I bought 4 SNK games when they came out this week - KOF2002, Twinkle Star Sprites, Shock Troopers and this. KOF2002 is a terrible port. Last Blade, and all the others, are good, so I just want people to know that now. Its not just lazy emulation; this here is a great game loaded with all the options you want and could reasonably expect for a classic game. Fullscreen/Windowed, Aspect Ratio, Resolutions, key rebindings, sound stuff, etc. As well as a proper front-end and menus and an assortment of modes This is quality stuff. I'm actually relieved, lol. KOF'02 is just so... not. What a bizarre standout. I was really worried there, and heck, with 15 or so Neo Geo games dropping at the same time, there's probably some other bad ports mixed in with the good. But I just wanted to get a review out there to let people know this is one of the good ones. Purchase away! As for the game itself, I've barely scratched the surface today. I'm not super familiar with Last Blade yet. Or any Samurai Shodown for that matter. As far as SNK goes, I'm more of a Fatal Fury/King of Fighters guy - heck, I'll even talk about Kizuna Encounter ALL DAY LONG :P But for some reason I just never dove into their weapons-based fighters. I know this is quality though, and I'm looking forward to diving in NOW. I'm just happy to report this is a good version. Hope to see more SNK goodness in the future on GOG, but more importantly, I hope DotEmu gets their stuff sorted out. THIS kind of release is the right way to do it, and I'm happy to support it. They should just, absolutely, be consistent with their releases. KOF2002's GOG version is just inexplicable. Last Blade though? That's good to go, y'all.
Lets get this out of the way now: here is another good GOG version of a Neo Geo classic. This has your full suite of options for a classic game, so no worries as to the quality of this port. This is NOT a King of Fighters 2002 situation, thankfully :) Shock Troopers is an awesome, bizarrely underappreciated topdown run-n-gun game. If Metal Slug is like SNK's Contra, Shock Troopers is their... Heavy Barrel? That's even more obscure, lol. Whatever; just know this is good. You can pick a character, or a team of 3, from a squad of 8 mercenaries (all of whom sport differing guns and secondary weapons like grenades). Then you go to town on scores of unfortunate enemies as they run at you, toss explosives at you, fall from the sky with parachutes, and just try to murder you by any way necessary. But you can shoot (and like Metal Slug, melee them at close range), throw out your secondaries, and dodge roll to avoid fire. When they die, they drop power-ups like more bombs and new guns - some people may go for the Flamethrower, but real gamers know the SpreadGun's where its at :) This action is simple, well-done arcade goodness that still entertains today. Still its not perfect, through to sheer age. We live in a post-Geometry Wars age. Any top-down run-n-gun without dual stick controls just feels not as great as contemporary ones. Like, you could buy Assault Heroes or Assault Android Cactus on a variety of platforms today. Conversely, Shock Troopers feels rigid and constrained, even though it was designed well around its mechanics. Oh well, what can you do besides play for awhile until you just recalibrate your brain around the older-school way of doing things? Its a good game, it deserves attention from shooter fans, its just a little weird nowadays. Its also not as colorful or good-looking as its sequel. Shock Troopers is a great version of a great game that's not quite the homerun it used to be due to age. But it is most definitely a good old game :)
I just reviewed KOF 2002 and that is, unfortunately, a bit of a stinker when it comes to GOG versions :P Twinkle Star Sprites however -- SNK's unique VS.-style schmup (that to my knowledge has no imitators to this day) -- DOES NOT suffer from laziness at all in the way of the GOG version. That's right; not only is the core, wonderful game here, but also things like OPTIONS, and RESOLUTIONS, lol. You can change key bindings! All sorts of wonderful, expected, things you want in your PC version of any game. Huzzah! DotEmu, you CAN do a good job! (^-^) And if you haven't played Twinkle Star Sprites, but dig colorful, fun Japanese arcade fare, I can safely recommend this in a heartbeat. Its a wonderful; its a vertically scrolling shoot'em up (or "cute'em up", as some people like to describe games like this, Twinbee, Cotton, etc.) played in splitscreen. Your opponent plays on the other side, and you both go about your business trying to chain combos and deflect certain attacks so as to send more junk their way and get them to take a hit. First one to lose all their hearts loses. Its a really cool design, very unique, and very well done. Its super cute and colorful without being cloyingly "moeblob" like the modern version of this aesthetic, or bizarrely), with great sprite art and awesome 90's anime character design. Music's nice as well. The presentation all around is top-notch stuff by SNK's old second party, ADK (who made games like Magician Lord, World Heroes and Ninja Warriors). Its a delightful game unlike anything else out there and its a good version here on GOG - definitely feel safe saying that! If you're a fan of colorful, fun arcade games, "cute'em ups", versus games, or even puzzlers (there's puzzle-like mechanics in how to chain stuff), this is worth a shot. Absolutely.
KOF 2002 is pretty great, and that game IS here. Lets get that straight. Its just that its a straight port of the arcade version; there's hardly any options here AT ALL. Your video options are limited to fullscreen or windowed (a tiny window, because c'mon, this is ancient resolutions we're talking about). Your Control "Options" are limited to looking at a picture of the keyboard (this is with a controller plugged in, which the game detects no problem and that works) and that's it - you can't rebind things, which makes it a pain to play immediately. Its just real lazy, and that's a shame. I mean it runs well on my system, and its cheap, but c'mon DotEmu/SNK. Do it right. This might as well be called "KOF 2002: Just go emulate it Edition", because that's all the care that went into this. If you really want KOF 2002, its here and its relatively cheap - that's the only reason I'm giving it 3 stars. But its just a barely outfitted to run on PC without any real thought or effort to make it a **good** PC release. I wish this was an Arcade Classics Archive release - they show real care in how they do their ports (God, that would be great if Hamster would bring those to PC). This is just... sad. After playing Twinkle Star Sprites, which IS a good port with actual options to dive into, I'm kinda baffled and disappointed with this here. Now I gotta go try Last Blade and Shock Troopers and see how else these Neo Geo ports I bought on GOG shake out :/ At any rate, its still better than Ultimate Body Blows. But not by nearly enough as it should be, which is crazy. Shame on you DotEmu/SNK.
If you're a fan of classic arcade racers like Power Drift or Outrun, World Rally Fever is right up your alley! This is as arcadey as can be; the title looks and feels like the best Sega "Super Scaler" game ever made and, despite being made by Team17, perfectly executes the mid-90's anime look it's going for. It looks & feels like a lost Neo Geo classic! The game has a unique driving model. Pay attention and you'll notice you sort of pivot your car at a greater and greater angle, "tilting" it until you find a sweet spot that lines up with the road perfectly, then go with it until the next section, where you re-adjust your tilt. It's very responsive, and works great with a keyboard and mouse as well as with a controller. Unfortunately, there is too large of a "hit stun" on the car. So after jumping, they'll get locked in their bounce anim before you can turn or jump again. Same thing goes for all recoveries; hitting obstacles or getting hit by items too. It's just brutal; stops you dead for 4 seconds or so. And there's no collision while your car slowly accelerates - so everyone else can just zoom through you instead of you blocking them. However, the sense of speed is great, as are all the details on the track. Everything's very over-the-top in the best way. There are also cart racer-style power ups too. The musical tracks are generic, but energetic, compositions that lend themselves well to the race. They have a genuinely awesome retro sound that'll get you jonesin' for your Sega-CD. And while the flaws can frustrate, and it gets pretty difficult at times, there's also a lot here that's plenty fair and enjoyable to play. Most of the time, it's a fun challenge - as long as you put in an effort. If you have fond memories of stuff like Outrun, Power Drift or Super Mario Kart, and want to experience a hidden gem there, then definitely give World Rally Fever a go! The game is well-made, gorgeous to look at, and downright exhilarating - it's so much fun!
