZ BIOS file named NeoCD.bin in NeoCDRX/bios. Each game goes in its own folder under NeoCDRX/games, with an mp3 subfolder for music. Wii and Wii U Virtual Wii installations are packaged for Homebrew Channel; using the Wii version requires a way to run unsigned code. The README describes the project as GPL open source, while GitHub lists LGPL-2.1.