{"id":21406,"date":"2021-07-09T00:01:14","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T00:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=21406"},"modified":"2021-07-02T22:33:44","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T22:33:44","slug":"summer-of-snk-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/09\/summer-of-snk-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer of SNK: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When I was a kid, (well, early teen I guess), game maker SNK came out with a console called the NEO GEO.\u00a0 The games on it were arcade perfect, which was amazing, but not really when you consider the cartridges were the same being used in the NEO GEO arcade machines that let you choose which games to play.\u00a0 The only downside was the home console was EXPENSIVE!\u00a0 The console itself cost more than 700 bucks, and each game was over 100 dollars!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know ANYONE back then who owned a NEO GEO!\u00a0 That\u2019s why when I see a NEO GEO collection now for cheap, I feel compelled to buy it.\u00a0 It\u2019s like retribution.\u00a0 Take that, SNK!\u00a0 I can afford your stuff now!\u00a0 So the fad in the past few years is to make mini game consoles with games already included on them.\u00a0 They\u2019ve done it with the NES, SNES, SEGA Genesis, TG-16, and more.\u00a0 And now they\u2019re doing it with the NEO GEO!\u00a0 But this one is different!\u00a0 Instead of being shaped like a tiny NEO GEO, it\u2019s made to look like a little arcade machine!\u00a0 You can even play the games on a small screen, so it\u2019s portable, too!\u00a0 But you can also hook it up to a big TV!\u00a0 I got one at a reasonable price, so let\u2019s take a look at it!<\/p>\n

Here’s the box it came in.\u00a0 I got the US version.\u00a0 There were different versions you could get, with different colored cases and some exclusive games on each.\u00a0 The US version was the cheapest and there wasn\u2019t any exclusive games on the other versions I cared about, so I was happy just to get this one.\u00a0 I doubt any of the other versions had Neo Mr. Do!, Twinkle Star Sprites, or Waku Waku 7 anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the back of the box.\u00a0 It shows all the games included.\u00a0 There are so many that we\u2019ll have to split this blog up into two parts to go over them all!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the console out of the box.\u00a0 \u00a0I guess it\u2019s colored red, white, and blue since it\u2019s the US version.\u00a0 You had to put stickers on the marquee area and joystick, though!\u00a0 Like some of the other mini consoles, it doesn\u2019t come with a power plug, but if you have a phone charger plug, you can just use that.\u00a0 If you put batteries in it, you can play it on a small screen, too!\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how long the batteries would last because I don\u2019t ever plan to play it in portable mode.\u00a0 \u00a0The in-game menu and features are similar to other mini consoles as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My version came with two controllers, so here\u2019s a picture of the black one.\u00a0 There\u2019s also a white one, but since it\u2019s just the same thing, but white, I didn\u2019t take a picture of that.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember if this is what the NEO GEO controllers originally looked like.\u00a0 I seem to remember them being big square things like the NES Advantage, but it\u2019s been a long time ago.\u00a0 One neat thing is that if you only had one controller, you can still play two players if it\u2019s hooked to the TV because the second player can just use the joystick on the arcade machine!\u00a0 It\u2019s not exactly the best way to do it, but that\u2019s kind of interesting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So there are so many games on this system that we\u2019ll go through them in two parts.\u00a0 In the first part, we\u2019ll go over the games on here that are in a series, since most of them play the same.\u00a0 Then next week we\u2019ll do the rest.\u00a0 One thing I like about these games is they have that \u2018arcade sheen\u2019 to them.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to describe, but I think it\u2019s cool.\u00a0 OK, let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n

Metal Slug 1, 2, X, 3, 4, 5<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you think of run and gun games, titles like Contra and Mega Man come to mind.\u00a0 But you should also really think of Metal Slug as well, because they\u2019re as popular as ever and even come out with new games fairly recently.\u00a0 Granted, most of these new games are for mobile and are endless clickers and tactics games, but still!\u00a0 The great thing about the Metal Slug games are the graphics and animations, which have a lot of personality.\u00a0 I love how if you eat too many food items, you can get fat.\u00a0 In later games you can also get turned into a mummy or zombie, but can still play!\u00a0 Little disappointed they didn\u2019t have 6 on here, but I\u2019m not sure if that used NEO GEO hardware or not.\u00a0 I know 7 and 8 didn\u2019t since they were on PSP.\u00a0 Did you know that in some of the later Metal Slug games, you could play as Ralf, Clark, and Leona from the Ikari Warriors?<\/p>\n

The King of Fighters 95, 97, 98, 2000, 2002<\/strong><\/p>\n

SNK\u2019s most popular fighting game series still has games being released periodically even today!\u00a0 There\u2019s even one coming out next year!\u00a0 These fighters take characters from other popular SNK brawlers and pits them all together in teams, as well as some new faces as well.\u00a0 Some games represented here include Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Psycho Soldier, and even Ikari Warriors!\u00a0 My favorite KOF characters include Leona, Vanessa, Shermie, Blue Mary, Ralf, and Clark!\u00a0 Who are your favorites?<\/p>\n

Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout Fatal Fury, Garou: Mark of the Wolves<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Street Fighter 2 was super popular in arcades, one of the first copycats I remember was SNK\u2019s Fatal Fury.\u00a0 Characters like Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui, Joe Higashi, and Blue Mary come from this series.\u00a0 Even though Garou: Mark of the Wolves doesn\u2019t have Fatal Fury in the title, I still consider it part of the series since Terry Bogard\u2019s still in it, even if he\u2019s a lot different and all the other characters in that game are new.<\/p>\n

Samurai Shodown 2, 4, V Special<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is another popular SNK fighter series, this time with a feudal Japan setting.\u00a0 My favorite characters include Poppy, Galford\u2019s dog, as well as Iroha and Mina Majikina.\u00a0 Too bad 6 isn\u2019t on here.\u00a0 That one is the best. They even let you play as Poppy and Nakoruru\u2019s bird by themselves!\u00a0 It’s a little silly, but I don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

King of the Monsters 1 and 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

This game lets you control giant kaiju monsters like a Godzilla, King Kong, or Ultraman ripoffs.\u00a0 But instead of a brawler, the first game is actually a wrestling game where you use special moves and pin down your opponent to win!\u00a0 The settings are tiny cities you can destroy as well.\u00a0 I\u2019m not a big wrestling fan, but if you want to get me to play a wrestling game, this is the way to do it!\u00a0 The second game is a slight departure as it\u2019s more like a side scrolling beat \u2018em up.\u00a0 But you still use wrestling moves on the bosses.\u00a0 You just don\u2019t have to pin them down to defeat them, just whittle at their life bar until it\u2019s gone.\u00a0 Both games are still fun and I remember playing them a lot in arcades.\u00a0 SNK must\u2019ve had a strong presence in Dallas, TX, because I remember playing a lot of their games here.<\/p>\n

Shock Troopers 1 and 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

These games are overhead shooters like Ikari Warriors, but with more varied settings like urban areas.\u00a0 You can pick from different characters who use various weapons.\u00a0 The first game lets you pick eight characters, but the second one only has four.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t make it any less fun.\u00a0 I like to play as either Milky or Marie Bee in the first game and Angel in the second.\u00a0 Both games let you roll to dodge bullets, which is handy.\u00a0 The second game has better graphics and sound, and you can even roll into some vehicles and drive them around.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all for now!\u00a0 Next week we\u2019ll go over the rest of the games on the NEO GEO Mini!\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a kid, (well, early teen I guess), game maker SNK came out with a console called the NEO GEO.\u00a0 The games on it were arcade perfect, which was amazing, but not really when you consider the cartridges were the same being used in the NEO GEO arcade machines that let you choose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21406"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21408,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21406\/revisions\/21408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}