Very nice to see Neo-Geo games getting released in this fashion, solid collection
That is fine though since the excessive challenge does not restrict these games from being fun to play. Each game has the general options such as the aforementioned difficulty settings, the controller mapping, and the ability to modify the music and sound-effects volume; also included are goals for each game to be achieved which will earn medals, which will unlock art, music, and game secrets. Some of these medals' earning requirements are well beyond the capabilities of a normal gamer with any kind of life outside of video-gaming but it is really no big deal, it is having these games available in a compilation that is important. I personally like the PS2 version the best since I can get the authentic Neo-Geo experience by using one of the arcade sticks that I own. I have a Street Fighter Anniversary stick which is outstanding however the most appropriate arcade stick is probably the Tekken Anniversary stick from Hori since it closely resembles the original Neo-Geo stick, only the build quality of the Hori stick is far superior; either way any good arcade stick is preferable to a control pad or the controller options for other consoles getting this game, and the fighting games in particular benefit from having an arcade stick. On to the games individually now, I will give a description and score each game on the compilation, in alphabetical order.
Art of Fighting: This one-on-one fighter featured a lot of new concepts for its' time, with a lot of zooming in and out of the action depending on how close the characters were to each other; the animation and action is also very fluid and the character sprites can be huge when up close. The one player mode only allows for selection of two pretty similar characters so to experience all the game has to offer you will need to be in a two-player competitive setting, which feels a bit restrictive. Nonetheless I do like the character designs and backgrounds in the game but as is the case with all of the Neo-Geo fighters later iterations are superior. 7.5/10
Baseball Stars 2: A baseball game with strictly an arcade feel, or in other words the game is intended to be fun and not at all be any kind of a simulation or take itself too seriously. There is a lot of charisma in the character designs and general game presentation, which is nice and over the top, and the fun-factor is at a high level. 8/10
Burning Fight: Here is a side-scrolling brawler with limited move-sets but pretty cool level-designs and enemy characters to encounter. The game-play is smooth and the action never gets too overwhelming and mindless, which was sometimes a problem with more modern two-dimensional brawlers. Only in a Neo-Geo game will you find some mean, buffed-out Hulk Hogan looking boss character who is named Tom Anderson; not Ripper, not Bulldog, but Tom Anderson; that is just golden. 7.5/10
Fatal Fury: SNK's first answer to the immense popularity of Street Fighter 2, Fatal Fury is passable fighting action but rather rough around the edges, unrefined, and jerky with its' game-play and fighting engine. This would gradually improve of course for later games in the series--in particular the Real Bout Fatal Fury games where game-play peaked--but SNK is using Volume One as an origin point for all of its' fighting games it would seem. Again I do like the characters but you can only choose from three of them in the one-player mode, and the two-plane system does not really work very well for this game. 5.5/10
King of the Monsters: Here is a wrestling game with a twist; playing as giant monsters and using different cities to trash as a wrestling ring. The game definitely utilizes traditional wrestling concepts with grapples and electric barriers as ropes for the ring area. It is obviously inspired a bit by Rampage also and the game is simple but relatively short-term and shallow fun, nothing that would hold ones' interest for a prolonged period. 7/10
Last Resort: The only traditional shooter on offer for this collection, Last Resort is in the R-Type mold with a checkpoint system, expert difficulty, and an option to manipulate and charge-and-shoot. It features some cool levels and bosses, but otherwise it is standard shooter fare; since shoot-em-ups are among my favorite game genres it is all good and dandy. The difficulty is excessive so Last Resort--in spite of its' advanced visuals for the time-period--cannot be compared favorably to the best shooters for Genesis and Turbografx-16/CD, which are ultimately more rewarding in the game-play department. 8/10
Magician Lord: One of the launch titles for Neo-Geo, (Along with Nam 1975) Magician Lord has a very nice visual style and features some solid platform game-play, not to mention some catchy music arrangements. It in ways reminds me of Capcom's Ghouls and Ghosts series; again the difficulty becomes ridiculously hard during the later levels but the game is still fun and you have unlimited continues. The forms that you can change into are all pretty cool, although it can be a challenge to keep them intact for very long. 8/10
Metal Slug One: The best game of its' kind along with the classic Contra games, Metal Slug has all kinds of personality and is very visually intense and detail-oriented. The play-mechanics are pretty much flawless and the game-content in general is consistently entertaining, from the level-designs to the enemy characters, to the weapons and vehicles at your disposal. 9/10
Neo Turf Masters: This is arcade golf in its' purest from, a decent but very simple golf game; not too many options or strategies to consider, and you have to execute your shot in a timely manner or a counter begins to run down, so it is kind of like speed-golf. Not bad, nothing spectacular either, it won't make you put your copy of Hot Shots Golf on the shelf or anything. The visuals are a little bland for a Neo-Geo game. 7/10
Samurai Showdown: This is the most successful debut game for any of the SNK fighting game series. Samurai Showdown's game-play and execution was very tight from the beginning; the fighting-engine also feels very distinctive and unique, and the visuals are gorgeous to say the least, featuring very impressive character design and animation as well as detailed and attractive backgrounds. The game-play has a lot of depth and balance, more-so than other fighting games of the time. 9/10
Sengoku: This is a fun side-scrolling hack-and-slasher; the primary key concept being the ability to change into three different forms besides your own, and being able to power all of them up to varying degrees. Sengoku is highly stylized in its' presentation, in particular with the segments of the stages where the traditional Japanese history and culture are emphasized; the more standard portions of the stages have more pedestrian backgrounds that can come across as uninspired--too many lifeless street and city locales--but that is nitpicking a little bit and this is still a fun brawler to play through. 8/10
Shock Troopers: A run-and-gun game from an overhead perspective-not unlike Capcom's Mercs-with a lot of visual pyrotechnics and some decent variety in the game-play. You can choose your path for additional replay value, and there are quite a few characters to choose from, all with unique attacks and strengths; there is quite a bit of slowdown which does affect this game adversely to a marginal degree, and the game might be a little too lengthy for its' own good, but the game-play is still pretty fun. 8/10
Super Sidekicks 3: This is an arcade soccer game that uses the more action-oriented side-scrolling perspective; it is fine for what it is but still I am not a fan of the sport of soccer in general. I can still enjoy the game more than trying to watch actual soccer-which is extremely boring-but the game is best played in bursts, even though there are plenty of teams and modes to choose from, and the play-control is adequate. The good thing is that SNK used the third installment which means that they will probably not put any more on future Neo-Geo compilations. That being said, Super Sidekicks is a prominent Neo-Geo franchise and it does at least deserve some representation by being included here. 7.5/10
The King of Fighters 94: Here is SNK's most well-known fighting-game series, one of the first games to use the team battle format, it takes characters from both the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury series, as well as introducing a few new KOF specific ones. The game looks and plays well and feels more like Street Fighter than either AOF or FF, but without coming across as copyist. There are plenty of exclusive concepts that make KOF stand out on its' own; and like Samurai Showdown, KOF also feels pretty well refined for a debut installment in a fighting franchise. 8.5/10
Top Hunter: A side-scrolling platform-action game with both run-and-shoot elements and also some hand-to-hand combat, with some minor puzzle-solving thrown in for good measure. You also have the ability to jump between the background and foreground and play on either plane; the visuals are pretty sharp as well. 7.5/10
World Heroes: WH has quite an eclectic cast of characters to play as; although the majority are based very closely on one of the original eight Street Fighter characters. This is another series that would improve in future installments however for the original the play-control is somewhat stiff, although the game is still fun and accessible enough. Out of all of the SNK fighting series, World Heroes most closely mirrors Street Fighters' game-play engine, not like that is a bad thing. At the time WH was actually a nice alternative when Street Fighter was getting a little overexposure and too much attention for its' own good. 7/10
In closing, this is a fine collection of Neo-Geo games and SNK could easily make three more of these with no loss of quality; in the future I would like to see more representation from the vertical and horizontal shooter genres, at least three out of the sixteen games selected should we be fortunate enough to receive a volume two, which I fully expect otherwise why call this game volume one? This compilation is also a very good value; consider that the cost of these games ranged from one-hundred fifty to two-hundred fifty smackers a piece back in the early nineties; okay so that was still way overpriced back then however even compared to the Virtual Console--which is also inappropriately overpriced--you are getting a far superior value with SNK Arcade Classics and in a much nicer package. One Neo-Geo game for approximately nine dollars and fifty cents or sixteen Neo-Geo games with extras--not to mention better game controller options--for fifteen bucks, hmmmm, that's a tough one isn't it?