Review: Super Pocket Neo Geo Edition

Once upon a time, if you wanted to play Neo Geo games, it took serious financial investment. The original Neo Geo AES (Advanced Entertainment System) home console launched at $650 in 1991, equivalent to about $1,535 in 2025. Games would sell for around $200, around $472 today.

The hook, for an emerging underground of gamers, was that the AES was identical at a hardware level to manufacturer SNK's MVS (Multi Video System) coin-op cabinets, meaning games played at home were indistinguishable from those played in arcades. If you wanted that authentic experience, you quite literally paid the price.

How times have changed. Now you can get some of the greatest Neo Geo games of all time for pocket money. The Super Pocket Neo Geo Edition packs in 14 titles, built into an ultra-portable handheld console, for less than the price of one contemporary “triple A” game. It's a delight for nostalgic players or those who want to experience some true gaming classics, but there are several compromises to swallow before you can enjoy it.

Pocketable Fun

Photograph: Matt Kamen

The Neo Geo Edition is the latest entry in an ongoing line of Super Pocket handhelds, each focused on a classic developer or publisher’s titles, made by retro gaming specialist Blaze Entertainment. If that name rings a bell, that's because it's the same manufacturer behind the Evercade hardware system, which includes handhelds, home consoles, and mini arcade cabinets, all of which are linked by universal support for physical Evercade game cartridges.

Although released under Blaze's "Hyper Mega Tech!" brand, the Super Pocket is also compatible with those carts, so at a glance it might appear to be yet another hardware variation, swapping the horizontal orientation of the Evercade EXP for a vertical, unabashedly Game Boy-inspired layout for maximum retro clout.

However, the Super Pocket is quite different to use. It's even smaller than the Evercade handhelds, measuring 125 mm tall, 78 mm wide, and 25 mm thick—your phone is probably larger overall. That diminutive stature, combined with its vertical orientation, means it can feel too small in larger hands.

It's surprisingly well-appointed with inputs, though, with a nicely responsive D-pad with clearly defined directions that ensure it feels fantastic under the thumb, four face buttons (A, B, X, Y), and L1/L2/R1/R2 "shoulder" buttons relocated to the rear. Those don't come into play for the included Neo Geo games, but they ensure compatibility with games on other Evercade carts that might require them—although once again, the small size of the unit makes these relocated shoulder buttons a bit tricky to place your fingers on in a usable way.

The integrated 2.8-inch, 320 x 240 IPS display does a fine job for on-the-go play—it's bright and boasts good viewing angles—and comes with some software-level tweaks to replicate scanline effects for a period-appropriate touch. You can also opt for a pixel-perfect, full-screen, or original ratio display modes. The speaker, while a bit tinny at full volume, does a good-enough job of pumping out game audio, but a 3.5-mm audio jack at the base allows you to connect better headphones—a recommended upgrade to enjoy the chiptune soundtracks. There's no wireless connectivity at all for Bluetooth headsets or Wi-Fi.

Retro Roster

Photograph: Matt Kamen

The hardware of the Super Pocket is the same for every model Blaze has released, though what makes this one noteworthy is the roster of Neo Geo games. It's a solid representation of SNK's library from back in the day, representing everything from 2D fighters (Fatal Fury Special) and scrolling beat-’em-ups (Mutation Nation)—two genres that dominated SNK's creative output—to platformers (Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy), run-and-gun shooters (the iconic Metal Slug X), shmups (Blazing Star), and even a token racer and sports game (Over Top and Soccer Brawl, respectively).

The rest of the line-up consists of Alpha Mission II, King of the Monsters 2, Last Resort, Samurai Shodown II, Sengoku 3, Shock Trooper: 2nd Squad, and The Last Blade. While some of these are far from household names, almost all of them did something interesting or pioneering at the time. It's great to have them so easily available.

The Super Pocket, like Evercade, runs games through emulation, which seems to result in a slightly concerning green screen whenever a title boots up, but you soon realize it's nothing to worry about. While all the included games here are presented in their original arcade form (rather than later console ports, say), emulation allows for up to four save states to be created for each title—a godsend when you're deep in a Fatal Fury Special session and get interrupted.

However, while Evercade systems give you a little prelaunch menu screen explaining the background or history of a game, Super Pocket launches straight into whichever game you've selected. It's perhaps the most striking distinction in ethos between the two platforms—Evercade feels like a gallery as much as an arcade, wanting to celebrate why an included game is historically important, whereas Super Pocket wants to get you playing as soon as possible.

Photograph: Matt Kamen

The biggest difference from the Evercade handhelds, though, is that the Super Pocket has no HDMI or other form of screen output, which presents the biggest problem for this particular collection. (A USB-C port at the bottom is purely for charging the battery—expect about four hours of play time.) One of the original selling points of the Neo Geo was its highly intricate and beautifully animated pixel art graphics. Unfortunately, the Super Pocket's tiny screen doesn't serve some of these titles especially well—the scrolling shooters in particular get so busy it's often tough to keep track of what's happening (leading to liberal use of those virtualized save states).

While Blaze has confirmed three different collections of Neo Geo games coming as Evercade carts, there are no overlaps with the titles built-in on the Super Pocket, meaning within this particular retro ecosystem, the 14 games here are stuck here and can't be played anywhere else—a real shame, when Metal Slug X alone shines on a bigger display thanks to its nuanced and charismatic animation.

Still, a lot of those shortcomings feel like a fair trade given the fantastic value. The Super Pocket Neo Geo Edition may not be the finest way to experience some of these games, but it is a blast to have them so readily accessible. It's the pinnacle of “pick up and play,” an eminently portable library of retro classics divorced of any distractions. If you meet the Super Pocket on its level, realize that the petite handhelds form their own collectible set of which this is one entry, it's hard not to be charmed.