NeoGeo Mini Retro Arcade

Product Description

"This year is the 40th anniversary of SNK. The purpose of developing NEOGEO mini International is not just to celebrate our 40th birthday, but more importantly, it is to show our appreciation and gratitude for all the support from our fans. 40 NEOGEO Classic Games! Original Arcade Console Design with LCD Screen! Portable Size to Play Anywhere! Save and Load Function at Anytime! Different input and output ports for different ways of playing!" Includes 40 games: METAL SLUG, METAL SLUG 2, METAL SLUG 3, METAL SLUG X, METAL SLUG 4, METAL SLUG 5, KING OF THE MONSTERS, KING OF THE MONSTERS 2, SENGOKU3, MAGICIAN LORD, BLUE'S JOURNEY, SHOCK TROOPERS, SHOCK TROOPERS 2ND SQUAD, ROBO ARMY, CROSSED SWORDS, MUTATION NATION, 3 COUNT BOUT, THE KING OF FIGHTERS '95, THE KING OF FIGHTERS '97, THE KING OF FIGHTERS '98, THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2000, THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2002, ART OF FIGHTING, FATAL FURY SPECIAL, REAL BOUT FATAL FURY, GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES, SAMURAI SHODOWN, SAMURAI SHODOWN, SAMURAI SHODOWN SPECIAL, THE LAST BLADE 2, WORLD HEROES PERFECT, KIZUNA ENCOUNTER, NINJA MASTER'S, TOP PLAYER'S GOLF, SUPER SIDEKICKS, FOOTBALL FRENZY, BLAZING STAR, LAST RESORT, GHOST PILOTS, PUZZLED.

Features

• NEOGEO mini International selected 40 masterpieces from all the wonderful games on [NEOGEO] platform, including [the King of Fighters], [Fatal Fury] and [Metal Slug]
• NEOGEO mini International is equipped with a 3.5 inch LCD screen. Its arcade machine body also includes a joystick controller and stereo speakers. You can enjoy the games without a separate TV
• NEOGEO mini International is small enough to fit on your palm (dimension: W135ｍｍxD108mmxH162ｍｍ). With 390g overall weight and USB power supply, you can have fun anywhere with a portable power source
• NEOGEO mini International has built-in instant save/load function. When pressing [START] and [SELECT] together, you can save the current game progress or load a previous profile in the menu
• NEOGEO mini International has HDMI port, external controller connections (2 in total) and earphone jack. Players can partner or challenge their friends together in the games and have more fun
• The NEOGEO system can be connected to the TV via HDMI input
• NEOGEO gamepads and HDMI cable are sold separately

Top Reviews

Tiny Neo Geo fun with big display options and a few quirks
by Josh (4 out of 5 stars)
October 15, 2018

Just in case you don't want to read this whole review I'll start with a quick summary. If you're a fan of Neo Geo or really just arcade games in general and want a tiny machine you can display on your desk and play on a whim, then this system is for you. There are a few minor quirks (detailed below), but they aren't enough to make me not recommend this great little system.

Now, for the more detailed review...

Things you probably already know:
- This is a tiny Neo Geo system with 40 pre-loaded games.
- The system includes a controller and screen built in, so you can play it right out of the box without the need for a TV.
- Optionally you can connect the system to a TV and also plug in separate controllers (sold separately).

So let's go over each aspect of the system...

THE UNIT ITSELF

The system looks great and really does come across as a tiny arcade cabinet. Even if this thing just played one basic game or didn't even function as a full video game system (like maybe it just lit up or something), it would still look great on a desk or shelf just because it has the tiny joystick and buttons and looks like a little model of an arcade game. It really is quite impressive when you turn it on and it actually is a full working system in such a tiny package! I think it will definitely surprise your friends or coworkers the first time you show that it's more than just a decoration.

The unit has the screen and controls on the front of course. Nothing too fancy here although there is a nice blue light ring that illuminates around the joystick when the system is on. Around the back there are the ports for the USB-C power cable, a headphone jack, a mini-HDMI port for connecting it to a TV, and a power button. On each side of the system are the USB-C ports for connecting the optional controllers.

The system also comes with two stickers for the top marquee. If you want, you can choose one of them and apply it to make the system look similar to the original Neo Geo MVS arcade system. Personally I will probably leave the sticker off the system just because I like keeping things the way they are when unboxed... but I may end up using one of them if I get tired of the plain look.

Notably absent from this system is any sort of battery, meaning it really isn't designed for portable use. This doesn't bother me though as the form factor doesn't exactly lend itself to being something you would just throw in your bag to take on the plane or a public transit commute. Since it doesn't fold up or have any way to protect the screen it's probably best to just leave this one at home.

The system also does not include a USB AC adapter so you'll need to use one you already have (like a phone charger, power strip with USB, etc.) or buy one. I have a bunch of USB chargers lying around so this wasn't a big deal for me but it's definitely something you need to be aware of since the system actually has no way of even turning on right out of the box as all you get is the USB-C to USB power cable, but no actual power adapter.

DISPLAY

The built-in display is great! It's very sharp and the perfect aspect ratio for the games. If you happen to remember the Neo Geo X portable system from a few years ago you should know that this display is MUCH better. That other system used a ridiculous wide screen display even though the Neo Geo games were never on wide screen displays. This one is really great... crisp, bright, and the proper aspect ratio... I can't think of any room for improvement on it.

CONTROLS

The controls are very tiny as you would expect. Surprisingly though this doesn't really cause a lot of issues when playing the games. The buttons work great despite not using the microswitches that you may remember from the original Neo Geo system. The joystick is just okay. It gets the job done, but unfortunately doesn't have any kind of gates or other guides built in so it just moves around freely in a circle. There are also no microswitches on the joystick so it seems rather slushy and inaccurate. It's still quite usable, but doesn't provide that nice direct feedback that the original Neo Geo joysticks do. I can see it making some moves in fighting games a little bit more difficult to pull off if you're used to the other type of joystick. The previously mentioned Neo Geo X from a few years ago used microswitches on both the portable system and the optional controllers. On the Neo Geo Mini the optional controllers are also missing the microswitches (more on this below).

SOUND

The sound is not anything that will blow your socks off, but it is adequate for the small system. The volume adjustment is done via an on-screen control from the main menu. I would have preferred a physical control on the outside of the unit so you could easily adjust the volume while playing a game, but the on-screen one works fine. For better sound, or just for using the system without disturbing others, you can also plug headphones into the jack on the back of the system.

GAMES

I won't review every game on the system as you can easily find that information elsewhere online. However, I will say that this international version of the system does come with all of the Metal Slug games (not all are included in the Japanese release), a heavy dose of fighting games, a few other shooters, and a few sports games such as golf, soccer, and football.

Personally I found the lineup of games on the international edition to be better than the Japanese edition, but that really just depends on what type of games you like. Getting 40 games on such a tiny system is really great, especially when you consider that the Neo Geo X from a few years ago only came with half that many.

There's no network connectivity or SD card slot for adding games, so I suspect that there aren't any plans to make additional games available. However, since the system does use a USB-C port for the power I totally expect the hacking community to find a way to add more games pretty quickly. Personally I like to keep the system just as it comes from the factory, but if you're interested in add more games then my guess is you'll have some way to do it in the future.

USER INTERFACE

The UI on the system is pretty standard for these multiple game systems that have come out over the past few years. There's an easy to navigate menu that you scroll through to select a game. Once you're in a game you can press the Select and Start buttons at the same time to return to the menu. From there you can easily use the built-in save states feature that allows you to save and load games from any point (if you've used the NES Classic or SNES Classic you're familiar with how this works). This is a nice addition since many of the Neo Geo games can be quite hard without the ability to save your progress. From this same screen you can adjust the screen brightness, volume, or return back to the main menu to select a different game.

TV CONNECTION

Connecting the system to a TV requires a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable. Sadly this is not included in the box with the system so you'll have to buy one separately. A lot of people probably have a spare HDMI cable laying around, but since the Neo Geo Mini uses a mini-HDMI cable I suspect most of us will end up buying a new cable just for this system. This isn't a huge deal but I wish they would have either supplied a small adapter or simply made the port on the system a regular size HDMI port as there seems to be plenty of room for it.

When you connect the system to a TV you can continue to use the built in controls, so the optional controller isn't required, but it probably makes more sense to have one of the controllers when playing on the big screen. Of course a controller is a requirement if you want to have a second player join in the fun with you.

The TV connection is decent, but it is noticeably softer than the picture you see on the tiny built-in screen. I don't know if the output in general is a little soft but you just don't notice it on the small screen, or if there is some softness being introduced just from the HDMI port. Either way it doesn't look "bad" per se, but it doesn't look crystal clear perfect either. I also have some of the other "classic" systems like the NES Classic and the picture from it is distinctly sharper than what comes out of the Neo Geo Mini. This isn't a deal breaker but it is a little disappointing since one of the main selling points of the tiny system is that you can plug in a TV and controllers and have a full home system whenever you want.

CONTROLLERS

I'll mention the controllers here just for completeness. They don't come with the system but I went ahead and ordered them with mine as I knew I'd want them both for playing on the small screen and for when I attach the system to a TV.

The controllers are almost an exact copy (at least in looks) of the controllers that were included with the Neo Geo CD system back in the day. They are available in either black or white. I couldn't decide which color was better so I picked up one of each.

One notable difference between the old and new controllers is that the new controllers don't include the clicky microswitches like the original controllers did. This comes across pretty much the same way as the lack of microswitches on the main system does: the controls feel less tactile and imprecise. Specifically the control pad itself which has a lot of travel in it. Combine the large range of travel with the lack of microswitches and you end up with a pad that can easily go diagonal when you're trying to go left to right or up and down. Most of us have been playing video games with controllers from Nintendo, Sony, Sega, etc. for years without microswitches, but it was definitely something distinctive about the original Neo Geo controllers so it's disappointing that the new controllers don't have the switches. I have the full-size USB joysticks from the older Neo Geo X console and those include the microswitches. I was hoping that I may be able to connect them to the Neo Geo Mini using a USB to USB-C adapter, but unfortunately they do not work with the Mini so it looks like we're stuck with the non-clicky controls with the Mini.

Another interesting difference between the new controllers and the Neo Geo CD controllers is that the arrangement of the A, B, C, and D buttons has been changed. The arrangement has been rotated clockwise one stop so that now A is above B and C is above D. Previously C was to the left of D and A was to the left of B (describing this is a lot harder to understand than just looking for a picture online to compare the two). This doesn't make a huge difference but if you happen to have some muscle memories of playing on the Neo Geo CD for years or something then you might need a little while to adjust to the new layout.

Overall though the controller works decently (if you can deal with the lack of microswitches) and I highly recommend you pick up a pair of them while you can (you never know when they may be discontinued and become hard to find). Whether you're playing on the small screen of the Neo Geo Mini itself, or on a huge TV screen they will provide you with a lot better control compared to the tiny joystick and button setup on the main system. Grabbing of a pair of them gives you the option to play many of the games with another person, and since Neo Geo is very heavy on fighting games this seems like a no-brainer.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

The Great:
- Great looking display piece that you'll want to leave on your desk or shelf
- The built-in games include most of the best titles from the Neo Geo library and with 40 to choose from you'll always have something fun to play
- Screen size and resolution is a terrific match for the system and isn't too small
- The ability to use external controllers and connect the system to a TV really adds to the value and gives you both a tiny complete arcade machine and a multi-player home game console all in one

The Not-So-Great:
- Mini-HDMI to HDMI cable has to be purchased separately if you want to connect the system to a TV
- It doesn't look like there's any way for additional games to be officially offered, although the USB-C port will most likely be hacked for unofficial game additions
- No built-in battery (this doesn't bother me but it's worth pointing out if you are wanting a truly portable system)
- No AC power adapter included (this also doesn't bother me but again it's worth pointing out since some people may not have spare USB chargers laying around)

The BAD (some of you will pass on, or return the system because of these):
- Controls, whether using the built in ones or the extra control pads, are a bit sloppy and don't use the classic microswitch design
- The display output to a TV isn't as sharp as I would like

Overall I think this is a great little system and highly recommend you pick one up if you are at all interested in it. The inclusion of a screen really makes this unique among the latest "classic" systems as most require you to connect them to a TV. With this tiny setup you can have a full featured arcade machine on your desk without the need for anything else.

Some people may consider the price a little high for an "old" system, but I think it's priced just right since you get the screen and since it comes with 40 games. I know it's not a fair comparison, but I just think back to the 90's when I would see the original AES game cartridges in the store and all of them were at least $200. At those prices you are getting over $8000 worth of games on this system!

If I were you I'd pick one of these up right now and get two controllers to go with it! I did.
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Some questions buyers might have
by Cheo Cardenas (5 out of 5 stars)
October 29, 2018

My review will focus on questions buyers might have and hopefully give them enough information to decide.

Are the games censored?

Yes. The Neo Geo Mini International Version uses the US BIOS, so that'll mean white blood in Metal Slug or no blood in the Last Blade 2. Since these are AES emulations and not MVS, there's no arcade settings to turn blood on. Some games (Like Samurai Shodown) have the ability to change the language from English to Japanese, which should change the green blood to red (EDIT: You can only change the blood to red in Samurai Shodown 2 and 5 Special, but not in 4. In 4, the blood is white) (The Japanese Neo Geo Mini has uncensored games)

Are there limited credits or free play?

There are limited credits and there's no free play. It's not an issue though because these are AES ports, so that means that if you hit game over, it allows you to save your progress and try the level again with a fresh set of credits. In Metal Slug for example, you can pretty much pick which mission to play, so you can go back to where you left off. In most games, you can make credits last longer via the options menu. Take Metal Slug again for example. Normally you get 3 lives per credit, but you can change that to 5 lives per credit (the maximum) Since you get 5 credits in MS games, you get 25 lives total to complete missions. You can pretty much do any mission in MS with 25 lives except maybe MS 3 final mission. Personally I can get through that mission with maybe 3-4 lives left, but I consider my MS skill to be above average (I can complete 1, 2, X, and 5 with the given credits without hitting game over) so this stage might be impassable to some. In fighting games, you usually just start back to the last fighter who beat you.

Can you re-map the button layout?

Contrary to what a lot of reviewers are saying, yes you can. In order to do so, you need to go to the game you want to play, and then click on the game's "options" menu. You can usually change the layout here. You need to customize the layout for each game individually if you don't want to accept the default scheme.

Is the unit durable?

I think it is. The plastic feels light but not cheap. It can probably take some good hits.

In my opinion, I love the Neo Geo Mini. Even with its flaws, I can't stop playing it. I play MS like every day, and I pretty much got used to the white blood by now. Only real disappointment was the tv display, but the image quality isn't bad. It's just ok, a real shame though considering the mini's screen looks pixel perfect. Best way to get better image quality is to change the screen to a 4:3 aspect ratio. Hope that helps you decide if you're on the fence!
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5 credits limit ??? Why?? Good luck beating Metal Slug on hard....
by Piyodamari (4 out of 5 stars)
October 18, 2018

Here's my 15 mins impression, it play solid on its own screen. It brings back the nostalgia feeling if you used to play at arcade cabinet. For TV connection, you'll need mini HDMI to HDMI as well as the mini pad. The mini pad is okay... It's too light weight in my opinion. The mini pad is USB-C so I'd assume you can't use any other pad. Plugging the pad to my phone usb-c port does nothing.

The biggest disappointment for me is the credit limit. I wonder why? I suppose they want to bring back the challenging feeling of playing arcade games back then? You could use "save state" to ease the difficulty.... But these are very old games.... I just want to play through them w/o worrying game over. In the case of Metal Slug, maybe you could start P2's 5 credit on your last life.

P. S. (Start + select) open menu to switch game + save/load.
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Button layout and lack of mapping options ruin an otherwise great little system
by Joseph Smith (3 out of 5 stars)
October 17, 2018

This is a great little machine.

It takes the new trend in mini-cabinets and bumps the quality up a notch.

I love the options for HDMI-out and gamepads for two players.

Emulation is overall very good.

The joystick lacks the mechanical click of the original Neo Geo and Neo Geo pocket systems but it's not bad at all. Very playable considering the size.

The single biggest mark against the thing, and frankly I cannot believe this was ok'd, is the button layout.

They could've set the buttons up almost exactly like the original system's sticks within the same space, but they opted for an SNES-style layout.

Fair enough, but they've been placed in set in a manner that puts them opposite and counter-intuitive to what you've come to expect. This becomes very apparent as soon as you start a fighting game or worse yet a platformer like Metal Slug or Magician Lord where your fire and jump buttons will take some time to get used to.

Hopefully this thing gets a hack to remap these soon as possible.

I spent most text in this review on that one big negative but it's the feature in most need of a fix if this is to actually be a gaming device and not just rely on novelty and nostalgia. If this doesn't concern you, by all means buy it.
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Poor button layout and limited options
by D. Maraglio (3 out of 5 stars)
October 16, 2018

For some reason they chabged the button layout from the neo geo cd pads and it does not play well. In games like metal slug where the jump button would be to the right of the fire button, it is now below and it feels counterintuitive.

There is also a lack of options for the system. How about a difficuly select or freeplay option for the games you cant beat in 4 credits or better yet a button mapping menu.
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Neo Geo Mini controls well with a great selection of games
by ThunderHawk (5 out of 5 stars)
October 20, 2018

Neo Geo International Mini, sold in the US, controls well with a great selection of games for SNK's 40th Anniversary. 40 games to play and enjoy, directly from the Neo Geo Console, as these versions have limited continues, usually about 3 to 4 before it's game over. You can adjust settings to easy mode in many games thankfully to balance it out if you want.

What's great is the joystick is incredibly responsive and smooth for challenging fighting moves and movements. The buttons are also responsive with decent placement for large hands.

To exit a game, press start and select at the same time. Then press the A button (top left button) and it'll let you exit the game to the selection screen again.

You can save your game progress with about 4 save files per game, which helps save your progress if you're doing well.

The power cord included is a USB connection that you can hook into any USB power receiver source, like a computer, a PS4, a PS4 USB hub, etc. No battery option at this time, but that works well for me as I don't like batteries.

There are a few brawler side scroller adventure fighting games on here, tons of side by side fighting games, and a few shoot 'em up flying ship games and some sports games. Most of the games are fun to play with beautifully illustrated graphics and layers.

On the mini, you can buy a HDMI mini to standard HDMI output cord, to hook right into your HDTV. Then it auto switches to the big screen, but the resolution is seriously lacking and looks kind of like a muddy, blurry output on the TV. Not very good, but decent as an option rather than none. That's the biggest weakness of this.

Otherwise, the graphics and resolution on the mini screen is awesome, sharp and crystal clear, with HD visuals.

Really worth the price for this awesome mini cabinet collection of many of my favorite SNK games.

GAMES: Neo Geo International

The King of Fighters 95

The King of Fighters 97

The King of Fighters 98

The King of Fighters 2000

The King of Fighters 2002

Samurai Shodown II - A favorite of mine.

Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge

Samurai Shodown V Special

Fatal Fury Special

Real Bout Fatal Fury

Garou: Mark of the Wolves

World Heroes Perfect

Kizuna Encounter

Art of Fighting

The Last Blade 2

Ninja Master's - A favorite of mine.

Metal Slug - A favorite of mine.

Metal Slug 2

Metal Slug X

Metal Slug 3

Metal Slug 4

Metal Slug 5

King of the Monsters

King of the Monsters 2 - A favorite of mine.

Sengoku 3 - A favorite of mine. Brawler beat 'em up game.

Shock Troopers - A favorite of mine.

Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad

Magician Lord - A favorite of mine.

Blue's Journey

Robo Army - A favorite of mine. Brawler beat 'em up game.

Crossed Swords

Mutation Nation - A favorite of mine. Brawler beat 'em up game.
3 Count Bout

Blazing Star

Last Resort - A favorite of mine.

Ghost Pilots - A favorite of mine.

Top Players Golf

Super Sidekicks

Football Frenzy

Puzzled
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Great!
by H B (4 out of 5 stars)
October 19, 2018

The design of the device is very nice, the screen is nice, the joystick is small, but high quality.

The buttons seem good quality.

The angle works out ok for most people, the display is bright enough and clear,

The sound has only a few settings (like I believe 0,25,50,75, and 100%), but 25% = 0%. So it only has 3 loudness volumes.

Loud enough to be heard in the next room at full volume.

It's nice the way they make it, and how it runs off USB type C power.

The joystick controllers also run off of a USB type C connector, but powering the device there, won't work.

The device has a mini HDMI connection in the back. I haven't tried it yet.

The games are solid, and work well, no apparent bugs.

You'd almost believe the console is running natively, rather than on emulation.

The controls are quick.

I would have given this 4,5*, as many titles found in the 20-60% category, but also a few great hits, like King Of Fighters, or Samurai Shodown.

Many games are side scroller, or Street Fighter clones (PVP fighting games).

However, I'm missing racing games, a few adventures and turn by turn games, and Virtua Fighter, as THE most Iconic fighting game on the Neo Geo at it's day!

From all the portable gaming consoles, I can tell you, this is the most solid, well designed, and high-quality I currently own, and have owned.

Even better than the GB, GBC/GBA, PSP clones out there, and better than the Nintendo/Sega/Atari mini consoles!

The design is a bit bulky, due to SNK wanting it to look like an arcade game, rather than a handheld.

It would have done nicely with a ~1200mAh phone battery, to play on the go; however I can imagine the design isn't really comfortable as a portable unit.

I wished they had made it more like a Nintendo SP concept, that would fit in a small 'arcade case', so that the unit could be taken out of the case when it needs to be portable, and inserted back in the case, when it's standing on the cabinet.

If this was to represent an Arcade, it should have more colorful surroundings (stickers).

So 1 star off, for the rather poor design, missing blockbuster games, and missing gaming variety.

Design, ingenuity, controls, and functionality, it gets a 5 out of 5!
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If you were a teen in the 90s, this is a must have!
by Xonic (5 out of 5 stars)
October 20, 2018

Awesome little system. Everything I've drooled over as a teen via arcade back in the 90's is in this mini cabinet. I've spend countless weeks worth of allowances playing Samurai Showdown Series, KOF Series, FF series, King of Monsters, and famous side scrollers such as Magician Lord in local arcades. Not to mention all the quarter munching cosmic shooters the NeoGeo offered too!

Personally, I've skipped the last generation portable SNK release (Neo Geo X) a few years ago due to the uncomfortable size and the bad design in general. I'm Happy NeoGeo released the mini. Considering the price for 40 titles for just a little over $100. USD - this mini cabinet is a steal. The price for just a few of these titles the mini offeres would of run any gamer into debt of thousands back in the 90s for any NeoGeo system. Every SNK/Neo Geo fan knows MVS and home systems were not cheap. The MVS, AES and CD consoles were difficult to buy for back in the 90s. It was also hard to find NeoGeo pocket anything as well.

The mini system feels well made. The built in mini joystick and buttons feel good, responsive, and well made. It took a few plays to get the feel of using the mini joystick and buttons down but it will do until the controls arrive (The controls were on back order). The LCD screen is bright and the built in speakers are surprisingly loud.

I have notice the system does heat up a little during continuous play. I play on average 1hr intervals. Reducing the screen brightness to 75% or 50% helps with the generation of heat the mini produces.

If you're still contemplating, just buy the NeoGeo mini.
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Great entry into Neo Geo
by Enrique L. (4 out of 5 stars)
December 6, 2018

Some background; I'm a huge Neo Geo fan. In High School, my local pizzeria had an MVS "big red" arcade cabinet with some of the most iconic Neo Geo titles--I played Metal Slug and/or King of Fighters on most days after school. I've downloaded most of the available Neo Geo titles ported by Hamster to the Nintendo Switch. I commissioned a consolized Neo Geo MVS arcade board to play some real MVS arcade cartridges at home. Finally, I purchased the "International" version of the Neo Geo mini console along with a white and a black controller and a mini-HDMI cable so that I can connect it to my TV.

My feelings on the Neo Geo Mini were mixed at first. To start, at $175+, (including sales taxes) the console and two controllers were very expensive compared to other 'mini consoles'. Additionally, the console didn't come with a power adapter--just the power cord. Omitting a rechareable internal battery or clicky directional stick on console and pads was a huge miss in my view. In terms of software, I wasn't too crazy about the list of games, (no NAM 1975 or Neo Turf Masters? Art of Fighting 2 > AoF 1). Finally, the quality of the video when connected to the TV isn't great. I'm not sure if it's a smoothing filter or something else but the pixels aren't as sharp as I'd like.

With all that being said, most of the negatives went away once I played with it for a few hours. My previous complaint about price didn't feel so bad put in this context; how much would I have to spend in order to play these games elsewhere? Without factoring in cost of hardware, I paid just over $4 to play these 40 games. That's less than the almost $9 I spent. (not counting the $300 for the Switch itself) to play many of these on my Switch and some aren't yet available on Switch at time of this review, (Kizuna Encounter, Ninja Master's, and KoF 2002 to name a few). Some readers of this review might say that I've already purchased many of the titles available on the Neo Geo Mini but that's missing the point; most of the attraction of the mini console is the novelty and collectability. The lack of an internal battery is a missed opportunity, however, only in the context that this is a mini arcade cabinet. SNK could have easily packaged this as an AES Mini and buyers wouldn't have mentioned the lack of portability. Having the tiny screen on the console is great and almost makes up for the bad video in TV mode but makes the lack of portability a more glaring omission. One last note about the games; most of the games are top notch. While there are a few that I probably won't play more than once, (Football Frenzy) most of the other games have great replayability and belong on such a collection.

In summary, while this isn't the solution I was looking for, it's far from a bad mini console and one I'm happy I own. As a fan and collector of Neo Geo, I feel it compliments the rest of my collection well and is a great way for newcomers to get their hands on 40 great Neo Geo games.

Unlike the NES/SNES Classic mini consoles, I don't think I'd be interested in hacking the Neo Geo Mini unless there was a fix for the video. I have no interest in adding more games but would like to remove the video filter when connected to a TV.
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it's really cute but not particularly useful
by Joshua Y. Yuan,Top Contributor: Guitars (3 out of 5 stars)
January 8, 2019

i'll try to keep it concise with just a list of points
1. it's really cute, the marquee-ish stickers that come with it are nice, the lack of cables is kinda silly.
2. game selection is not bad, but i suggest ppl look it up before deciding to play. From what time i've spent with it, emulation accuracy seems pretty good compared to my actual MVS cabinet at home, so i think that's a pretty good plus right there.
3. the small screen kinda hurts to play on after awhile. goes back to the cables problem, need to get a mini HDMI cable if you want to play on a real monitor/tv
4. the controls aren't awful but they don't feel great. i particularly don't like the stick much for fighting games but it's tiny, what are you gonna do. the controllers are ok but that's a different review.

the summary is if you like neo geo stuff or you like collecting arcade-related things, you should get one. If you aren't in either of those parties, this is kind of a hard sell at this price point. This obviously is not a real replacement for an AES/MVS if you're one of those hardcore neo geo fans, but it's still fun to look at and mess around with.

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