Of all the console announcements one could have maybe, possibly predicted for this day, I sincerely doubt a new Neo-Geo system would have been atop anyone's lists. Or even in the middle somewhere. And yet, here we are.
Andriasang has the translation of a report from FamicomPlaza that debuts the new system, which essentially looks and sounds like a brand-new Neo-Geo Pocket with 20 Neo-Geo games built right in. In no particular order, those games will be the North American versions (with English text) of:
- WORLD HEROES
- ULTIMATE 11
- TOP PLAYER'S GOLF
- SENGOKU
- NAM-1975
- MUTATION NATION
- LAST RESORT
- KING OF MONSTERS
- FRENZY
- CYBER LIP
- FATAL FURY SPECIAL
- ART OF FIGHTING
- SUPER SIDEKICKS
- LEAGUE BOWLING
- METAL SLUG
- MAGICIAN LORD
- BASEBALL STARS PROFESSIONAL
- SAMURAI SHODOWN
- KING OF FIGHTERS '94
- FATAL FURY
The system itself measures 170x72x15mm (slightly larger than an iPhone), has a 4.3 inch screen, and two gigs of internal storage. As you can see from the above picture, the system uses a kind of analog "nub" as a control stick, and includes four face buttons. There are also four shoulder buttons (which you can see in the screens below), and ports for headphones, A/V out, and SD cards.
There are no reports yet on pricing, a potential release date, or exactly which regions are planned for release. Heck, we don't even know who the hardware manufacturer is. All we know is that somebody teamed up with SNK in 2012 to make a new frigging Neo-Geo Pocket, which is completely insane, and potentially kind of awesome--provided it isn't, as our own Jeff Gerstmann is predicting, "just a crappy audio/video playback device that happens to have 20 old Neo-Geo games built-in." That would kind of suck.
Whether or not it receives a worldwide release, you can bet your bootlegged copy of Art of Fighting that Jeff Gerstmann will import this thing and tell you all about it, because that's just the kind of thing Jeff Gerstmann does.
