SNK Pulls The Plug On Neo Geo X Handheld

[Steven Bogos]

SNK Pulls The Plug On Neo Geo X Handheld

SNK has ordered Neo Geo X creator Tommo Inc to cease production of the device.

Remember that super-slick Neo Geo X [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116345-Neo-Geo-X-Handheld-Confirmed-Arrives-Later-This-Year] handheld Neo Geo we saw last year? While it was initially endorsed by SNK, it appears that the publisher has changed its tune, ordering creator Tommo Inc immediately cease sales of the Neo Geo X and remove all stock from retailers, both physical and online.

This means that the Neo Geo X Gold Limited edition that has been on sale since December last year, along with the six game packs (NeoGeo X Mega Pack Vol. 1, and NeoGeo X Classics Vols. 1 through 5) are finished. Tommo is not allowed to "manufacture, distribute, market, promote or sell" the Neo Geo X, says an official notice on SNK's website [http://www.snkplaymoreusa.com/termination-of-the-license-agreement-between-tommo-inc-and-snk-playmore-usa-corp].

Additionally, Tommo also produces a Neo Geo X arcade stick, which SNK has also halted the sale of. "In order to protect our intellectual property rights such as 'NEOGEO' and 'SNK', decisive measures will be taken against all unapproved NEOGEO X products not subject to the Licence Agreement," reads the official statement.

I'm not sure what happened between these guys, but it seems like it wasn't the smoothest of breakups. It seems rather bizarre to suddenly drop the hammer now, considering the handheld has been out for almost ten months.

At time of writing, it looks like GameStop is at least still stocking Neo Geo X products [http://www.gamestop.com/browse?nav=16k-3-neogeo+x,28zu0], so if you ever wanted to get one, you better hurry before SNK snaps them all up.

Source: Kotaku [http://www.snkplaymoreusa.com/termination-of-the-license-agreement-between-tommo-inc-and-snk-playmore-usa-corp]

Permalink

 

[Dragonbums]

I had never even heard of the thing.

Honestly though, what did they expect?

I'm not saying it's impossible to make something out of the handheld console market, but the time to do that was when the 3DS, and Vita were doing shit.

Now? The 3DS library is so rich, only the picky and financially unstable wouldn't want a 3DS.

I mean, come on, Sony- Nintendo's only competitor in the handheld market for years, still can't actually prove even so much as a nuisance to Nintendo handhelds. And that is their most prominent competitor.

What is an upstart like them to Nintendo?

 

[Broken Blade]

I'd heard of it? from a Stuart Ashen review. He basically said that a modded PSP with roms loaded into it was a better way to play Neo Geo games.

 

[MrBrightside919]

Considering this thing was just a piss poor Neo Geo emulator, i'm not surprised it died so early...

Just mod your PSP for free...

 

[Doom972]

I had never even heard of the thing.

Honestly though, what did they expect?

I'm not saying it's impossible to make something out of the handheld console market, but the time to do that was when the 3DS, and Vita were doing shit.

Now? The 3DS library is so rich, only the picky and financially unstable wouldn't want a 3DS.

I mean, come on, Sony- Nintendo's only competitor in the handheld market for years, still can't actually prove even so much as a nuisance to Nintendo handhelds. And that is their most prominent competitor.

What is an upstart like them to Nintendo?

It's not just a handheld, it connects to the TV via HDMI and there's also a limited (and sold out) edition that comes with a docking station and a joystick that look and feel like the original home version of the NEO GEO. The target audience are people who couldn't buy the original extremely expensive home console (each game cost like a 7th-generation console today). The main problem with this "console" is that it's actually a generic device that runs an emulator, and does it poorly (According to all the reviews I watched).

 

[Rad Party God]

Spoiler: Snip.

I had never even heard of the thing.

Honestly though, what did they expect?

I'm not saying it's impossible to make something out of the handheld console market, but the time to do that was when the 3DS, and Vita were doing shit.

Now? The 3DS library is so rich, only the picky and financially unstable wouldn't want a 3DS.

I mean, come on, Sony- Nintendo's only competitor in the handheld market for years, still can't actually prove even so much as a nuisance to Nintendo handhelds. And that is their most prominent competitor.

What is an upstart like them to Nintendo?

It wasn't meant to compete against neither the 3DS, nor the PS Vita, it was meant simply for retro geeks (like myself) who ever wanted to have a "Neo-Geo" system, that's also portable, loaded with (very few) roms that could also be connected to your TV via HDMI and you could also use a nifty arcade stick.

It's exactly like one of those retro consoles that can load SNES/Genesis/NES cartdridges and connect it to your TV via HDMI, it's not meant to compete against the PS3 or 360, but just for collectors or retro geeks.

OT: Well, it's a shame. After watching Ashens review about it, I was dissapointed and simply stuck with MAME, now I'm curious to know what happened between SNK and Tommo, especially if this means they'll look into another manufacturer that can revamp the system and iron out it's original flaws.

 

[CyberAkuma]

The thing was an overpriced hunk of plastic. Ironic how NeoGeo hardware was heavily overpriced in the 90's which lead to their demise; and how this applies to the modern day NeoGeo X as well. Funny how things turn out.

The thing costs as much as a Sony PS VITA and is a crappy plastic handheld with an awful software emulator running it.
Not worth the $200 bucks it costs. It is too bad because I really wanted this to succeed but it seems like SNKs incompetence and overpricing lead to its well-deserved demise.

Damn shame

 

[Snotnarok]

Given how bad this thing was it's not really a surprise. I think the only redeeming qualities was the joystick on the unit, and the stick in the handheld

 

[Drummodino]

Never heard of it. Therefore won't miss it.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

...I don't recall these things being marketed or, promoted at all. I found mine on clearance at a Target but since they were released I hadn't seen another, single, physical unit at any retailer (Gamestop included). Oh well: I never had a chance to grab the additional game pack thing and it doesn't look like I'll be able to get one now. Not that I really used my NGX much to begin with.

 

[Dragonbums]

Spoiler: Snip.

I had never even heard of the thing.

Honestly though, what did they expect?

I'm not saying it's impossible to make something out of the handheld console market, but the time to do that was when the 3DS, and Vita were doing shit.

Now? The 3DS library is so rich, only the picky and financially unstable wouldn't want a 3DS.

I mean, come on, Sony- Nintendo's only competitor in the handheld market for years, still can't actually prove even so much as a nuisance to Nintendo handhelds. And that is their most prominent competitor.

What is an upstart like them to Nintendo?

It wasn't meant to compete against neither the 3DS, nor the PS Vita, it was meant simply for retro geeks (like myself) who ever wanted to have a "Neo-Geo" system, that's also portable, loaded with (very few) roms that could also be connected to your TV via HDMI and you could also use a nifty arcade stick.

It's exactly like one of those retro consoles that can load SNES/Genesis/NES cartdridges and connect it to your TV via HDMI, it's not meant to compete against the PS3 or 360, but just for collectors or retro geeks.

OT: Well, it's a shame. After watching Ashens review about it, I was dissapointed and simply stuck with MAME, now I'm curious to know what happened between SNK and Tommo, especially if this means they'll look into another manufacturer that can revamp the system and iron out it's original flaws.

I had never even heard of the thing.

Honestly though, what did they expect?

I'm not saying it's impossible to make something out of the handheld console market, but the time to do that was when the 3DS, and Vita were doing shit.

Now? The 3DS library is so rich, only the picky and financially unstable wouldn't want a 3DS.

I mean, come on, Sony- Nintendo's only competitor in the handheld market for years, still can't actually prove even so much as a nuisance to Nintendo handhelds. And that is their most prominent competitor.

What is an upstart like them to Nintendo?

It's not just a handheld, it connects to the TV via HDMI and there's also a limited (and sold out) edition that comes with a docking station and a joystick that look and feel like the original home version of the NEO GEO. The target audience are people who couldn't buy the original extremely expensive home console (each game cost like a 7th-generation console today). The main problem with this "console" is that it's actually a generic device that runs an emulator, and does it poorly (According to all the reviews I watched).

Ah, okay.

Yeah, I really had no idea what that thing was.

But...if emulation is one of it's big features, how the hell does it fail about emulating it's own games?

 

[Doom972]

Spoiler: Snip.

I had never even heard of the thing.

Honestly though, what did they expect?

I'm not saying it's impossible to make something out of the handheld console market, but the time to do that was when the 3DS, and Vita were doing shit.

Now? The 3DS library is so rich, only the picky and financially unstable wouldn't want a 3DS.

I mean, come on, Sony- Nintendo's only competitor in the handheld market for years, still can't actually prove even so much as a nuisance to Nintendo handhelds. And that is their most prominent competitor.

What is an upstart like them to Nintendo?

It wasn't meant to compete against neither the 3DS, nor the PS Vita, it was meant simply for retro geeks (like myself) who ever wanted to have a "Neo-Geo" system, that's also portable, loaded with (very few) roms that could also be connected to your TV via HDMI and you could also use a nifty arcade stick.

It's exactly like one of those retro consoles that can load SNES/Genesis/NES cartdridges and connect it to your TV via HDMI, it's not meant to compete against the PS3 or 360, but just for collectors or retro geeks.

OT: Well, it's a shame. After watching Ashens review about it, I was dissapointed and simply stuck with MAME, now I'm curious to know what happened between SNK and Tommo, especially if this means they'll look into another manufacturer that can revamp the system and iron out it's original flaws.

I had never even heard of the thing.

Honestly though, what did they expect?

I'm not saying it's impossible to make something out of the handheld console market, but the time to do that was when the 3DS, and Vita were doing shit.

Now? The 3DS library is so rich, only the picky and financially unstable wouldn't want a 3DS.

I mean, come on, Sony- Nintendo's only competitor in the handheld market for years, still can't actually prove even so much as a nuisance to Nintendo handhelds. And that is their most prominent competitor.

What is an upstart like them to Nintendo?

It's not just a handheld, it connects to the TV via HDMI and there's also a limited (and sold out) edition that comes with a docking station and a joystick that look and feel like the original home version of the NEO GEO. The target audience are people who couldn't buy the original extremely expensive home console (each game cost like a 7th-generation console today). The main problem with this "console" is that it's actually a generic device that runs an emulator, and does it poorly (According to all the reviews I watched).

Ah, okay.

Yeah, I really had no idea what that thing was.

But...if emulation is one of it's big features, how the hell does it fail about emulating it's own games?

I wouldn't call that a feature. As an official SNK product, people expected it to run the games natively using actual NEO GEO hardware. Using emulation makes this product redundant, as emulation is easily available for common devices such as PCs, tablets and smartphones, and SNK has released most (if not all) of the NEO GEO's games to other consoles, like Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP.

 

[Something Amyss]

Honestly though, what did they expect?

I'm not saying it's impossible to make something out of the handheld console market, but the time to do that was when the 3DS, and Vita were doing shit.

That's not what happened, though. They endorsed it, then demanded it stop production. There's no information about sales whatsoever. It's not like this just massively failed. Someone pulled the plug. Maybe because it was shit, but that's not well-covered either.

 

[jpoon]

SNK must be massive morons to do this, the world will just go back to stealing all their software as usual due to their stupidity.

I guess I'm not that surprised honestly.

 

[Urgh76]

And here I thought this post would be about Titans

 

[Dragonbums]

And here I thought this post would be about Titans

Well there is indeed an Attack on Titans game coming out on the 3DS.

For a second I thought they meant they cancelled that game.