Rumour: The SNK Neo Geo Mini Is A Tiny Arcade Cabinet With 40 Built-In Games

I’m really interested in this hope it’s real and if the price is right day one just can’t help thinking it would drive the price up to include a screen I would have been happy with a mini version of the original hardware

The person that leaked it also said on Twitter they're shooting for a $100 price point.

Hope everyone who wants one can get one. I have barely any nostalgia for Neo Geo, so the games I did enjoy I've picked up for Switch. Hope there's a greater supply for the world than the NES mini.

I'm interested with the machine cabinet design, but not interested with the games.

Def interested in this. Here’s hoping the pricing hits the sweet spot. Only down point is that I think they could have had a little bit more variety in the games list. Other than that it looks great

So how big is this?
Edit: oh is the screen is only 3 1/2 inches, not very large then

Love the design but the game list could have been better.

That’s a nice list of games there.

I'm hyped, but out of all the shmups they could throw on there, they put Ghost Pilots but not any of the Aero Fighters??

Ow please let it be real
Day one Is Written all over it
Sounds so cool

I want it. Just waiting for pre order to open. This item will be out of stock

@Pablo17 There isn't that much good missing. Viewpoint is the only i remember. Also. the Neo Geo library isn't big either.

I've got a tiny TV with a Retropie packed with Neo Geo games attached to it... But I still want this thing.

@Mr_Pepperami Variety? Half of Neo Geo games is fighting games, and the library isn't big combined either.

That's a good selection!

Perhaps I'm getting my sense of proportions wrong but this cabinet design sounds as though it is going to be far, far smaller than what I had originally expected. I'd got the impression it was going to be a Bar Top Arcade style machine with a dedicated small but not tiny 4:3 aspect ratio screen.

This seems as though it's minature design is more for show and its actual use is more aimed to being connected to a TV. Shame.

I would have preferred an AES-style console to be honest but yeah I'll take it.

Not bad but it's something that I need to compare to their anniversary collection coming to the Switch. The game selection is very fighter heavy so I'm not sure I would be playing a lot of it. Other than that it will interesting whether it has save states (multiple would be nice) and a good menu.

Looks very cool!

@Ventilator too many king of fighters variations. Could easily take a few of those away and add some titles from genres that aren’t really represented. Games like spin master, top hunter Roddy and Cathy, nam 1975 and ninja commando all could have filled out spots taken by variants

It’s not even got Neo turf masters☹️

@Mr_Pepperami Yes, there is some others they could have added.
Also Viewpoint. Too many fighting games in this package.

I am interested, although I am in the camp that would prefer a mini AES design. The mini arcade looks more like a gimmick than of practical use and adding the screen etc will have driven up the price.

Some sad omissions:
Real Bout Special/Real Bout 2
Neo Turf Masters
Art of Fighting 3
Magical Drop 3
Aero Fighters 2/3
Pulstar
Windjammers
Baseball Stars 2
Top Hunter
SpinMaster

What a unique take on these retro mini counsels. Well done. I remember when Neo Geo came out back in the day. It was the best system out for its time and ridiculously expensive. I don't think I played a single game, though I wanted to. If this is $100-125 I'd consider it.

@frogopus yeah I didn’t even mention windjammers as I figured that remake on PS4 would count it out. What a classic game though. Should def be on this as it’s a real piece of Neo Geo history

Day 1 if true. Holy crap.

@Bunkerneath Well, you could always display it on the TV, much like with the Nintendo Minis, so it having a small screen shouldn't really be a concern in that regard. And the screen is only slightly smaller than the size of the screen on a DS Lite (3.8"), so "small" is arguably quite relative.

@Ventilator Although the library is small compared to other consoles, the 40 games included here, only make up for around 22% of the entire library, seeing as there are around 185 games in total, so there are plenty of options to choose from, game-wise.

Here's hoping that it's either expandable or hackable, just like the Nintendo Minis, so we can all put our own favorite games on it.

@Ventilator I owned a Neo Geo home system, the cd system and MVS arcade unit. There are a lot of puzzle, sports and action games not listed that would add a lot more variety.

My god... its adorable 😛

It's gorgeous but Hamster already has my money. Sorry

Hold on, the front of the unit has Real Bout 2 and Samurai Shodown 1 marquees, but the games aren't on that games list...

It looks decent but I don't see any good reason for making the control area less wide than the main cabinet. I think it would look more aesthetically pleasing if both parts were the same width just like in 99.9% of the full-sized arcades cabinets out there. And adding random sticky-out and raised sections, like right at the front of the joystick part, is also just needless over-design imo--and it's the little details, and totally unnecessary ones that no one would miss if they weren't there, that can put certain people off products like this. Some people might not think the little details are important--but they are. Overall though, it looks pretty solid, the extra controllers looks decent too, and there's a nice selection of games as well. As long as it's not more than $100 it should be cool.

Oh? That looks interesting and i'm usually not into retro consoles.

totally called it, i said it was an arcade machine two weeks ago.

Is that screen real? Looks false to me. 2 pads plug in either side, and hook up to the TV. 40 games. Ye, they can make that for $100 easy.

Hmmmm... not saying this isn't true but my BS senses are tingling.
1. This looks absolutely nothing like the Neo Geo console. Not even the joystick area / colors are right.
2. That screen is way too small to have an ergonomically sensible knobbie joystick. The joystick should be a thumbstick if this were the case
3. Manufacturing a custom 3.5" screen in the quantities they are likely going to make (ie. Very low compared to a DS or 3DS) would push the BOM (bill of materials) cost plus acceptable margin of this over $100. This is not a standard, off-the-shelf LCD size.
4. There is no Baseball Stars 2. This list looks like someone's personal fav list. Missing a couple of mainstays to make it an official offering.

Just my .02.

No Pulstar???? thats terrible

Having never owned a NEO GEO of any type, I would buy one.

I Want To Believe

@impurekind Completely agreed on the disparity in the design, especially that controller deck part. Overall, I think they should have gone for the classic arcade cabinet look, and not this rounded, kinda toy-like shell.

Then again: for now, this is still a (partial) rumor, so maybe it looks nothing like this.
EDIT:
I also noticed that the veiled shape looks nothing like this, unless what is under the veil is a boxed version of this console:
http://images.nintendolife.com/news/2018/04/snk_is_working_on_an_neo_geo_mini_to_mark_its_40th_anniversary/attachment/0/large.jpg

That is one ugly arcade cabinet. My iCade is much more attractive than this. And leaving out Samurai Shodown 1 is criminal.

Damn this is cool if it's real, but I'll stick to the Switch ports as I definitely don't need most of those games.

Aesthetics-wise, they should have gone for a more classic look, such as the efforts of the guy making the Starforce cabinets, some of the nicest, if not THE nicest, around, in my opinion:

@Pablo17 Yes. I tried all Neo Geo games ever made.
Here is the full list, but still not very long.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Neo_Geo_games

Anyway. If this is a Mini Arcade, its not cool with this small screen.
I own a racade cabinet already with 200 games, but its too small to play on.

@ThanosReXXX Or you an just buy a NVIDIA SHield TV which have same GPU as Switch, and play any console up to Gamecube on it.

I bought 2 Shield TV's at launch in 2015 because they were so cheap and powerful. They can also stream PC games/Media at 4K/60 + HDR.

@Ventilator It's more about the real (or closest to) arcade feel, at least for me, but probably also for a lot of true retro gamers, and a table top console is more or less the pinnacle of that.

I also modded my Wii and it plays all these games and much, much more. I have just about every emulator out there on it, plus all the best games of these systems, and in some cases even complete catalogs, but it's still just a Wii playing emulated games, so that kind of takes you out of the illusion, if you get what I'm trying to say.

And if you grew up with arcade cabinets as a kid, like I did, then that is simply what you would prefer, especially seeing as the Neo Geo essentially was an arcade machine.

Meh...
Sadly meh.. it just scream authentic. The NES and SNES Classics were hit because they felt like the real thing only smaller: same familiar shape, materials and controller. This is just random plastics that doesn't resemble neither SNK's console nor its arcades.
Sure hope it's a fake :/

@ThanosReXXX I see what you mean, but not one single one of these minis is better than PC emulation, because none of them use FPGA Emulation.
Nintendo went the sloppy way too like everyone else and is why none of them replicate the real hardware.
That way the "minis" is nothing more than a PC/Android emulator.

FGPA emulation is only limited by the programmer, but no mini uses it. Its the only way today to replicate the original feeling 1:1 with original console.

You can bet they did it the cheap way with Neo Geo too and not use FPGA as it requires people with skills to program it.

You can just use Shield TV to get exact same emulation as any mini console if it isn't using FPGA.

I’m honestly highly disappointed at how cheap this looks. I’ll stick to the Switch.

Will wait for the official confirmation. Mysterious list of games, questionable build, and what kind of emulation quality leaves me a bit skeptical. I'm not confident in the performance of the lcd screen, either. For the price (if they're indeed targeting that price point), I'd expect major ghosting and/or lag, which would kill the experience entirely, on the mini itself. All that, and it's going to include a separate gamepad? No less than $120US, the way I see it.

Really like the way it has its own screen.

@Ventilator I was about to add that to my comment, because I had a feeling you would go there, but that doesn't matter to me. Like I said: it's the FEEL that's the most important, and I don't have that with a PC, a Shield TV or even a softmodded Wii.

Never as much as with something that at least looks like the real thing and takes me back to my childhood. It's the extra bit, the icing on the cake.

And I couldn't care less about pin point precision emulation, seeing as I was only a kid when I played these games, and back then, I didn't have a clue about a frame or two being skipped here and there, so I don't care that it isn't as accurate as PC emulation, because that simply doesn't impress or interest me at ALL in regards to this mini console here (or mini consoles in general).

For me, it's all about the actual look of the device, the real controllers and the games. Some of these, such as the controllers, can of course also be used on other devices, but it's not the singular parts of it, it's the entire combination of them all, for me.

And I'm actually quite satisfied with my SNES Mini, so I have no such negative feelings or thoughts about it. And I've had an absolute blast playing all these old games and adding a bunch more games to it.

But fair enough if you or anyone else prefers something different. We don't all have to like or prefer the same things or have to play these games in the exact same way.

If I didn't already had most of those games on Switch, I would had gone for this instead but I guess I'll wait and see how much it cost first. If it's over $100 then I probably wouldn't bother with it as this is essentially just a Switch but with only NeoGeo games.

@ThanosReXXX The thing with the correct feel is that none of the these consoles originally uses VGA resolutions. Consoles used same video system as standard Commodore Amiga 500/1200, C64 etc.
The pixels is wrong when emulated because of VGA. Also. The games looks less good on HDMI vs old CRT TV which they were made for.
As for real controllers. I have SNES, NES, Gamecube, N64, Dreamcast, PS3, PS3, PS4, 36+0, Xbox One, Switch Pro and Wii U Pro Gamepad adapters for my Shield TV+PC. Some of these is even supported native with Bluetooth.
So yes, i can play with native controls on many systems on PC, Shield TV and my Steam Link.

Don't take this offensive. Its just my "rant".

When it comes to N64, its better than the real console i think.
PS1 emulation is also better than the weak PS1 which stuggled with 3D, but due to lack of RAM in PS1 many games sadly had 2D backgrounds which can look terrible when emulated.

@Ventilator Don't worry, I'm not offended, but you are still misunderstanding me to some extent.

To me, it's not about the "correct" feel, but about the feel in general, which is completely unrelated to a perfect frame rate, screen resolution, pixel count or whatever.

So, as long as the console looks like the original, the controllers feel and handle like the original and the games play more or less the same, then that's more than good enough for me.

And I already mentioned that you could use these controllers on other systems, but that is STILL not the same. In the case of the console in this article, the controllers are also standard USB ones, so yes, you could use these to play your Neo Geo games on PC or any other device which supports that, but that wasn't my point.

And I also don't need to have better versions of these games either. If I play N64 games, I want them to look EXACTLY like they looked back then, because that is how I remember and prefer them. Updating them in whatever way almost feels like betraying the original hardware and its intent.

And it is exactly those fuzzy, simple graphics that take me back to that time when I first played them. Playing them in UHD with HD textures and all that nonsense isn't important to me at all.

And like the PS1 example you gave, which I agree with, these HD upscaling effects can even make the games look worse, because they specifically made use of CRT screens and non-HD resolutions, sometimes even to fool the gamer into seeing something that wasn't even really there. All those tricks are exposed and look much worse on an HD screen.

Anyway, like I said in my previous comment: we all have our own tastes and preferences, and that's perfectly fine, so I guess we'll probably have to agree to disagree because we more than likely aren't going to convince each other on which of our two tastes is better...

(and seeing as taste is personal, there actually is no "better" to speak of, because it's all relative)

Price?

Its soooo cuuute!

It's starting to look interesting, but I don't see myself playing on the too little arcade cabinet. I would plug it into the 48 inch.

@ThanosReXXX I may have drooled looking at that table top cab... pardon me.

opens up wet floor sign

Wow this looks pretty awesome. Any word on the price and release date?

Day one purchase for me. @Dom Next time maybe alphabetize the list of games?

@niner Haha. Absolutely not.

All 6 Neo-Geo Metal Slug games? Sign me up!

Ok, well this probably explains the cabinet design. There's an MVS cab at the SNK Golden week Limited Store at the Kotobukiya Akihabara Pavillion 5th Fl.

https://twitter.com/kotobukiya_akb/status/991498588093005825?s=21

Hope they will release the pink cabinet, too

The list of games is pretty incredible, assuming it's accurate. Clearly whoever put it together is aiming to include the most popular and recognizable titles. That said, I wish they could make room for these:
Aero Fighters 1-3
Aggressors of Dark Kombat
Alpha Mission II
Andro Dunos
Baseball Stars Pro
Baseball Stars 2
Magical Drop II-III (unlikely since they're from data east)
Pulstar
Puzzle Bobble 1-2 (again, licensing problems with 3rd party - Taito in this case)
Super Baseball 2020
Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
Viewpoint
Windjammers (another data east title)

@masterLEON

Yup, that looks to be the inspiration...but at least this has two joysticks.

Between NIS America being an SNK co-op partner via the SNK online store and all the ports Hamster is working on, the Switch feels like a new iteration of the NGPC.

Because of that, I have zero interest in this newest mini console.

@Ryu_Niiyama I'll get you a napkin...
@masterLEON Wow, didn't see that coming...
And it does indeed seem to be the inspiration for the Neo Geo Mini.
It even has those four slots in the top to put game labels in.

I'm still hoping that the design is going to be slightly different, though, but I guess we'll find out soon enough. Probably somewhere between now and this year's E3.

@samuelvictor I also have my doubts about that joystick. It seems to be quite short and stocky, but who knows. The separately available joypads look sweet, though:

@FinalFrog The suspected/rumored price point is mentioned in the video that the article links to.

@samuelvictor I've no idea. I've only ever played with those massively sized arcade sticks.

Speaking of those: the mini is supposed to have standard USB ports and there are converters available, so you could always attach any controller of your liking.

You can easily build this with LABO, similar to the LABO piano.

What they should have done is add a coin slot, not just for realism but it can act as a piggy bank. You can only open and remove the coins after you beat a certain score. This will be a great motivator.

What a completely unintuitive, ass-backwards button layout.

I actually hope it’s false as the screen will drive up the price . Doesn’t look great to me either . I would much prefer a replica of the hardware

@ThanosReXXX : I don't disagree wioth you. Just had some different points too.
I agree with whay you say here.

One thing. I still own a Philips 32" 100Hz TV for old consoles like SNES, N64, GameCube, PS1 etc. as i still have them all.
On GameCube i use component video to get 576p.
I also have a Nec 19" CRT which is almost unused just in case i need it for retro games on PC and Amiga.

PAL were not that far from 720p, but NTSC were only 480p.
I prefer 1 worldwide standard like we have today like 720p/1080p/144p/4K etc. This way games also run at same speed on any console worldwide.

Have a nice day.

As far as retro systems go this one has to be the coolest one yet, I don't have any nostalgia for any of those games so they don't truly appeal to me but for those that they do it looks to be perfect. Besides I would rather just have them on Switch.

YES! King of The Monsters! Gotta love that Nick Arcade Classic!

It looks like the power supply is USB so hopefully we can hack it and add our own ROMs.

@Ventilator I can agree to that. Besides the actual hardware, actual CRT screens are the best for those older games. Unfortunately, I don't have any, and I'm still kind of angry that I can't play the light gun games on my Dreamcast anymore.

And a nice day to you too.

What is this? An arcade for ants?!

It looks wonderful and I want one!

A nice credit from Nintendo life to Spawnwave! that'll help his channel some what and it's pretty good.

Anyways I hope this system comes to the UK, maybe Nintendo Life could ask SNK?

Day one.

It looks cool, but overall is a lame concept. With the Neo Geo X, you could take the handheld anywhere and buy more games on SD cards for it. This is a major step-down.

@Deleted84
Well...
That's okay for me if i have to skip Neo Geo /Genesis games.
NES & SNES games was my childhood games during 90's era, i have never knew about Neo Geo, Genesis, Atari & SEGA when i was kid.
I have no interest at all with those 40 Neo Geo games above. Some of them i considered as rated M due to Blood and Vulgar violences.

I don't play Metal Slug.
I'm kinda a Pacifist gamer, tends to play Peaceful games with Lesser Actions & Violences.

Beside, i'm looking for machines that has a Balance between Boyish games (Fighting, RPG, Action, Adventure, Strategy) & Girlie games (Life Simulation, Party, Fashion, Rhythm, Pet Simulation, etc).
And Nintendo is my answer.

One thing, being a cool gamer doesn't have to be edgy by playing kind of games above. I'm different kind of gamer.

I'm intrigued by this, but I can't help but wonder if some of the details are incorrect. Proportionally a 3.5" (diagonal) screen with the controls fitting pretty much within the same width as that screen, sounds very cramped. The width of a 3.5" screen must only be around 3" or so.

Also, due to the nature of play with a stick setup, you wont be as closely positioned to the screen, making that screen size even less likely a viable option.

I've no issues with the concept, I'm just hoping they've got the screen measurement wrong in the leak.

Easiest way to know would be to scale out the sizes of the known connector sizes (hdmi, usb etc..,.).

Just did some fact finding, seems like a pretty legit leak, found this image on SNK's webpages:

https://www.snk-corp.co.jp/us/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/miskgf_3.jpg

An image of Zhihui GE, Chairman of SNK Corporation, presenting Mr Bader Al-Asaker with a gold version of the Neo Geo Mini, due to some collaboration.

Here's the article:

https://www.snk-corp.co.jp/us/press/2017/113001/

Clearly this device is small, but genuine images it would seem, if not the games list...,.

@Anti-Matter that’s great. Which peaceful games did you like on the nes/snes

@1UP_MARIO
The Peaceful Nintendo games (1st & 3rd party) that i found are started from Gamecube, NDS , Wii & 3DS era such as Harvest Moon Magical Melody Gamecube (and Harvest Moon Wii), Animal Crossing New Leaf 3DS, Cooking Mama NDS/3DS/Wii, Hi Hamtaro! Ham Ham Challenge NDS, The Sims Bustin' Out Gamecube, Go Vacation Wii, etc.

For Switch, it will be Yonder The Cloud Catcher Chronicles.

For NES & SNES, Well.... a little bit Action, a little bit Cartoon Violence but still tolerable such as Gyruss NES, Super Mario World SNES, Tiny Toon Wacky Sports Challenge SNES, B-Wings NES, Nut & Milk NES, Lode Runner NES, Dig Dug NES, Street Fighter II SNES, etc.

@Bod2019
Hope the game list is legit as well ..

https://mobile.twitter.com/blkdog7/status/987363650964017152/photo/1

If true, im Totally interested.

@Blister so do i but biggest red flag is the buttons are labeled wrong for the neo geo.

@Anguspuss Just zoomed in and you are of course correct. Very suspicious! 🤔

Looks great Would be an interesting device in a collection.

This is a great list!!! Some of these are games i’ve been waiting for to come to Switch!!! (KOF 2002 especially) but this looks like an awesome device!!!

@RogerFederer GameCube had component Video Video Out (RGB).
Max resolution on GameCube GPU were 1080i. Gamecube also supported 3D in Hardware, but the problem is that "3D system" were far too expensive back then, but cheap to support in console.
Luigi's Mansion 3D is the only 3D game ever made for GameCube, and is unreleased.

Anyway. Gamecube with component had 480p on NTSC and PAL were said to be 576p on component cable.
I always used component on GC myself.