A day before our three-week total lockdown I got a delivery from Amazon, the NEOGEO Arcade Stick Pro. It’s an arcade stick pre-installed with 20 old-school NEOGEO games. I’m a huge fan of NEOGEO ever since I was a kid since it was an unattainable gaming console back then due to the costs involved which was extremely high. Back in the 90s a single game could easily cost over 100KD for example, so paying 40KD for a NEOGEO arcade stick with 20 games included seems like a steal.
But, I really wasn’t interested in the games that were included, instead, the reason I wanted to get the Arcade Stick Pro is that someone found a way to install even more old-school games onto it.
Like all the classic mini-consoles that have gotten released over the past few years, the Arcade Stick Pro runs off USB power and connects to your TV via an HDMI cable. I spent hours and hours the first week of lockdown going through nearly 2,000 classic games from the 80s and 90s one by one. Whichever game I liked or reminded me of my childhood, I put aside to create my ultimate old school gaming playlist. The Arcade Stick Pro was obviously best at emulating NEOGEO games but it also did a great job of emulating other home consoles and arcade systems like CPS1, CPS2, and more. I wasn’t interested in emulating home consoles though since I could do that with my SNES mini and my Odroid Go Advance. Instead, what I really wanted to do was emulate games I used to play in the arcades when I was a kid and shooting scrollers (both horizontal and vertical) like Blazing Star and Mars Matrix which the Arcade Stick Pro did a phenomenal job with.
If you don’t want to copy your own games onto the Arcade Stick Pro, the system comes with 20 fighting games built-in and an additional 14 bonus games which includes a bunch of Metal Slug games and Super Sidekicks. The Metal Slug series alone would be worth the $120 price tag.
There aren’t really any negatives, except for one major inconvenience. With my SNES Classic mini system, I have it set up next to my TV and I bought a wireless controller for it. This means I can sit back on my couch and play games comfortably without having to worry about running power and HDMI cables. With the Arcade Stick Pro, the actual controller is the console so you need to have power and HDMI running to wherever you’re sitting. So if your couch is 3 meters away from your TV, you need a 3 meter long HDMI cable running to your couch and a USB cable to power up the system. It’s a hassle and anytime I think about wanting to play on it I have to think about setting it up. A second issue that might be a problem to some people but isn’t for me is 2-player games, if you want to play 2-player games you need to purchase an extra controller for it which is another $25.
I really do love this arcade stick and it made the lockdown a lot more bearable for me. If you’re looking for an affordable arcade stick that can run some of your old favorite NEOGEO and arcade games, this is a pretty great option. The stick costs $120 on Amazon and I think I paid KD14 for shipping and customs. I wasn’t able to find it here but Rihab Complex was also closed back then so they might have it now.
19 replies on “Review: NEOGEO Arcade Stick Pro”
You could download most of these titles via PSN, and they would probably cost a whole lot less than $120 tthat Neo Geo is charging.
Also, no KoF94, so that’s pretty much a deal breaker for me.
Well lets calculate:
34 games x $5.99 and you end up with $204
Thats how much it would cost to you to purchase all those games on the PSN.
Then you also need to purchase an arcade stick so thats another $40 for the cheapest one I could find on Amazon so you’re at $250 already.
So double the price of the NeoGeo Arcade Stick and you get a less superior arcade stick. Thats also not taking into account the benefit of the NeoGEo hack that will allow you to play the thousands of other arcade games on it.
oops forgot to add the price of the playstation which is another $300
Fair play. But I was going with the assumption that most people interested in gaming would already have a PS4, considering the fact that its ONLY the second highest selling console of all time.
Moreover, Sony keeps pushing out retro games bundle deals, for example I was able to download the entire 2D KoF anthology for $9.99, that’s 10 games, each costing 99 cents a pop. Also, PSN currently has the Metal Slug anthology series for $19.99, so there’s that.
Mind you, the total would be a bit higher than the $120 that Neo Geo is charging, I’ll give you that. But having these games in your PlayStation library is just more convenient.
Lastly, you could spend money to buy an arcade stick, or you could spend a whole lot less and build one yourself, and you get the added bonus of a DIY project on your hands.
My cousin has built several arcade boxes out of wood and old arcade buttons and joysticks from Japan, cost pennies on the dollar to be honest
Yes for sure, there are multiple ways of going about this from downloading old games onto your PlayStation or Switch to building your own arcade cabinet. In my case I chose to go with the stick since I’m getting a PVM and will connect the stick to it so it becomes my old school console. There is a convenience factor to buying something ready made than building my own although eventually I’ll probably move to a high end Pandora’s box with Samwa buttons and stick.
You should use it on a standing table. I think one of the best thing about the arcade was bashing those buttons during combos in King of fighters or Marvel vs Capcom.
Stand at a table (You would have to raise your display as well) and bash those buttons while really hitting that stick. That’s where the experience lies (especially during lockdown). Laying back on your sofa with this on the coffee table or lap is not the same thing.
yeah true but it’s so much more comfortable playing while sinking deep into my couch 😅
Thanks Mark, I have been browsing the internet for a month looking for just this. There’s plenty out there, but they all seem to have a negative. Was hard to add the additional games
The console has a USB port in the back so I just load up the games on my USB and plug it in.
Just like your last recommendation (handheld emulator)…purchased. Thanks, Mark!
Did you get an Odroid? If yes where from, eBay?
So, I actually got a Gamebound LDK from Amazon. I liked the form factor a little better, and the ability to load a different MAME shell that handles a wider variety of roms was appealing. It seems to run C64 fairly well. Love it, and yours was a great review of that type of device. It totally filled a gap, and it’s easier to take to my office than my laptop! If I can find a solid handheld Colecovision emulator, I can die a happy dude.
lol yeah LDK is great, the only reason I got the Odroid is because it also emulates the Dreamcast which I love.
Dreamcast. That was a pretty niche system. I bought that just for Slave Zero, and the removable tomagatchi memory card.
Go for PICADE / retropie and build your own system
Sega, nintendo, NeoGeo, Atari etc.
There are so many options for sure but at $120 the Arcade Stick Pro is fairly convenient and affordable. If I wanted something more the next step up would be a Pandoras Box, I’d go with that before even going through the hassle of building my own system. https://pandorastoybox.ca/product/pandoras-box-dx-2020/
A while back Sheeel were selling one just like that, powered by Pandoras box, for 30
I actually bought it and it’s really great, packed with pretty much every old school game you can think of
A few years ago I actually built an entire MK themed table top arcade powered by a Raspberry Pi, and that worked really well too
You can find that one at Waleed Toys also for 30KD. It won’t play all the consoles or arcade systems but it’s more than enough for most people and really practical because like you said, it comes with thousands of games built-in. Trying to get a Sony PVM now so I can connect the Arcade Stick and my snes mini to it and play the games like they’re meant to be played, on an interlaced tv screen.
Mark, if you ever find the time, get a Raspberry Pi and follow these instructions: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-turn-your-raspberry-pi-into-a-retro-game-console-498561192
Retro Pi is incredibly clean and you can add different shaders to make the game look more like the old days, and the compatability is really good
It’s also compatible with different controller types