Mar 27, 2009

Review: SNK Arcade Classics Vol 1

Over the years since consoles first took over our living rooms we have been treated to a number of systems per generation. For the past couple of years the gaming market seems to have settled down a little and currently offers three major systems, but it wasn’t always like this. During the 16 bit era there were only two consoles most people were interested, the SNES and the Mega Drive. There were however two other systems available, the Turbografx and the NEO GEO.


Art of Fighting**	Baseball Stars 2**	Burning Fight**

Within Europe at least, SNK, makers of the NEO-GEO fell into a niche market of not being quite as popular as Nintendo or Sega (mainly due to it’s price tag) and so only enjoyed a limited success. As a result it’s fair to assume that the 16 games contained within this disc are going to be unknown quantities. The exceptions would be games like Metal Slug that were successful/popular enough to warrant ports or sequels on other more successful platforms.


Fatal Fury**	KOF 94**	King of the Monsters**

Contained within SNK Arcade Classics Vol 1 there is a total of 16 games available and except for World Heroes can all be played when the mood arises. World Heroes, just like a whole feast of artwork, movies and character moves list can be unlocked through playing the other fifteen games. This is done by winning medals, each game has a collection medals that are unlocked in a similar fashion to achievements or trophies are on X360 and PS3. Each game has it’s own specific set of medals and just like on the other two systems there are easy medals and there are hard medals. The easy ones are green and usually require something simple like get the highest score, on say Metal Slug. The hardest ones, which are red, are an entirely different ball game all together and will require Jedi-Ninja like reflexes and a slight sprinkling of luck to actually acquire.


Last Resort	Magician Lord**	Metal Slug**

From the full selection of games available (which are shown throughout the review) a few things are worth noting, first; there are a lot of fighting games, second; over half of the games available on the disc are actually available on the Virtual Console (denoted with a **) and finally; the Metal Slug series is also available separately for the Wii too.

While you might question why we need so much coverage for the same games, I think ultimately that the 900 Wii price for each available is considered by some to be a little excessive for games that were available over 15 years ago. By bundling all of the games together offers the benefit of a reduced price tag and means your are more willing to spend your money. Lets face it, given the choice you are more likely to buy this disc even if you recognise 10 out of the 16 games than buy one title you don’t recognise from the Virtual Console.


Neo Turf Masters**	Samurai Shodown**	Sengoku

As I’ve mentioned above the biggest problem with this collection is it relies heavily on the nostalgic factor to entice you in but because of its limited availability at the time many gamers were aware of the Neo Geo, but very few had actually played one. Couple that with its higher mark up meant that in order for you to have owned a Neo Geo back in the 90′s you would have had to have been very lucky. Some of the games have not aged well and expecting gamers of today’s generation enjoy playing them is a tall ask.


Shock Troopers	Super Sidekicks 3	Top Hunter

Revisiting the gaming past is always a shock to the system because technology moves at a frightening pace, even stepping back to the last generation can prove eye opening. No game lives up to your memories of playing when it was first released because your mind fills in the gaps and smooths over the jagged edges. It is especially worse when revisiting a game or system that you never played because without those fond memories of doing it all before, all you have is an old game that doesn’t live up to your memories of a similar game you did play.