>>11813307
>slightly limited compared to "real" arcade boards, couldn't get enough sprites going at once to make arcade perfect ports

There was no "arcade ports" on AES, it was a literal MVS arcade machine with a few cart pins swapped around.
It Came out in 1990 and got official game releases for 14 fucking years. SNK was making a good profit in the arcade business so AES was just something fun for a niche audience, they really werent risking much by cramming their existing hardware in plastic shells.

The people who owned Neo Geo back in the day were usually the type who were well off enough not to blink twice over a few grand on another toy.