SNK Game Reviews
Review Art Of Fighting 2 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Like before, but a bit better
After bringing the first Art Of Fighting game to Switch, HAMSTER made the typically HAMSTER move of skipping ahead to Art Of Fighting 3: The Path Of The Warrior. That instalment offered a different, but more accomplished fighting experience and now the gap between those two is plugged with Art Of Fighting 2 which...
Review King Of The Monsters (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Fun for a few rounds
Thanks to HAMSTER’s ACA Neo Geo series there are plenty of options for Switch owners looking to engage in some virtual fisticuffs. SNK’s King Of The Monsters offers something a bit different to the other choices however, as it is essentially a wrestling game, albeit a wrestling game with giant monsters duking it out and...
Review The King Of Fighters '96 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Or, the one with Geese Howard
Much like the first two instalments, The King Of Fighters '96 gives you a diverse roster of 2D fighters to pick from as you assemble a team of three to punch, kick, throw and brag your way to victory. The third instalment in the series also sees the sprites of old discarded for an instantly familiar hand-drawn...
Review Pulstar (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Not just a pretty face
The lush pre-rendered visuals of Donkey Kong Country certainly impressed in 1994, so it seemed inevitable that other companies would employ the technique in an attempt to draw admiring glances. So it was that Aicom released Pulstar the following year on Neo Geo. The end results was both visually impressive and lots of fun...
Review The Last Blade (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
The king of fighters?
Kaede is fighting Yuki and weapons slash quickly as the two leap about the screen. Quick strikes from both, the action is fast as each looks to string together a series of moves to end the battle. Another day, another fight between Kaede and Yuki, but this time things are playing out differently. This time the combatants have...
Review Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
An action-packed multi-plane adventure
Travelling to different planets, the stretchy-armed Roddy and Cathy move left to right employing a variety of skills as they bash the bad guys. Available to tackle alone or co-operatively with a friend, Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy includes some neat features that add to the fun of the action across nine...
Review Soccer Brawl (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Super violent kicks
Playing SNK’s Soccer Brawl feels a lot like playing SNK’s Super Sidekicks (also available on the eShop). Both take the game of football (soccer, if you prefer) and tweak it into a simple quick pick-up-and-play arcade experience that ditches the likes of formations, squad selections, half time and injury time. Soccer Brawl...
Review Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Impressive fighting finale
HAMSTER’s ACA Neo Geo series has brought a number of one-on-one brawlers to the Switch, and now here’s another one. The first Art of Fighting game may have been visually impressive for its time, but it was lacking in the gameplay department meaning there was little reason to pick it up on Switch. Laughing in the face...
Review Mutation Nation (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Rad dudes
The Neo Geo was not exactly short on choice for fighting games, with many-a-series of one-on-one brawlers available; though they were not as numerous, there were also some sidescrolling beat ‘em ups to pick from too. Several have already arrived on the Switch’s eShop and now HAMSTER brings another in the form of Mutation Nation. Like...
Review Robo Army (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Little known, but lots of fun
Neo-Detroit has been invaded by a legion of robots; their leader instructs them to seize the population and use their brains to clone themselves. Wait, what? Use their knowledge to build more of their number perhaps? Maybe the human brains are being scooped out for use in the robots? Whatever’s going on, it isn’t...
Review The King of Fighters '95 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Unneeded fighter?
Having already given us the ‘98, ’94, ‘99 and 2000 editions (in that order), HAMSTER now jumps back in time to give us The King of Fighters ‘95. As only the second entry in the series it lacks some of the features of later games, but the aim remains the same: pick a team and defeat a bunch of others on your way to a...
Review Burning Fight (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
A dying flame
Scrolling beat ‘em ups are simple games that provide a lot of fun as you (sometimes with the help of a friend) wander through a number of stages giving gangs of reprobates a good kicking, before facing off against a more powerful end of stage thug; rinse and repeat. Burning Fight comes courtesy of SNK and whilst Sengoku (another...
Review Art of Fighting (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Pretty but poor
Street Fighter II took the arcades by storm in 1991, leading to a slew of one-on-one brawlers in the months and years that followed. SNK would develop a number of fighting series in the hope of tempting players away from Capcom’s game, samples of which have already arrived on Switch via HAMSTER’s ACA Neo Geo series. Now Art of...
Review Spin Master (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Short but sweet arcade action
The fiendish Dr. De Playne has taken Johnny’s treasure map and his girlfriend Mary. A globe-trotting adventure follows as you attempt to get both back, either by yourself or with the help of a friend who is given control of the identically handling Tom. Despite featuring different characters and a more modern...
Review Zed Blade (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Energetic tunes and score chasing shmup action
With these ACA series releases Hamster has ensured that those seeking a retro-gaming fix on Switch have had a steady stream of Neo Geo titles to choose from. As standard, each one comes with useful options to tweak difficulty, remap buttons or play the Japanese version of the game (titled Operation...
Review Super Sidekicks (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
International so-so Soccer
Although primarily known for its fighters, the Neo Geo did host games in a number of other genres and indeed Hamster’s ACA releases have included puzzlers, run and gun titles, shooters and a golf game. Now they bring us football (or "soccer" if you're reading this in North America) simulator Super Sidekicks. The aim of...
Review Puzzled (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Blocking our enjoyment
Not all Neo Geo games are created equal. Although the majority of titles on SNK’s system offer great blasts of arcade goodness, there were also a number of Neo Geo games back in the day that didn’t quite meet the high standards set by other gems like The King Of Fighters or Metal Slug. Puzzled, sadly, is a perfect example...
Review Aero Fighters 2 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Awesome Shmup action
Aliens are causing trouble all over the world and it’s up to you to stop them. There’s a variety of colourful characters for you to pick from including a baby, a head-in-a-Jar and a dolphin (no, really) as you take to the skies to save the day. With frantic play, some great music and a dose of the quirky, Video System’s...
Review Shock Troopers 2nd Squad (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Shock and slightly less awe
There are few games that enjoy the sort of cult status Shock Troopers does. As one of the few Neo Geo games that was only released in arcades and not the Neo Geo console as well, the original Shock Troopers wasn’t as widely played as the likes of Metal Slug and SNK’s various fighting games. Those who did manage to...
Review Samurai Shodown (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Weapon-based wonder
Pick from one of twelve characters, fight one-on-one against the others (and your clone) en-route to a ridiculously-dressed final boss character. Sounds standard fare for a '90s fighting game, but with its 18th century Japan setting and the combatant's use of weapons, Samurai Shodown offered something quite different. If playing...
Review Fatal Fury Special (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Fatal Fury II' Special Champion Edition
With tweaks to the controls and a refined version of the two-plane fighting system, Fatal Fury 2 was a big improvement over the first game in the series, but SNK clearly felt it could do better. Taking a leaf out of Capcom’s book, it went away, added in some stuff and came back with this updated version:...
Review Fatal Fury 2 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Not quite Special enough
Back in the day, the power of the Neo Geo meant that SNK was the first publisher to release home console games that were over 100 Mb in size (that’s megabits, so around 12.5 MB). It commemorated this by launching the 100-Mega Shock series, which basically involved slapping a lovely splash screen at the start of any game...
Review The King of Fighters 2000 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
The crown slips?
Although Hamster Corporation is doing God’s work by bringing a horde of classic Neo Geo games to the Switch, by this point it’s starting to become pretty clear that there’s no logical rhyme or reason to the order they’re being released. On the day the Switch launched in March we were treated to The King Of Fighters ‘98,...
Review The King of Fighters '99 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Enjoyable, skip-able fighting fun
Since its beginning the three-vs-three Team-Battling shenanigans of SNK’s The King of Fighters series provided enjoyable fighting action. Each instalment added and tweaked things, culminating in the superb “Dream Match” ’98 edition. This was followed unsurprisingly by The King of Fighters ’99, which...
Review Last Resort (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
It's the shooter Morrissey would play
Given how popular "shmups" were during the late '80s and early '90s it's odd that the Neo Geo didn't have more of them, but the few it did play host to were generally amazing. Blazing Star and Pulstar instantly spring to mind when talking about the genre on SNK's system, but there are many fans who hold a candle...
Review Sengoku (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Hacked off
Hamster Corp's dedication to mining the back catalogue of the Neo Geo on Switch is commendable, but it does throw up some issues - namely that as time goes on the company is going to have to dig deeper and deeper into the library of the system, and that means having to endure some less-than-classic titles. While we wouldn't say that...
Review Samurai Shodown IV (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
VICTOLY!
After the first two Samurai Shodown games the third outing was seen as something of a disappointment by hardcore fighting game fans. It removed some of the more popular characters and various movement options available to the player, drastically altering the pace of the game; it also felt half-finished when compared to its polished...
Review Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Only winners And losers here
Out of all the critically-acclaimed one-on-one fighting games produced by SNK over the decades, Garou: Mark of the Wolves has to rank as one of the most beloved and revered. Released at time when 3D visuals were taking the industry by a storm, it was seen by some as a companion piece to Capcom's equally gorgeous Street...
Review Blazing Star (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Get it more!
Whenever horizontally-scrolling Neo Geo shooters are discussed, two names inevitably dominate the conversation: Pulstar and Blazing Star. Both were developed by the same core team (Aicom, which then became Yumekobo) and both rely heavily on pre-rendered sprites rather than hand-drawn visuals. Neither title was ported around the time of...
Review Over Top (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Let's go next stage!!
The Neo Geo was famous for its staggering selection of fighting games, but it was less blessed when it came to racing titles. Only a handful were ever released during the console's lengthy lifespan - hardly a massive shock when you consider that the 2D nature of the console made realistic driving games tricky - and of that...
