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Neo Geo games coming to Nintendo Switch

Neff

Member
KOF'95 is up on the Japanese eShop now.

Yeah, though it's one of the hardest KOF games ever!

I just dipped in for a quick session and you're not wrong. It's much harder than I remember it. Clairvoyant CPU even in the early rounds on Level 4.
 

Timu

Member
KOF'95 is up on the Japanese eShop now.



I just dipped in for a quick session and you're not wrong. It's much harder than I remember it. Clairvoyant CPU even in the early rounds on Level 4.
Yep, it's really tough, though I still managed to 1CC it!
 

ScOULaris

Member
I'll tell you what. Garou is damn near impossible to play properly in handheld mode with the lack of a d-pad on the left joy-con. Neither the analog stick nor the "d-pad" buttons work well enough. So frustrating.
 
I'll tell you what. Garou is damn near impossible to play properly in handheld mode with the lack of a d-pad on the left joy-con. Neither the analog stick nor the "d-pad" buttons work well enough. So frustrating.

Yeah I wish there was a left JoyCon with a normal dpad.
 
I'll tell you what. Garou is damn near impossible to play properly in handheld mode with the lack of a d-pad on the left joy-con. Neither the analog stick nor the "d-pad" buttons work well enough. So frustrating.

SNK fighters are very hard to play on anything but fighting sticks. The early ones especially.
 

HotHamBoy

Member
SNK fighters are very hard to play on anything but fighting sticks. The early ones especially.

This is what the Switch needs:

RackMultipart20130301-22277-14tonzr_wide.jpg


An arcade stick designed like the bluetooth iCade Core but with good parts and build quality.

It could connect wirelessly for TV play and when on the go you set the Switch in the built-in groove. What's great is that you could put the Switch in vertically for vertical arcade shooters, too.

If you wanna get really fancy a male micro USB plug could be slotted into the groove and plug into the USB port on the Switch when you set it on the stick.

To get even MORE fancy, have the bottom of the stick be a removable plate and give it space to hold the Switch itself when not in use for easy travel. Now your little stick is a carrying case for your Switch!

Imagine everyone taking that stick and their Switch to fighting game meet-ups! Head to head play with head to head Switches!

Nintendo_Switch_head_to_head.jpg


+

versuscity2p2l.jpg
 

ScOULaris

Member
Has there ever been any kind of official comment from Hamster as to why they don't include a regular scanline filter without smoothing/blur in any of these Switch ports?
 
Has there ever been any kind of official comment from Hamster as to why they don't include a regular scanline filter without smoothing/blur in any of these Switch ports?

Maybe someone could politely bug them on their Twitter about it? They were quick to respond when there were emulation/display issues with Metal Slug 3 and other titles early on.
 
uuii...Burning Fight is such a wierd beat'em up with extremly annyoing stuff.

On the one hand they put out some amazing super detailed bitmap graphics (i.e. Stage 1 backgrounds and it's "inventory") and huge ass sprites but on the other hand you can see they got mega lazy(?) with enemies, music and stages.
5 different regular enemy types and repetitive bosses with lameass designs (a Hulk Hogan clone, a Super Double Dragon boss clone with even the same moves...really? smh).
The worst comes later towards the end when all bosses appear again and again and again....
hell ,they even (sort of) copied the final boss of Final Fight and made their own version.

there are also some mindbuffling gameplay deficits.
e.g. Why is Billy's (Burning Fight's Haggar) grapping move basicly useless?



When's Magical Drop III? =/

I dunno but next week is Mutation Nation and then (afaik) they are done with the announced games.
So maybe it will be released with the next patch.
 

firenze

Member
I dunno but next week is Mutation Nation and then (afaik) they are done with the announced games.

Yep, Mutation Nation next week will finish the announced games. The last few times they're reached the end of a batch of announced games, Hamster has announced the next group of 5-6 releases - so more news is likely coming along with Mutation Nation.

Going by their current trends of having one genre featured in each batch, I'll go out on a limb and guess that sports games will be next. Maybe 3 sports titles (Baseball Stars, League Bowling, and... Soccer Brawl or Super Sidekicks 2?), a fighter, and... Pulstar? Total guesses, but we'll see what happens!

For what it's worth, below is the list of ACA Neo Geo games that have been released on PS4 and/or Xbox One (showing that Hamster has the license) and haven't yet made it to Switch - seems like a sure thing that these will eventually show up for Switch too. For each announced group of Switch releases, Hamster also seems to always throw in at least a couple that are making their ACA Neo Geo debut on Switch (as in, not already on PS4/Xbox) - so it's probably safe to assume we'll also see some games that are not listed below.


  • Art of Fighting 2
  • Fatal Fury 3
  • King of the Monsters
  • King of Fighters '96
  • Pulstar
  • Real Bout Fatal Fury
  • Samurai Shodown 2
  • Sengoku 2
  • Super Baseball 2020
  • The Last Blade
  • World Heroes
  • World Heroes 2
 

firenze

Member
Hamster announced the next batch of Switch games today, with a whopping SEVEN titles (usually they announce 5-6 at once). Credit to @naetoru60 on Twitter for the screencap of the new list from Hamster's NicoNico live presentation: https://twitter.com/naetoru60/status/923547521271586816

Dates below are unconfirmed assumptions, but would be consistent with Hamster's normal practice of weekly releases in the same order as the announcement listing.

Art of Fighting 3 - Nov. 2?
Street Hoop (aka Dunk Dream)* - Nov. 9?
Fighter's History Dynamite* - Nov. 16?
Soccer Brawl* - Nov. 23?
World Heroes - Nov. 30?
Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy* - Dec. 7?
The Last Blade - Dec. 14?
* = also announced for PS4/Xbox One

AoF3 is Switch exclusive for the time being. Another point of interest is that two new Data East titles, Street Hoop and Fighter's History Dynamite, are joining the already released Magical Drop 2. Sorry, everyone awaiting Magical Drop 3. Also sorry for those craving some Baseball Stars action... but Soccer Brawl and Street Hoop are a pretty nice consolation prize in the sports game department. To my knowledge, this is the only re-release of Soccer Brawl on any platform with the exception of a Japan-only release on Wii Virtual Console, and the first time the game has ever been available officially outside of Japan on any platform except for Neo Geo.

PS4/Xbox One also got three games added to their ACA Neo Geo line which haven't been announced for Switch yet: The King of Fighters '97, World Heroes 2 Jet, and Real Bout Fatal Fury Special. The below updated list shows currently released/announced PS4 and Xbox One ACA Neo Geo entries that haven't yet been released/announced for Switch (Last Blade and World Heroes removed, the three new ones added) - likely all to be eventually released on Switch:
  • Art of Fighting 2
  • Fatal Fury 3
  • King of the Monsters
  • King of Fighters '96
  • King of Fighters '97
  • Pulstar
  • Real Bout Fatal Fury
  • Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
  • Samurai Shodown 2
  • Sengoku 2
  • Super Baseball 2020
  • World Heroes 2
  • World Heroes 2 Jet
 

mao2

Member
Really happy about Top Hunter. It was the first game I bought for my Neo Geo CD. I eventually sold it to fund other games, so I look forward to play it again.
 

Z..

Member
Man, just got a switch and the very first thing I did after getting Mario was to buy Waku Waku 7. Such a great little gem. A shame we don't get the option to choose the AES version, since it's the exact same rom... I'd love to be able to play as Fernandez!

SNK fighters are very hard to play on anything but fighting sticks. The early ones especially.

This is just completely false, as is every single time anyone says that a stick is ever necessary or crucial in any way. Pads are absolutely fine, you just need the right kind. Sega style dpads work perfectly and frustration free. Take it from a stick player who grew up playing SamSho on the Mega Drive and KOF95 on the Saturn.

Also, guys... get a Pokken controller, it's cheap, works natively on Switch and is pretty good for SNK/4 button fighters.

I wouldn't expect proper dpads on joycons to happen. Ever. It goes against the very principle of joy cons. I'd wager you can forget about it.

I do just fine with them on any input device with a d-pad. I can execute everything reliably in Garou on my Vita.

This is can't agree with, though... I adore my Vita and it may just have the greatest dpad ever, but it is absolutely terrible for fighting games. I have Garou and Last Blade 2 on there because hey why not, but it's just not a good way to play these games, imo.
 

cireza

Banned
Also, guys... get a Pokken controller, it's cheap, works natively on Switch and is pretty good for SNK/4 button fighters.
You need to play docked because of the wire ?

I only play in "table top" mode. Otherwise, this looks like it could have a better dpad than the Pro Controller.
 
You need to play docked because of the wire ?

I only play in "table top" mode. Otherwise, this looks like it could have a better dpad than the Pro Controller.

Nope. Just nab a USB C to USB adaptor.

OR you could nab the thing I use in THIS video and attach FOUR wired controllers to the device.

Seriously, only thing that doesn't seem to want to work right wired, in tabletop, is the GameCube Controller Adaptor.
 
This is just completely false, as is every single time anyone says that a stick is ever necessary or crucial in any way. Pads are absolutely fine, you just need the right kind. Sega style dpads work perfectly and frustration free. Take it from a stick player who grew up playing SamSho on the Mega Drive and KOF95 on the Saturn.

I strongly disagree but don't mean to sound like a prick. Whatever you're confortable with is fine but nobody's going to make me believe the raging storm's input was conceived with d-pad users in mind.

And there are some games that you can only play to their full potential on a stick. The inability to piano-input on a pad impacts your capacity to reversal consistently in ST for instance, and that's a serious handicap.
 

Z..

Member
I strongly disagree but don't mean to sound like a prick. Whatever you're confortable with is fine but nobody's going to make me believe the raging storm's input was conceived with d-pad users in mind.

And there are some games that you can only play to their full potential on a stick. The inability to piano-input on a pad impacts your capacity to reversal consistently in ST for instance, and that's a serious handicap.

Don't worry about the prick thing, I know where you're coming from it's all good. ^^

Pretzel motions are easy on dpads, actually. No joke, just trick the input reader and do half circle back times 3. No, I'm not joking, this is known and works flawlessly. Geese was one of my mains for kof 96... game never came out here in PAL land so I did what any kid would have back then and just pirated (no point lying about what happened 20 years ago is there?) the japanese version for my Saturn (same with X-Men Vs. SF). I loved Geese but his special drove me nuts at the time. Saw a guy doing the 3HCB thing at the arcade playing '98 sometime later. Tried it at home and it was like magic. All hail Geese.


As for the piano input, why exactly do you think most fightpads have lenghtier grips on the left side?


fppred1.png



You need to play docked because of the wire ?

I only play in "table top" mode. Otherwise, this looks like it could have a better dpad than the Pro Controller.

You don't "need" to as there are USB C adapters but since the slot is on the bottom it really isn't ideal. Granted, though, I don't really intend to use my Switch as a portable much outside of holidays so I wasn't even thinking about that.
Haven't touched the pro so can't compare but the Pokken dpad is fantastic. Blaster Master, Waku Waku and SamSho IV all worked beautifully with it.
 
Don't worry about the prick thing, I know where you're coming from it's all good. ^^

Pretzel motions are easy on dpads, actually. No joke, just trick the input reader and do half circle back times 3. No, I'm not joking, this is known and works flawlessly. Geese was one of my mains for kof 96... game never came out here in PAL land so I did what any kid would have back then and just pirated (no point lying about what happened 20 years ago is there?) the japanese version for my Saturn (same with X-Men Vs. SF). I loved Geese but his special drove me nuts at the time. Saw a guy doing the 3HCB thing at the arcade playing '98 sometime later. Tried it at home and it was like magic. All hail Geese.


As for the piano input, why exactly do you think most fightpads have lenghtier grips on the left side.

Thanks for the info, didn't know about the 3xHCB input. Will try that in garou special.

As for fightpads: whatever works. You won't find me piano inputting on these buttons though. :p (I do admit the Hori one is a nice product altogether)
 

Futaleufu

Member
This is just completely false, as is every single time anyone says that a stick is ever necessary or crucial in any way. Pads are absolutely fine, you just need the right kind. Sega style dpads work perfectly and frustration free. Take it from a stick player who grew up playing SamSho on the Mega Drive and KOF95 on the Saturn.

Have you ever played Fatal Fury Special on a pad?
 

Z..

Member
Have you ever played Fatal Fury Special on a pad?

Well, a guy in my neighborhood had a FF2 bootleg cart for Mega Drive so....kinda? Ish, right?

I have it on PS4 but frankly haven't touched it. Anything that came out before SamSho 2 I didn't really have much experience with, apart from SF2. What's the issue?
 

firenze

Member
Personally, I prefer the Pro Controller d-pad to the Pokken d-pad (not to mention the wireless/wired difference). But I suppose that's a matter of taste. For reference, the Saturn S pad is my favorite controller/d-pad of all time, and my preferred fighting game input device even over good Sanwa sticks (actually used an official Sega USB Saturn pad as my weapon of choice the only time I competed in Evo in the PS3 days - even won a couple SSF4 matches!)

That being said, the diamond shaped button layout bugs me more than the Pro Controller OR Pokken d-pads for fighters that use 4+ buttons.

I play on my Pro Controller for non-fighting Neo Geo games or for some casual fighting game play. When I'm feeling more serious about fighting games, I prefer using a Madcatz TE2 and one of these: http://www.brookaccessory.com/product/

You've got the best game in the series already. The rest are redundant. :p

I actually prefer the older games to WHP. WHP (and WH2J, for that matter) always felt a bit too fast and twitchy to me in comparison to the first two games.

WH1 is one of the more blatant SF2 clones out there, but it does have the bonkers Death Match mode (electrified bomb filled arenas? OK!). Plays well though.

WH2 (vanilla) is my favorite of the series, since it has the feel and SF2 clone characters of the original, but several new and fairly inspired character designs (Captain Kidd, Mudman, Erick, Ryoko, Johnny Maximum... these were some pretty good character designs, especially considering the time). Everyone has their own stage. An improved Death Match mode with tug-of-war lifebar and 10 count knockdowns.... It's my personal pick. Might have to give it some negative marks for the insanely cheap Dio boss fight, but it's not as if WH2J and WHP significantly back down from that style of boss design (hell, Zeus in WHP is arguably at least as bad, if not worse).

WH2J drops the Death Match, but has the weird team battle arcade mode format that is interesting to me, and was sort of picked up for Real Bout Fatal Fury. I kinda wish ADK had gone all in on the team battle idea, much like the KOF series or Capcom's "versus" games (though WH2J predates both). They were onto something there, but didn't commit to it enough - especially with it only being for 1P arcade mode for the first four rounds.

WHP removes all of the interesting death match and team aspects, just a straight up fighter with a couple extra characters, an unfortunately small number of backgrounds, and that pacing that I was just never super comfortable with.

RIP Kita Kouki

Sad news. Gonna have to fire up Waku Waku 7 today in his honor.
 

firenze

Member
Art of Fighting 3 confirmed as this week's release, as expected.

This is a really good one. Very fresh take on the AoF series for a couple reasons. One would be the graphics, which are rotoscoped (think Prince of Persia) and have a very fluid feel, along with huge sprites and a really colorful style - presentation in general is top notch. Another reason is the mostly new cast: much like Street Fighter 3, the series main characters Ryo and Robert are joined by an all new set of fighters, including Kasumi Todoh (later to join the KOF series). Oh, and it's much less difficult than the brutal AoF2.

The fighting engine feels different too, very chain-combo heavy. To me it feels a bit like Last Blade's speed mode. There's an excellent sense of place too, with the whole game set in a small Mexican town and the environments really feel like a cohesive setting as opposed to the typical fighting game concept of dumping a bunch of unrelated backgrounds together.

This is a really underrated game that never received ports during its initial release, so went a bit under the radar compared to most of SNK's mid-90s output. Strongly recommended pickup for fighting game enthusiasts!
 

firenze

Member
Perhaps I'm the only person left posting here... but quick update, Fighter's History Dynamite (aka Karnov's Revenge) was indeed confirmed as this week's release, just as expected. Schedule appears to be as follows (and expect Hamster to announce the next batch right around the time Last Blade releases):

Nov. 16: Fighter's History Dynamite (date confirmed)
Nov. 23: Soccer Brawl
Nov. 30: World Heroes
Dec. 7: Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
Dec. 14: The Last Blade

FHD is one of the lower tier Neo fighting games. Really, it's most famous for being a somewhat reworked version of the original Fighter's History, a game that was such a blatant Street Fighter II clone that Capcom sued Data East over it - detailed in this good article. FHD does add playable bosses, 2 new characters, and some gameplay tweaks that make it feel a little less like a shameless SF2 ripoff. It doesn't really play that badly, but it's not a particular interesting game either.

This week's less than inspiring new release might be a good opportunity for people to try out the truly excellent games of the past couple weeks - AoF3 and Street Hoop, and prepare for Soccer Brawl next week! Soccer Brawl is one I'm personally rather excited about due to its relative rarity over the many years of not getting re-released. Looking forward to getting to know it better, as opposed to most of these Neo Geo games that I'm extremely familiar with.
 

Neff

Member
I actually really like Fighter's History, because as mentioned it is similar to SFII in lots of ways, while at the same time doing its own thing. FHD does too much of its own thing -out of legal necessity- to the point that it's nowhere near as much fun as its prequel. Shame. First one had really good music, too.

I'll still prolly pick it up for "BIG TORNADO" and MARSTORIUS... WINNNNS!" on the go, though.
 

cireza

Banned
Bought the Pokken controller to see if the d-pad was any better than the Pro controller d-pad.

It is indeed slightly better, but it is still pretty bad for games like KoF.

I am going to wait until I can plug my USB Saturn controller, I am pretty sure that this will be possible someday.
 

firenze

Member
Can I get Samurai Shodown 4 please fucking damnit

It has been out on Switch since April. Perhaps it's just a matter of the Switch's terrible eshop browsing functionality for anything that wasn't released in the previous 1-2 weeks, but look again - it's on there. I just personally confirmed it on the US eshop.

Also checked for Magician Lord in the US eshop, and it's STILL missing unless you purchased it during the fairly short time it was available. I just tweeted Hamster asking why, maybe that will result in some explanation (or a fix).
 

firenze

Member
Hamster confirmed the dates (all as expected) for the rest of the previously announced batch of Switch ACA Neo Geo games, and added one new game: KOF '96. They also noted a placeholder for the yet to be announced December 21 Neo Geo release. The updated schedule of upcoming games is:

Nov. 23: Soccer Brawl
Nov. 30: World Heroes
Dec. 7: Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
Dec. 14: The Last Blade
Dec. 21: ???
Dec. 28: The King of Fighters '96

Also, a couple of non Neo Geo Arcade Archives release dates announced for Switch:

Dec. 22: Vs. Super Mario Bros.
Dec. 28: Double Dragon (arcade original, as previously released in the Arcade Archives series on PS4).
 

Neff

Member
Dec. 28: Double Dragon (arcade original, as previously released in the Arcade Archives series on PS4).

That's a pretty big deal if we're getting some of the non-SNK stuff. Hopefully some of the Konami and Taito ports follow suit.

Not sure if asked, but what's the best neo geo fighter on Switch?

Most will say KOF'98 or Garou. Personally I'd go for KOF'98.
 

EricB

Member
Bought the Pokken controller to see if the d-pad was any better than the Pro controller d-pad.

It is indeed slightly better, but it is still pretty bad for games like KoF.

I am going to wait until I can plug my USB Saturn controller, I am pretty sure that this will be possible someday.

Look into the Mayflash Magic-NS. It lets you use bluetooth or USB controllers on a docked Switch. I’ve been playing using a Wii U Pro Controller and it’s great.
I haven’t tried out any USB controllers yet, but once I have so free time I’ll give them some other controllers a shot.
 

cireza

Banned
Look into the Mayflash Magic-NS. It lets you use bluetooth or USB controllers on a docked Switch. I've been playing using a Wii U Pro Controller and it's great.
I haven't tried out any USB controllers yet, but once I have so free time I'll give them some other controllers a shot.
Thanks, I will check it out. I only play "tabletop", hope it can work in this configuration.

Edit : someone tested it on amazon.fr with the Sega Saturn USB and it does not work.

I already have an original Sega Saturn to USB converter, and another USB to Xbox One/PS3/PS4 converter. I might try to chain these two with the Magic-NS, but I think that it is a bit overkill lol.
 

EricB

Member
Thanks, I will check it out. I only play "tabletop", hope it can work in this configuration.

Edit : someone tested it on amazon.fr with the Sega Saturn USB and it does not work.

I already have an original Sega Saturn to USB converter, and another USB to Xbox One/PS3/PS4 converter. I might try to chain these two with the Magic-NS, but I think that it is a bit overkill lol.

I actually have an original Saturn pad and USB adaptor as well. I’ll dig them out and try it out with the Switch as soon as I have a chance.

Edit: Saturn pad with adaptor does not work. Hori Real Arcade 4 (PS4 version) works well though.
 
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