As a game enthusiast with limited financial resources I have often found it necessary to organise how to go about adding to my collection. In the past few years I have made purchases based more on my personal preferences and interests rather than its collectors value. Whereas a boxed Virtual Boy might look very nice on my shelf, that extra piece of cardboard packaging could pay for a lot of SNES games,  and lets be honest, who would want Water World over Mario World? The problem is that space on my shelf is still calling to me.

Heres a picture of it… Wait is that art?

I have been collecting casually for many many years (technically since I got my SNES and Super Metroid back when I was a lot shorter), often buying things when I see good deals in the flea and cyber markets. I now own the entire back catalogued of key Sega/Nintendo systems (minus a Master System for some reason), an Atari 2600, a Japanese PlayStation and my personal pride, a boxed Jaguar I found purely by accident. All of these have provided with me a lot of enjoyment and a sense of satisfaction when I see them sitting in a neat line on the aforementioned shelf. However the problem with being a collector of anything is that eventually you have to move out of the uncommon sector and towards the rarer stuff; specifically for me the Neo-Geo, TurboGrafx 16 and 3DO. This means you have to transverse the often sudden price rise.

The question I am faced with is simply are they worth it? The most I have ever paid for a console (retro) is £50 for my Sega CD, with my average cost being somewhere between £20-40, around one-tenth the price of a working Neo-Geo. I can’t help but feel these three would essentially ’round off’ my collection, (after that things get much more obscure and much more costly), but spending so much money on something purely to say I own it does not make me feel very comfortable. It always reminds me of the man in the bible story who kept hoarding more and more grain, but then died before he got to enjoy his wealth. In other words having a big pile of stuff is ultimately useless in the end, so we should not be so desperate to put it before the well-being of others. On the other hand, video games give me a simple pleasure and a point of engagement with other humans. Now this is all getting to deep. The point I am trying to make is I want to be able expand my collection without it costing me a fortune. This brings me to the Neo-Geo X.

‘No wonder people call NEOGEO the Bugatti brand of gaming!’ – Actual quote from website…

For those who are not aware, the Neo-Geo X is a brand new, reborn Neo-Geo built to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original system. The basic unit is a small handheld similar to Sega’s Arcade Ultimate Portable, and comes with 20 ‘classic’ pre-loaded games. So far, so average. Companies like Sega and Atari have been releasing these sort of X-in-1 and plug-n-play systems for a long time. But the Neo-Geo X has one key selling feature; if you pay extra for the Gold bundle, the hand-held also comes with a full size replica of the original console, complete with controller and HDMI output. All this for the relatively low price of £129. That means someone like me can now have their Neo-Geo cake and eat it, as a cheaper alternative to the real thing. Well maybe not exactly…

Sadly, and as is always the case, there is a catch. The platform cannot play the original game carts. It is essentially a Neo-Geo shaped case into which the portable is placed, allowing it to be played on the big screen. Granted it does allow the use of the of the traditional arcade stick but for £129 this seems like an empty gesture.

Also it comes in a nice box. No really.

In my opinion the Neo-Geo X is a missed opportunity and is unlikely to sell well. Those people who just want to play Metal Slug et al will find ports pretty much anywhere, whereas those who are interested in the Neo-Geo for its collectors cred will want to seek out the real thing and its cartridges (which are in themselves just as interesting and collectible as the console). The X does not seem to be aimed at either group and so will likely fall between the gap. If it had been a full functional rebuild, they may well have been onto something and hit a core group of gamers who like myself who want something with all the benefits of the original without the large price tag.

There is clearly a demand for retro games right now and plenty of second-hand stuff is available to those who want it. Whilst 10-20 years ago the technology behind these consoles might have had a high cost, now its worth less than the average children’s toy. The games we played on them are likely to live a lot longer, so as the systems begin to wear out and break down, (and copyright licences being to expire) it is not hard to imagine 3rd person companies stepping in to build replica games machines. In fact I am sure someone in China is building an NES deck right now. If SNK really want to make some extra cash from all those carts floating around out there, they should have considered building an actually Neo-Geo, because there is an empty space for it on my shelf and an equally empty space in my wallet.

This is a different empty space.

Images of the Neo Geo X belong to its developers. http://neogeox.com/