Neo Geo Reviews S

Samurai Shodown begins with one of the best intros ever. A samurai is meditating between two statues when the screen goes black and two bright slashes appear. He's then seen brandishing his sword as the two statues slowly slide off their bases, having been cut in half. As the scene fades, your eye catches a glimpse of the enormous tree behind him also sliding away. Bravo! Samurai Shodown is nothing if not inspired. It introduced many innovations to the one-on-one fighting genre. First and foremost the characters wield melee weapons - a development fighting fans were really excited about. Weapon lock-ups (resolved via button-mashing) can result in losing your weapon, forcing you to fight bare-handed until you retrieve it. Shodown also utilized scaling technology to zoom in and out to keep the fighters in focus, and it looks slick. The stages feature breakable objects in the foreground, and it's quite satisfying to slash a barrel in half and watch apples spill out. A "rage gauge" improves your chances at a dramatic come-from-behind victory, boosting your offense but weakening your defense. Of the twelve playable characters, most are traditional samurai but there are oddballs like a green hunchback, a girl with a pet eagle, and the massive chain-wielding dude named Earthquake. The sophisticated control scheme requires pressing combinations of buttons to perform some moves. There's some blood but only in Japanese mode. The CPU is hard as nails which makes beating it all the more satisfying. Spectacular stages include a shore with crashing waves and a shipping dock loaded with rowdy spectators. In the snowy cottage scene, notice how every single animal is animated with humor and personality. Traditional music and crystal clear Japanese voice samples add realism. While fun to play, the action is a little slow and there's some collision detection issues. Fighters can obscured by foreground objects below or the health bars above. That said, Samurai Shodown is far more than Street Fighter with weapons. This game is a showcase of innovation with style and personality to burn. NOTE: In Japan the series was known as Samurai Spirits. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.

I'm so glad samurai and ninja fought openly in ancient Japan, providing us with a treasure trove of rich material for our modern day entertainment. As the third edition of SNK's epic sword-fest, Samurai Shodown III is bigger, faster, and smoother. Sporting an even more complex fighting system, you must select between two styles after selecting a character. The menu refers to these choices "slash" or "bust" but the manual refers to them as chivalry and treachery. Interesting. Each carries its own set of moves, although both are similar. You'll also select from three "grades" which tailor the action to your level of expertise. The basic controls have been revamped, so the four buttons now map to three slashes and one kick. This makes sense considering the weak kick was never very useful. It's possible to "charge up" your special attacks by holding buttons, but I'm not a fan of that. New moves include a dodge move and a slick "turn" that lets you maneuver behind your opponent. Watching these fancy moves strung together has the look of a choreographed fight scene. The controls are extremely responsive and the action is frantic. When you perform a counter, a percentage is displayed which is very satisfying. Once again the cast has been drastically overhauled, yet they still couldn't figure out how to display character names on the select screen. Of the new faces, Basara is an executioner, Shizumaru is a kid with a lethal umbrella, and Shiro is a magician with a crystal ball. I didn't find this new group quite as compelling and was sad Earthquake didn't make the cut. Showdown 3's stages are more about artistry and color than playful animations. Serene natural scenes include a waterfall, tree orchard, and a serene snowy cottage along a river. With Samurai Shodown III, SNK was catering more toward the serious gamer than the arcade enthusiast. I think it lacks some of the fun of its predecessor but I have to admire its beauty and sophistication. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.

Sengoku gets my vote for "video game most likely to cause carpal tunnel syndrome". It's a button masher that goes on and on - far longer than my attention span. It's a side-scrolling fighter with jaw-dropping graphics but repetitive gameplay. The two playable characters look ridiculous. One is an Asian guy with sunglasses, a red jacket, and yellow pants, and the other guy wears a cowboy hat, a light blue vest, and purple pants. C'mon now! The only possible explanation is that SNK was trying to show off the system's extensive color palette. The stages are bizarre and the scenery is constantly changing. One minute you're fighting in the streets, and then you're whisked off to another dimension, battling an army in the clouds. Most of the enemies look like ancient Asian warriors, but there are some huge, ugly monstrosities as well. I love how you can watch certain enemies approach from the background, thanks to some nice scaling effects. Three buttons are used in this game: attack, jump, and transform. By defeating certain enemies, you gain the power to transform into different characters, including a samurai warrior, a ninja, or vicious dog. The game is loaded with power-up orbs that provide each fighter with unique special attacks like weapons and fireballs. I especially like how the dog can spits out tiny dogs that chomp on the enemies' legs. For the first few minutes of play, I thought Sengoku was awesome. I couldn't get enough of all that kicking, punching, and slashing action. But you can only fight the same thugs so many times, and my wrist starting hurting from continuously tapping the attack button! I suppose the real culprit is the unlimited continues - always a bad idea in this kind of game. It effectively removes any sense of challenge and tension, and they're awfully hard to resist. Sengoku had two sequels. This one's a wild ride, but you'll probably get sick of it like I did. © Copyright 2002 The Video Game Critic.

If you're in the mood to inflict massive destruction for no particular reason, Shock Troopers is just what the doctor ordered. This one-man-army shoot-a-thon is like a top-down Metal Slug, although classics gamers will see shades of Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (Sega Master System, 1986), Ikari Warriors (NES, 1986), and Mercs (Genesis, 1991). You'll mow down waves of generic soldiers as you forge through jungle, mountain, and valley locations. The violence is very gratifying as you toss grenades into bunkers, incinerate enemies with flamethrowers, explode helicopters with missile launchers, and engage in high-speed motorcycle shoot-outs. It's especially satisfying to watch guard towers and concrete bridges explode and collapse into rubble. Shock Troopers has a slick rapid-fire control scheme that lets you tap the button to spray or hold it down to strafe. It may sound shallow, but there's more to this game than meets the eye. When close to an enemy you will automatically perform a melee knife attack, and this can be used strategically. Knifed enemies usually drop food or bonus items, allowing you to replenish life and rack up big points. Although your soldier is slow, a useful evade button lets you roll under enemy fire. It's easy to forget about, but I'd advise keeping a finger on that button at all times. You get a generous supply of grenades as well, so apply them liberally to bosses. The scenery includes swamps, markets, caves, trains, and river boats. The locations are diverse and the level of detail is impressive, but there's nothing particularly memorable about them. Likewise the bosses are pretty unimaginative, usually assuming the form of giant tanks. The two-player cooperative action is a nice feature, but its slow-down is pronounced. Heck, I even noticed slow-down in the single-player mode. It may not quite be up to Metal Slug standards, but if you're in the mood to inflict unspeakable carnage, Shock Troopers is very, very good. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

The original Stakes Winner was a unique horse-racing title that won me over with its arcade graphics and challenging gameplay. This sequel is much easier but a lot less compelling. In the original game I was lucky to win three straight races, but I can play Stakes Winner 2 almost indefinitely. The sights and sounds of the game haven't changed much. The horses look slightly less cartoonish, but the tracks and viewing angles look pretty much the same. The soundtrack is basically remixed versions of the songs from the first game. The controls have been tweaked a bit, and a third button was added to kick in some extra energy down the stretch. Although the steering controls are inexact around the turns, you have pretty good control over the speed of your horse. Unfortunately, one serious problem from the first game has returned with a vengeance! Cheap icons appear on the track at certain intervals, and more often than not they determine the outcome of the race. You may have paced yourself perfectly and jockeyed for position with precision, only to find yourself languishing in last place after running into a "paralyze" icon. These icons appear so suddenly that there's no time to avoid them, much less decide if you want them. Your best bet is to anticipate where the icons will appear on the track and try to avoid those spots. One thing I like about Stakes Winner 2 is the ability to select between U.S. or European tracks. The U.S. selection includes Belmont Park, Santa Anita, Churchill Downs, and Pimlico in Baltimore. Between races you can purchase items from a store, including special moves that require special joystick manipulations (horse racing meets Street Fighter 2!) There are also four training "bonus" stages including one where you navigate through a swimming pool. I can appreciate the fact that Stake Winner 2 has more depth that the first game, but the low difficulty makes its racing much less satisfying. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

This is one of those "twitch shooters" the Neo Geo is known for - and it's a good one. Strikers 1945 Plus maintains a heightened level of rapid-fire mayhem without the slow-down associated with many vertical shooters. The intro features a jaw-dropping digitized sequence of six planes flying over a mountain landscape. The actual game maintains a similar level of realism, with nearly photo-realistic scenery and fantastic explosions. You select between one of six WWII-era planes loaded to the hilt with weapons. As you fly over railroads, harbors, and snow-covered fortresses you're confronted with waves of planes and tanks. Your cannons administer a world of hurt and frequent power-ups let you unleash a torrent of missiles. Holding in the fire button allows you to deploy a special weapon such as a magnetic field that slowly crawls up the screen while leaving devastation in its wake. You'll face waves of criss-crossing bullets but they move slowly so there's always an escape route. Just hang back and try to maintain your composure. Strikers does get a little insane in the later stages, so you'll want to save a few bombs to use as a defensive mechanism. I'm glad unlimited continues are available, because otherwise I would have never seen the end of the game. Another neat feature is how you start on a different stage depending on which plane you select. Strikers is a blast to play but don't expect much variety. The static scenery is somewhat bland and enemies are mainly limited to planes and tanks. Pretty much every boss is a flying robot that emerges from the rubble of an oversized vehicle. The military-style music is appropriate but not particularly memorable. Some may find Strikers 1945 a bit repetitious, but if you like arcade shooters this one really hits the sweet spot. Note: I played this using an MVS converter. © Copyright 2013 The Video Game Critic.

Oh yeah! This is what Neo Geo gaming is all about! Unlike real baseball (which sucks), this futuristic take on the sport is fast, fun, and unpredictable. The graphics are sensational, with humorously animated robots and a spectacular stadium loaded with electronic gadgets and TV monitors. There's a "foul zone" behind home plate and a "home run zone" behind center field, but everywhere else is fair play! When a ball enters the stands, its rolls down onto the field, still alive! There are even "jump zones" that let your fielders leap high into the air to snag would-be homers. I just wish there were more opportunities to use these things! The field contains a number of hazards as well. The first time the game announced it was "setting crackers" between innings, I thought it was complaining about white people, but then I realized that "crackers" are really mines. As the game progresses, more and more of these mines are scattered around the field. Like SNK's excellent Baseball Stars line of games, the pitching and batting controls are easy and intuitive. The computer positions you fielders automatically, which is good because it's hard to track them when the ball is hit to the outfield. Fielding is the main flaw of Super Baseball 2020 - it's tough and judging fly balls is nearly impossible. Super Baseball 2020 is ideal for people with short attention spans, because the action never lets up. Close plays at the bases are enhanced by cool close-up cut scenes. The teams are a collection of men, women and robots, and you can "power-up" players with money you accumulate during the game, which adds a nice element of strategy. The CPU opponent is pretty slick, especially on the base paths, but Super Baseball 2020 is best played against a friend. This is the perfect antidote to gamers who can't stomach realistic baseball games. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

Super Sidekicks 3 nicely blends the playability of the original game with the realism of the second. I love that awkward subtitle "The Next Glory" which I'll chalk up to a bad Japanese translation. The graphics resemble the second game at a glance, but upon closer inspection the players scale in and out, providing a better sense of depth and field visibility. Unlike Sidekicks 2 you can actually see who you're passing to much of the time. The ball is more unpredictable coming off the goalie, including deflections that trickle into the goal. I really like how you no longer lose control of your defender after an unsuccessful steal attempt. One frustrating aspect of the game is how you can't see the lower baseline until you've already stepped out of bounds. One entertaining new element is the "super psychup" which occurs after a player suffers a hard foul. You'll watch a cutscene of the hurt player trembling with rage, looking like he's about to transform into the Incredible Hulk! Things always get hectic around the goal, and it looks hilarious when consecutive hard shots bounce off the goalie's face! Expect some funny cut-scenes including a few that border on homoerotic. After scoring a goal you see two players lunging toward each other for an open-mouthed embrace. Fortunately the scene cuts off in time (control room: "Quick! Cut to commercial!") During another cutscene a player appears to be performing an obscene act on the referee! These provide for unintentional comic relief. There's no music during the game but when you take a shot it sounds like a damn cannon going off! Whether challenging a friend or competing against CPU contenders, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more explosive soccer title than Super Sidekicks 3: The Next Glory. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.