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Neo Geo games coming to Nintendo Switch

Sh0k

Member
I can't for the life of me activate split joy con multiplayer in Super Sidekicks. What am I doing wrong Gaf? :-(

Before you start the game (maybe it works during the game but never tried it before), you go to the Controllers menu and click on Change Grip Order; there you press L+R on each JoyCon to assign it to Player 1 and Player 2, start your game and you'll be able to play a versus multiplayer game.
 
Blazing Star is one amazing game, I enjoy the combo score mechanics and the visual design so much. Going for 1cc, which I haven't done in a while.

Now what I really want on Switch is Metal Slug 5 (underrated, great game actually IMO even if overshadowed by the strong 1,2/X,3 trilogy), Sengoku 3 and most of all, the Real Bout Fatal Fury games (which came after 1,2,S,3), especially Special&2. They're the Street Fighter Alpha series games of the FF franchise, and I personally rank Special&2 on the same if not higher level than Garou. So it is a shame they're basically not available anywhere except for the subpar PS2 classics collection (though it has arranged OST, which is amazing). They ooze style from every pore, have some of SNKs greatest casts and really feature super-tight, addictive gameplay mechanics. RB2 and RBS are such essential SNK games, I wonder why they always insist on instead rereleasing FF1 and the old series Special over and over again. (or how about making a new collection, switch between both game systems like turbo and hyper, share backgrounds from both games for additional variety, add optional arranged ost and unlockable artwork galleries to substitute for missing story scenes/endings... I can dream, right :D)

Real Bout Special/2 for life!

Anyway, thinking of getting Shock Troopers and Neo Turf Masters next, have them on other platforms but really want them available portable & for local multiplayer anywhere.
 
All 3 Real Bout games were released on Wii Virtual Console btw. I'm sure Hamster will do them on ACA. Same for Sengoku 3 too.

Oh, right, thanks. I forgot about those... tend to forget about VC in general even though there's lots of great stuff available (mostly because I never had an arcadestick on the Wii and didn't really like the regular Wii gamepads for classic games... though that's on me I guess and still I managed to play lots of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom even with the regular gamepad). Having them portable and on the Switch ecosystem in general would be amazing, so I hope they'll arrive soon.
 

firenze

Member
Honestly, the Saturn ports (1MB RAM cart required) of Real Bout and Real Bout Special are also really good. No RB2 there though, unfortunately!

But yeah, I'm with you on rooting for them to show up in the ACA Neo Geo series. And I'd imagine they probably will - shouldn't be any licensing issue preventing it since they are SNK games.
 

Type_Raver

Member
... They're the Street Fighter Alpha series ...


This just awoken the idea of CPS 1, 2, 3 games for the Switch!

Aboslutely love what neogeo is doing here. Capcom, please make it happen too! Street fighter II's, Street fighter Alpha's, Street Fighter III's, Marvel Vs series, and other arcade action titles from these generations.
 
I was thinking the other day about this one particular game I used to play in the game room at the local Papa Gino's, and after doing some digging, realized it was in fact an SNK game.

That said, any chance of us getting Guerilla War?

sure
Afaik it's still available on PSN so I see no reason for it being not released on switch in the future. especially after the surprisingly amazing success with the ACA games and Strikers 1945

(I would prefer the far superior NES version)
 

MrPanic

Member
So I got Samurai Shodown yesterday for nostalgic reasons but now I feel like getting another neogeo fighting game on my switch. I was looking at the KoF games but I'm not familiar at all with the series. I was just looking to pick up one game in the series so would kof98 be the one I should pick up? I'm basically looking for the best one.
 

Fiendcode

Member
This just awoken the idea of CPS 1, 2, 3 games for the Switch!

Aboslutely love what neogeo is doing here. Capcom, please make it happen too! Street fighter II's, Street fighter Alpha's, Street Fighter III's, Marvel Vs series, and other arcade action titles from these generations.
After the success of USF2 I think Capcom might end up doing more revised retail releases instead. Things like DarkStalkers Chronicle, Alpha 3 Max, 3rd Strike, Puzzle Fighter, maybe adding an Ultra to the titles somewhere.
 

Timu

Member
So I got Samurai Shodown yesterday for nostalgic reasons but now I feel like getting another neogeo fighting game on my switch. I was looking at the KoF games but I'm not familiar at all with the series. I was just looking to pick up one game in the series so would kof98 be the one I should pick up? I'm basically looking for the best one.
Yes, go for KOF 98.
 

firenze

Member
I'd actually go for Garou before any of the KOF games, or really any Neo fighting games on Switch...

That being said, yeah KOF '98 is the standard choice as the most popular game in the series. Different people might have a different favorite (I like 2000 a little more myself), but you really can't go wrong with '98 - huge roster, plays great, good representation of the series.

The only downside is that the Neo Geo version is the "vanilla" KOF '98, and not the Ultimate Match upgrade/port (arcade, Steam, PS2, XBLA) that is arguably the definitive version of the game.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
I love that Samurai Shodown IV is available. It's my absolute favorite game in the series.

Hamster is doing some truly awesome stuff.

I really am looking for Real Bout 2.

KOF 98, SamSho4, and RB2 are my pinnacle trifecta of favorite SNK fighters.

While I'd love to have a Breakers Revenge as well, that is some wierd IP limbo and probably unlikely to happen.

Blazing Star is there, now only Pulstar needs to come along with Sengoku 3 and Baseball Stars 2, and I'd consider the list almost perfect.
 
While I'd love to have a Breakers Revenge as well, that is some wierd IP limbo and probably unlikely to happen.

my man. Breakers Revenge is one of my fav Neogeo fighters. It's a ton of fun.
what do you mean with "IP limbo" though? because of it's developer Visco?



After the success of USF2 I think Capcom might end up doing more revised retail releases instead. Things like DarkStalkers Chronicle, Alpha 3 Max, 3rd Strike, Puzzle Fighter, maybe adding an Ultra to the titles somewhere.

and selling them as single games with a 40$ price tag.

but to be honest: knowing capcom's downright shameful ways to treat nintendo fans I do not expect any of these coming anytime soon.
instead we will be gifted with another bunch of "test" games till one fails sales wise and capcom will be like "See! 3rd party games don't sell on switch. support canceled!"
 

firenze

Member
Well, supposedly Visco licensed their Neo Geo games fairly recently, so they might not be against working with Hamster.

Breakers Revenge and Ganryu got what are supposedly licensed AES releases in the past ~1.5 years or so from a French company, Neo Ayato. They were conversions, using MVS ROMs in new AES shells - so not exactly a new production run, but supposedly they had Visco's blessing and paid for a license. I actually own one of the Breakers Revenge carts...

Breakers (not Revenge) also got a Dreamcast release THIS YEAR. Again, supposedly officially licensed from Visco, by a French indie developer (JoshProd). It's emulation using some custom emulator tweaks and apparently has some slowdown, but seems to have a real license from the publisher.
 
for anyone in search of some real hardcore oldschool arcade gaming: Magician Lord is out now on switch
rather bland gameplay meets nice but unspectular graphics and GODLY music
seriously, the soundtrack is one of the best ever composed for a VG

OH and prepare to die ....a lot.
 

Neff

Member
for anyone in search of some real hardcore oldschool arcade gaming: Magician Lord is out now on switch
rather bland gameplay meets nice but unspectular graphics and GODLY music
seriously, the soundtrack is one of the best ever composed for a VG

OH and prepare to die ....a lot.

It's always been one of my pet favourites but holy fuck is it hard, and I say that as someone who relishes challenging old-school games.

I can only assume a modern gamer would see it as a cruel joke.
 

Timu

Member
for anyone in search of some real hardcore oldschool arcade gaming: Magician Lord is out now on switch
rather bland gameplay meets nice but unspectular graphics and GODLY music
seriously, the soundtrack is one of the best ever composed for a VG

OH and prepare to die ....a lot.
Best song is the 1st stage music.
 
for anyone in search of some real hardcore oldschool arcade gaming: Magician Lord is out now on switch
rather bland gameplay meets nice but unspectular graphics and GODLY music
seriously, the soundtrack is one of the best ever composed for a VG

OH and prepare to die ....a lot.
I had it for Wii and yeah, I remember the music in being superb in general. Also, the game was difficult af.
 

firenze

Member
I kinda love Magician Lord. The coolest thing to me about the game is that it's about a battle against sinister devil creatures and evil, but it's so colorful! No grey/brown blah look, it's got all these vibrant blues, greens, purples, reds, oranges, etc. Really great look, and remembering that it's from 1990 (!!!) is sort of mind blowing with how good it still holds up visually - comparing it to the NES and early Mega Drive/Genesis titles of the time was a pretty incredible showpiece for the Neo Geo.

And yeah, the music is also stellar. Stage 1 gets a lot of love, but I need to give a shout out to that incredible boss fight music.

As for difficulty... to an extent it's a hard game to just jump in and try to clear, but it's really a matter of just learning the levels and boss patterns. Once you practice learning the stages the mechanics never feel particularly unfair or cheap to me. More fair than something like the Ghouls and Ghosts games (not that I don't have some love for those too), for instance. The controls are kinda slow and deliberate, but they feel accurate once you have a feel for them - you just need some patience and familiarity with the level. I know "Souls-like" is kinda trite and overused at this point, but it feels like a fair comparison here. Last stage is admittedly a bit rough though; mild spoiler:
Boss Rush section where you have to face off against all of the previous bosses, will really test your memorization of their patterns

If you're unfamiliar, it's not quite a twich-based or floaty platformer. Has more of an Amiga Euro-platformer feel, very similar to Shadow of the Beast. Maybe even a little Turrican-like in some of the shooting elements.

A true Neo Geo classic, in my book. It's decidedly old school, but a fantastic example of this kind of platforming action game. Highly recommended for fans of:
- Shadow of the Beast
- Makaimura (Ghosts & Goblins, Ghouls & Ghosts) series
- Classic Castlevania (Castlevania, Castlevania III, Super Castlevania IV), not so much the "Metroidvania" sprawling adventures
- Altered Beast
 

1upsuper

Member
A true Neo Geo classic, in my book. It's decidedly old school, but a fantastic example of this kind of platforming action game. Highly recommended for fans of:
- Shadow of the Beast
- Makaimura (Ghosts & Goblins, Ghouls & Ghosts) series
- Classic Castlevania (Castlevania, Castlevania III, Super Castlevania IV), not so much the "Metroidvania" sprawling adventures

- Altered Beast

I really like those franchises, though I typically dislike Euro platformers. I'll give it a shot.
 
uhh...so Sonic Wings 2
Either they fucked around with it's difficulty level or I'm just getting (really) old...
I could one-credit the game right to the last boss (
the eye, not the monkey
as a teenager in the arcade.
Nowadays I'm getting constantly murdered although I still seem the remember the enemy pattern rather well.
wtf


I kinda love Magician Lord. The coolest thing to me about the game is that it's about a battle against sinister devil creatures and evil, but it's so colorful! No grey/brown blah look, it's got all these vibrant blues, greens, purples, reds, oranges, etc. Really great look, and remembering that it's from 1990 (!!!) is sort of mind blowing with how good it still holds up visually - comparing it to the NES and early Mega Drive/Genesis titles of the time was a pretty incredible showpiece for the Neo Geo.

And yeah, the music is also stellar. Stage 1 gets a lot of love, but I need to give a shout out to that incredible boss fight music.

As for difficulty... to an extent it's a hard game to just jump in and try to clear, but it's really a matter of just learning the levels and boss patterns. Once you practice learning the stages the mechanics never feel particularly unfair or cheap to me. More fair than something like the Ghouls and Ghosts games (not that I don't have some love for those too), for instance. The controls are kinda slow and deliberate, but they feel accurate once you have a feel for them - you just need some patience and familiarity with the level. I know "Souls-like" is kinda trite and overused at this point, but it feels like a fair comparison here. Last stage is admittedly a bit rough though; mild spoiler:
Boss Rush section where you have to face off against all of the previous bosses, will really test your memorization of their patterns

If you're unfamiliar, it's not quite a twich-based or floaty platformer. Has more of an Amiga Euro-platformer feel, very similar to Shadow of the Beast. Maybe even a little Turrican-like in some of the shooting elements.

A true Neo Geo classic, in my book. It's decidedly old school, but a fantastic example of this kind of platforming action game. Highly recommended for fans of:
- Shadow of the Beast
- Makaimura (Ghosts & Goblins, Ghouls & Ghosts) series
- Classic Castlevania (Castlevania, Castlevania III, Super Castlevania IV), not so much the "Metroidvania" sprawling adventures
- Altered Beast

greatly written post
I agree wholeheartedly with "Euro platform feel". It's the perfect describtion for Magician Lord.

Really great look, and remembering that it's from 1990 (!!!) is sort of mind blowing with how good it still holds up visually - comparing it to the NES and early Mega Drive/Genesis titles of the time was a pretty incredible showpiece for the Neo Geo.

Well, the NeoGeo was an arcade system first and foremost an arcade system and comparing it to Nes/Mega Drive is a bit unfair.
I also think that Magician Lord is one of the "worst" looking games on the NeoGeo.
There is just nothing special about it and to me it looks just like an good looking Amiga game (except for the scaling effects maybe).
 

lupinko

Member
I just noticed KoF2000 on the Japanese eshop. Don't think I have seen it mentioned here though. Are we expecting it to pop up on NA eshop tomorrow? I'm probably going to get it anyway since I got 98 and 99 already. But how is it?

2000 is an improved 99.

You can skip 2001 when they decide to port that over.
 

knkng

Member
So I've been playing a bit of Magician Lord, and am I crazy or is the opening cinematic completely missing? The game always just cuts immediately to level 1. I just checked a NeoGeo play through on YouTube and it was there, but I can't get it to show up in my game.

Minor issue, but it would be nice to know what's the deal with this.
 
So I've been playing a bit of Magician Lord, and am I crazy or is the opening cinematic completely missing? The game always just cuts immediately to level 1. I just checked a NeoGeo play through on YouTube and it was there, but I can't get it to show up in my game.

Minor issue, but it would be nice to know what's the deal with this.

I don't have the switch version, but the intro for Magician Lord only ever played as part of the attract mode demo before inserting your coin and pressing start in the arcade. You don't see it in the actual game.
 

Futaleufu

Member
2000 is an improved 99.

You can skip 2001 when they decide to port that over.

2000's striker system turns the game into "who can land the first hit"

2001 is full of glitches but it's a decent game on its own. High level matches using strikers is madness.

Something particular of KOF games is that none of them have ever been made obsolete by a sequel. All of them are different enough to stand on their own. The closest to each other may be 2003 and XI, and even then, some things are still different.
 
It still feels wierd to shoot the World Trade Center in Sonic Wings 2/Aero Fighters 2
Ld9ET2O.jpg


...
 

firenze

Member
Anyone know what next's week release is?

I don't think it has been officially confirmed, but if they go in the order shown in Hamster's last announcement of the current batch of games (which I think is what they did for the previous batch of Fatal Fury Special, Samurai Shodown, Super Sidekicks, Aero Fighters 2, and The King of Fighters 2000), the order would be:

August 17: Magician Lord
August 24: Puzzled (Joy Joy Kid)
August 31: Zed Blade
September 7: Blue's Journey (Raguy)
September 14: Spin Master (Miracle Adventure)
September 21: Art of Fighting (Ryuuko no Ken)

Note Japanese titles in parentheses where different from the western name.
 

chronomac

Member
I don't think it has been officially confirmed, but if they go in the order shown in Hamster's last announcement of the current batch of games (which I think is what they did for the previous batch of Fatal Fury Special, Samurai Shodown, Super Sidekicks, Aero Fighters 2, and The King of Fighters 2000), the order would be.
Thanks. Just find it odd Hamster hasn’t said anything about Thursday’s release. They usual reveal it a week ahead of time.
 
Any tips for how to not die all the time in Magician Lord? Game is hard as shit.

well, no
pretty much like Super Ghoulsn' Ghosts it's all about memorizing enemy patterns and as I said before, you will have to die a lot to get better.

practice without getting (too) frustrated
LOL

sorry
 

chronomac

Member
August 17: Magician Lord
August 24: Puzzled (Joy Joy Kid)
August 31: Zed Blade
September 7: Blue's Journey (Raguy)
September 14: Spin Master (Miracle Adventure)
September 21: Art of Fighting (Ryuuko no Ken)
I just checked the EU eShop and Puzzled is listed for Thursday.
 
I just checked the EU eShop and Puzzled is listed for Thursday.

If you are not a huge puzzlegames/tetris fan avoid this one.
it looks, sounds and plays superbland. better get puyo puyo tetris.
seriously, it's one of the weakest tetris clones(well, its not really a clone; more a tetris/reverse-arkanoid hybrid?..hard to explain) and looks like an average mega drive game (afair its one of the smallest neogeo games).
 
The PS4/XB1 got KOF '96 this week. It's not as good to play as 2000, but it's better looking from an artistic perspective.

So, I'm going to do my personal must buy/recommendation Neo Geo list. The must buy list is in order of my preferences, but the others are up to you.

Must Buy
Garou
Metal Slug 1
Metal Slug 3
Neo Turf Masters
Shock Troopers
KOF '98
Blazing Star
Aero Fighters 2

Recommended
Last Resort
Magical Drop 2
Waku Waku 7
Samurai Shodown (This is probably the first Recommended game you should buy, the thing is it ain't SamSho2.)
Samurai Shodown IV (I love this game, but it's not SamShoVSpecial)
KOF '99
KOF '2000

Worth Playing If You've Finished The Other Games
Fatal Fury Special (Pre-Real Bout FF can be a bit weird for some.)
Metal Slug 2 (Possibly the best crafted MS game in terms of design and difficulty, but that slowdown though...)
Shock Troopers 2nd Squad
Super Sidekicks (Probably better to wait for SS2.)

Thanks for writing this post. It finally convinced me to pick up Neo Turf Masters and it's been great so far. It took me a few rounds to get used to the controls but it's been fine since. Can't get through on a single credit yet but I've placed on the Hi-Scores for USA and managed to get a hole-in-one already. Sinking a long putt or making a good approach (especially from sand/rough/heavy-rough) feels amazing.

I might get Shock Troopers or Blazing Star at some point. I'm still hesitant to get any Metal Slug games since I got the anthology on Wii and still have it lying around. Fighting games also are a bit intimidating since I've never really been into 2D fighters, I doubt I'd be able to convince many friends to play any as well.
 
Anyone else getting like 12fps in co-op on Shock Troopers 2, it's almost consistent and just makes the game a slug to play.

yes. even in 1 player mode it has severe slow downs most of the time.
ST2 in 2 player mode is running worse than Metal Slug 2 and to me it's pretty much unplayable with two players.
sometimes it's like watching a slideshow
 

Danneee

Member
yes. even in 1 player mode it has severe slow downs most of the time.
ST2 in 2 player mode is running worse than Metal Slug 2 and to me it's pretty much unplayable with two players.
sometimes it's like watching a slideshow

Try 2 player Blazing Star with auto fire. Worst slow down I've seen in a port since Twinkle Star Sprites on the ADK collection (same shitty performance on both PS3 and 4).
 
What are the best simultaneous two player games? I'm already holding out for Magical Drop III

depends what you like

action: Shock Troopers 1 is pretty good but also has some major slowdowns (nowhere as bad as ST2 or MS2 though. it's playable)
Nam1975 is awesome in 2 player mode if you like that kind of games.

shmups: Aero Fighters 2 is (to me) one of the best 2 player shmups available.
Also look out for Strikers 1945 (isn't a NeoGeo game but available on eshop)

puzzles: Tomorrow "Puzzled" gets released, some sort of tetris "clone"(not really). kinda meh
better wait for Magical Drop 3 which should be out soon.

beat em ups: You can't go wrong with Sengoku . pretty darn good (especially in 2player mode) but you might want to wait for sengoku 2 (the best of the series).
Mutation Nation and Robo Army (both really good fun in coop) should be coming in near future.
It's also given that Burning Fight will be released on switch too. Lots of people dislike it as a poor Final Fight clone but I kinda like it.

sports: Super Sidekicks is already available but I recommend waiting for Super Sidekicks 2 (should be coming soon) which is one of the best arcade soccer games ever (quasi the Neo Turf Master of soccer games) and amazingly good in multiplayer.
 
Thanks for writing this post. It finally convinced me to pick up Neo Turf Masters and it's been great so far. It took me a few rounds to get used to the controls but it's been fine since. Can't get through on a single credit yet but I've placed on the Hi-Scores for USA and managed to get a hole-in-one already. Sinking a long putt or making a good approach (especially from sand/rough/heavy-rough) feels amazing.

I might get Shock Troopers or Blazing Star at some point. I'm still hesitant to get any Metal Slug games since I got the anthology on Wii and still have it lying around. Fighting games also are a bit intimidating since I've never really been into 2D fighters, I doubt I'd be able to convince many friends to play any as well.

Get Shock Troopers, seriously one of my favorite games to pick up and play a bit of
 
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