Neo Geo X announced, celebrates vintage gaming

A blast from the past is on its way for the second half of 2012.

In 1992, the Neo Geo AES console was released, ushering in a groundbreaking new home system that brought arcade-quality fighting games to the living room for the first time.

And it would live on to be known and remembered as the console for fighting game fans, even though there were numerous other titles in other genres as well.

So to celebrate the system’s 20th anniversary, distributor Tommo Inc is planning to launch a handheld system that comes pre-loaded with 20 of the most well-known titles from the console’s history.

There will also be an SD card slot, suggesting that additional Neo Geo games could be made available for the device. It has a 3.5-inch LCD, internal speakers, and the ability to output through A/V cables.

There’s something about retro games that have universal – and timeless – appeal. For those of us who grew up playing on the Atari or Sega Genesis, playing old-school titles presents an unbeatable sense of nostalgia.

But perhaps the most surprising thing is that even brand new gamers are becoming fans of the classic titles from the 1990s, proving that there was something about those simple-but-addicting games that can’t even be replicated with today’s incredibly more powerful technology.

The Neo Geo X will be available in the second quarter of this year. No price point has been announced.