I think this is great and ordered the pack with the games.
I’ve got a fairly hefty AES collection (90 or so games. I really couldn’t care too much about the tech inside it because ultimately the console costs £180 and gives me a backup to my original. Plus for that money you get a controller which is backwards compatible. An AES unboxed controller is probably £40 on a good day. So £140 for a, hopefully, more reliable AES with different features.
As for the games, only 3 of them I’d put in the bracket of, Neo geo wise, affordable. The rest multiple thousands or didnt get an AES release (shock troopers)
If they can prove that the cart can be produced en masse, it will hopefully lead to places like bitmap bureau making the games under license and someone else making the carts. Which opens up huge opportunities for new games at lower cost.
I don’t get why you’d sh*t on it. If it tanks the value of my games, thats my problem. At least I’ll hopefully get some that were totally out of reach drop to my price range.
If it doesn’t have exact hardware inside, who cares it’s £180.
If the games are repros, so. You can’t buy a convert cart of Shock Troopers for under £120.
Ultimately, do you want to play the games in their original format without the concern of reliability, needing an arcade machine or dropping your mortgage on them, whilst also getting a lovely piece of kit which is licensed. If so, crack on.
Regarding the morality of the owners (Saudi’s). That’s fine if you object but don’t ever buy a petrol car!
