Update [Fri 21st Feb, 2025 17:45 GMT]: Bitmap Bureau has sent out another update about its delay-stricken port of Final Vendetta for the Neo Geo AES and MVS.
The update starts by explaining why the Neo Geo port is still yet to appear, despite the team feeling confident last July that the game was reaching "its final stages of development". As Bitmap Bureau writes, during the port's final testing phase at the end of last year, the team discovered an intermittent audio playback issue where a slight click and crackle could occasionally be heard. As a result, the team made the drastic decision to move forward with a last-minute revision to the PROG PCB board, which involved moving to "a newer component and board redesign".
This issue is apparently now fixed, according to the developer, with Bitmap Bureau stating it is "now able to push ahead and complete the PCB manufacturing process." So hopefully, it shouldn't be too long before fans who pre-ordered a copy are finally able to play it.
In addition to the above, the email also goes on to outline some of the new features coming to the Neo Geo version (which will eventually also be rolled out to modern consoles). For instance, it has announced it will be adding a fourth playable character to the game, Karen the Boxer (pictured above), who will apparently bring "a fresh dynamic to the game", opening up "new strategic possibilities". As well as this, the musician Featurecast has also contributed four new unlockable music tracks, which will be hidden in the game for players to discover.
You can read the full statement here.
Original Article [Thu 18th Jul, 2024 14:00 BST]: It was over a year ago now that we first reported that Bitmap Bureau was bringing its critically acclaimed retro-style beat 'em up Final Vendetta to the Neo Geo AES and MVS and we've finally got our first glimpse at how it will look running on Neo Geo hardware.
In case you're unfamiliar with the story so far, Final Vendetta was previously released across a range of modern platforms like PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox before Bitmap Bureau announced its intentions to bring it over to the retro systems and started accepting pre-orders in July last year. At the time, the plan was for the finished ports to be delivered sometime between Q4 2023 and Q1 2024, but it has since been subject to an indefinite delay, which the company blames in part on its recent acquisition.
In the absence of any major news, Bitmap Bureau has been offering customers occasional updates via Twitter to reassure them that it was still in development and let them know that it would eventually show the ports publicly when it was "close to perfect". Now it appears that time has finally arrived, with Bitmap Bureau finally debuting 6-minutes of footage from the game on Twitter, which was recorded using a new prototype PCB on AES hardware.
The footage shows off the opening cutscene, main menu, single-player and multiplayer options, as well as two of the game's levels (The Streets and Club Tigre). It all looks super promising and comes with another update from Bitmap Bureau on how the Neo Geo versions are progressing.
This update states they are now "into the final stages" before manufacturing ramps up.