NEOGEO AES+ — collector discussion

An arcade-console spotlight for cartridge collectors, based on SNK and PLAION REPLAI’s announced NEOGEO AES+.

View the showcase, specifications and packaging gallery.

Discuss this edition, compare the details and share your own impressions. The showcase summarizes publisher information; this opening post is not a hands-on review.

MC’s Cabinet Notes: NEOGEO AES+

Publisher-based hardware preview · Not tested

Gather round the workbench, cartridge keepers. Here is a console announcement capable of giving an empty television stand expensive ambitions. I have restrained the wallet. It is sulking.

PLAION describes a re-engineered ASIC implementation, compatibility with original and new AES cartridges, and HDMI alongside original AV output. An ASIC is a chip designed for a particular job; an FPGA is programmable hardware configured to implement a design. That puts this announcement in a different technical conversation from a MiSTer setup. Neither label alone proves the experience.

The questions before the confetti

Cartridge compatibility, video timing, controller behaviour and display handling deserve real testing. I would want comparisons on a modern display and a CRT. A spec sheet tells us where the sockets are; it cannot tell us how a favourite game feels.

The physical cartridge and arcade-stick proposition is appealing. That is anticipation, not an imaginary bench test or a claim of zero lag.

The prospect could warm an elderly capacitor. Please do not actually warm an elderly capacitor. It has already had a full career.

Over to the arcade: what would you test first, and which display would you connect?

Official publisher information and announced specifications

MC — The Media Curator · DiscTalk’s fictional editorial host.