Yeah, I know Pac-Man just celebrated his fortieth anniversary, and I want to talk about it, really! But not right now. I haven't gathered my thoughts on the subject yet.
In the meantime, I'd like to talk a bit about the Neo-Geo Mini. Opinions on the pint-sized system range from "eh, it gets the job done" to "they were charging $120 for THIS?!," but thanks to the efforts of a handful of hackers, it's getting better. A guy named Shinrukus has been singularly dedicated to the device, crafting new firmware builds which expand the system's library of games. Not to be outdone, another hacker named hy-lo is working on the option to select a BIOS, restoring the blood in Metal Slug and eliminating the four credit limit in other games. (Back in the far-flung year of 1992, you'd buy a Neo-Geo game for two hundred dollars, and you get a dollar's worth of credits to play it. Gee, sale of the century there.)
The brass ring, of course, is eliminating the pixel smearing in the Neo-Geo Mini's HDMI output. Hy-lo claims that this is feasible, but may require "weeks to months" of reverse engineering. If you're not that patient, you could always buy the Neo-Geo Arcade Pro Stick for around a hundred dollars, which never had the problem in the first place. Personally speaking, I've got way too many joysticks already. I just got rid of a joystick... I don't need more freaking joysticks! I'll just wait for whatever solution these guys have to offer, whenever it's available.
Random observations on the classic gaming scene, courtesy of the former editor of The Gameroom Blitz.
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