Success Of Nintendo's Mini Systems Made It "Perfect Timing" For SNK To Release Its Own Device

Well at least copying Nintendo is an original idea...oh, wait...

Bandwagon. Everyone, get in here!

Bandwagon here for duty, sir!

Nothing surprising. Nintendo takes a risk and creates/revives something, then everyone else jumps in when it takes off.

Im not interested in getting it, they are all trying top join the succes of nintendo

Can’t wait for the anniversary collection!

@Regpuppy The idea of retro consoles that look like old hardware, have old controllers, and have a collection of games themed around a system existed long before Nintendo ever created the NES Classic.

Now, I give Nintendo credit for taking the idea and refining it to the point where it enjoyed massive mainstream success, although some of the popularity can also be tied to the fact that the NES and SNES are two of the most popular systems of all time, and are much more mainstream then Intellevision, Colecovision, and even the Atari 2600.

Only the Sega Genesis is the equal in this department, but the systems always fell short of the mark.

So, props to Nintendo for making their mark in the dedicated retro system market. But while they improved on the idea, they were not the ones to innovate the concept.

The issue I see here is that companies like SNK may be misreading the market and thinking their own consoles will see like gangbusters.

The Neo Geo is not only a less popular system overall, but its games can be found on pretty much any mainstream gaming device.

What helped the NES and SNES sell so well besides their quality was the sheer popularity of those system, a good mix of games that were still classics and playable,and the fact that all those games either never appeared in the virtual console, or were always locked to Nintendo's hardware.

So, the insane success of the NES and SNES Classics while impressive is driven by several factors that are hard to reproduce. The only system that could have matched and surpassed the popularity of the NES and SNES was the PS1, but Sony botched the game selection of their classic console.

@Regpuppy also making a smaller version of an existing console is hardly a new a thing either. I.e the slimmer ps one from around 2000 that came out 5 years after the ps1, the flop that was the game boy micro and those atari plug and play joysticks that I occasionally come across.

And Sony. Don't forget Sony.

Perfect Timing!!
..
Abysmal Execution...

Already have NES on Switch.

I would have bought the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection if all of the games were on the cartridge.

Instead they've decided to leave a bunch of games from the cartridge and release them gradually as "free DLC". Ugh. "Free" or not, it defeats the purpose of even having a physical release. If all of the ROMs weren't optimised yet, then they should have released it digitally first and release a physical version (with all of the content on cartridge) later.

I love this trend of high quality retro mini consoles. I have the NES and SNES, and would love similar quality offerings of Genesis, TG-16, N64, Master System, Gameboy, Saturn, Dreamcast, etc. This SNK one is cool, but I wish they released one that looked like a regular Neo Geo console. I don’t really have an ideal place to set up a mini arcade cabinet, unless I take it to work...

Being a massive fan of SNK, I was overjoyed when the mini was revealed and imported a Japanese model.

I was bitterly disappointed by the lack of microswitches in the joysticks on the unit and the control pads.

Sold it a few weeks ago with zero regrets.

No idea why the international version wasn’t coloured like a big red.

A real missed opportunity from SNK and after the debacle of the Neogeo X, you’d think they’d have learned their lesson by now.

Ironically I’m happily emulating their games on my hacked SNES mini now.

i picked one up and its a nice litle system and my 2 kids love it

Too bad it's poor quality. Nintendo had success because they released a quality product in a market of crap clones. This is not that.

@Ryu_Niiyama Me too been waiting for this forever.

They could've done this right, with good emulation and a mini Neo Geo AES as a console, not that mini arcade cabinet impossible to enjoy. The price for all those games doesn't seem so high after seeing the PlayStation Classic price tag.

The NES classic caused a wave of "mini" classic consoles, huh?

If they released a Neo Geo arcade stand with an attached arcade stick for the Switch combined with a code to download 20-30 games from E-shop, that would really be a must have, since you can use it for other Switch games as well.

*tiny screen that is placed at 100deg angle to the control makes a pain to play unless you are almost level with head
*the stick less than 3/4" from nearest button makes easy to screw up moves
*button large size but so close to the other buttons makes for easy misstaken button press
*the tower type construction shape lends it to getting rocked back and forth while playing, making it even more difficult
*the tiny square shape make it almost impossible to play in a handheld style

now the real fun stuff...
it costs *$150
REALLY BAD NEWS ALLERT.....ONLY FOUR GAMES !!! (not 20, not 15 or even 10....just 4 !!!) that is literally $37.50/per game.....
*you can hook it to your HDMI tv, but CABLE SOLD SEPARATELY !!!
(add $10)
*you can add a special, full sized NeoGeo handheld controller (NOT like the original arcade type controllers), but it is a wired (not wireless) also sold separately, it is proprietary, can't just use any usb controller and can't use this controller on anything else
another "btw", the button configuration differs from the one on the "console" (snikkers), so don't get too used to that either
(add ANOTHER $33) (yikes, $33 for a proprietary WIRED controller ???, Oh Heeeeeeeelllll NO !!!)

so for a total of $193 ($48.25/game), you can have your fun, but at almost the price of any two other "Mini" consoles that actually comes with all their hookups

btw, imagine what is going to happen with your NeoGeo being tower design and low stable center of gravity, while you are attempting to play with the extra controller and the cord is pulling the "console" (LOL) side to side, tossing it around

it is an overpriced nifty for your desk at work to sit next to your Samus Aran & Nikola Tesla Pop Funko figures collecting dust.......

don't get me wrong, I'm NOT trying to talk anyone out of it, I thought it looked AWESOME...at first, so I did a lot of investigating and remembering what other products just like this are like (no this is NOT an original product btw), and looking up all that it does and comes with...and does NOT come with, no not trying to turn people off, just letting people know what they are in for
ENJOY !!!

If they were planning it for so long, how did it end up being so...crap? I initially really wanted one of these, but they honestly went out of their way to make every part of the Mini extremely subpar. :/

@Jawessome lol, even a massive fan wasn't moved to keep it. LMAO. You sold it right away because it was a bit garbage

@MarinaKat it’s not really a size thing. It would just look out of place in my TV cabinet next to other consoles and components. I would prefer it to look like the original Neo Geo home console. Just my personal preference.

Looks crap. Should atleast have a mini crt.

They borrowed from Nintendo's mini console in theory alone, the execution is more akin to Sega/Atgames...

All these cheap imitations do for me is make me realize just how much better the real thing is. Not sure if that was their intention, though.

@bolt05
SNK got on the Nintendo bandwagon with the Mini thang, but they stole the idea of that stupid mini hand sized arcade machine from flea market sellers who bought the devices from china illegally preloaded with real, copywrited games, (not complaining), they were also P.o.S. systems too

@MarinaKat
A Dreamcast Mini using Gamecube-sized mini CDs would be awesome

@Alucard83 if the unit had a micro switched joystick, I would have gladly kept it. I can get over the fact it doesn't have an internal battery as I could play it in my bed using a generic USB adaptor. The screen is great too and its size makes it easy to play like a controller (thumbs on top and fingers under the unit).

@Nemodius 4 games? What are you talking about? Times it by 10 and that's how many games there are on the unit. The international release has all Metal Slug titles on it while the Japanese release has all the King of Fighters titles on it so you could consider some of those as being duplicates, but it's far from 4 games.

@Jawessome
10 games ???
all i could find confirmation for was 4, but that's ok, still ends up being far too over priced for what you get and the flaws in design as well

4 x 10 = 40 games. Each unit has 40 games inside it.

Nintendo didn't really create the nostalgia trip, they just refined and streamlined it behind quality. I remember seeing review about this a while back and they weren't too great on it. They were $100 then, and even still weren't worth the price tag. Also, some purest might not enjoy it being that they took out the clicky noise in the controller.

I'm actually interested in SNK's machine, then I saw most of the games there are fighting games, so I passed on the device. I understand that SNK's top hits are mostly fighting games, I'm just not the target market for those.