Looks like Nintendo have really started a trend here with the NES classic... Can't wait to see the Pop Station Classic Mini.

Instruction manuals will be the Rosetta stones of the future.

SNK should know their scrutenous audience, and know that their brand is supposed to represent uncompromising quality. That controller is an affront.

That cancer-and-reprodutive-harm warning is because of some poorly designed legislation in California, United States. Basically if a product might be sold there, and is made of matter that exists in our dimension, it has to have that warning.

What's next? Action 52 Classic Mini with the unreleased Cheetahmen II?

Official response to lack of microswitches: "clicky thumbsticks is very hard to make." (according to MJR review posted today)

Manuals as phrasebooks - Hattie Hayridge (blonde Holly from Red Dwarf) had a great joke in her old standup along the lines of "Evey box of Tampax has this sheet of paper that just folds out and out and out and it basically says, in every language on Earth, "Insert into vagina", so I use it as a phrasebook on Club 18-30 holidays - "What are you mate? Greek? Right read this and come with me"" Absolutely no contribution to the Neo Geo review but my brain just regurgitates random bits of 90s standup at me rather than doing anything actually useful.

So in conclusion, put microswitches in ya controllers SNK, ya cheap bastads.

A big selling point for the Nintendo minis is that Nintendo games don't have ports in other companies' consoles, add to that the company's draconian rules on ROMs and emulators and you have an easy way to play old Nintendo games that isn't on PC, something desirable even for your average Joe. SNK has ported their most famous games to hell and back, with good results sometimes (the PS2 compilations for example), the PC versions being very recent too. There's no reason for anyone to buy this, purists won't bother and people who want a nostalgia trip likely have already bought their favorite games with a previous port. I could understand the purpose if they put very old and hardly ported games in there, but it's basically a "Greatest Hits" compilation. I also don't understand why going with the "mini-screen" gimmick, especially for games which pride and valor was the detailed pixel art and big-ass sprites. Even Nintendo, a company that has a history of success with portable consoles and small screens, didn't go for that stupid idea. It's like a Neo-Geo "console" made by people who never actually played SNK games.

Ashens videos are like slipping into a warm bath. Comforting, wholesome and prone to make you feel quite wrinkly

When Ashens said "Neo Geo Games", I half-heard incorrectly and had pop-station-esque flashbacks.

Neo Geo cost around ~$1200 USD in today's money when it was released. No joke for sure.

The whole idea of home consoles, starting with the Atari 2600 (and there might even have been an earlier one with the same idea), is that of interchangeable cartridges, and therefore an unlimited amount of games on the same device. Now we are going back to the time when there's only a fixed amount of hard-coded games in the gaming device.

Ironically the loathed NeoGeo x had microswitches on its dpad and joystick.

3:49 Stuart suddenly realising how drastic a thing causing cancer is and immediately spinning the box around in a panic is amazing

It's still bananas to me that I can emulate NeoGeo games on my Xbox Series S. And with the custom Unibios, you can even pick what region the game loads in, and if you want the arcade or home console mode. It's legit still amazing to me. Like, emulation in general is one of those things that, despite using it constantly, still takes me a second to wrap my head around. Like, I can emulate arcade games, home console games, even Gamecube, Wii, and PS2. I can take every game I played as a kid, every single one, and load it up on my Xbox. From fuckin Atari 2600 to NES and SNES, Gameboy, GBA, Saturn, and way more. I even get to try out games I never had played as a kid. Like the Commander Keen games, and Giana Sisters on Dos. It's just a bit nuts to me.

If you have a 3D printer, or know someone that does have one, you could measure the analogue stick pot, and print out an octagonally notched inlay for the stick to rest in. The GameCube did this and it worked a treat, I'm frankly amazed that no-one, not even Nintendo copied this innovation going forward, given that really improves the usability of an analogue stick (plus it makes a really satisfying sound when you roll it). Mind you, this won't fix it looking awful on the TV, but at least it'll be playable.

The closest I ever got to a Neo Geo home system was seeing the huge box in the mall once. I ended up playing a couple games in different arcades like Samurai Shodown, Sengoku and World Heroes but was limited at home to rentals of the ports that came to SNES. Years later I got into emulation and played more thanks to MAME.

Love the longer videos you've been putting out recently. A KZfaqr that cares about content and hasn't sold out like the rest. My favourite channel for the longest time. love you Ashens! 😎

'Magician Lord can piss off' "What imprudence you human being!"

Mini Grandma© - Now with Life Sized Criticisms

Love the preservation surrounding legacy hardware, both by companies and those in the emulation scene

Fun story about Super Sidekicks: for some reason there was a version with 'Portuguese' text and sound samples. (by which I mean it was a sort of cross between Latin american Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.) That was the one most often found around Portuguese arcades and resort game rooms in the late 90s/early 2000s I''m now getting nostalgic for it just thinking about it :(

I remember there being a game show here in the US where kids were put through an obstacle course in hopes of winning a Neo-Geo.

RAWKET LAWNCHAIR

"Fell out of Satan's ass" is a great insult, and I'm going to use it whenever I get the chance~

17:07 why the hell does it look like Stuart has a cricket on the top of his head?

NO MICROSWICHES ON THE NEOGEO CD PAD?!?! but that was the whole point of neo geo cd pad!! also no twinkle star sprites? wuut?

Him continuing to be frustrated yet trying to stop himself from speaking any further is also me when I try to shut myself up because I know I've talked too much about something XD

The Neo Geo opening sound is different for a lot of games on the real arcade carts, it sounds off but it's on purpose.

"I've had the sofa fitted with USB C... "

The Neo-Geo was pretty damn expensive, I only saw one in a shop.

The splash screen neo-geo sound comes from the ROM, if one sounds off to you that's because the individual game had its own unique startup sound.

The Neo Geo was very well advertised in the UK for a machine that no-one knew anyone that owned it. In a lot of the adverts as the market leader, the Megadrive, yet no-one ever witnessed one.

Highly entertaining & informative video. Thanks for bringing to us. Used to have the original brilliance of the full size home machine back in the Nineties & played the addictively brilliant 'Nam 1975 all the time. As good / bad this little throw back is, it is not truly a Neo Geo experience without 'Nam 1975. What a shame !

A new ashens vid!!! Makes my crap day at work fade away.

I hope I can get the Ashens mini to wittily ridicule me for only 9 trillion USD

7:33, ah the Neo Geo Pocket, and the Neo Geo Pocket Color, I love that system. I've not been able to watch the last few twitch streams and have asked since the KZfaq streams for Dr S.Ashen to play the Neo geo Pocket games live. If Ashens hasn't played it live yet then I eagerly await that stream, if it has been done.... Then I'm disappointed in myself for not knowing and will sacrifice my life remaining sleep time to watch it right now.

Love your vids bro . Thanks for your time.

That gripping anecdote about the USB power cable had me on the edge of my seat...

So, this basicallly is a Neo Geo X without micro switch controllers nor real portability... 😐

I'm still waiting for the Virtual Boy Mini XD

In 1993 my local Toys R Us was trying to get rid of their Neo Geo's and had the system on sale for $40. Games were $5. I convinced my mom to buy all of it.

By the look of the reflections, this guys ceiling is covered in acoustic tiles. Fancy.

What? No Baseball Stars??? Absolutely NOT bothering with this.

According to Amazon, they are going to re-release the Neo Geo mini to include a MayFlash controller converter allowing people to use different controllers, which could solve the problems with the control somewhat, however it's going to cost an extra £50.00 to the cost of the console, but you might be able to get it separately or the price would go down a bit eventually for that particular bundle.

oh I'm so glad you said about us calling fighting games "beat em ups" back in the day. Sometimes I wondered if it was just me /my parents lol.

Funny thing is they released a replica Neo Geo CD controller for the PS3 a few years ago and that has a micro switched stick. Really nice control actually, glad I picked one up

SNK seems to learn lessons from their mistakes, but not always enough of them, and not always the lessons we'd like them to learn.

From all the things they could shave costs off, they did it by removing the microswitches? The ruined what was probably the best gamepad at the time.

Naaaaaaaaw I was debating buying this as a gift to fill in my brother's neo Geo collection! Great review, thanks Ashes!

Love the noises for my ears.

So kinda inverse to the NeoGeoX. From great controls and crap emulation to great emulation and crap controls. Jesus H Tapdancing Christ, are they ever going to get anything right?

As far as the TV output is concerned--is it possible it's outputting at natural NeoGeo resolution, and it's your TV doing a really poor job of upscaling it? It would explain why it works better through your capture card.

Hey Stuart there's a Limited Edition Christmas version just released (being red with two red controllers, power cable, HDMI cable, stickers, two screen protectors and a slip cushion) as well as a mixture of titles from both the Japanese and International versions, as well as a few extra titles added in for a total of 48 games. ( titles are exclusives to this version which includes The Super Spy you were talking about, League Bowling and Savage Reign. I doubt the HDMI output and controllers would have improved that much, but still interesting info. :)

I have absolutely never heard of a single game on this console or anything about it, but this was still fun.

Competition Pro Joystick wasn't a thumb stick , but it had micro switches, best retro controller ever :)

Happy 40th birthday Shin Nihon Kikaku Corp.

Haven’t been on this channel in about two years now but man that couch is taken a beating in that time

I am ALL for granny mini

12:31 not sure if ashen's stealth edits are reaching a new level or if he just spoke quickly

"Oh wait, I'm Ashens." /channel

Wow last time I saw that couch it was a different hue... Damn that thing took a beating!!

Nice to see the sofa's audio cable now has a friend.

OMG, Neo Turf Masters isn't there? that honestly made me not want to buy it

Wish they'd do a Dreamcast mini

"A million points and a big kiss on the lips" I love it Ashens!

I just saw this on Amazon, did not expect it to have a review already.

In the USA you didn't even see the NEO GEO in import stores, only in mega stores HOURS and HOURS away. I only saw one once in a store.

I think he should've captured gameplay for each of the games. It would've made the review part more interesting then just staring at the back of a box.

"Soon there's going to be a mini version of your Grandmother that you can plug into your TV to tell you stories" LMAO :)

The Memory Test Shop, truly one of the best games of my childhood.

Twinkle Star Sprites only being on the Japanese version is a sin, and God only knows what they were thinking with Top Players Golf over Neo Turf. The less said about the controllers the better.

A shame that SNK have learnt NOTHING in the 40 years of their existence. They are still giving us expensive consoles with massive flaws in them. You would think that they would learn after the Neo Geo X and Tommo fiasco but no. I bet you can't even plug in that large Neo Geo X arcade joystick to that thing, not that you wanted to as playing the Mini on your TV is pretty dreadful. They'll no doubt probably going to release a version 2 (with different games on it) with a USB cable to fix the picture of the first one, but that's doubtful if people are going to complain that they'll pay well over a hundred of their currency for something that's barely playable. Tried too hard to be like Nintendo and failed miserably! It's like the 90's all over again.

Ashens, the Neo Geo Poket Color and the Neo Geo X both had micro switches too

Every time i see anything about the neo geo all i can think of is that neo geo song

You wouldn't believe just how popular King of Fighters is in Mexico. I'm talking crowds of kids and tweens surrounding a single cabinet watching a match going on/waiting on their turn to play.

22:07 "If I wanted a memory test, I go to the memory test shop." *SAVAGE ASHENS! I THOUGHT YOU CAN'T SHOW MURDER ON KZfaq!*

Glad to see someone else calling those games beat 'em ups.

Metal Slug X is a remix of Metal Slug 2 - the slowdown is gone, the difficulty has been ramped up, and it also has various other additions and improvements.

Why didn't you show how it plugs into a television?

Flippin heck, they make everything mini nowadays, dont they...

20:55 I will say this, there are two versions of king of the monsters 2, 1 is the sidescroller, the other is an arena type fighter (basically only the boss fights, but you can play the bosses in vs). 26:09 I feel the word fury and furry is going to become a thing with you ashens.

last resort and mutation nation, both have special place in my heart :)

Neo Geo mini seems really cool!

At least the couch didn't burst into flames from that faulty cable

I really sad ill never get the chance to meet you. I love rewatching your videos. When you have have meet and greets i get jealous because you only stay in the UK. I love all your content. But i live in LA. But you should really consider coming here. I'm sure there people just like me in LA that would die for the Chance to meet you.

The sofa has seen some wear and tear.

Hey Ashen's that controller had to be made by hyperkin, it looks too much like the junk retron 5 controller.

Thank God there is something called M. A. M. E nowadays

They've rotated the buttons 90°, A used to be on the bottom, B on the right, C on the left and D on top. Not sure why they'd change that.

Awh I'm getting nostalgic, especially about blazing star 😭♥ wish this had magical drop tho. 3 specifically.

So much work went into the design, and yet the programmer chose the font from every single knock-off console for the menus 😅

Going to work at morning, but these 40 minutes shouldn't be a problem, or? Naaah

I got the complete bundle with a white pad and a black pad, I love the whole thing.

"Are the samurai showdowns different enough" Yes. Sorta. 2 and 5 are fine; we don't need 4 if we have 5 though.

Was excited about this. Won't be getting it now. There is no way I'm buying a system that's output looks like crap and has no decent external controller.

I remember Neo Geo games were about £200 each. In 1993 pounds. The Internet says that works out to about £400 ($520ish) now. For one game.

I was wondering about the stickers. Thanks Ashens

Legend says he still uses the same sofa.