Exactly ten days ago, news broke that one of the most legendary consoles of all-time is making a grand comeback. We're talking about the Neo Geo, which was released in the early 90s. It was a console that boasted almost bizarre performance back then and cost a king's ransom, to the extent that even the games themselves could cost hundreds of pounds (and factoring in today's inflation, you'd be looking at double the price tags).
The new model is called the Neo Geo AES+, and you can read more about it here, but it plays all the old cartridges while also re-releasing ten classics, supports HDMI, and much more. You might think this would be a niche product for enthusiasts, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Far from it, actually. In a post on LinkedIn, Lars Wingefors, the CEO of Swedish company Embracer (which owns Neo Geo distributor Plaion), writes that "the reception from the global retro community over the past week has been nothing short of overwhelming," before going on to give some more detailed examples:
"Within the first 24 hours, we took more paid preorders than our entire annual forecasted volume of the Neo Geo AES+. Since then, sales have continued strongly through our own channels, online retailers, and specialist stores. Seeing the console currently ranked #1 on Amazon US across the entire Video Games category is both humbling and deeply inspiring. The team are now updated our production forecasts ahead of the launch Nov 12."
Wingefors goes on to praise the company's Embracer Games Archive (and specifically highlights department head Martin Lindell), which he believes has been absolutely crucial to the initiative, and he also thanks SNK CEO Kenji Matsubara for the trust they have been shown.
He concludes with a very clear hint that the ten games being re-released for Neo Geo will likely be followed by more titles, so we can start dreaming about 3 Count Bout, Blue's Journey, Burning Fight, Ninja Commando, SNK vs. Capcom, and more:
"The continued journey of Neo Geo AES+ particularly the ongoing conversations around which additional titles may follow the first ten releases is something I follow with great anticipation. This truly feels like the beginning of something new."
Are you one of the many who have pre-ordered?