Kawaks was coded specifically for the Motorola 68000 and Zilog Z80 chips. During the 590 era, Kawaks (versions 1.45 to 1.61) achieved near 100% emulation accuracy. No graphical glitches in Metal Slug 3, no sound stuttering during KOF 2002 supers.
You will often see NEOGEO ROM packs labeled as "590." This number refers to a specific snapshot in time—the total number of unique NEOGEO MVS/ROM dumps available during the peak of the Kawaks 1.6x era.
What is inside the 590 set?
The "590" set is particularly associated with Kawaks and older versions of MAME (around 0.118 to 0.140). Specifically:
Even with a perfect set, you might encounter problems. Here is the retro-gamer’s fix list: NEOGEO 590 Roms Emulador Kawaks
If you search for NEOGEO ROMs, you’ll see sets labeled with numbers: 225, 290, 590, etc. These numbers refer to the total number of unique games recognized by a specific version of an emulator or ROM manager.
Before the rise of RetroArch, MAME, or FinalBurn Neo, there was Kawaks. First released in the early 2000s, Kawaks (often stylized as WinKawaks) became the go-to emulator for Capcom's CPS-1, CPS-2, and—most importantly—SNK NEOGEO hardware. Kawaks was coded specifically for the Motorola 68000
Because these packs often include prototypes, you might find games that never saw a wide release. This includes obscure titles or early builds of popular games that function differently than the final product.
The 590 set holds 590 games. You will never play all of them. But you MUST play these: You will often see NEOGEO ROM packs labeled as "590