I still own my Neo Geo Pocket Color, but I’d sold off all but one game I had for the handheld (Dark Arms, if you have to ask) due to the need for space in the library.  Amusingly enough, I was talking to a friend last week who was asking me about the system because he was thinking about picking one up on eBay, but now, it looks as if he can do the retro thing in an even better way. The tentatively named “Neo Geo Pocket Device” is in the works at SNK Playmore and will come packed with twenty classic Neo Geo arcade games built in. As you can see, the slim style looks very slick indeed…

No official release date or price point has been announced nor has any word of the device being released outside Japan been made clear. However, thanks to Kotaku (and the Famicom-Plaza blog where these images are taken from), we do know what games are going to be on the device: World Heroes, Ultimate 11, Top Player’s Golf, Sengoku, NAM -1975, Mutation Nation, Last Resort, King of Monsters, Frenzy, Cyber-Lip, Fatal Fury Special, The Art of Fighting, Super Sidekicks, League Bowling, Metal Slug, Magician Lord, Baseball Stars Professional, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters ’94, and Fatal Fury.

That wonderful SD card slot on the side in the final photo means there’s the potential for other games to be downloaded from SNK’s site at some point. Given the current lineup of arcade games available over PSN as Arcade Classics minis, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of these show up as downloadable titles for the new portable. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. I’d say that SNK fans NEED to put their money where there mouths are and gently bug the company to sell the unit worldwide DIRECT through its website as opposed to dropping the thing into retail where it will get ignored by non-fans or those dopes who’ll complain the device isn’t also packing a phone, three cameras and touchscreen. Whatever happens with the upcoming unit, we’ll keep you posted…