The Neo Geo CD (Japanese: ネオジオCD, Hepburn: Neo Jio Shī Dī) is the second home video game console of SNK Corporation's Neo Geo family, released in September 9, 1994, four years after its cartridge-based equivalent. This is the same platform, converted to the cheaper CD format retailing at $49 to $79 per title, compared to the $300 cartridges. The system was originally priced at US$399, or £399 in the UK. The unit's 1× CD-ROM drive is slow, with very long loading times. The system can also play Audio CDs. All three versions of the system have no region-lock. The Neo Geo CD was launched bundled with a control pad instead of a joystick like the AES version. However, the original AES joystick can be used with all three Neo Geo CD models. SNK 1994 1994-09-09 September 9, 1994 Console AD90E2 878880 FFD400 0088CD 24241E