Warning: Spoilers ahead! If you want to be surprised every week with upcoming Arcade Archives Neo Geo titles you should click onto the next article. If you're OK to living a life without surprises, read on.
Hamster has revealed the next batch of up and coming Neo Geo re-releases under the ACA label on the Nintendo Switch, a mix of sports and fighting games (shocker!) will be heading into the eShop in this last stretch of 2017 and the first months of 2018.
So besides Pulstar which we reported on yesterday (coming up fast next week), here are your next ACA Neo Geo titles:
- The King of Fighters '96
- King of the Monsters
- Art of Fighting II
- Power Spikes II
- World Heroes 2
- Samurai Shodown II
- 2020 Baseball
Not a bad lot at all. See anything that tickles your fancy?
[source japanesenintendo.com]
Comments 62
Finally! Samurai Shodown 2!
KoF '96 should be the last release in December to kick things off. King of the Mosters 1 is great, but it gets very tedious by the later stages. Art of Fighting 2 should frustrate anyone who even touches the game (but it won't stop me from trying). And all of us waiting for one or both of the Baseball Stars games got shafted big time. But 2020 is still pretty fun.
I’ll be picking up Power Spikes2 and 2020 Baseball. Two great sports games in my opinion, now just waiting for Windjammers.
Needs more Windjammers
Dang! Still waiting for Sengoku 2 I guess
Need Viewpoint, Ironclad. And what about those Konami Arcade Archives? Need some Gradius/Salamander?
@Jimgamer8 Man I hope Viewpoint isn't locked behind too much licensing (as it's made by Sammy).
Picking up Pulstar and King of the Monsters! Had a lot of fun already with Samurai Shodown IV, any reason to get II now?
@Megal0maniac It is the purest game in the series.
Nothing for me except for Pulstar (YES!), i prefer Samurai Shodown IV over II and don't really care about the rest, but i'm happy for those that do.
However, for me this means that the possibility to get the games i want the most has moved 7 weeks away (Prehistoric Isle 2, Ironclad, Twinkle Star Sprites, Aero Fighters 1&3).
Hm, was hoping for Sengoku 2
Give me Prehistoric Isle 2 (I love helicopter shmups) and Viewpoint! And thanks for releasing Pulstar!
Aw yeah, Samurai Shodown 2! I was waiting for it.
Good to see another Samurai Shodown game.
I get the feeling the Neo Geo has a lot of fighting games.
Still, more Virtual Console games!
Pulstar, KOF 96, and Samurai Shodown II are must haves for me. I actually never heard of Power Spikes II.
@Shiryu Allright, so less fluff you mean? In what way?
Well would you look at that,it's almost like Hamster are listening to me. Soccer Brawl 2 weeks ago, Last Blade this week, Pulstar next week, then over the next few weeks Samurai Shodown 2,King of Monsters and 2020 Baseball. 5 games I had been requesting for ages all come within a few weeks of each other. 6 if I include 2020 Baseball. Not quite the one I wanted, I hoped for Stars 2 but 2020 will do for now. I had it on Wii VC and fairly enjoyed it. As for the rest of releases , not bothered about the fighters as SS2 completes the set. Power Spikes 2 I've never heard of before but it looks a bit dodgy to me. I think I'll skip that one.
Other than Baseball Stars 2 then, that's my wish list complete. Up next I hope to see Prehistoric Isle 2, 3 Count Bout, Ninja Commando, Sengoku 2 & 3, Super Dodge Ball and Super Sidekicks 3.
Thanks for the heads up on what titles are incoming 👍
2020 Baseball is fun. I love that game
@Megal0maniac Yep. It is a polished up version of the original with extra characters in the roster.
Am i the only one who would like to see Metal Slug 4 on Switch?
I think it's very underrated in the Metal Slug Series.
@Megal0maniac III and IV's Slash/Bust system essentially split the movesets of all the characters from the previous games, radically changing how they handled. II plays slower than IV, but I feel it's more strategic and mobile because of how many evasive options you have (rolling, lying down, and short hop over low attacks). And the 3 different kick strengths were kinda useful in II, at least to me, an Ukyo main.
These need online multiplayer
Yes, Samurai Shodown 2, just need Last Blade 2 now
HAMSTER is doing the business. I am so happy they partnered with Nintendo. (I may not have to buy that NEOGeo after all....I'm still going to buy that NEO Geo though...)
@masterLEON Thanks for explaining in detail Might pick it up in a few months or so, since I've already got IV and haven't grow tired of it yet. The different strategies sound nice though.
Man, Switch is basically doubling as a dedicated Neo Geo, which is awesome! When I was a kid, the Neo Geo was the one thing that I always wanted but could never have!
Once Nintendo finally (hopefully?) unleashes some form of the Virtual Console, the Switch will potentially become a retro gamer's dream! It would be awesome to see Sega allow Sega Forever on Switch, now that they've ironed out a lot of the issues.
I don’t want spoilers but I can’t resist....some great games among the list.
It's nice to know that these are coming but still wouldn't it be nice to have all of this in one collection for $20 instead?
@Megal0maniac I forgot to mention the AI in II is fantastic! It's very challenging without being cheap....until the end boss, Mizuki. And old SNK loved cheap bosses, LOL.
Used to play king of monsters on mega drive its really good game looking forward to playing it again
Nice list. Loved AoF2 and SS2 in the arcades.
@BigKing Totally agree! I know that would require a lot more work on Hamster's part, but that would really make most of these must-haves for people that may already own them.
@Megal0maniac Samurai Showdown 2 is very good and many think it's the best. I am among those that prefer the fourth game. The features that Shiryu pointed out in SS2 can get in the way, in my opinion. I didn't love the short hops and lying down. I also didn't like the multiple kick strengths or how heavy slash needed two buttons simultaneously, which seemed unreliable for something so important. For me, it's a case of too many features. They're both good, but quite different.
King of the Monsters is a cool game with lots of detail for its time, but it's very much an arcade game and not for everyone. It's not exactly fair and is fun in short bursts. It doesn't have the depth of something like KOF. There are some exploits in the game. I figured out a way to dominate the early rounds with Poison Ghost and win a number of matches on one credit. It's the type of game people should know what they're getting into.
Yes!!!! The King of Fighters is my favorite fighting series!!!!!! But the others are not too shabby either!!! Art of Fighting 2 is kinda eh but i will be picking it up. Samurai Shodown 2 is brilliant and King of Monsters is okay as well!!!
I think HAMSTER is absolultey killing it with these releases!!!! I would love details about the Nintendo Arcade games as im looking foward to those as well.
King Of The Monsters! I have missed that game. Used to love playing it on SNES!
Samurai Shodown II is the best fighting game ever made. I'm buying all of these.
I'll pass on those, except for Pulstar next week. Looking forward to Sengoku 2 and 3 whenever they come.
Always wanted to play King of the Monsters back in the day but never got round to it. Same happened again on Wii VC. I'll be righting those 2 wrongs as soon as it hits the Switch.
As someone mentioned above, online would be the icing on the cake. Real shame it never happened. I'd imagine they wouldn't have been able to deliver a new game every week if they did add it though. Someone said yesterday Phantom Breaker will have online added when the online subscription arrives. I wonder if Hamster might do the same?Nah, not likely.
3 bout count please!
Nice!! Love you Hamster! Work Baseball Stars 1&2 in there soon!!
@masterLEON Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart of fighting 2 is sooooooooooooooooooooooooo difficult
Although Art of Fighting 2 is brutally difficult on the default settings, it's still my favorite of the series. Likewise, KOF 96 is in my Top 4 KOF games for sure. Don't really know too much about the others, so I won't comment on those. Those two are deffo worth a look at, though.
OK, big question: The Last Blade or Samurai Shodown II? If you could only pick one?
@Krull I would have to go with Last blade for the parrying. (But no way I am limiting myself to just one, I love them both hahaha!)
Damn. I know it's naff and very limited but I do have a soft spot for King of the Monsters. I would love a modernisation of Epyx's Movie Monster Game or Crush! Crumble! Chomp!
Really happy to see Samurai Shodown 2 finally made it way over, that is by far my favorite game in the series, the one where they seemed to do everything right.
Outside of that I guess Power Spikes and 2020 Baseball are neat games to have, but the others are just very mediocre fighting games, although the King of Monsters game at least has a neat gimmick going for it.
Surprised they released KOF96 and not 97 as well since that is the only game we are missing from the original KOF series at this point. I am assuming it's coming along shortly along with 01 and 02 hopefully.
A bit of advice: anyone who is thinking about World Heroes 2 should just wait for World Heroes 2 Jet, it's basically the same game with added content and a few fixes that plays faster.
@GrailUK Cheers, buddy! Gonna start with Last Blade then.
need sengoku 2 and 3 on switch
Samurai Showdown 2!!!!!!!
Ninja.. Masters... Naoooo
@Syntaxkita I don't see how a bunch of classic SNK arcade games being released on the Switch is preventing anything else from releasing. There has been no shortage of indie support, it doesn't seem to be getting in the way of anything.
@Syntaxkita Well, there's also that Chinese joint venture that bought out Kawasaki's share in the company in 2015 that got the ball rolling for SNK of today. Through that, SNK was able to drop the Playmore part of the brand and return to just SNK, invest heavily into their IP's so they could position the company to spread out into other media (ex. the current run of The King of Fighters: Destiny right now on YouTube), as well as consoles and PC (The King of Fighters XIV), and mobile gaming (Metal Slug Attack, and a number of Japan-only mobile games like Kimi Wa Hero).
Then after all that, there's the ACA NEOGEO series that HAMSTER is producing, that SNK likely just picks up a small percentage of every download. HAMSTER's ACA also covers games from other companies, not just SNK, that's why we also have Irem and Nintendo arcade games on the Switch eShop (and Konami, Taito, Technos, etc. on the Playstation Store).
It's not like there's a limited amount of space on the eShop with Nintendo cherry picking which titles get to be put on each week. I mean that still goes on in the background, but if straight up mobile ports like Mujo are making it through then the restrictions are really loose! The eShop is already past 300 games (with the NEOGEO titles accounting for just under 60 of those). It's obvious Nintendo just wants the the volume and variety. And if they can have competent ports of arcade classics for on the go, in this case an emulator, delivered every week like clockwork, then why not? No favoritism here, just business.
@JayJ I actually haven't played Jet, but World Heroes Perfect's been on the eShop since the 1st month.
I'm still waiting for the SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 2.
Wii only has Vol. 1 and I got that one along with The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga, the Samurai Shodown Anthology, and the Metal Slug Anthology. I basically got all Neo Geo collections on Wii physical.
They were worth it, especially because some of the games on the collections are not available through the Neo Geo (Samurai Shodown VI was a Playstation 2 game, so good luck on getting that one through the Hamster ACA series).
@Syntaxkita You know the PS4 and Xbone have their own Hamster ACA releases right?
http://www.hamster.co.jp/american_hamster/arcadearchives/title_list_ng.htm
Finally King of Fighter '96, the best of the serie, a truly gem.
Power Spikes 2, Samurai Shodown 2 and 2020 Baseball are good too.
@Syntaxkita We literally have a bunch of games coming out on the Switch all the time. Every week seems to feature a ton of new indie games for me to sift through, in fact we have been having so many games coming out with such frequency that I have been struggling to keep up with it all.
Are people actually paying these insane prices for these games? Damn, if money is burning holes in your pockets like that, find a good local charity and donate.
@WillQuan Same!
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