Retro Gaming Australia

Tommo is not taking the public announcement from SNK of the cancellation of their Neo Geo licensing agreement lightly. In fact, they’re not going to stop selling the system, games and peripherals, insisting that the licensing agreement is still valid and in effect until 2016.

In a statement issued today, Tommo CEO Jonathan Wan stated “We’re continuing to sell NEOGEO X products, including the NEOGEO X GOLD System, Arcade Stick, MEGA PACK Volume 1 and Classics Volumes 1-5. The license agreement which allows Tommo to sell and market these products remains in effect.”

You can read the full statement here.

In a rather surprising and brutal move, SNK has publicly announced the termination of its licensing agreement with Tommo. Tommo has been responsible for the manufacture and distribution of the Neo Geo X console, which was officially licensed by SNK and included many classic Neo Geo games, either built in or in retail bundles.

The statement issued by SNK reads:

To whom it may concern:

Please be informed that the License and Distribution Agreement between TOMMO Inc. and our company is terminated as of October 2nd, 2013.
The Licensed Products set forth in the agreement are as follows;

Terminated Licensed Products:
– NEOGEO X GOLD Limited Edition
– NEOGEO X MEGA PACK VOLUME 1
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 1
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 2
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 3
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 4
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 5

Upon termination of the License and Distribution Agreement, SNK has demanded that TOMMO Inc. immediately cease any and all manufacturing, distribution, marketing & promotion and selling of the Licensed Products.

In addition, SNK has demanded TOMMO immediately cease all sales of the “SNK NEOGEO X Arcade Stick” product being sold separately from the NEOGEO X GOLD Plug and Play Console, and remove the “SNK NEOGEO X Arcade Stick” product from store shelves and online retailers. In order to protect our intellectual property rights such as “NEOGEO” and “SNK”, decisive measures will be taken against all unapproved NEOGEO X products not subject to the License Agreement.

Regarding customer support for any/all of the Licensed Products, please contact the retail store / online retailer from which the product(s) were purchased.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation,

SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION

That sounds like a cancellation with prejudice, no? Maybe someone from SNK actually tried using one.

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.