They Call It Neo-Geo

I have been on one hell of a retro gaming kick lately. Playing old NES, SNES, PC, Genesis favorites and the like. But oh my lord do the Neo-Geo Titles hold up extremely well. In the 90's you couldn't go into an arcade without seeing a MVS cabinet. Heck, they were even in just about every pizza parlor and bowling alley in existence. If you had boatloads of cash, you could get the Neo-Geo AES home console for arcade perfect goodness that was drool worthy in the 90's. So at this point I'm sure you can guess what's really been holding my attention more than the rest.

As I have stated before, I never owned a Neo-Geo back then, even today they are still cost prohibitive for most. Systems today can still fetch prices in the realm of the 80GB PS3 or more, if you can find one. A little bit of Ebay searching and you can run across a few AES units, including some refurbished modded units with component video outputs for the truly hardcore.

Typically the system is associated with SNK fighters, and rightfully so, they are some of the finest titles on the system, not to mention the genre. There are also many great games in other classic genres that can be overlooked by your average gamer. I can see this post quickly devolving into a list of my personal recommendations of titles to try, so let's just get that out of the way shall we? Hmmm. How about a top 15? That sound pretty good to me. Also note these will be in no particular order, Just 15 titles (or series) that I think could be worth your time.

#15 Metal Slug Series
These include Metal Slug 1-5, 4 plus, 5 plus, and Metal Slug X. It's a run and gun shooter with a great aesthetic and sense of humor. Though those easily frustrated need not apply.

#14 Ninja Master's
The first of what will undoubtedly not be the last fighting game on the list. It's a great fighter that tends to get overshadowed by more popular series on the system.

#13 Baseball Stars 2
I don't think I have ever seen an MVS cabinet without this game. It's one of the most fun arcade baseball games ever created for any system. Odds are you have already played this, but it still holds up extremely well, and is super easy to pick up and play by just about any level of gamer.

#12 Blue's Journey
It's a quirky and cute platformer with some interesting play mechanics. It's a love it or hate it title, no real middle ground with this one. It's worth giving a shot.

#11 Neo Bomberman
A great Bomberman game for the Neo-Geo that's more action than puzzle. If you've played a puzzle based Bomberman before and didn't like it, don't rule this one out automatically. It's good fast paced fun.

#10 Garou: Mark of the Wolves
A gorgeous fighter that is not to be missed. A personal favorite. Possibly the best animation on the system.

#9 Magical Drop Series
Have you played Astropop on XBLA or elsewhere? Than you have played this and now know where they stole it from.

#8 The King of Fighters Series
Bar none my favorite fighting series on the system. I suggest sticking to the even years as they are my favorites, with 98, 96 and 2000 tied at the top of said list.

#7 Shock Troopers 1&2
They feel like a spiritual successor to Ikari Warriors. Great instant action fun not to be missed.

#6 Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings 2&3
One of my personal favorite series of "Bullet Hell" shooters. If you like shooters, give them a go.

#5 Samurai Showdown Series
Great fighting game series with the 2nd widely regarded as the best. My personal favorite is V.

#4 SVC Chaos
SNK characters vs. Capcom characters. Great place to get started with SNK fighters if your familiar with the street fighter series. It's pretty easy to pull off familiar moves with the Capcom roster.

#3 Fatal Fury/Real Bout Series
A fine series of SNK fighters that many enjoy. I have a hard time adapting to it's fighting system personally, but it's still fun.

#2 World Heroes Series
A fun fighter on the system that's not made by SNK!!! That's just amazing.

#1 Mutation Nation
Think Final Fight on steroids and crack.

Honorable Mentions A.K.A. not my favorites, but have their own distinctive charm.

Power Instinct: Matrimelee
A fighter that must be seen to be believed. There must have been a boatload of drugs being used by the creators of this series.

The Super Spy
A first person thing. Not great, but good for a few minutes of distraction here and there.

Legend of Success Joe A.K.A. Legend of Suckass Joe
Must be played to truly appreciate how awful it really is.

Blazing Star
Many peoples favorite shooter. Worth a look if you dig the genre.

There you have it, some of my favorites and other crap on the system. Yes it's a fighter heavy system, but there's still something for everyone. There's also a ton of stuff not mentioned here worth seeking out. Perhaps those will make it in another post down the road.

Top 10 Fighting Games

It's time yet again to bring you an irrelevant listing of games for an utter lack of creativity on my part. So here we go, get ready to be completely unfulfilled by my incessant rambling.

#10 Karate Champ
It may not be the absolute first fighting game ever created, but it's certainly the one that planted the seed of inspiration for other developers to push the genre to new heights.

#9 Mortal Kombat
Certainly not my favorite franchise, but there is no denying that along with Street Fighter II it brought millions of fans to the arcades, truly ushering in the era of fighting games.

#8 Samurai Showdown II
You can't have a list of fighting games without a mention of SNK. Here in the U.S. SNK always seemed to live in the shadow of Capcom, but their games were always just as good. And there is no finer example of SNK's handiwork than Samurai Showdown II.

#7 Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
2D fighters by Capcom have always been some of the best on the planet. When you add Marvel Comics characters into the mix fighting Capcom characters, you get an instant classic.

#6 X-Men: Children of the Atom
This game is the reason I chose the Sega Saturn over the PS1, and I have never regretted that choice. One of the finest fighters to ever grace arcades. Arcade perfect Saturn port, horrible PS1 port. It goes on the list because it is my personal favorite, and it's my blog.

#5 Soulcalibur
I'm referring to the Dreamcast port of course. Don't get me wrong, the arcade was great, but the DC version had far superior visuals and still stands up quite well. I personally find this to be Namco's best franchise. Tekken never did it for me like this could.

#4 Dead or Alive 3
The Dead or Alive series has always been simple to pick up and play, but very rewarding to master. The third in the series helped usher in a level of detail never before seen on a home console at the time. It also set the graphics bar so very high early in the X-Box's lifespan, and few developers were ever able to attain it's level of detail over the consoles lifespan.

#3 Virtua Fighter 5
The finest example of one of the deepest fighting franchises ever created. From the onset of the first, we knew we were in for something special. This is one game that you really don't want to jump from character to character, you really need to find one that fits you, and learn them inside and out.

#2 Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
A beautiful remake of one of the best fighters ever created. The balance is there. All the characters you know and love are also. Gorgeously redrawn in 1080p glory.

#1 Street Fighter II
The fighter that really started the craze in the early 90's. Mortal Kombat as I said before helped, but it didn't posses near the grace of this gem. If you like fighters, odds are this is where it all started for you as it did many others. To this day, a discussion about the genre cannot be had without mention of Street Fighter II.

Top Ten XBLA Games

Everybody likes lists right? There easy to understand so even the most intellectually challenged of you out there can understand it. Though I have no doubt that none of you will agree with it whatsoever. Who cares? It's my list, so deal with it. Or better yet, leave a smart ass comment! Why not? I would. Without further adieu I bring you my top 10 titles on XBLA...

#10 EZMuze House and Break Edition
I'm not trying to start out on the wrong foot here. Really. I know it's a "Community Game", and it's not really a game, but I find it highly addicting and excessively simple to use. If you have ever toyed around with ye olde MTV Music Generator you get the gist. As a fan of music it's very relaxing to make some simple cuts for fun, or just come up with some beats to play around with while I play guitar.

#9 Pac-Man C.E.
I'm old, so I dig Pac-Man. I still have a cart for the worst port ever on Atari. This game takes Pac to a whole new level. It's pretty, the music is actually good, and it's just some good remixed old school fun.

#8 Rez HD
I never got to play this the first time around. I was hesitant at first when it was released, but with all the glowing reviews I wasn't going to miss it this time around. Neither should you.

#7 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Again, I missed this the first time around. Not for lack of wanting, I owned a Saturn and importing it was a bit out of my price range. Now it's not. If you have ever played a Castlevania game and moderately enjoyed it, get this. This is without a doubt the best in the series.

#6 Soulcalibur
Namco's best fighting franchise in my opinion. Had it on Dreamcast. Have it again, albeit slightly gimped without the adventure mode. No huge loss though, all the artwork and whatnot is there with no need to unlock it.

#5 Puzzle Quest
I like Bejeweled. I also like RPG's. So if you don't mind a little chocolate in your peanut butter, this game is for you. Love it!

#4 Double Dragon
I could probably buy a PS3 with the amount of quarters I have put in DD machines in my life. I can beat the game using strictly elbows without continuing easily. Get my drift?

#3 Pinball FX
Best. Videogame. Pinball. Ever.

#2 Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
A remake of the fighting game that made me fall in love with fighters. It's balanced quite well and I will kick your ass with Chun-Li.

#1 TMNT 1989 Arcade
I played the hell out of this back in sixth grade. I was also pleased to play the really bad NES port back then. Now I have an arcade perfect port that's just as fun as it was in 1989.

So there you have it. My list is complete and I could probably swap a few in and out without feeling bad, but I limited myself to ten and these are what came out at 2am.