Neo Geo co-op on iPad

What Neo Geo is

Neo Geo is the arcade system the Japanese company SNK launched in 1990. Its games stood in arcades as cabinets with two joysticks side by side, so most of them were built for two people playing at the same time on one screen. Metal Slug is the best known.

ACA NEOGEO is the name of the official re-releases. The publisher Hamster brings the original arcade versions to modern devices under licence from SNK, as part of its Arcade Archives line. You get the arcade game as it was, not a remake, with a few extras such as difficulty settings and online leaderboards.

How co-op works on a phone or tablet

Each game is a separate purchase, usually $3.99. A touchscreen only has room for one set of on-screen controls, so the second player cannot join by touch. Pair two Bluetooth controllers, for example two console gamepads, and the second pad becomes player two, just like the second joystick on the cabinet.

One trap. Older SNK ports of Metal Slug from the Dotemu era are still on the store, and their multiplayer runs between two devices. Check the title says ACA NEOGEO.

Source: the TouchArcade review of each port, plus a check of each App Store listing. Not played by us yet.

NEOGEO, ACA NEOGEO, Arcade Archives and the game titles belong to SNK Corporation, Hamster Corporation and the respective rights holders. They are named here only to identify the games. This site is not affiliated with either company.