The budget price-point means that SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 is a passable collection of retro games, with perhaps a few that will act as a gateway to looking up other NeoGeo games. SNK has a rich legacy to draw from, and there will no doubt be more of these releases, it is just a case of whether the quality will be enough to draw new fans, or simply pander to the same ones they have always had. On the strength of Vol. 1, it is too early to tell.
Carl Williams writes, "It is a rule of gaming, when one game is a hit, there must be a sequel to capitalize and cannabalize sales. SNK was no different in this regard as their unstopped rampage through fighting games on the Neo Geo system attested- as the system went on, fewer and fewer original games were released as sequel fever took over. King of the Monsters was popular enough to spawn one sequel, King of the Monsters 2: The Next Thing. King of the Monsters 2 was not perfect, neither was the original. What it set out to do though, it did well."
Carl Williams writes, "The Neo Geo was known for great arcade games that catered to many gamer tastes, at least early on. There were racing, fighting, action and adventure games available on this SNK arcade behemoth, that is before fighting games really took off. One such action game, Top Hunter, borrowed a little from the Fatal Fury fighting games and some from the Mario series from Nintendo and created a unique experience that, sadly, was only one game and not a series."
to bad NEO-GEO type games not coming to ps4 or ps3 , we're stuck another 7 years with open world FPS games such sadistic sadness ashame !!!
Carl Williams writes, "The Neo Geo had a bright future early on before SNK hit fighting game gold with certain games. Titles such as Nam 1975, Baseball Stars and Neo Turf Masters led gamers to believe the Neo Geo was going to be everything to all gamers. Everyone knows that didn’t pan out and fighting games ruled the roost for most of the platforms life. That didn’t stop titles such as Magician Lord from getting made (though it stopped a sequel that was in the works)."
Neo Geo, for it's time was the only way to get the arcade experience in the home. If SNk didn't "alien" itself with it's large price for the system and games. I think SNK would have been the system to define gaming.
Another issue I had with SNK NeoGeo, they didn't have the support of the big franchises. The Mega Mans , Castlevainias, Final Fights, or Street Fighters (Yes they had SNKVS Streetfighter)
I watched an entire documentary on SNK with interviews from founders and creators and I still have no idea who they were trying to sell this thing to at that price.