SNK announced on April 16th, 2026 that it and Plaion Replai will release the NeoGeo AES+, a brand new cartridge-based console based off the original NeoGeo AES system. The announcement has been timed to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the release of the original NeoGeo system in North America back in 1991. The system is projected to hit the market on November 12th, 2026. Pre-orders are available now through Plaion Replai’s website.
You can watch the announcement trailer down below:
Notably, the NeoGeo AES+ will use ASIC chips the same as the original NeoGeo AES. It will not use software emulation to play the cartridges. Old AES game cartridges produced in the 1990’s and 2000’s will therefore be 100% backwards compatible with the new system.
The library of titles available at launch numbers ten titles. The titles include the following:
- Metal Slug
- The King of Fighters 2002
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves
- Big Tournament Golf
- Shock Troopers
- Samurai Shodown V Special
- Pulstar
- Twinkle Star Sprites
- Magician Lord
- and Over Top.
Plaion Replai will release the console in three different versions with separate price points. The standard NeoGeo AES+ will retail for $249.99. It comes in the original black color scheme of the classic NeoGeo system. The NeoGeo AES+ Anniversary Edition will retail at US$349.99 in a white color scheme. It will include a memory card, wireless dongle for the arcade stick, and a cartridge of Metal Slug. Lastly there will be the the NeoGeo AES+ Ultimate Edition for US$999.99. Produced in the classic black color scheme, The Ultimate Edition will include all ten launch titles, a memory card, an arcade stick, gamepad, wireless dongles for both the arcade stick and gamepad, and a specially designed game-rack to hold all ten cartridges.
Additional AES arcade sticks, gamepads, and memory cards will be available for separate purchase.
SNK originally launched the NeoGeo AES system back in April 1990. Billed as a 24-bit video game system, it was among the most powerful on the market at the time. The home console version and the arcade boards used the exact same hardware. The games were therefore ‘100% arcade perfect’ regardless of what platform they were played on. The NeoGeo AES became obsolescent by advancing technology from the mid-1990’s, but it continued to be very popular. Game companies would continue to produce new titles for the system through 2004.
The AES was initially a rental system only. Its rapidly growing popularity however led to SNK selling it as a home console in July 1991. The NeoGeo AES developed a devoted fanbase in spite of its extremely high price tag of US$649.99 (equivalent to $1,540 in 2025). That fanbase continued to support it for over a decade until SNK’s bankruptcy in October 2001. SNK sold 1,000,000 units in Japan and another 180,000 across the rest of the world.
SNK, an arcade game developer originally founded in 1978 by Eikichi Kawasaki, has gone through a number of ownership and name changes in the past twenty-five years since its bankruptcy. In 2023, after years of wrangling over intellectual property rights, it was able to fully reclaim the old SNK name and logo and rebranded itself as full successor to the original company. Currently the Electronic Gaming Development Company, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian-based MiSK Foundation, owns 96% of the controlling stock.
