Worst endings to Neo Geo games?

madmanjock

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I’ve just completed Crossed Swords for the first time. I had it on AES as a teenager but never got past stage 5 before I ran out of credits. I then sold all my neo stuff in about 2007 to buy weed.

Fast forward to 2023, another copy of Crossed Swords and a Unibios 4.0 later and I’m ready. I did give myself as many credits as it would take on my first run but I was too busy bashing the attack button on the final boss that I accidentally rushed the continue countdown to zero. Grr.

A couple of days later I’m back for another run at it. Armed only with my amazing skill and unlimited credits I finally took that cheap bastard Nausizz down.

So what do I get for my trouble? Well the Princess thanked me.

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And then the king said why not come live with us.

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And then things get weird. The king gives me a little suggestive *wink*. Then the credits roll…

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Am I right to assume that actually instead of getting to rail his daughter, I am actually being offered a permanent post as the king’s official ’helmet’ polisher?

Are there any Neo Geo games with worse or at least more anti-climatic endings than Crossed Swords I should be aware of?
 
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prof

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The king has a job for you.
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theMot

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I’ve just completed Crossed Swords for the first time. I had it on AES as a teenager but never got pass stage 5 before I ran out of credits. I then sold all my neo stuff in about 2007 to buy weed.

Fast forward to 2023, another copy of Crossed Swords and a Unibios 4.0 later and I’m ready. I did give myself as many credits as it would take on my first run but I was too busy bashing the attack button on the final boss that I accidentally rushed the continue countdown to zero. Grr.

A couple of days later I’m back for another run at it. Armed only with my amazing skill and unlimited credits I finally took that cheap bastard Nausizz down.

So what do I get for my trouble? Well the Princess thanked me.

View attachment 65908

And then the king said why not come live with us.

View attachment 65909

And then things get weird. The king gives me a little suggestive *wink*. Then the credits roll…

View attachment 65910

Am I right to assume that actually instead of getting to rail his daughter, instead I am actually being offered a permanent post as the king’s official ’helmet’ polisher?

Are there any Neo Geo games with worse or at least more anti-climatic endings than Crossed Swords I should be aware of?
How else did you think “crossed swords” was going to end?
 

basic

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I’ve just completed Crossed Swords for the first time. I had it on AES as a teenager but never got pass stage 5 before I ran out of credits. I then sold all my neo stuff in about 2007 to buy weed.

Fast forward to 2023, another copy of Crossed Swords and a Unibios 4.0 later and I’m ready. I did give myself as many credits as it would take on my first run but I was too busy bashing the attack button on the final boss that I accidentally rushed the continue countdown to zero. Grr.

A couple of days later I’m back for another run at it. Armed only with my amazing skill and unlimited credits I finally took that cheap bastard Nausizz down.

So what do I get for my trouble? Well the Princess thanked me.

View attachment 65908

And then the king said why not come live with us.

View attachment 65909

And then things get weird. The king gives me a little suggestive *wink*. Then the credits roll…

View attachment 65910

Am I right to assume that actually instead of getting to rail his daughter, instead I am actually being offered a permanent post as the king’s official ’helmet’ polisher?

Are there any Neo Geo games with worse or at least more anti-climatic endings than Crossed Swords I should be aware of?
seems to have parallels with sage's life in china. any shower scenes?
 

Neo Alec

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Guys, guys, you're looking at this all wrong. 'Groom of the stool' was a coveted position. I can only imagine how much influence the king's "helmet polisher" had.

 

madmanjock

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The super spy. The terrorist win
No way, that’s like with Cyber-lip when you realise you’ve been helping the aliens with their invasion the whole time. Early Neo games were brutal.

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madmanjock

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The ending of The Rumble Fish on Atomiswave really got to me.

IMG_6549.jpeg
 

basic

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Burning Fight!!

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Yeah it's best ending.


Legend of Joe is probably the worst ending out of games on the 'neo that have proper endings programmed in, it was a severe lack of BALLS to end the game the way they ended it.
 

Jeneki

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never played this. seems like a good ending to me. subversion of expectations weren't really common then - from my recollection.
Based on the example given in the first post, I was reading this topic more as "worst" meaning the monkey's paw ending where things don't go the way the protagonists planned. As opposed to low effort congladurations-tier endings. madmanjox can let me know if I'm wrong here though.

On the subject of the first post:

Why get drilled by the king, when you can get drilled by Robo Keaton?
af3.jpg
 

madmanjock

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never played this. seems like a good ending to me. subversion of expectations weren't really common then - from my recollection.

It’s definitely a cool ending, and perhaps it was setting up for a sequel that never got made for some reason. It’s very Bioshock 1 in terms of twist.

It is a unfulfilling ending though in the context of you spending all your lunch money for a week to see the end of the game in the arcades.

Based on the example given in the first post, I was reading this topic more as "worst" meaning the monkey's paw ending where things don't go the way the protagonists planned. As opposed to low effort congladurations-tier endings. madmanjox can let me know if I'm wrong here though.

Interpret the question however you like, no one is on trial here. Discussion is good. My 1st post was a thinly veiled dick joke.
 
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Samson

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It’s definitely a cool ending, and perhaps it was setting up for a sequel that never got made for some reason. It’s very Bioshock 1 in terms of twist.

It is a unfulfilling ending though in the context of you spending all your lunch money for a week to see the end of the game through in the arcade.



Interpret the question however you like, no one is on trail here. Discussion is good. My 1st post was a thinly veiled dick joke.
I believe a sequel was planned on being developed for Cyber-Lip but it got cancelled. Its a shame too because Cyber-Lip is one of my favorite early neo geo titles. It’s got a great soundtrack as well.
 

Fygee

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If we're talking worst in terms of just being bad, Fatal Fury 2 gets the nod. You got one screen of the character doing something for like...two seconds, and then straight to the credits.

I believe a sequel was planned on being developed for Cyber-Lip but it got cancelled. Its a shame too because Cyber-Lip is one of my favorite early neo geo titles. It’s got a great soundtrack as well.
Same. I still like playing it from time to time, and I'm surprised it only got one entry. Hell of a cliffhanger ending to leave gamers with, at least those who were able to pump that many quarters into it to even get that far back then.
 

Burning Fight!!

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That reminds me of Fatal Fury 3 which probably DOES have the worst ending in the neo-geo library for US players... the game simply crashes and resets the MVS trying to show the true ending. Great!
 

Neo Alec

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I'm not sure if the ending of Cyber-Lip is a cliffhanger. They won the battle but lost the war. Just because it's a bad ending doesn't mean there's more story to tell.
 

Neo Alec

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That reminds me of Fatal Fury 3 which probably DOES have the worst ending in the neo-geo library for US players... the game simply crashes and resets the MVS trying to show the true ending. Great!
Doesn't Neo Bomberman have a similar bug for English mode? I think it might be only in AES mode.
 

Gremlin

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Yeah it's best ending.


Legend of Joe is probably the worst ending out of games on the 'neo that have proper endings programmed in, it was a severe lack of BALLS to end the game the way they ended it.

This was my first thought also - the last thing you see on a playthrough of Succ Joe is literally the first thing you see when the game's in the attract screen. Doesn't even throw a bone or give fanservice to folks who know how the original ends
 

Burning Fight!!

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Doesn't Neo Bomberman have a similar bug for English mode? I think it might be only in AES mode.
The bug in Neo Bomberman is putting people to sleep way before reaching the ending... :D
Fatal Fury 3 doesn't have the bug in AES mode because I think it's an issue in how the game tries to read the calendar in non-asian BIOSes.
 
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