Two New For Neo Geo: Necro Pop & Ormanauta

Every once in a while, new homebrew games for the original main Neo Geo platforms (the MVS arcade system, and AES console) continue to appear, meaning that SNK’s hardware keeps receiving unofficial love. It’s not often that two turn up in close succession though, and that is what has recently happened with Necro Pop and Ormanauta. So whilst we are in a slight drought for confirmation on any new arcade games releasing (if you are reading this and your company has a video game shipping now, please get back to us), here is a look at those two upcoming titles:

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Necro Pop

First, Necro Pop blends some elements of Nightmare In The Dark with Magician Lord to create what they are calling an “Arcadevania” (playing off of the popular Metroidvania genre). Granted, one has to wonder how a Metroidvania works in practice when coins are on the line and time is limited, although developers Naula Studio are also aiming this at a wider release too for home platforms. Per the Steam page:

You play as Poppi, a ghost who finds herself facing off against an evil darkness known as The Gloam. The Gloam has spread across the land of Ghostreach and trapped friendly ghosts. Poppi, after discovering an ancient amulet that gives her corporeal form, will use her newly found physical power to beat back the encroaching Gloam forces and free her friends!

It does look like fun, and we haven’t had very many proper platformers appear for arcades since 2020’s Gimmick EXACT*MIX! (plus maybe 2022’s Milk Chan), but we’ll have to wait and see on how well this style of platformer will do in this setting (and what the pricing will be). It will launch in 2027.

Ormanauta

This one has an unusual name, but is aiming itself just at the MVS and AES+ with a genre that has been very common among arcades, the shooting game/shoot’em up/STG. Neo Geo hardware had a few notable STGs in its day, including Blazing Star, Pulstar, and Last Resort, so this will fit in just fine, though it isn’t closely following any those aside from being a horizontal shooter. There will be six levels you can enjoy, and some beta gameplay footage can be seen below (the game starts at 1:30). The official page for it is a little light on details, with no release date or pricing that I can see, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more:

Judging on past MVS homebrew releases, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the carts for these fall into the $500USD realm, but a lot of that depends on several manufacturing factors at the time that they’ll be made. Should any more details arise, we’ll be sure to mention them in future posts to come. Until then though, have you got any thoughts on either or both of Necro Pop and Ormanauta? Comment down below.