Next Generation Magazine’s Dislike of Neo Geo

[Ralfakick]

I worked at a Microplay around then and we got this magazine. I didn’t have a Neo Geo at the time yet, but it was about the time I remember starting to get interested more in SNK’s games at the time (I rented KOF95 on PS1 from the store and that started things.) I remember these reviews and how much they put the Neo Geo in the meh it’s just another 2D game category).

I still swear there was a mention of World Heroes in the magazine that said it’s something only your weird friends who like Doctor Who would like, but maybe that was from another magazine as we got most of the big ones at the time.

 

[kernow]

Most neo reviews in magazines like cvg etc got 45-65% at most

 

[Neo Alec]

Interesting video topic. I read Next Generation pretty regularly in the mid-to-late 90's. I think we must have had a subscription. Were they reviewing the Neo Geo CD releases? I remember them covering the release of the NGCD.

It's very on-brand for them to be disinterested in 2D arcade games as a console proposition. Their message probably made sense for most gamers shopping for their next daily driver console. It didn't dissuade me from wanting a Neo Geo though.

 

[Ralfakick]

Interesting video topic. I read Next Generation pretty regularly in the mid-to-late 90's. I think we must have had a subscription. Were they reviewing the Neo Geo CD releases? I remember them covering the release of the NGCD.

It's very on-brand for them to be disinterested in 2D arcade games as a console proposition. Their message probably made sense for most gamers shopping for their next daily driver console. It didn't dissuade me from wanting a Neo Geo though.

It really was more of a for the industry or about the industry mag than a Gamefan type mag, at least that’s the way I felt about it at the time. I think reviews were more of an afterthought

I don’t remember if they designated home cart, arcade, or CD at the time.

 

[Burning Fight!!]

Complaining about poor value for money and too many fighters is one thing, being a cool 90s gamer who thinks 2d suuuucks and doesn’t know shit about fuck is another, the Pulstar review that says the game is similar to Atari’s Defender with minor differences says it all, lol.

 

[fickmichcommander]

who fucking cares

 

[max 330 megafartz]

who fucking cares

This is pretty much the appropriate response to every post made on this forum.

 

[HornheaDD]

I seem to remember Diehard Gamefan taking a dig at Neo fighters after AOF came out. They had a little comic strip in there and it talked about how "that new fighting game at the arcades" had fighters that were too big to see anything. Not 100% it was a dig at the Neo but it kinda fits, I guess.

EGM was kind to it, but Sushi X always shit on it because he was a Street Fighter devotee, always thought his comments on games other than SF were funny because he just hated on em lol

 

[terry.330]

Never heard of the magazine but game journalism has always been fucking cringe. People seem to forget that due to nostalgia but it was really bad in the 90’s.

Not quite as bad as the early 00’s though, that was probably the lowest point. Just a bunch of super horny edge lords shitting on everything thinking they were so fucking clever. Embarrassing.

 

[Tarma]

This is pretty much the appropriate response to every post you make on this forum.

Is what you should have said.


After 1994, I don't think any Western gaming rag was interested in positively reviewing anything that was not made of polygons. It was like, "2D is dead, you can't make good 2D games anymore". So fucking short sighted and blinkered.

 

[Ralfakick]

Never heard of the magazine but game journalism has always been fucking cringe. People seem to forget that due to nostalgia but it was really bad in the 90’s.

Not quite as bad as the early 00’s though, that was probably the lowest point. Just a bunch of super horny edge lords shitting on everything thinking they were so fucking clever. Embarrassing.

This was more of a mature gamer magazine, not really geared towards kids, I would say beyond industry probably geared towards those that had money to spend. Think dry PC Magazine more than Gamepro, that’s what makes much of their humor in their dislike for SNK games more interesting.

Something you would find at babbages compared to Funcoland.

 

[pixeljunkie]

This was the GOAT

 

[Neo Alec]

Never heard of the magazine but game journalism has always been fucking cringe. People seem to forget that due to nostalgia but it was really bad in the 90’s.

Not quite as bad as the early 00’s though, that was probably the lowest point. Just a bunch of super horny edge lords shitting on everything thinking they were so fucking clever. Embarrassing.

While I agree, you have to keep in mind that the information vacuum kept the standards lower. For gaming news and info, paging through mags at the grocery store was all we had.

 

[NeoCverA]

As mentioned before, most mags took a shit on NEOGEO - I think it was to make the peasants not feel like worthless trash for not owning one.

 

[LoneSage]

I made a list of every Neo game's score from EGM from their 1999 Buyer's Guide a few years ago about 20 years ago FFFFFFFUCK ME that was a while back:
https://neo-geo.com/forums/index.php?threads/every-neo-geo-game-reviewed-by-egm.142167/

I even included every one sentence caption they wrote.

Looking back, the only one that shocked me was Metal Slug. Straight 7s. WTF was that all about.

 

[Tarma]

Looking back, the only one that shocked me was Metal Slug. Straight 7s. WTF was that all about.

Because it wasn't a 3D blocky mess with janky controls... although, Playmore did their best to achieve this with the MS franchise back in 2006.

This attitude toward 2D by the gaming press is probably what helped kill Sonic during this period. Hardware wasn't at a point to deliver Sonic in 3D, but I would wager they could have made an amazing 2D game using the Saturn's full capability.

 

[Ralfakick]

I remember Game Fan loved Metal Slug 3 but they were more appreciative of SNK

 

[yagamikun]

I don't think it was Next Gen, but I remember one mag had a one or two screenshot review of Last Blade 2 and the editor just complained the entire time that SNK's animation wasn't up to snuff with even the likes of Street Fighter Alpha 2 and I was absolutely baffled - if we're talking flat out frames of animation, LB2 shits all over all Capcom games of the era except CPS3 games.

Moral of the story, mid-90's game journalism was pretty crap and by 1996, I don't think any publication liked fighting games that weren't Tekken or really anything that wasn't 3D at that point. The only mag I read pretty religiously was Diehard Gamefan.

 

[Dr. Jigglin]

By the time I was reading game magazines they weren't even covering neo geo games, so '98-2004 or so. I think that's what kind of got me into it, nobody seemed to know much about the games and the ports were either shit, didn't exist or were out of reach.

 

[HellioN]

This magazine was obviously trash.
NEO•GEO is the infallible machine and all games are obviously 11/10.
If you disagree you're wrong and should commit seppuku.

 

[Neo Alec]

I remember a quote that went something like, "World Heroes Perfect is far from perfect." If anyone can find it (would probably be EGM, GamePro or Diehard Game Fan) I need it in like 40 years when I make a video.

 

[prof]

EGM gave Perfect 8.5/10.....

Electronic Gaming Monthly’s Top 20 Samurai Shodown, Last Blade & World Heroes Games - Defunct Games

Last week, we counted down the best and worst games from the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters franchises. That was a lot of fun, but more than a few people asked: What did Electronic Gaming Monthly think of the other SNK fighters, like Samurai Shodown, World Heroes and The...

www.defunctgames.com

 

[pixeljunkie]

EGM gave Perfect 8.5/10.....

Electronic Gaming Monthly’s Top 20 Samurai Shodown, Last Blade & World Heroes Games - Defunct Games

Last week, we counted down the best and worst games from the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters franchises. That was a lot of fun, but more than a few people asked: What did Electronic Gaming Monthly think of the other SNK fighters, like Samurai Shodown, World Heroes and The...

www.defunctgames.com

Early EGM was pretty dope

 

[GoosehanX]

Next Generation was more about progressive tech than fun games, and in their minds (and the minds of plenty of people of the time) the Neo was old tech, so they didn't care. As much as we love those 95ish games, SNK's business was on the decline and pushed back to the niche in favor of more 3D games.

 

[wyo]

I remember a quote that went something like, "World Heroes Perfect is far from perfect." If anyone can find it (would probably be EGM, GamePro or Diehard Game Fan) I need it in like 40 years when I make a video.

WHP is one of the greatest fighting games of all time.