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 okay to living a life without weekly eShop surprises, read on.
Coinciding with Nintendo Switch's very first anniversary, HAMSTER has revealed the upcoming ACA Neo Geo titles it will release on the system. We already reported about what is coming next week, but it only gets better:
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Aero Fighters 3
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Ghost Pilots
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Gururin
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Stakes Winner
Looks like we will be able to keep our weekly running gag of 'When will they release Baseball Stars 2!?' for a little while longer. While no doubt you are fairly excited for the very first horse racing game to hit Nintendo Switch outside Japan, what are your picks from this rather nifty lot?
[source japanesenintendo.com]
Comments (90)
Gimme all the 3's! Aero Fighters 3, Sengoku 3, Samurai Shodown III, and RBS since it's technically the 3rd Fatal Fury after the overhaul that was Fatal Fury 3, lol!
(But no World Heroes 2 Jet, which is the 3rd WH, there's no point)
All these Hamster droppings are delicious.
Is “Ghost Pilots” Japanese for “Baseball Stars Professional”?!?
@bluedogrulez It's rough translation is 'mediocre.'
At this point, I'm just waiting for a massive sale. . .
Some very nice pickins indeed. Been waiting good and long for Sengoku 3 and AF3. You’ll want to play Ghost Pilots with 2P that’s for sure
Seriously though.......Baseball Stars 2........or Nintendo could help by remaking Ken Griffey Presents MLB from the SNES
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special has some of the best stages of any fighting game. Really lovely sprite work!
Wow! I spot some good titles for the caravan contest here!
Gonna have to pick up Ghost Pilots and Aero Fighters III for sure. Can't wait for these two.
The past is the future.
Oh yes! AERO FIGHTERS 3 and SENGOKU 3 for starters. Both were high on my Hamster wishlist. I'll also grab GHOST PILOTS at some point down the line. Still several great Neo Geo games I'd love to come to Switch. Good times.
@masterLEON
world heros is so lame. i have the cart and i just can't do it. something about that game just doesn't click for me.
That's a great list of games there. I'll be getting Aero Fighters 3,Ghost Pilots, Sengoku 3 and Stakes Winner. I'd never heard of the latter before but from what I've read it's a very good game. I don't recall ever playing a horse racing game, well expect for those ones you get at the fairground where the horses are attached to a stick . I think I'll get Real Bout Fatal Fury Special as well actually, that's one good looking fighter.
Please no more Neo Geo, give me some CPS2 or CPS3.
Love that tag line!
It'd be great to see some old school Sega arcade games (including Model 2 titles like Daytona USA) make it onto the Switch. Zaxxon, Afterburner, Super Hang-On, Out Run, Virtua Fighter...tons of true classics that pretty much run the gamut of the arcade era.
@AtlanteanMan I can't agree enough with you.
@Nincompoop You will, but just the Street Fighters in May.
Very awesome, my wallet is waiting. Also those two Real Bout Fatal Fury games are spectacular building from Fatal Fury 3. Samurai Shodown III though still a good game does have balance issue but at least it's not a slow loading port like the Sega Saturn, NeoGeo CD, and PlayStation versions. Hopefully we'll see other rare and awesome fighting entries too such as Kizuna Encounter, Savage Reign, Ninja Masters, Far East of Eden: Kabuki Klash, Rage of the Dragon, Voltage Fighters Gowcaizer, Matrimelee, and Samurai Shodown V Special.
I was looking forward to Real Bout Fatal Fury Special it is my favourite NeoGeo game I can't wait to have it!!
@Shiryu I want Marvel vs Capcom, Vampire Saviour and Super Gem Fighter.
I'll take all of them. Stoked.
C'mon, I need King of the Monsters 2!
I'll take as many as I can get. My wallet is so going to hate me.
Gah. Cmon hamster, y u no rlz The Last Blade 2?
Stakes Winner!!!!! I mean Sengoku 3!!!!!!!
Some good ones there, I’m still patiently awaiting Last Blade 2 and Windjammers though
"HAMSTER drops next batch of ACA Neo Geo Titles (and the mic)"
Which game is the 'mic drop' exactly? ..the article doesn't make it clear (to us Neo Geo novices) which of those we're supposed to be excited about!
Ill keep waiting for Super Sidekicks 3 or Neo Geo Cup 98
GURURIN was also announced in the ACA Neo Geo batch.
PS: I have this comment screenshot, in case someone at NLIfe decides to remove this comment to cover up their mistake (as I remember under VC-Reviews days).
@YamAsereht Really? That's a cool game!
Nevermind. WHERE. IS. R-TYPE.
@GrailUK Yup - https://twitter.com/ppp200x/status/969898365176627200
Not sure if I will be getting GURURIN, Ghost Pilots or or World Heroes, however the rest of the games announced are really nice. Still waiting for Kazuna Encounter though.
@YamAsereht Thanks for the heads up, I actually noticed it myself a few minutes ago and already updated the post. Pish posh, why would anyone remove user posts helping out the accuracy of the news post?
@NaviAndMii Personal tastes differ, but I would say.... about 75% of those are 8+/10 games.
3 is the magic number. Sengoku 3 and Aero Fighter 3 for me. Samurai Showdown 3 is just kinda meh for me though. I’ll stick with I, II and IV.
Ghost Pilots looks like a game a game I can get into as well.
@Shiryu Much appreciated - thanks!
@Shiryu Muchas gracias, for the acknowledgement on updated info (was being weary after my comments correcting got removed years back, under different guise.)
I was hoping they would release Metal Slug 4.
I know it's not the most popular Title in the Series, but it's the first Metal Slug Game I've played, so this would be very nostalgic for me.
CPS software would be great yes. Just give me 19XX and Counter Attack and I’ll be content for awhile anyway
It's amazing to think they've released a new Neo Geo game every week for an entire year and have no intentions of stopping soon. Carry on like this, and we could see them pass the original Wii VC on Neo Geo titles, maybe even make it to 100 games if there are enough and no license issues with any.
@sword_9mm My system came with World Heroes 2, I traded it in after the weekend, lol. It was a lot better than WH1, and the soundtrack was badass (IMHO), but I couldn't see it as a keeper. Luckily, and for whatever reason, the little shop I frequented where I bought it from let me swap it out with Fatal Fury 2. Actually now that I think about it, I was able to even-swap a number of games from different shops back in the early-mid 90's. I guess NEOGEO games got a pass to that sort of thing because they were so expensive.
Most of these Neo Geo games are cheapest on the Norwegian eshop, at £5.21 each
I'm hoping they bust out King of Fighters '97 soon too. That's the best of the 90's series; IMO it's better than KoF '98.
@electrolite77 I've been buying them from the South African Eshop the last few weeks. I just opened a Norwegian account a few days ago and spotted they're even cheaper there. I'll be getting them from there from now on.
Welp. Sorry dq builders. Hamster took your money.
Wow, excellent lineup this time. It seems like the Switch is the official home of new ACA games.
Dangit, I need more Metal Slug. The anthology sucks, I wanna see them done like this on Switch. All of em.
Nice, i've been waiting for Sengoku 3 (awesome game, i also have it on the Wii's Neo Geo VC) and Aero Fighters 3.
I'll also give Ghost Pilots a chance, despite being aware that it's not considered to be a great masterpiece.
I just want every great arcade game ever made to make it to Switch (I know! Don’t crap on my dream! Haha!). All of the old Atari classics, Frogger, Time Pilot, Rush’N Attack, all of the Sega and Capcom greats, Namco (Soul Caliber? Ridge Racer? Yes!).
Do you know what I’d love to see? Licensing arrangements that would allow games like TMNT, The Simpsons arcade, XMen, and all of those really fun arcades from the 90’s to come to Switch. All of them landed on the 360 and PS3, so it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
My dream is to have Chuck’E Cheese, circa 1993, in the palm of my hand!
Bu bu but the Switch already has great horse racing classics such as Winning Post 8 2017, Winning Post 8 2018 and Champion Jockey Special !!!!
Ahem I've not really gotten into many of the NeoGeo titles, have a few on my Switch but seems more like play a few times and never touch again type stuff.
In fairness not that big of a fan of the few genres they cover though.
Great. But when will they give us Twinkle Star Sprites?
Good, that confirms Sengoku 3, though not much of a surprise.
@masterLEON
You’re thinking of Fatal Fury Special. Real Bout Special is technically the 6th Fatal Fury game.
Gotta get those Real Bout games as well, that’s a good batch of Neo Geo games.
The only NeoGeo game I want to pay for on my Switch would be Windjammers.
@BanjoPickles I want to live in your Switch Arcade dream world 👌
@GrailUK ghost pilots is a great game- especially in 2 player.
@Angelic_Lapras_King they are on 58 as of last night so it’s a real possibility.
@OorWullie i have stakes winners on the Neo cd and it’s is a very good game. It’s going to be nice to have it in English so I can play it properly mind. 😂
@darthstuey Well, I'm going to pick it up eventually, but for me it's a very bland looking, uninspired 'me too' shooter of the time and the plane is too big and slow for me to get in to any groove playing the game. (I haven't played it in over a 10 years! I wasn't in to it back then.)
If they can do Stakes Winner then the 2 Baseball Stars games just a matter of time!!
@XenoShaun Fixed!
I can’t say I don’t have a few Neo Geo games, but are they going to release every one because it seems like it?
@Lroy
You’re totally invited! We’ll throw down on some TMNT! 😂
More fighters...more side scroll shooters...yawn
where's the rest of those Nintendo arcade games? or only just going to get one every 3 months?..... we had Mario Bros in Oct, Super Mario Bros at Dec..God these are slow
@ClassSonicSatAm Chill..you must have missed the meeting where Nintendo see the Switch having a >6 year life cycle!
sengoku 3 punks!
so all 3 sengoku games come off my wii virtual console and heres where i put them on the switch just to have them there.
@AtlanteanMan I’ve said this about a million times!! Oh Sega where are you!!!
I’m gonna buy them all
@BanjoPickles we share the same dream!! 90’s arcade in my hand.
Donkey Kong, MS Pac Man, The Simpsons, Frogger, And oh I would be sooo happy if Switch got Marvel Vs Capcom!!!!
If dreams were made from old arcade games coming to Switch, then mine would include Scramble, Defender, Rally X, Bump n' Jump, Phoenix, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Moon Patrol... ah, the list could go on for pages and pages...
@sword_9mm I agree. It felt like a Streetfighter parody almost. I never got it either. Just weird..
@GrailUK So you think it's ok to upload basically Arcade editions of NES games every 3 months or so? I want something else then more of the same Neo geo games. one of the big reasons the Neo Geo didn't sell well was it lack varietie. Once you played one, you played them all, almost as bad as the countless FIFA games.
I guess Hamster and Nintendo doesn't want money.
@ClassSonicSatAm I'm sure they are doing fine. They just celebrated a million downloads!
@Galactus_33
Who knows? It could happen! 😁
@ClassSonicSatAm "one of the big reasons the Neo Geo didn't sell well was it lack varietie."
Nevermind the facts that home carts for the system cost $200-$300US and the system was offered for $300 (no game, 1 controller) and $500 (1 game, 2 controllers), SNK was an arcade company first and foremost so that's where the lion's share of their revenue came from, fighting games ruled the 90's so that's where the money was, and home consoles like the Playstation, N64, and the burgeoning PC market helped usher in the fall of the arcade market. Lack of variety was the least of SNK's problems.
@GrailUK And the Chinese investors. Can't forget that Chinese money! $$$$$$$$$$$
Dear god would I love Baseball Stars ports although I think I would prefer the NES versions over the arcade ports
@GrailUK Somebody tell them to stop taking MY money! I feel like I get mugged every week!
walks outside Hamster: "You got your lunch money?"
Me: Look Hamster, I gotta buy grocer-
hits me with Neo Geo games. I wake up later
"Help, I've been robbed! Oh hey they left games..."
I have yet to pick up any of these titles since I am not that familiar with the NEO GEO library. What would be some titles that would be recommended? It looks like a lot of fighters and Shmups which are not my favorite genres but I'll usually partake in one occasionally.
@Ryu_Niiyama "but Hamster, Subsurface circular just scored a 10 and I wa..."
"Shhhhhh"
There were some excellent Game Boy ports like The King of Fighters '95, Samurai Shodown, World Heroes 2 Jet, Battle Arena Toshinden, etc. The chibi sprites, Game Boy sound, Super Game Boy colors and 2p-mode with SNES-controllers, and great gameplay gave us an awesome time. I hope they will be re-released some day on the VC.
For some reason, I didn't like WH2J on the Neo Geo but the Game Boy version was dope.
Generally, if you wanted the best fighting games on the Game Boy, you picked something made by SNK or TAKARA.
@GrailUK Could be more then that if they had other games then countless fighting titles. there's so many better arcade games they could be putting on here (like SEGA's Capcom, eve Konami) would be amazing to have some of the 3D Arcade games of the 90's then that might make the price feel worth it.
Then paying the same again for something that's been on the PSP for nearly a decade now.
@masterLEON But honestly doesn't feel worth a £100 of any of these games, sorry while I like some of them, they seem like between SNES and PS1 games (and the fact PS1 and Saturn had some of their better games, made it pointless to have one, unless you really want that controller and no load times) top that with lack of variety it's no wonder why they didn't last after the 90's.
To be fair the Neo Geo Pocket had more a of variety titles then it's home console version. but I don't we be lucky enough to see those.
After seeing yet another Fighter or Space Shooter every other week, just seems pointless to buy any more of them once you have a couple of them already. when there's tons of different arcade games they could be adding to spice things up. why not some of Hyper Neo Geo 64 titles? something that's never been released outside of the arcade.... or SEGA Model 2 stuff would be ace.
@Shiryu Given that Real Bout came out last week and Aero Fighters 3 is coming this week, is this list in release order? So Sengoku 3 will come on 29th March and Real Bout Special on 3rd May?
@BionicDodo Previous experience say yes, yes indeed.
@Shiryu Thanks! I have been avoiding buying Real Bout because I prefer the other two - I would have bought whichever of those appeared first (probably ended up getting the other one too). But May is ages away and Real Bout is there on the eShop just staring at me...
@ClassSonicSatAm Some of those are definitely hit or miss, that is true. Those games that are misses, IMO, were the ones that were released within the first 2 or 3 years. Past that, the stinkers were very few and far between (SNK and the other NEOGEO game developers knew what games were worth making by then).
The idea of the expensive arcade-but-also-home-system is that you get the actual arcade game hardware playing real arcade games in your house with no compromises. If you're an audiophile or home theater enthusiast, it's a similar way of thinking. Those kinds of people want the best hardware to play the best version of their content. The NEOGEO was a premium console, it wasn't going to be for anyone who wasn't willing to plunk down the cash to own. Anyone else who wanted to play those games had to go to the arcade. Which is likely why piracy was so rampant with the system, and also one of the leading causes of the SNK bankruptcy of 2001, in addition to what I mentioned earlier. But SNK, of course, is very much alive today, don't forget. And the Arcade Archives NEOGEO series, across all the current consoles, is currently the best non-pirate way to experience these games on modern HD setups (and a lot less pricy).
Yes there were ports of certain NEOGEO titles to the PS1 and Saturn, but they were always missing animation frames and had slowdown, and sometimes scaled sprites, that made those ports inferior to those who could tell the difference.
And variety, again, wasn't going to help the NEOGEO platform as a whole because of its arcade focus (it would have been the best whatever game genre ever that no one's ever seen in order to succeed via variety) By the late 90's, almost every game to come out in arcades used polygon graphics, or had a steering wheel, or light gun, or spat out redemption tickets (and DDR popped up around 2000). It was a losing battle no matter how you looked at it. The NEOGEO CD (and Z) did have the flexibility to offer a handful of games that couldn't be released on the cartridge format (like the Samurai Shodown RPG). The Pocket definitely had a different appeal because it was targeted at the GameBoy dominated handheld console market. But ultimately, antiquated hardware (it had new games released for over 13 years, late 1990-2004!), waning arcade operator interest, piracy, and dying arcades put the NEOGEO to rest. (then SNK Playmore came back through Atomiswave, Nintendo DS, Taito X systems, mobile, and so on).
"After seeing yet another Fighter or Space Shooter every other week, just seems pointless to buy any more of them once you have a couple of them already."
It is, no one needs all of them. But not all of them are the same, of course. Similar graphics are one thing, but game mechanics can be different. One should choose the ones they like, if they've played them, or the ones that are the best representatives of a series. Like for fighting games like KoF, '98 and 2002 are usually the best bets. For Fatal Fury, Garou: Mark of the Wolves and Real Bout Special. World Heroes, you only need Perfect. Shooters I feel are different. Because, like Sonic, Mega Man, Uncharted, CoD, etc., the mechanics are usually all the same, it's just the story and the journey are different. And for lots of people, that's enough to warrant a play through of a sequel. No game platform is safe from having a lack of variety.
"why not some of Hyper Neo Geo 64 titles? something that's never been released outside of the arcade.... or SEGA Model 2 stuff would be ace."
HAMSTER's working on some of that.:
https://www.gonintendo.com/stories/298642-hamster-wants-to-release-800-arcade-archives-titles
I don't know if any of those includes any of the 3D boards. It'd be nice, though (I still want my home port of The Ocean Hunter, a super-rare SEGA Model 3 on-rails shooter). But those might be a bit much for the Switch to push through the emulator unless they're rewritten from the ground up, like ZeroDiv's Zero Gunner 2.
And there have been unreleased arcade titles by HAMSTER, ZeroDiv, and now Flying Tiger Entertainment. I mean most of them span the 80's and 90's 2D offerings, but they were still arcade exclusive. I'm pretty sure Heroic Episode (HAMSTER) wasn't released anywhere else, Samurai Aces and Gunbarich (ZeroDiv), too, for examples.
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