Topic: Arcade Archives / ACA NEOGEO eShop sales

@MontyCircus
Thanks, Monty! I always appreciate the heads up about the Ake-Aka sales and the background info you provide about the games. I’d give your posts a thumbs up every time if I could!

I bought both Darius games in previous sales, plus over the years I’ve picked up all three Taito Milestones and Taito’s Egret II mini arcade console. Between all that, I’m covered for everything in this batch except for Fighting Hawk and Master of Weapon. I might pick up the latter - Toyama-san, Taito programmer and frequent guest on Hamster’s weekly livestream, always says Master of Weapon is his fave Taito game so I’m curious about it.

Your appreciation is appreciated!

Heads up! The following ACA NEOGEO games are currently 50% off on the American eShop. Sale ends November 5th.
Keep in mind, all of them games have been available in the recent ACA NEOGEO Selection releases.

The King of Fighters '94 (also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 1)

Fatal Fury 2 (also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 2)

Art of Fighting 3 (also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 4)

Samurai Shodown (also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 2 and Samurai Shodown NEOGEO Collection, the latter is also on sale but it ends today)

Metal Slug 4 (also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 2)

Shock Troopers (also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 1)

Top Hunter Roddy & Cathy (also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 1)

Big Tournament Golf (aka Neo Turf Masters, also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 2)

Ghost Pilots (also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 2)

Riding Hero (also available in ACA NEOGEO Selection Vol. 1)

@HammerGalladeBro
I wasn’t even aware of this week’s sale! On my way to work Thursday AM I was tuned into Hamster’s Arcade Archiver podcast as usual, but they played long recorded interviews with the director of this week’s game (Taito’s Midnight Landing flight sim), and I arrived at the office before they got to current announcements.

After spending so much on all the physical NEOGEO collections this year, I can’t justify picking up any of these digital sales, though I might’ve been tempted to double-dip on Magician Lord were it included.

I so wish there were a way to gift a digital game to someone, because I’d send Big Tournament Golf to my brother. For the money, he’d get a ton of replay ability from that gorgeous golf game.

A while ago I googled for lists of the best Neo Geo games. I looked for ranked lists at least 25 games long. I ended up finding 7 qualifying lists with 132 unique games and a total of 413 separate entries.

4 of the games in the current sale were rated in the Top 20 of all Neo Geo games:

• Shock Troopers (last on sale over 3 years ago)
• Top Hunter Roddy & Cathy (last on sale over 2 years ago)
• Big Tournament Golf aka Neo Turf Masters (last on sale over 2½ years ago)
• Samurai Shodown (last on sale over 2½ years ago)

And this one rated in the Top 30 Neo Geo games:

• Art of Fighting 3, the top rated game in the Art of Fighting series (has been on Switch for 8 years, and this is the first time it's ever been on sale)

That's 5 top quality arcade classics. Get them while you can!

@MontyCircus Thanks for the context, I was considering only getting Fatal Fury 2 and Art of Fighting 3.

Unfortunately, if I want to get Metroid Prime 4 NS2 Edition next month, I'll have to cut some expenses, and the rest of the games on the ACA NEOGEO sale will take the hit.

@HammerGalladeBro

You're welcome!

You also might like to know that Fatal Fury Special (not currently on sale) is an updated/improved version of Fatal Fury 2.

Cheers, I somehow didn't have AoF3 on my deku wishlist, so I didn't see the discount! Grabbed!

There’s a bit of a buzz about AoF3 as it’s one of the games being played in the SNK World Championships 2025, no doubt to generate interest for the upcoming Art of Fighting revival game. Good time to pick it up. Keep in mind, don’t approach it like a standard 2D fighter. Its pacing feels more like a 3D fighter adapted to 2D. A bit ahead of it’s time, even I struggled to understand it when it was new.

As of right now and until December 11th, these ACA NEOGEO games are 50% off on the American eShop:

The King of Fighters 2002
Art of Fighting 2
The Last Blade 2
Metal Slug
Super Sidekicks
Sengoku 3
Aero Fighters 2
Zed Blade
Cyber-Lip
Thrash Rally

Once I have a chance I'll provide on which collections they've been available.

@HammerGalladeBro

Here they are in order of "Most owned" on DekuDeals:

• Metal Slug
• Aero Fighters 2 (aka Sonic Wings 2)
• The King of Fighters 2002
• Sengoku 3
• The Last Blade 2
• Zed Blade
• Art of Fighting 2
• Super Sidekicks
• Cyber-Lip
• Thrash Rally

A while ago I googled for lists of the best Neo Geo games. I looked for ranked lists at least 25 games long. I ended up finding 7 qualifying lists with 132 unique games and a total of 413 separate entries.

Aero FIghters 2 and The Last Blade 2 both ended up Top 10 Neo Geo games.
Sengoku 3 ended up a Top 20 Neo Geo game (on another metanalysis list from multiple sites I made, it ended up a Top 20 Classic Beat 'em Up).
Metal Slug ended up a Top 25 Neo Geo game.
The King of Fighters 2002 was lower, getting lost in all the fighting game options, but in polls for the King of Fighters games, it usually rivals The King of Fighters '98 as best KOF game on the Neo Geo. I even saw a poll where KOF 2002 ended up the best KOF game period. Even better than all of the more recent, modern releases.

Something to consider is how rare these sales are. Hamster's Arcade Archives and Neo Geo sales only happen a few times a year, and sometimes it takes YEARS for a particular game to go on sale.

Case in point:

• Sengoku 3 came out on Switch over 7½ years ago. This is the first time it has ever been on sale.
• The Last Blade 2 came out on Switch nearly 8 years ago. This is the first time it has ever been on sale.
• Thrash Rally came out on Switch over 7 years ago. This is the first time it has ever been on sale.

I'll probably pick up Super Sidekicks, though the later sequels are better received, they were delisted a long time ago and probably never coming back.

Thanks a lot for the added context.

I can attest to KOF 2002 and Metal Slug popularity in Mexico. Most arcades I visited during the 2000s had those two games almost all the time and the very few arcade machines I can find these days tend to have those games as well.

For this sale, I think I'll stick to
Art of Fighting 2 (completing the AoF collection, one day they'll do sales on the Fatal Fury games I'm missing)
The Last Blade 2 (mostly due to Hibiki, one of only two TLB characters I know, the other being Akari Ichijou)
Maybe Sengoku 3, I'm not big on beat 'em ups, but something about it got my attention.

Sorry, but we're so close to the release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, and while I may not get that game at launch, I need to make sure I can get it (and hopefully the amiibo) by the time I have the chance.

I grabbed Sengoku 3 and The Last Blade 2, both looked quite pretty from the screenshots I saw, and I already had the others I wanted that had gone on sale before.

I love this time of year for Hamster's Ake-Aka series - towards year-end they always offer sales and debut a special game or two (like the licensed Macross: DYRL and Mazinger-Z arcade games, in recent memory). Hamster's in-house studio is all decorated for Christmas & New Year's, and I feel like we are near another big release soon. We got Macross II, so maybe Macross Plus? Or Rage Racer? We shall see.

This week's release is an old (1987?) vertical shoot em up from SNK called Bermuda Triangle. It's pre-Neo Geo, I believe. I've never heard of the game or encountered it at home before. It's amazing the titles this company can unearth!

As for the current Neo-Geo sale, I'm tempted by Sonic Wings 2, but will hold off considering I shelled out for the entire 10 volumes of physical ACA Neo-Geo releases this year. I can't afford to double-dip!

@Teksette

Bermuda Triangle is also included in the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection

I share your love of old games though. Whether I've played them before or never even heard of them before, I find them fascinating. Especially games that were never released in North America, the idea that they might be "lost classics" always intrigues.

@MontyCircus

OMG you are correct - I completely forgot Bermuda Triangle was in the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection. It was in the free DLC pack of 11 games they added on to the original 14 games that were in the physical edition I bought, back in 2018. It's been too long since I played that collection. It's one of the finest compilations available on Switch.

While listening to Hamster's livestream this morning, I learned that Bermuda Triangle was another SNK game that used the special "loop lever" spinner joystick popularized by Ikari Warriors in the arcade. Hamster's port allows you to use twin-stick aiming, though, for modern controllers. I'll have to see what Digital Eclipse configured for their version in the SNK 40th Collection.

And I completely agree, I love being reunited with old games I thought were lost to the ages, or "discovering" old games that I would have loved had I encountered them in the past.

Continuing on from my last post, I can confirm that Bermuda Triangle in the 40th Anniversary Collection does behave like a twin-stick shooter somewhat - you can point your turret to shoot in one of 8 directions anytime. The player ship (the Zig) is enormous in this game! It’s less like a fighter and more like an armored corvette.

As of this week, Arcade Archives has released 497 titles. That means number 500 will be out right on Dec 25th, Christmas Day! I presume we are in for a special release to put under the tree. 🎄

The following Thursday, New Year’s Day, is a national holiday in Japan and most businesses are shut down, but not Hamster! They still will release a game that week and Hamster prez Hamada-san promised to host the weekly livestream, as usual. It’s a huge holiday in Japan, on the scale of Christmas in the West, so that’s just how dedicated Mr. Hamada is to bringing us great old games! I’ll tune in to the livestream that day in support - it should be a festive time!