Top 10 Neo Geo Games

[Music] while Saiga was always my first love I played and enjoyed the libraries of many other consoles over the years one of those happens to be SN K's arcade system turned home platform the Neo Geo has a huge fan of arcade games I was captivated early on by its promise of absolute parity with its home releases game consoles had made the lofty claim of the arcade at home before and despite some coming close there was definitely still some distance between the two when the Neo Geo hit the market in 1990 I was astonished by its incredible looking games I was only privy to the arcade versions at the time primarily due to the cost of the software itself home versions could run upwards of 150 to 200 dollars and no retail shops in my area even carried them it wouldn't be until the late 1990s when I finally got my own MVS arcade board and console eyes dit myself I had played many Neo Geo games by this point but actually owning these arcade perfect games at home was truly special the Neo ended up being one of my favorite systems of all time with a small but powerfully good library of games that actually made choosing just 10 of them unbelievably hard I'm not kidding either this library is superb and picking just 10 mins I had to leave out games that could easily have made the list I stayed true to how much I enjoyed the games overall and focused on replay value visual and audio appeal and good old fashioned fun factor these are my top 10 Neo Geo games [Music] [Music] we start at number 10 with King of Fighters 98 this long-running SNK team-based fighter saw many editions on the Neo Geo and a number of them could have made the top 10 but 98 here is my favorite I really enjoyed 97 and 98 is more of that game with more characters and a handful of tweaks to the power gauges I've always appreciated the way the King of Fighters games looked and 98 is a really good looking 2d fighter these games were always about details and animation and there is a ton going on here so much in fact you can easily take a bit of extra damage just trying to take in these brilliant backgrounds of course the 683 Meg's of this game means the characters are animated just as well the vast roster of characters are comprised of many different fighting styles and nationalities so the sheer variety is insane just the walking animations put most games to shame and you'll want to try out each and every character to see what they can do there are many ways to play this today the easiest of which is the digital versions available or modern systems that cost under 10 bucks there is a fantastic Dreamcast version of this called the king of fighters dream match 1999 that has 3d backgrounds and an updated version for the ps2 called ultimate match that adds even more characters if you want a great King of Fighters experience on your Neo Geo you don't have to look far but 98 is my personal recommendation [Music] [Music] one incredibly nice thing about the NeoGeo in its early days was the variety of genres that received fighting games had yet to hit their stride fully so SNK spread the love around to run in guns beat'em ups and yes even sports games one of my favorites makes the list at number nine and that's baseball stars too coming off of the first game in the series which was successful and great in its own right part to hear improves the visuals dramatically and adds many many gameplay tweaks to speed up the game and make the entire experience more enjoyable this is as pick-up-and-play as you will ever see a game of baseball and the pace always keeps things fun and exciting you have a surprising amount of control over your schedule and players too giving you folks that love your seasons and stats something to mess around with as I said earlier the graphics here are really nice too the color and animation are as fantastic as you'd expect but it's the presentation of these things that really make it shine it feels like a big deal fans going crazy an announcer that hypes up the action and sound effects that carry weight with every crack of the bat you don't get any real teams here but that honestly adds to the charm this is your own fantasy league filled with your own characters this is the type of sports game that never loses its appeal no matter how old it gets and there is nearly limitless replay value contained in its 68 Meg's of fun [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the NeoGeo had some really fun beat'em ups but Sengoku 3 was definitely my favorite released way late in the platform's life the 364 Meg's of this one put forth one hell of a good looking and sounding game I mean an absolute tour de force of excellent presentation even in the face of far more powerful hardware at the time it was developed by noise factory who also developed some of the Metal Slug games and they did a bang-up job with everything from the art style to the killer animation I mean just look at this game the massive sprites the fluid movements and attacks it's all the kind of stuff you never would have guessed the hardware was capable of looking back at the firsts and go COO this one doesn't just look good it plays excellent as well you get a much more strategic interface here than the previous games and have access to really fast attacks that do a little bit of damage slower more powerful attacks and the ability to wield projectiles the combo system is deeper than before as well and you have multiple characters and styles to choose from six by the end of the game the co-op of this one is where the core of the fun is for me these kinds of games are so much better with a friend or family member bashing heads together and facing down boss battles as a single ass-kicking unit I love the first game of the series way back in the day the part 3 here was the kind of game that allowed the Neo Geo to stay alive as long as it did it looked great and played just as well [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] I loved some of the early shoot-'em-ups on the Neo Geo but it's 1998's blazing star that commands most of my playtime these days this one uses pre-rendered graphics for much of its 346 mag presentation something I'm typically not a fan of but it doesn't look as bad here thanks to the excellent color use in animation as with many shooters of its era you get the choice of multiple ships that have various attack patterns some control huge swaths of the screen while others offer a more powerful concentrated attack it's often compared to our type because of the shield option and charts shots and I'd agree don't think this is just some simple knockoff however because this stands on its own is a great shooter mod lots of enemy variety and massive boss fights accompany each level and it of course offers the ability to be played in co-op only a slight bit of slowdown here and there in the annoying announcer detract from an otherwise stellar experience [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] often whenever the subject of running guns come up on the NeoGeo its Metal Slug that commands the lion's share of the conversation I disagree because 1997 Shock Troopers was a fine piece of work itself this one takes place in a top-down or overhead perspective similar to other games like mercs it has a great variety in the characters you play as each with their own strengths and weaknesses and you can choose your route throughout the game which makes this essentially three games in one the lonely wolf mode allows you to go in Rambo style with one hero and increased stats while the team battle allows you the strength and variety of three different characters virtues as you'd expect of a neogeo title coming in at 346 Meg's it looks sensational neat scaling effects are all over the place explosions routinely fill the screen and you just have to love each and every character silky smooth animation if you think that Metal Slug is the only running gun on the NeoGeo worth your time think again Shock Troopers may play from a different perspective but it's just as fun and challenging and don't forget to bring someone along with you on this journey because it has a two-player co-op mode to keep you coming back again and again [Music] Samurai Shodown saw half a dozen releases on the NeoGeo during its run many of them are worthy of an argument for a top 10 list but it's the first game released in 1993 and coming in at 118 Meg's that deserves to be here the most this is the first fighting game released after Street Fighter 2 that I honestly thought may be a better game killer character settings fighting styles atmosphere it was just all so well done the opening cinema of this alone sends shivers down my spine whenever I watch it perfect music accompanies this epic presentation as well stuff you will remember well after the power gets turned all the variety and the cast of characters is special as well from the katana wielding hiyo Marui to the master of illusion Hanzo you have plenty of choice to master here the backgrounds is personality in each and every scene you get fights taking place on rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean while waves crash all around you and even deep within the forest with woodland critters looking on there's never an ugly moment in this game world and while the full screen scaling is mostly just a gimmick it was eye catching as hell and added a ton of visual pizazz gameplay of course centers entirely around weapons you have the ability to strike fast and clean for big damage with every character take your time with this one learn its pace appreciate its presentation and environments it's a special game that even in the face of street fighter two's meteoric rise held its own in my arcade days later games would look better be better balanced and even add tons more moves and characters but this here is still my favorite [Music] [Music] 1996 would start off the memorable Metal Slug series for Neo Geo fans it came in at 193 Meg's and took over Konami 's Contra roll as these side-scrolling run-and-gun franchise to play the funny thing is it really didn't do much different from the previous games in the genre to command all the love and attention other games had multiple weapons to choose from and co-op gameplay other games had giant boss fights with cool effects so what was it that made Metal Slug stand out quite simply it was its graphical prowess that set this one apart in 1996 you had simply never seen a game like this so well animated and full of life the backgrounds were drop-dead gorgeous too and even the death animations were quite a sight to behold despite there being great games in the genre before it Metal Slug simply commanded your immediate attention because there was so much to see that impressed you the gameplay is no slouch however it's fast challenging and load it with little comical touches you'll spend much of the time on foot fighting for your life but it does shake things up here and there with vehicles to commandeer what you add greatly to damage potential and helps keep you alive a little bit longer many great games in this series can be here in this spot but the first one still remains the most memorable and fun for me it came along in the arcade right at the time other companies were leaving the genre in droves and nailed a look and feel that would remain unique in timeless [Music] when I was a kid I had a love for Japanese monster movies I watched Godzilla and pals battle countless times on TV and when it came time to control one of those and do damage of my own it was done perfectly by 1991's king of the monsters this early life neo title was a mere 55 Meg's and while it's simple looking next to many games on the list here it's big on fun factor in gameplay the setup is a pure dream come true choose your giant and do battle across the landscape crushing buildings and wreaking havoc all over Japan you get the usual suspects here to choose from giant lizards gorillas bugs and even a super-powered human the gameplay is sort of set up like a wrestling game as opposed to a fighter focusing on tie ups and grappling moves to defeat your foes the play areas are even courted off like a wrestling ring allowing you to send your enemies into the ropes for attacks as well in order to win you must pin your counterpart for a three count which moves you on to the next opponent best part of this one is again the Neo Geo's incredible ability to take multiplayer to the next level that means four kaiju on screen at once and what is basically a wrestling match in the middle of a city part 2 - this would change things up a bit and while it's still great fun I can't deny the first tier it's do and raw fun factor an arcade classic and one of the Neo Geo's best early titles [Music] the NeoGeo was of course no stranger to fighting games with the genre absolutely dominating much of the systems later released library when it comes to my absolute favorite there's 1999's Goro Marco the wolves and then there's everything else it was the final game in the fatal fury franchise and while it retains many of the fighters from the earlier efforts it gets rid of much that define those games and concentrate solely on the gameplay instead of gimmicks like multiple planes to switch between them it's also one of the very best looking games on the Neo Geo ever put out particularly in its show-stopping animation it's one of those later neo titles that brings everything to life in the environment animals people water vehicles you name it in each stage is teeming with super smooth frames of animation for everything the fighters of course look great and you'll get a game that plays excellent as well after years of tinkering with the fatal fury formula SNK found the near perfect balance of fun factor for this one tons of different styles and personalities to choose from and the appeal of each one guarantees will keep coming back and dig in to the next character it was the type of game that made you realize that 2d fighters still had so much to offer and that the genre would never truly die it was a whopping 688 Meg's one of the largest games on the platform [Music] sometimes a game comes out of left field and just smacks you right upside the head with nothing short of shock and all in its appeal to you surely some simple ass golf game is not my favorite game on the system you ask well it absolutely is and this is point-blank one of the most playable sports games I have ever had the joy of sinking hundreds of hours into the magic of this one isn't fancy graphics or even the Neo Geo's trademark brilliant animation it's the unbeatable pick-up-and-play aspect that wins big press start choose a character and off you go hitting the ball is extremely easy with a meter that doesn't confuse you and get you immediate results soon you'll need to be dealing with big changes in the wind courses that have easy out-of-bounds areas and hazards like trees sand traps and water placed just perfectly within reach of the green to mess everything up the harder you're pushed the more chances you'll take adding to the thrill and fun factor of the experience as expected you can also bring a friend along for a bit of friendly competition expanding the playability further you get four courses to master and six different golfers to choose from with various strengths and weaknesses I still play this often and never tire of its simple yet gripping appeal it's a hundred and thirty three Meg's of perfection and my absolute favorite game on the Neo Geo [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] ready try [Applause] as I said in the opening guys picking just ten games here was absolutely brutal from multiple games in a single series being good enough to be here to just the sheer greatness of the overall library the Neo Geo has no shortage of absolute must plays even after picking just ten here I'm looking over at the list of games that didn't make the cut and saying to myself damn any one of those games easily belongs in this discussion that's not just a mark of a great system it's the evidence that I had an absolute blast with the platform the last official SNK title for the Neo Geo was released in 2004 with samurai shodown 5 special finishing up nearly a decade and a half of 2d goodness lucky for us you no longer have to chase down AES and MVS games to experience these and can now play them cheaply and easily on every modern platform thanks to the arcade archive series from hamster there are also numerous compilations available on everything from the ps2 to the Wii you can chase down if you want a physical copy no matter how you choose to go about it you just have to give these games some of your time the Neo Geo was an absolute beast of a system with a library of hits that never lost their appeal the platform epitomizes everything that was great about the arcade and there was simply nothing else like it I'm sig allure decks thank you guys for watching and I will catch you next time [Music]

Channel: Sega Lord X

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Keywords: segalordx, sega lord x, sega saturn, sega genesis, sega dreamcast, mega drive, megadrive, game gear, 32x, mega cd, genesis, saturn, master system, sega, sega cd, gameplay, review, movies, retro games, retro gaming, video games, ps4, xbox, wii, nintendo, gamecube, n64, ps1, ps2, ps3, psp, vita, switch, atari, neo geo, aes, mvs, snk, garou, metal slug, shock troopers, samurai shodown, neo turf masters, king of the monsters, blazing star, king of fighters, baseball stars 2, sengoku

Id: SLUWZQjxPAY

Length: 22min 34sec (1354 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 26 2019