SNK Playmore is celebrating their 40th anniversary with the tease of new hardware for 2018. A Japanese tweet from the fabled publisher reads:
“This year, SNK celebrates its 40th anniversary. It is with gratitude towards the fans who have supported SNK’s titles, including The King of Fighters, Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, and Metal Slug, that we introduce a new game machine that compiles the popular titles of Neo Geo! Please look forward to it. The Future is Now!”
今年、SNKブランドは40周年を迎えます。『KOF』『餓狼伝説』『サムスピ』『メタスラ』など、SNKの作品を支持して頂いているファンの皆様への感謝の気持ちを込め、NEOGEOの人気タイトルを収録した新しいゲーム機が登場します！ご期待ください。The Future is Now! #SNK #SNK40th #NEOGEO #ネオジオ pic.twitter.com/zxXK5QQ8D2
— SNK JAPAN (@SNKPofficial_jp) April 19, 2018
SNK’s catalog of arcade ports and originals from the Neo Geo is widely available, of course, having been ported across Wii, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and more. The company has even had an earlier piece of hardware this very decade: the Neo Geo X. Made under license with Tommo, the short-lived 2012 handheld came with 20 built-in games and could play more via game cards. It even connected to a TV and could connect to its own arcade stick.
A potential Neo Geo mini would be timely in 2018, coming on the heels of a retro revival in the form of miniaturized hardware such as the NES and SNES Classics and the just-announced SEGA Mega Drive Mini. No further details on this mystery SNK box were given, including when it might come out.
