Hey everyone, just joined the site to reply to this thread.
Now, I know Neo fans are the craziest of the crazy, but I feel as though some of you aren't giving this thing a fair chance, or understand who this is being targeted at. I'm 29, I grewup during the peak of the Arcade scene, and the peak of gaming in general. I owned every console available as a kid, except for the AES. The reasons for not owning one were obvious, but the desire to own some form of the Neo along with a handful of games has never left me.
Well, sadly, I still can't afford nor justify the investment required to be like one of you folks, BUT this Neo Geo X thing is potentially providing me with the chance to finally own a somewhat authentic Neo Geo console in some form, along with MOST of the games I would buy if I could afford the actual AES. The game selection isn't much of an issue for me, because I was never fond of the games that came late in the Neo's life to begin with (Last Blades and MOTW being the few exceptions). Magician Lord, Fatal Fury, SamSho2, Metal Slug, Cyberlip etc etc, these older titles ARE Neo Geo to me.
I'm not a fan of the current gaming landscape at all. I hate and detest games like Uncharted, Heavy Rain and all of these developers and their games sapping the fun, charm and soul out of videogames by trying to mimic shitty Hollywood movies with no imagination or sense of wonder, and a terribly linear, borderline "automatic" experience. I don't own any of the current consoles anymore and have resorted to playing retro games almost exclusively because of this. To me, videogames as they were meant to be died off when the Dreamcast did.
I can't afford an AES. I don't have the room for a cabinet.
If the joystick is solid (and can be bought for a 2nd player) and emulation is near perfect, I will be dropping the money on this without a second thought. This is finally my chance to own an official SNK Neo Geo product and relive my glory days of getting my ass beat by Tung Fu Ru! This product isn't meant for the guy who owns Metal Slug 1 on AES, this is meant for people like me who have fond memories of a console they could never experience at home.
I'm looking forward to a hands-on from somebody who isn't going to be all like "for $200 you can buy a MVS multicart, blah blah"