View the sprite tiles of a Neo Geo game

Where to get these files

Neo Geo ROMs are usually bundled in a zip file. Unzip a game and you'll find a bunch of files. You are interested in S files or C files.

Or if you are using a CD game, you are after SPR or FIX files inside the ISO. If you have an actual CD, usually loading it into your PC's CD drive is enough to get at the files.

How to get an S ROM file

• Unzip a Neo Geo game
• There will usually be one S file, such as 201-s1.s1 in Metal Slug or 019-s1.rom in League Bowling
• Choose that file in the file dialog above

Note that newer games (from KOF99 onward) don't have an S ROM file. Those games can't be viewed.

How to get a C ROM file pair

• Unzip a Neo Geo game
• There will be at least two C ROM files, such as 019-c1.rom and 019-c2.rom for League Bowling, or RBFF1_C1.rom and RBFF1_C2.rom for Real Bout Fatal Fury.
• Choose those two files in the file dialog above

Bigger games will have more C ROM file pairs. Real Bout Fatal Fury has C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 and C8 ROMs. You can grab any pair, as long as they go together. C1 and C2 go together, C3 and C4 go together, and so on.

Note that later games encrypted the C ROM data. If the tiles all look like television noise, that's what that is. This viewer cannot decrypt the files.

How to get an SPR file from a CD game

• Mount the CD game's ISO (how to do this depends on your operating system)
• Copy out whatever .spr files from the ISO you are interested in onto your hard drive
• Choose that .spr file in the dialog above

Bigger games will have more than one .spr file. Just choose whichever one you want to look at.

How to get a FIX file from a CD game

• Mount the CD game's ISO (how to do this depends on your operating system)
• Copy out whatever .fix files from the ISO you are interested in onto your hard drive
• Choose that .fix file in the dialog above

What is the difference between C and S?

The data inside C ROMs is for the main sprites of the game: the characters, backgrounds, bullets, etc. The data inside the S ROMs is for the fix layer. This layer is drawn above all sprites and it never scrolls. So S data is for things like the current score, number of lives, etc. The "HUD" if you will.

What are SPR and FIX files?

SPR files are the same as C files, but for CD games. FIX files are the same as S files, but for CD games.

Why are the colors so weird?

The tiles are stored separate from the color palettes. There's no good way to get the color data from a ROM without running the game. So an alternating blue/yellow palette was chosen as it allows the different colors to stand out.

For more info on tiles and palettes, this blog post I wrote goes into more detail.