<div class="header-image"></div> <table class="table-header"> <thead> <tr> <th colspan="2"></th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>2026-04-24</td> <td style="text-align: right;"><a href="About.md" class="internal-link">About</a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> # Bring On the Retro-Console Revival!  It was announced last week that the [Neo Geo AES console would be recreated](https://presse.plaion.com/SNK-and-PLAION-Announce-the-Return-of-the-King-The-NEOGEO-AES-Comes-Ho) using re-engineered ASIC chips. The response has been overwhelming and has already sold out. There have been, in recent years, "mini-consoles" released that included good number of games. Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and others have all gone this route. The Mini console would emulate the hardware of the old system, and include a menu that allowed for game selection and some other perks like scanlines. The systems were closed, meaning no games could be added without modification. This new console would be, for all intents and purposes, exact replicas of the old consoles from the 90s, meaning that they will play all the old cartridges too. Not only that, 10 recreated carts will also be manufactured and they can be played on either the new AES+ or the original 90s AES console. Everything about this has been done right. It's as if they asked directly of retro gaming enthusiasts "if you were to release a new AES console, what would it be, and what games would you release?" I want to get into what makes this so perfect, but I'll need to get into some technical details first: ## What is an ASIC chip? An ASIC chip (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) is a type of computer chip that is custom-designed for one specific task or application, instead of being a general-purpose chip like a CPU or GPU. The benefit of ASIC chips are high speed and low power, and are cheap to reproduce, though more time-consuming and much more expensive to actually develop. The original AES used ASIC chips, and so does the AES+. FPGA chips (Field-Programmable Gate Array), on the other hand, are specific-task, but programmable. This makes them more flexible, and cheaper to produce, but are slower and less efficient. I don't want to get too into the weeds here, but it definitely needs to be pointed out that a fellow who goes by the moniker "Furrtek" seems to have been a paid consultant in the manufacture of these new ASIC chips for the AES+. Furrtek is a bit of a legend in the retro gaming community, particularly in the NeoGeo community. He has reverse-engineered many old custom chips from arcade cabinets, notably Capcom cabs, and, of course, NeoGeo. Furrtek was responsible for the Neo Geo MiSTer FPGA core[^1], used in the MiSTer retro consoles. He also created the Fusion Converter — an MVS-to-AES cartridge adapter that lets you play cheaper MVS cartridges on AES consoles[^2]. This only scratches the surface of Furrtek's contributions. So when he posts something like this to his Patreon, I've every reason to believe its authenticity:  It seems that his code for the NeoGeo MiSTer FPGA core was used to manufacture the new ASIC chips. This is a big deal, from my perspective: it really shows that SNK is serious about making this a quality reproduction. This is *definitely* not just another emulated mini-console. I also think it's no coincidence that this announcement perfectly coincides with not only the 35th anniversary of the NeoGeo platform, April 26 also marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the Metal Slug MVS cart. And according to the official Metal Slug twitter account, a "Mission Reboot" is in the works:  Many, including myself, are of the mind that this is tantamount to saying that a new Metal Slug game for the AES+ is in the works. I would even go so far as to say that this is not just a reboot of the Metal Slug series but the AES+ marks a reboot of the console itself. I think that, not only can we expect the rest of the Neo Geo library to be rereleased as AES+ carts, but also other arcade ports (perhaps of Capcom and PGA games!), and new games too! When the NeoGeo systems (the AES and the MVS) were developed, the idea was to bridge the gap between the arcade and home consoles. The memory cards used for AES game saves and high scores (like the memory cards for other consoles), could be inserted into MVS cabinets at the arcade so games could continue and high scores could still be transferred. Thus, games developed for the NeoGeo systems had to keep the arcade in mind. This kept the genres of games developed for it artificially narrow. It's not an accident that probably more than half of the games are fighters, when the system was most popular during the 90s fighting boom of the arcades. But SNK can now, with arcades being all but extinct (other than a few retro free-to-play arcade bars), truly embrace the console format. Imagine some new RPGs to be developed specifically for the AES+! If the momentum behind this continues, this could be the beginning of a complete resurgence of the cartridge-based format for home consoles, and the neo-retro style of 2D sprites and pixelised games. [^1]: The Neo Geo core for MiSTer FPGA is a highly accurate open-source FPGA implementation of SNK's Neo Geo hardware. It recreates the original Neo Geo chipset using FPGA (instead of software emulation), delivering near-perfect accuracy in graphics, sound, timing, and gameplay. [^2]: MVS cartridges are for the "big red" Neo Geo arcade cabinets, while AES carts are for home system consoles. The games for either are exactly the same and compatible with each other. Conversion adapters exist to insert an MVS cart (which are generally cheaper to buy on the open market) into an AES console.