Neo Geo games you just don't rate

[HeavyMachineGoob]

The original Fatal Fury was pretty brutal IMO.

Nah, it's super easy to cheese.

 

[Tarma]

Im not a sports/driving fan so stuff like Ultimate 11, Football Frenzy, Street Hoop and Overtop/Driftout I just never saw the point. 'Specially playing a driving game with a stick.. just weird. Played Riding Hero once and was just like.. eh.

Riding Hero is just plain trash. You could put it in an original Super Hang-On ride on cab and it would still be total garbage.

Driftout is a lot of fun, and actually, it probably wouldn't work all that well with a wheel due to its isometric layout - it's not like Super Off-Road or the Sprint series. (Probably best to play with a pad if you can tbh).

Overtop is just pants. Why ADK thought putting out a game you can complete in less than three minutes was worth the time effort is beyond me. And I know it's super rare, but I really cannot understand why this got an official homecart release... makes the exclusion of Shock Troopers seem even more ludicrous than it already is.

 

[Neo Alec]

Most of the hate in this thread comes with the benefit of hindsight. It's easier to see what holds up in 2024. As @GohanX pointed out, Sengoku for example would probably be forgotten as an arcade game if not for it being on Neo Geo. But I remember in the 90's before I got a Neo Geo, I knew about all the mainline franchises on the console, including all the fighters, Super Sidekicks as the soccer franchise, and Sengoku as the main beat'em up, and I wanted these games before I ever got to play them just because I knew they had to be amazing because they're on the Neo Geo. I still have nostalgia for that feeling, even if the games don't quite live up to the hype.

So I'm gonna just keep the nostalgia. I still love this console's imperfect library.

 

[Yamazaki]

that is was this amazing format for shmups.

never understood where that came from - maybe because of the 1:1 arcade ports to home...

most arcade shmups would steamroll over the AES shooting game library.


I do however dig Blazing Star.

 

[CloudGamerX]

Could never really get into any of the World Heroes games, other than maybe 2 Jet. Even after getting every game in the series, none of them really tickle my fancy.

Art of Fighting 1 and Fatal Fury 1 are decent fighting games, but not really ones I am too fond of revisiting. 2 for both series doesn't hold a high regard from what I have seen, and rightfully so (especially AOF2).

I do not like Metal Slug 2. I'm sorry, but the game chugs so damn much to being downright distracting. Not to mention, the OST just feels more complete with Metal Slug X. Give me Metal Slug X, any day of the week.

Cyber Lip and Andro Dunos feel very underbaked, to me. I wanted to like them, but they just don't hold my attention for very long with how dull the action is. Perhaps I am just spoiled by the likes of Metal Slug and Blazing Star, though.

 

[yagamikun]

Most of the hate in this thread comes with the benefit of hindsight. It's easier to see what holds up in 2024. As @GohanX pointed out, Sengoku for example would probably be forgotten as an arcade game if not for it being on Neo Geo. But I remember in the 90's before I got a Neo Geo, I knew about all the mainline franchises on the console, including all the fighters, Super Sidekicks as the soccer franchise, and Sengoku as the main beat'em up, and I wanted these games before I ever got to play them just because I knew they had to be amazing because they're on the Neo Geo. I still have nostalgia for that feeling, even if the games don't quite live up to the hype.

So I'm gonna just keep the nostalgia. I still love this console's imperfect library.

I hear you. I think there's two trains of thought here, though:

• coveting something you don't have and the fantasy you create for yourself of what it would be like to have/play versus
• actually playing/owning it once you get it and comparing to what is present and came before when it was relevant.

For most of us, both of those things happened in the 90's. I still have nostalgia for the latter for sure, but I also have the perspective of never stopping playing these games for 30 years.

That said, I think there is still a broad nostalgia for the superiority of the Neo-Geo even in modern-retro culture - I see it in my insta following. Here, most of us have the perspective of playing these games when they were relevant while the younger generations and even older gamers who didn't actually play these games until much later seem to be far more forgiving of games like Riding Hero or even, for god sakes, Legend of Success Joe for one reason or another.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

Give me all the koalas.

I think KOF 98 is a little overrated. Don't get me wrong, it's a good game, but it also isn't THAT much better than the others in the series which pretty much all offer something unique, whereas KOF 98 is just.... It has a lot of polish, a lot of characters, but not much else.

I find myself playing the other 9 titles more.

96 has the boss team and unintentionally fun balance issues, 99 has a lot of fresh new characters, great backgrounds and the strikers system, 2003 has another big character refresh and the tag team system and so on.

Heck, even KOF 94 has something interesting going for it, no team edit. It forces you to get out of your comfort zone and play characters you wouldn't normally go for.

 

[Yamazaki]

I think KOF 98 is a little overrated

I'd say it's basically the smooth and polished gameplay mechanics and less the content.

My favorite part for example is still 96 but rather due to the characters, the visuals etc.


but gameplay-wise I would still side with 98

 

[Tarma]

This thread wasn't really intended to look at the games with hindsight... I see where you're coming from, and the collective opinions (positive & negative) have a voice they did not have back in the day (thanks to the internet) - but, for example, I've never liked the World Heroes games, and couldn't understand why they kept getting sequels, but they seem to have a fan base.

Probably a lot of younger gamers, who may not have even been born when some of these games were being released, may well launch themselves into stuff like Pulstar, and then be like "WTF??!" when they repeatedly get their ass handed to them within the first minute, and start to wonder what all the fuss was about.

I get with the early titles there may well be a lot of hate/dislike vs nostalgia... I know that the common opinion tends to be that the first Fatal Fury has not aged well at all, and perhaps was not even that great way back when, compared to Street Fighter II, but I still really like it, and it is probably nostalgia more than anything, although I certainly know its shortcomings, and go into any session with those firmly in mind.

 

[city41]

The early titles collectively are interesting because SNK seemed to be in quantity mode. Much like the NES's black box games, they seemed to be going for a decent size library that covers many genres quickly. I always wondered if they never released the AES would they have done that. An arcade board, even a cart based one, with a very small library probably would have been accepted just fine.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Waku Waku 7 is the most overrated game by Neo-heads. It's a total nothingburger.

 

[LoneSage]

I know that the common opinion tends to be that the first Fatal Fury has not aged well at all, and perhaps was not even that great way back when, compared to Street Fighter II, but I still really like it, and it is probably nostalgia more than anything, although I certainly know its shortcomings, and go into any session with those firmly in mind.

I played the first Fatal Fury for the first time in over 15 years recently. I really didn't like it back then, but I was into it this time. Actually had a pretty fun time. Bonus, the 'How to Play' part at the beginning is quite possibly my favorite How to Play in the whole Neo library.

 

[Neo Alec]

Not to mention, the OST just feels more complete with Metal Slug X. Give me Metal Slug X, any day of the week.

What did they change about the OST in X that you're thinking of?

 

[Tarma]

The early titles collectively are interesting because SNK seemed to be in quantity mode. Much like the NES's black box games, they seemed to be going for a decent size library that covers many genres quickly.

And I remember the reviews were very hit and miss as well, with games like Nam 1975 and Magician Lord getting raves, but the likes of Top Players Golf and Puzzled perhaps scraping a mediocre score at best, but generally receiving unfavorable feedback.

I think Nam 1975 still holds up really well, the graphics are nowhere near as impressive as they were back in 1990/1, but I'll take this all day long over the likes of TPG, Puzzled or Magician Lord.

 

[Tarma]

What did they change about the OST in X that you're thinking of?

I was wondering this... IIRC the end credit theme is remixed, and is probably one of the best tracks in the series imo (nothing will ever best "Assault Theme").

But I think all the other tracks are the same.

 

[Tarma]

It's ironic to me that several have mentioned MotW... I remember getting the homecart not too long after it came out in Japan and could not understand why people were going nuts about it... I was like "give me RBS over this any day"... but since re-acquiring it a few years ago, I appreciate it a hell of a lot more than I did back in the early 00s.

Do I think it's overrated? Mmmmmmn... perhaps a tad, but when put into perspective, comparing its esteem with the historic clamor for Third Strike, actually, I'd say "no".

Would I still prefer to play RBS?

Yes. Yes I would.

 

[Neo Alec]

I was wondering this... IIRC the end credit theme is remixed, and is probably one of the best tracks in the series imo (nothing will ever best "Assault Theme").

But I think all the other tracks are the same.

Yeah, thanks for answering. and perhaps @CloudGamerX will chime in. They replaced the end credits them with a new medley of themes from the series.

Other than that though, I always felt like the reused stage themes have a little more oopmh in X than in 2, like they changed the percussion, balance or increased the tempo or something, but I think it's all in my mind. Those songs already went hard in 2.

 

[LoneSage]

Not to mention, the OST just feels more complete with Metal Slug X.

BULLSHIT LIE

 

[CloudGamerX]

Here is one example:
Judgement (MS2)

Judgement (MSX)

 

[yagamikun]

Yeah, thanks for answering. and perhaps @CloudGamerX will chime in. They replaced the end credits them with a new medley of themes from the series.

Other than that though, I always felt like the reused stage themes have a little more oopmh in X than in 2, like they changed the percussion, balance or increased the tempo or something, but I think it's all in my mind. Those songs already went hard in 2.

Not at all, extra samples were added to most tracks and some samples were redone entirely. Take a listen to Judgement (stage 1-1) on YouTube between the 2 and X OSTs. That guitar riff in X really rips! So much better.

They also state in the MS Visual Anthology that the music was reworked. It's pretty extensive if you compare both soundtracks side by side.

edit: @CloudGamerX got to it before me. lol

 

[CloudGamerX]

It's honestly hard for me to go back to the MS2 soundtrack, despite it also being really solid. They did a fantastic job with the OST rework, even if it wasn't completely necessary.

 

[Neo Alec]

Here is one example:
Judgement (MS2)

Judgement (MSX)

Oh yeah, now I remember this. It sounds like literally the same code with an added guitar sample solo running at times throughout. What else did they do? I assume it gets more subtle from here.

 

[CloudGamerX]

It's basically as yagamikun described, extra samples were added or samples were redone entirely. For most tracks however, the difference is very subtle. But you can hear it if you flip between OSTs and listen close.

 

[Fygee]

Never cared for either of the King of the Monsters games, nor any of the horizontal shooters. Ninja Combat is hot garbage.

Crossed Swords also gets brutally hard and is a tremendous slog in the second half of the game. I'd be stunned to learn if anyone bought it on AES and beat it with only the four credits you get.

 

[Atro]

What did they change about the OST in X that you're thinking of?

The sound samples are pretty different in a lot of tunes. Specially drums.

It can even be more noticed if you you listen to the same tunes in MS3. Like the "Kiss in the Dark" tune. Way more polished game after game.