We had been waiting months for this moment and it is finally here: the Neo Geo AES+ has been touched, switched on and played at Plaion's booth at Tokyo Game Show 2026. We sat down and watched the video published by the NeoGeoNow channel, shot at the booth by their collaborator Lolo Gallipat, and this is what we saw, through the eyes of fans who have waited thirty years for this console.

You can watch it above or directly on YouTube: We Tested the NeoGeo AES+ - Is It Everything We Hoped For? (NeoGeoNow).

Not a prototype behind glass

The first thing that reassured us: there is not a single sample unit, there are several consoles running at once, each with a different game plugged in and people playing. After the delay announced a few days ago, that image is worth more than any press release. The console exists, boots and runs real cartridges.

And a surprise: alongside the announced titles (The King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Metal Slug...) there was a station running Zero Wing, Toaplan's shoot 'em up that never came out on Neo Geo. It would be its first appearance on an AES cartridge. We won't call it confirmed until Plaion announces it, but it was there, playable, on the show floor.

The shell: better than we expected

The white AES+ seen in the video has a finish that caught our eye even through the camera. Whoever held it describes it as an original AES, just a notch more premium. Those of us who have owned several AES units know the early 1990-91 machines had denser plastic than the late ones; the new one seems to play in that league, with clean mould lines and no flash.

The cartridges were tested too and, according to the person who handled them, they feel authentic. These are not empty display boxes.

The stick and the pad

The arcade stick is one-to-one with the original. If you loved the AES stick you will feel right at home; if you never liked it, nothing has changed. Fidelity over reinvention, and we think that is the right call.

The pad has changed since the announcement: it now looks modelled on the Neo Geo CD controller, the real one, instead of the earlier design. Purists will be happy.

Video output and menu

Over HDMI the picture comes out at 1080p and on the booth it looked crisp with no visible artefacts. The analogue output for CRTs was not set up in Tokyo; Plaion is saving it for a later demonstration. That is the open question we care about most.

The system menu is specific to the AES+ (it recalls the UniBIOS without copying it) and lets you change region, switch between AES and MVS mode, manage the memory card and enter each game's soft dips: demo sound, number of lives and so on. What we did not see is any scanline or CRT-filter option in those menus. Hopefully it arrives before launch.

Our take

After the low of the delay, this video is exactly what we needed to see. Real hardware, several units, games running and a finish worthy of the name. Questions remain (CRT output, scanlines, final price of some accessories) and the channel itself promises an interview with Plaion about the delay in the coming days; we will cover it as soon as it drops.

In the meantime the date is still September 16, 2027 and pre-orders keep their guaranteed price.

Published: September 18, 2026