Review of Super Pocket Neo Geo Edition: Pocket Fun

Once up to a Time, if you wanted to play Neo Geo games, took serious financial investments. The original house console Neo Geo Aes (Advanced Entertainment System) was launched at $ 650 in 1991, equivalent to about $ 1,535 in 2025. The games sell for about $ 200, about $ 472 today.

The hook, for an emerging subsoil of players, was that the AES was identical at the hardware level for the MVS (Multi Video System) furniture of the SNK producer (Multi Video System), which means that the games played at home were indistinguishable from those played in the arcades. If you wanted that authentic experience, you literally paid the price.

How the times have changed. Now you can get some of the largest neo geo games of all time for pocket money. The Super Pocket Neo Geo Edition Packets in 14 titles, integrated into an ultra -portable portable console, unless the price of a “contemporary” triple a game. It is a delight for nostalgic players or for those who want to experience some true game classics, but there are several compromises to be swallowed before you can enjoy it.

Pocket fun

Photography: Matt Kamen

The new Geo Edition is the last item of a line in the course of Palmari Super Pocket, each focused on a classic developer or publisher titles, made by the Blaze Entertainment Retro Game Specialist. If that name plays a bell, it is because it is the same producer behind the Hardware System Evecadewhich includes Palmari, domestic consoles and arcade mini wardrobes, all connected by the universal support for the physical subvercade game cartridges.

Even if released under “Hyper Mega Tech!” By Blaze! Brand, The Super Pocket is also compatible with those trolleys, so at a glance it might seem yet another hardware variation, exchanging the horizontal orientation of EVERCADE EXP for a vertical and brazenly inspired layout for the game for the highest retro weight.

However, the super pocket is quite different to use. It is even smaller than the Palmari subrcade, of height 125 mm, 78 mm wide and often 25 mm: your phone is probably larger overall. That reduced stature, combined with its vertical orientation, means that it can feel too small in the larger hands.

It is surprisingly well furnished with the inputs, however, with a well-reactive D-PAD with clearly defined directions that ensure that they feel fantastic under the thumb, four face-to-face buttons (A, B, X, Y) and L1/L2/R1/R2 “buttons” shoulders to the back. Those do not come into play for the Neo Geo games included, but ensure compatibility with games on other sub -market trolleys that may require them, even if once again, the small size of the unit make these shoulder buttons transferred a little difficult to position the fingers that can be used.