It Looks Like The Neo Geo Is Coming Back
Legendarily expensive arcade-perfect console coming back as a handheld preloaded with 20 classic games.
As a kid in the early 90's, you probably never actually knew anyone with a Neo Geo, but you maybe knew a kid who said he knew a kid who had SNK's console. The system was essentially an arcade board crammed into a console, typically running around $700, with arcade-perfect games running you a cool $200-$300. Perhaps you could play your World Heroes seated on your money throne.
Anyway, it looks like the Neo Geo is coming back in a second handheld incarnation (after short-lived Neo Geo Pocket), with the tentatively-named Neo Geo Portable pictured above. It's name isn't the only thing we're curious about: when's it coming out, what additional features does it have, and most importantly, how much will it set us back?
Kotaku is reporting via a post on Famicon Plaza that SNK has licensed the rights to the console out for a handheld with a 4.3-inch LCD screen coming in at around the size of an iPhone. Besides including 2 GB of memory and an SD card slot, the Neo-Neo Geo will also come preloaded with 20 English-language versions of the system's original library:
The real question is precisely why SNK would choose to either directly or even by proxy reenter the hardware arena. I'm not sure how much nostalgia there is for the system or its games, I mean, certainly enough to support a digital collection with all of the same titles, I'm sure. But I'm less sure about a new platform built on the memories of a console forgotten by all but the most hardcore and even then only as that system they could never afford. We'll see what's in store for SNK's newest endeavor as news is certain to develop on it going forward.
[Source: Famicon Plaza via Kotaku]
Related posts:
--
