TIGSource Forums

(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/Littlink/fullneogeoportable2323232.jpg)

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/snks-new-neo-geo-20-retro-classics-in-one-modern-handheld/
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/snk-is-bringing-back-the-neo-geo-more-or-less/3934/

Comes with 20 games built in:
    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

Hopefully it will retain the microswitch joystick like the NGP/C. :-*

Badass. Call me when KoF '96 is released for it. (Although Fatal Fury Special isn't a bad start either; but it does seem like they're trying to do a total relaunch/rehash of their entire history of games library).

that dpad looks terrible

I see what you did there.

i'm going to grind you beneath my heel

What a perfect time to try to crack into the handheld industry! 

So are they actually going to be making new titles for this? If so, fucking awesome and kickass. If not, kind of lame, and I don't really see that much of a point in a day and age where I can just load an emulator onto my PSP or DS if I want to play this stuff on the go. Not like much of the profits from this are going to be supporting the original devs, most of which have probably long left the company by now (right?)

Has it even been confirmed if this is real or not? I've seen it on a bunch of sites, but they all get the info from the same unconfirmed source.

I'd love if this was real, despite being able to get a Neo Geo emulator on just about everything today, I'd still pick this up Day 1 if the price was right, I love me some SNK product.

Another gripe is that they didn't put the whole library on it. As I mentioned, in this day and age, I could just pop a Neo Geo emulator onto my PSP with the whole library for free. If they really wanted to break my resolve on that, they should've put the whole damn library on it (Metal Slug 3 y u no there!?).

@Caruso: I can't really see them putting dedicated titles on this thing, but oh god, a man can dream right?

Yeah, the bankruptcy probably did that.

Is it me or does the handheld industry these days seems a lot different than before? Not exactly with what's out, but it's more...gimmicky. I just hope this NEO GEO Pocket Mk. II works out nicely. It looks more like it may get modern games judging by the wide screen...hopefully.

Yeah if this is just a Neogeo emulator (which is what it looks like seeing as none of the announced games are new) it's going to be little more than a gadget.

that's what i'm assuming it is, but if it's a cheap gadget with a clicky thumbstick i'd buy one

if its easily moddable, i'd be interested

technology progresses too fast. i remember when it was $650 and i was like 'how am i ever gonna save up that much money!' (i never did, but i tried to)

younger people are pretty lucky to be able to play pretty much any game they want, any time they want; you could play a new game every hour 24 hours a day and never run out. whereas i got maybe 3 new games a year, and had to be happy with those 3 for the whole year. but i think this leads us to not play games in as much depth as we used to, so there's a trade-off

yeah i agree. these days a game has to be really exceptional in some way to hold my interest for longer than approx half an hour.

Yeah this became very apparent for me during the Steam holiday sales. I bought lots of games, I don't even remember all of what I bought. I've only played maybe half of them, and for only for 1 - 2 hours each.

i have tons of unplayed steam games as well. also the humble indie bundles. i usually only actually play 1 or 2 games from each of those.

a friend of mine was recently contacted by a Neo Geo developer about porting his game. I assume it was for this new system, but he would have to verify (if he wants) because I don't know all the facts.

they should just open up an sdk and let anyone have at it.

that niche has already been filled by those open source handhelds

Just hoping it can gain a little more hype than the Caanoo.

i thought those were a sham

oh, to give an illustration of what i meant earlier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE1JXCzJh2E

this was one of the first playstation games i bought (i think it may have been the first one). it was pretty awful in retrospect, but my brother and i spent months and months playing it against each other, learning all the characters and their special moves and secret moves, memorizing the codes to unlock secret characters, having mini "tournaments" between the two of us to see who was best with which character against which other character... i was best with duke and ellis, my brother was best with eiji, kayin, and fo

i think i put at least as much time and effort into getting good at that game as i put into any game ever (such as starcraft and league of legends later on). yet if i had first played that game today, i'd never have given it a chance, because i'm not forced to; when something is your only playstation game (or one among your only four games) you're going to spend a lot of time on it

which i think is also one of my "problems" as a developer; i still make games as if i expect the player to spend a lot of time on it, for it to be the only game they can play for weeks or months, so i don't make games to catch people's attention, or games that someone can play for 6 hours, have a great experience, and feel fulfilled, instead i make games with lots of replay value and secrets and intricacies. it's a totally different style of game, and probably feels a bit dated or weird to people who didn't grow up playing that sort of game

finally i am playable on handheld

yeah pretty much i guess. i think more specifically singleplayer game have become less "meaty" and more about quick thrills and instant gratification. multiplayer games that require a lot of time to get good at (or simply get into, see MMORPGs) are still going strong.

What about games like Farmville or World of Warcraft (and other MMOs)? There are folks who have played those games for years, more time than even I would have done back in the days of owning only a handful of Atari games.

I view the increased availability and variety of games as a plus, to a point. I like to be able to master a game, find everything, hit all the target scores and move on to a new experience. I think after 40 hours you've exhausted the game, and you've stopped really learning from it. It's healthier to move on to a new challenge, so you're once again being stimulated with entirely new experiences.

Online games you play against other people are something of an exception, since evolving tactics keep the experience fresh, but I think it's still better in the long term to keep trying new things.

Obviously, the other end of the spectrum is the player who just dabbles at one thing after another and never completes anything. That's another extreme and shouldn't be confused with players who simply enjoy shorter games.

as sinclair mentioned i think that trend applies more to single player than multiplayer games; i think that's true. single player games have become more cinematic and slicker, at the cost of depth, whereas mp games still retain much of their depth

for a good illustration of the change, compare the NES/SNES/GB zelda games to the modern ones; they lost a lot but they also gained a lot, to the point when they almost don't even feel like the same genre anymore. that's a dramatic example, but most long-term games series have changed in that way. compare final fantasy 5 to ff13, baldur's gate 2 to dragon age 2, or even dragon quest 3 to dq8

also i don't really agree that a game has been exhausted after 40 hours; that's usually the case, there are plenty of single player games where you're just getting started if you play them for 40 hours. roguelikes like dungeon crawl stone soup are an example, or pretty much any strategy game (civilization, wesnoth, etc.). i don't think i'd have enjoyed tohshinden as much if i had only played it for 40 hours instead of something closer to 1400 hours

I'm not entirely certain why this discussion has taken such a philosophical turn. :shrug2:

In regards to the original topic, I think the NEO GEO's catalog would be a fairly decent fit for a bare-bones handheld. The NEO GEO was a pure arcade experience, all of its titles were built around that model. And arcade games are designed from the ground up to be fun in short bursts, and instantly accessible and engaging. That development mindset isn't ideal for portable gaming, but it runs parallel to it. There is enough cross over that I think this new handheld stands a chance.

The big "if" in this equation is what manner of on-line store they utilize for selling additional games. They will probably sell the hardware for a profit, so no problem there. But recurring revenue would be the icing on this particular cake. They will need an on-line store that can be accessed and used from the system itself, and easily navigated via the system controls.

If it hasn't turned into a semantics discussion by the second page, it isn't a TIGS thread.

Regards,
The TIGSource Moderation Team

Philosophy isn't the same as semantics.

Regards,
The TIGSource Forums Posters

We came here for discussion on the Neo Geo, not philosophy or semantics.

Regards,
A sore loser.

Where is either the philosophy or the semantics in this thread?

Regards.
Horatio Caine.

 :shrug2:

I hope they make new games for this, instead of just re-releasing the 90s on it. I may want a portable version of KoF 2002/UM, but I do NOT want to wait 9 years for it.

You could always run 2002 off a portable with an emulator, that's what I do. I would however, welcome UM on a handheld, with open arms.

Huh, I thought that this thing had been discredited. But apparently it actually is happening.

New Neo Geo handheld arriving later this year (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/166005/Report_New_Neo_Geo_handheld_arriving_later_this_year.php)

Apparently its being produced by a company called Blaze, who have a history of developing retro-themed hardware, and it is being officially licensed through SNK-Playmore. Most of the previous rumors about the device seem to still be in effect. No word yet on price or how they intend to distribute additional games for it.

isn't blaze a company that makes arcade sticks and the like?

They made the Atari Flashback console and a whole bunch of portable SEGA stuff. Check 'em out (http://www.blazeeurope.com/), they look pretty cool even though the angle on that button setup looks like murder. If the last iteration of their portable Megadrive is anything to go by you'll be able to slap a bunch of roms on an SD card and have a little portable console that you can carry around with you but the sound will be crap and you won't be able to save any data.

If it does allow for roms you can be sure that I'll have Pusltar on there and will have broken the thing before the day is through.

Neo Geo Handheld coming in December for $200 (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/13/neogeo-x-gold-portable-arrives-this-december-for-a-whopping-2/)

Yep, the Neo Geo handheld is still happening, and it now has an announced price as well as the specifics of what will actually come with it. At $200, it is clear that they have no intention of competing with modern handhelds. They are going straight for the nostalgia dollars, an approach that is reinforced by what will come with the handheld. Packaged with the Neo Geo X is a charging station that is shaped like an original Neo Geo AES home system, and an arcade stick controller that looks like a reproduction of the home system's original default controller.

As a modern handheld, this thing just doesn't stack up. As a nostalgia-infused re-packaging of the Neo Geo, I think it actually  has some merit. I was looking into acquiring some Neo Geo hardware and software recently, and the current prices are crazy. For $200, this is actually a pretty price-effective method of getting an authentic Neo Geo experience over HDMI.

Everyone I've discussed this with keep dissing it for emulation superiority. This thing doesn't seem to just be for ports since it looks like the handheld has trigger buttons.

Are they saying that they can get a better experience through emulation of these Neo Geo titles? It's kind of pointless to argue that. In theory, it is possible to get a superior experience through emulation of just about any game. With that route, there is no limit to the amount of hardware power that you can throw at the problem.

What is worth considering here is whether or not the $200 price point is reasonable for what is being offered. I am inclined to say that it is. But I won't know for certain until seeing it in action. I am particularly concerned about the scaling that will be on offer for the HDMI output. I would personally like to know that this handheld will offer accurate 2 or 3 times scaling. When playing retro games, especially arcade games, I like to have everything pixel-accurate. I would assume that the screen on the handheld itself is native resolution for the original Neo Geo hardware, so I'm not overly concerned about that. But the scaling options for HDMI output worry me. Plenty of emulated classics have been mucked up by not providing proper scaling options.

The handheld loks to be widescreen at a possible 16:10. Don't cite me for that, this is just a quick observation. Odds are that both HDMI and the handheld might letterbox them, but since the Wii's Virtual Console releases don't have widescreen correction, that's a little iffy. There's still AV output from what I hear, so I can just hook it up to my old TV.

Are any of the games releasing on this anyone's particular favorites or ones they have fond memories of?

This generation of handheld was not one I was aware of until this resurgence. I know very little about it!

The games associated with this Neo Geo handheld were never handheld games. The Neo Geo Pocket was a different system, and is not directly associated with this Neo Geo X. The Neo Geo X is a portable handheld designed for playing Neo Geo arcade games.

There are plenty of people who fondly remember many titles from the Neo Geo catalog. Metal Slug is usually brought up, as is Fatal Fury, Samurai Showdown, and Puzzle Bobble.

Ahhhh, thank you so much for clarifying. I thought this was a new versin of the Neo Geo Pocket.

Those are four games I actually know about, so hmm, that is interesting.