Retro Gaming Australia

The Tommo/Blaze developed and SNK-approved NEOGEO X Gold Limited Edition handheld is now available for purchase in North America and Europe.

For $US199.99 or £175/€199, you get the NEOGEO X handheld, a HDMI enabled docking station, an arcade stick modelled on the original AES sticks, 20 preloaded games an a Ninja Masters game card.

The jury is still out on whether the system is a worthwhile investment, however.

Some time ago you may recall we discussed a SNK sanctioned Neo Geo branded handheld being produced by Blaze for release later this year. It seems that those plans have gone a bit further with the introduction of the Neo Geo X Gold, which includes not only the aforementioned handheld, but a docking station that allows you to hook the system up to a television. It also comes with a joystick modelled after the original Neo Geo controller.

Twenty games are built-into the system – 3 Count Bout, League Bowling, Art of Fighting 2, Magician Lord, Alpha Mission 2, Metal Slug, Baseball Stars 2, Mutation Nation, Cyber Lip, NAM 1975, Fatal Fury, Puzzled, Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout: Fatal Fury Special, The King of Fighters ’95, Samurai Showdown 2, King of the Monsters, Super Sidekicks, Last Resort and World Heroes Perfect

Of course, this doesn’t come cheap – $US199, to be exact.

Given Blaze’s track record with shonky system-on-a-chip clones, we’re not going to get our hopes up. We’ll find out for sure when the Neo Geo X Gold launches on December 6.

SNK Playmore has released the popular run and gun shooter Metal Slug 3 for iOS and Android devices.

The port of the classic Neo Geo game includes an Arcade Mode along with a Mission Mode, allowing players to choose which stages to play. A branching map system has been added, enabling play-throughs which take a different route though the game to the ending. Co-op has also been included.

Metal Slug 3 is available now and will set you back $7.49.

3 Count Bout is another one of those hybrid wrestling-fighting games, not unlike the more popular Saturday Night Slam Masters, except that SNK’s game is a little over the top with street fights and electric rings.

Sonic Pocket Adventure channels the spirit of the early Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Mega Drive and uses that for inspiration for one of the best portable Sonic games out there. Although it couldn’t save the fate of the Neo Geo Pocket Color, it did help to make the system worth owning.

Back in January, we reported a rumour from a Japanese site that SNK was preparing a Neo Geo handheld. That rumour has turned out to be partially true, with yesterday’s revelation that the Neo Geo portable is happening – but it’s being developed by Blaze in conjunction with SNK.

It’s called the NeoGeoX.

With the architecture of the Neo Geo, and the game selection previously revealed, it’s highly possible that this is another cheap system-on-a-chip job that’s going to cost bugger all and produce the kind of sound that’ll make your ears bleed.

The system will sport 20 built in games (World Heroes, Ultimate 11, Top Player’s Golf, Sengoku, NAM-1975, Mutation Nation, Last Resort, King of Monsters, Frenzy, Cyber-Lip, Fatal Furty Special, The Art of Fighting, Super Sidekicks, League Bowling, Metal Slug, Magical Lord, Baseball Stars Professional, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters ’94 and Fatal Fury) and SD card support.

No price of release date has been announced as yet.

Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO is an enhanced port of Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 / Millionaire Fighting 2001 for the GameCube and Xbox. The main addition was the Easy Operation mode, which allowed you to utilise special attacks with the flick of an analogue stick. The Xbox version also added support for 480p and online play.

You’ve probably seen it all over the ‘net by now, but SNK has lent the official Neo Geo license to a new portable system.

The Neo Geo Ketai (portable) boasts a 4.3 inch LCD screen, 2GB of flash memory storage (expandable through the SD slot) and will come preloaded with 20 preloaded Neo Geo classics (and some not-so-classics) including World Heroes, Ultimate 11, Top Player’s Golf, Sengoku, NAM-1975, Mutation Nation, Last Resort, King of Monsters, Frenzy, Cyber-Lip, Fatal Furty Special, The Art of Fighting, Super Sidekicks, League Bowling, Metal Slug, Magical Lord, Baseball Stars Professional, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters ’94 and Fatal Fury.

SNK has not officially announced the device yet, but pictures of the system popped up on Japanese blog Famicom-Plaza.

Remember when people thought that 2D fighting games would be better in 3D?

While not the first SNK fighter to be given the 3D treatment, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact is probably the one best remembered for the transition. It ditches the team system, retains less than half of the average King of Fighters roster, and introduces a bunch of new characters that nobody really liked. It’s not that bad as fighting games go, but the disappointment of the audience overshadowed any redeeming qualities the game had.

A lot of people believe that it should be illegal to own a Neo Geo and not own this game.

Samurai Shodown II is arguably one of the best games on the Neo Geo. SNK rebuilt the sequel from the ground up, including the cast and most of the key elements from the first game while adding several new characters and important features like the POW meter and the parry system. You can also get the game on Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade or as the PlayStation 2’s Samurai Shodown Anthology set

Search for Samurai Shodown II on eBay