SNK Working on a Neo Geo Portable

I’m pretty sure even the most important people in the video game industry weren’t predicating the release of a Neo Geo Portable console, but it definitely happened. Andriasang has translated a report from Famicom Plaza (the original post has been removed for some unknown reason) which indicates that SNK is working on a new Neo Geo which will be portable. The handheld will come with 20 classic games already built-in. It’s worth pointing out that these will be the North American versions and that all the games will have English text.

Here’s the full list of titles:

• 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


Apart from that, the report provides some additional technical details about the console itself. The portable system is 170x72x15mm (a little bit bigger than an iPhone,) has a 4.3 inch screen (just like the PlayStation Portable) and two gigabytes of internal storage. Additionally, the console has an analog stick, four face buttons, four shoulder buttons, ports for headphones, A/V out and supports various SD cards. Other controls include volume and brightness buttons, a menu button and a start button. It’s not clear what the purpose of the internal storage would be, but it’s quite likely that it lets players run more games that were previously loaded on the SD card.

The price of the console, details about the release date and the regions in which it’s going to come out haven’t been confirmed yet. Nevertheless, if the Neo Geo ends up being release this year in the North American and European markets it would have to compete against the PlayStation Vita and the Nintendo 3DS. Moreover, it seems really weird to see the release of a new Neo Geo console in 2012 as the original cartridge-based came out in 1991 and besides been overly expensive, the console was heavily affected by piracy and SNK stopped manufacturing it in 1997, though the company kept developing games.

In 1998, SNK released the Neo Geo Pocket but it was soon discontinued due to poor sales. Although this portable console was in the market for a short period of time, some really good games were produced for it, including titles such as King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Baseball Stars, Puzzle Link, Pocket Tennis and Neo Geo Cup 98, among some others. As somebody who never owned either the Neo Geo or its Pocket counterparts, this may be a great opportunity to play retro titles that exclusively came out for those consoles.

Source: GiantBomb