Top Hunter Is Your Next Neo Geo ACA Release On Switch

Man I used to love playing this game in my local arcade. Don't think I ever made it more than 3 minutes into any of the levels though. Might have to change that now

Ooohh... kay ?

Come on Hamster! Release Prehistoric Isle 2!!

Looks pretty archaic.

Looks interesting, may go far this. I am sensing a lack of 2D arcade style games on my Switch.

Love arcades brawlers. Kinda reminds me of Spinmaster. I'll pick up both one day.

I wish there was a sequel for this game. I have it on Wii VC, but I’ll be picking this up for Switch as well.

Even in the mid 90's, I only ran into this game in the wild only once. It was pretty good. The artwork was/is outstanding, though. In hindsight, there are certain aesthetics in the artwork that really make me think the Metal Slug background artist(s) worked on this.

I'll definitely pick this one up by this weekend.

This looks bad. No offense. The gameplay seems rudimentary. I wish I could get into some Neo-GEo games alas, I guess it is not my cup 0f tea.

It's funny how the Neo Geo was a sprite powerhouse but it wasn't really good a parallax at all--not from what I've seen and know--and, if I'm correct, most of the time you saw some parallax layers in Neo Games it was using lots of sprites to fake the effect--thank God it could throw so many and such large sprites on the screen at any one time.

"Off"

Oh yes!!!! Definitley adding this to my switch!!!!! This is one instance in which i have never played Top Hunter, but it looks absolutley fun!!!!

Looks cute enough. Definitely more appealing than the million and one fighters and shmups on the system.

Looks fun, but it's no Baseball Stars Professional!

It's a fun little distraction, if anything. I already own it on Neo Geo CD and the Wii's SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 (which you can probably find for about as much as this one will cost in the eShop) so I don't really need to get this again.

Top Hunter is a truly fantastic platformer for the system, perhaps the best. True quality design, even has a hint of Wario Land from the Virtual Boy because you can go between 2 planes of play and attack/evade through them too. Varying interesting worlds, fun enough attacks, interesting mecha to even swindle your way into to turn on the enemy, and fairly interesting/fun bosses too. A fool would ignore this unless you hate the genre. I liked it so much I have the game and kit contents (minus box and bubble bag) for this on my arcade cabinet.

'ARMS - the side scrolling beat 'em up edition'. Is this related to that coded message ahead of the latest ARMS update 😀

In all seriousness, I like the look of this for some easy going action, familiar with Metal Slug, but not encountered this before.

@FX102A Never had a chance to play it at the arcades. But I remember wanting to play it for years and years since I'm a big fan of that type of games... then I played it... ugh!

I didn't enjoy it much. Maybe you will, tho. It just didn't click with me.

I meant to get this on Wii VC but never got round to it. I'll be getting it this time for sure. I think this is the last game of the current batch, I wonder what they have planned for us next? Pulstar, King of the Monsters and Baseball Stars 2 would be great.

Very fun couch co op game. Will get it.

Spin Master has been by favorite release so far so I am looking forward to this one

@tanookisuit Completely agreed. I can't understand the "ugly" and other negative comments. Could of course always be that the type of game is not to someone's liking, but in it's genre, this is a very good game.

And for a 2D game from 1994, this looks anything but ugly, and indeed that dual plane playing field, it really adds to the gameplay, and was quite innovative back then. All in all a VERY solid Neo Geo release, and @Shiryu definitely hit the nail on the head with his closing statement:

"Despite being released over two decades ago, it remains a visual tour de force that really showcased the hardware difference between the Neo Geo and our humble Super Nintendos, PC Engines and Mega Drives at home."

Oh well, guess you just can't please everybody...

Oh yes, damn interested in this one. I’ve no nostalgia but it’s a great looking and playing game. The Neo Geo collection is the reason I bought the Switch as early as I did, just a great system for the old arcades to release on after the Wii U era turned me into a bigger retro gamer than ever lol

@OorWullie I hope Sengoku 2 comes next. Been waiting for that one

@SmaMan You could get the Wii's SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1, for same price, though the emulation on those games ranges from iffy to awful. Those disk collections are only good if you want games on the cheap, NOT for good emulation quality like Hamster releases.

Been mad busy of late but will certainly pick this one up as soon as I get some Switch time. Looks like another great opportunity to share some arcade couch co-op fun with my young son.

Also very curious to hear what Hamster has in store for us next with their Neo-Geo and other arcade titles.

@YamAsereht I won't argue with emulation quality but... it's Top Hunter.

As someone who has the means to play this game on real hardware, the differences between the SAC version and the real thing is not a game changer in the slightest. Combine that with the relative shortness of this game (it's an arcade shooter/platformer) and it's much more at home as part of a collection than in a big standalone release.

That said, Hamster's Caravan and Hi-Score modes that they add into literally everything they release might actually make a bit more sense in this one.

@tanookisuit Actually, it's the other way around... The Virtual Boy released in 1995. Top Hunter released in 1994. There are other series like Fatal Fury which also made use of multiple planes long before VB Wario Land. Nintendo and the VB Wario Land devs were the ones taking notes from titles like these.

Are they just planning on porting all the Neo-Geo games?

@OorWullie the last blade is the title after that and the last of the current wave

While the graphics are great the gameplay is tedious at best.

@NinChocolate Yep, forgot about that. I've never played it but I've watched gameplay of it in the past and it looks great. I've noticed there seems to be a kind of pattern to their releases, it's a bit loose but a pattern none the less. The 3 beat-em-ups Burning Fight, Robo Army and Mutation Nation were all announced together along with some more 1v1's and released over a few week period. Same happened recently with Street Hoop and Soccer Brawl. Before those 2 examples they didn't announce batches of 5 or 6 titles at a time, was 2 or 3 at most but Spinmaster and Blues Journey released quite close to each other as did 2 or 3 of the shoot-em-ups. So they seem to be releasing certain genres in 2s or 3s in amongst the 1v1 fighters. So when Sengoku 2 does arrive, there should be another beat-em-up close by.Ninja Combat perhaps?

@Bustacap Yep,so it is. I should have remembered that as it's a game I've talked about on here a few times in the past. Looking forward to finally playing it after all these years. Once I have that then I'm just waiting for Samurai Shodown 2 to arrive and that'll be enough Neo Geo fighters for me.

@FX102A I'd recommend Spinmaster for a good old arcade action game. I find myself going back to that often to try set a new high score. The graphics are great too, looks especially nice in handheld.

@OorWullie Solid game too. I've collected what are considered the 5 'platformer' games for the system. Not really sure I entirely agree given that Cyber Lip is thought of one but Metal Slug somehow isn't. I was told Top Hunter, Blue's Journey, Spinmaster, Cyber Lip and Magician Lord are the so called set. I've got them on MVS along with the first two Metal Slug games.

This is a good game, but i already have it on the Wii's collection and sadly for some reason this made me realize how much i want to see Mischief Makers released again.

@tanookisuit I wasn't aware of Cyber Lip until a few weeks ago when I come across it on YouTube. Seems more Contra than platformer. Clashing Magician Lord as a platformer is even more of a stretch, that deserves a genre of its own, it's possibly the most unfairly difficult game I've ever played with those bloody frogs being the most unfairly difficult enemy ever, period. Still enjoy playing it though for some reason. I find it kind of strange that there wasn't more real platformers considering how common they were elsewhere, at least in the 90's . I suppose it's not really a genre that suited arcade play as really Blues Journey is the only proper platformer from that set, and I couldn't imagine myself ever playing that in an arcade back in the day. Really enjoyable game though, played that quite a bit when I bought it. I've been meaning to go back to it.

As for your arcade set up, nice one. Is it something you've owned since Neo Geo was still current or is it a more recent acquisition? I'd love to have something similar. Maybe when I finally settle down in one home or even country in future I'll look into it . I spent so much of youth in arcades.

@Heavyarms55 Everything except for games involving licensing deals. One could hope, though.

@Lroy
Dec. 7 - Top Hunter Roddy&Cathy
Dec. 14 - The Last Blade
Dec. 21 - (not sure)
Dec. 22 - Vs. Super Mario Bros.
Dec. 28 - Double Dragon (original arcade version), The King of Fighters '96

@OorWullie No I got my start with a nice cash+trade deal in May of 2016. $500+Dragon Warrior 4 w/tokuguma english guide and I got a 2 slot MVS and 9 legit games + the 161in1 along with some kit contents and mini marquees. All original stuff, no conversions, low use too. Since then I've done bundles, ebay luck cheap scoops, and a few on forums too paying usually 20%-50% under going rates. I'm around 30 games for it. Originally sought out favorites from the era that aren't on the 161, then dug into some on it after that. See for yourself: http://tanooki.byethost16.com/neogeo.html

@SmaMan You got you there. Just prefer to pay a lil more for better quality, no matter how short a game is.

@masterLEON Thanks for the heads-up. Arcade perfect Double Dragon on Switch was one of my top 'day dream' wishes. Be amazing if that happens.

@EmirParkreiner Thought I'd let you know about some good news. Guess what I just spotted on the US Eshop coming soon section? Gunbird. It will release next week and will cost $7.99. Hopefully we'll now see the Psikyo classics arrive on a regular basis.

@OorWullie Oh, hell yeah! I can't wait!

@masterLEON You and @Lroy were meant to be in my comment too, was sure I hit reply under your names. It was late night for me when I sent that. At least you know now

Yep great news, I really can't wait for that. Gunbird, R-type and Double Dragon all coming this month. Perhaps we'll see Zero Gunner 2 as well.

@OorWullie Yep, awesome news. I often peruse the UK and U.S eShops - more often than I manage to play games in fact, lol! Noticed the GUNBIRD listing late last night. Great stuff, I'm really looking forward to what other arcade titles make it to Switch in 2018!