Ah, the NEOGEO. It was an arcade machine AND the world’s most expensive home console in one! It was also the exclusive machine of game developer SNK, who packed its lineup with some of the greatest arcade shooters and fighters of all time.
It’s never been a better time to be a NEOGEO enthusiast as SNK has flooded this year’s holiday market with retro products, chief among them a mini hand-sized version of the original NEOGEO arcade unit. The NEOGEO Mini contains the same controls (albeit much smaller) and a 3.5 inch screen, ready to display any of the FORTY games packed in.
Like a proper reproduction console should, the NEOGEO Mini lets you use save states to suspend gameplay at any time. It also plugs into a TV and lets you play the games on a larger screen….and even with a friend, as it supports two plugged-in gamepads. Said gamepads are proprietary to the NEOGEO Mini…you can’t use the old ones.
But lucky you…SNK is holding a Black Friday sale this very weekend, in which they’ll give you a free gamepad controller with the purchase of any NEOGEO Mini. (The purchase must be made through Amazon.) The offer begins November 23 and lasts through November 26.
Is the NEOGEO Mini a perfect and 100% authentic recreation of the old machine? Not exactly….SNK made a few compromises to get it out the door. Just remember: Clicky thumbsticks is very hard to make.
Or, if the NEOGEO Mini isn’t your thing, check out the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection on Switch, which is out now. It contains titles from across the company’s history and will be updated in the future with more. Check out the trailer below…
