As part of my mission to play the best retro games I can get my hands on, I got hooked on the fast-paced puzzle game Chain Reaction while exploring Evercade’s Data East 1 Cartridge. My newfound addiction to matching gems at warp speed led me to buy ACA Neo Geo Magical Drop III, aka the third game in the series (and its proper name in Japan). I was impressed at how fast and fluid the gameplay was, and how much I enjoyed playing Magical Drop on the big screen, but it made me want to explore what else HAMSTER Corporation has been publishing under their Arcade Archives collection.
I touched base with the team at HAMSTER and was sent over a trio of ACA Neo Geo titles to investigate. I’m happy to say these are currently the best way to grab and enjoy retro Neo Geo titles today.
Specifications
- Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop, Windows, iOS, Android.
- Online: Global high-score leaderboards.
- Difficulty Levels: Multiple.
- Customizable: Button mapping.
- Languages: English and Japanese arcade versions.
- Cheats: Infinite continues (in some modes).
- Multiplayer: Local two-player co-op and/or vs modes.
- Price: $7.99 per game.
ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug 2
ACA NEOGEO King of the Monsters
ACA NEOGEO Prehistoric Isle 2
Pros
- Gorgeous pixel art.
- Plenty of replay value for high-score chasers and co-op players.
- Infinite continues is great for newcomers.
- Affordable, with a huge collection to choose from.
- Multiple versions included (Hi Score, Caravan, JP, EN).
- More rewarding for talented players, as opposed to “unfair” arcade games geared to steal quarters.
Cons
- Some titles feature unfortunate mild, laggy slowdown at times, particularly when the screen is full of enemies or projectiles.
What Are ACA Neo Geo Games?
Japanese video game developer SNK released the original Neo Geo hardware in the early 90s as a platform for showcasing gorgeous games in the arcades, while preserving all of that visual fidelity on its home console counterpart, since both used the exact same game cartridges. Although Neo Geo games were absolutely beautiful and a blast to play in the day, SNK’s console was sold for a whopping $650, making it easily the most expensive option at the time.
Although the Neo Geo console itself was sunsetted in 1997, the HAMSTER Corporation has re-released a large range of Neo Geo games under their ACA, or “Arcade Archives” banner across modern consoles for only $7.99 a piece. There’s never been an easier time to collect these gems, as Neo Geo cartridges were originally $200 back in 1991!
Metal Slug 2
The sequel to the original action-packed run-and-gun title, Metal Slug 2 sends your favorite four mercenaries against a seemingly endless horde of enemy soldiers, battle tanks, monsters, and more. Metal Slug 2 sports charming animation and feels like you’re blasting your way through a rather violent cartoon, and it rewards split-second reflexes as you dodge bombs and lasers while trying to grab weapon upgrades and rescue civilians. Once you get a feel for the tight and fluid combo of shooting wave after wave of baddies while jumping frantically to the safest spot on the screen, you’ll want to come back after the credits roll to get an even higher score.
Fun alone and even wilder while playing cooperatively with a friend, Metal Slug 2 is certain to keep action fans on their toes. I wouldn’t dare give any spoilers, even if the game was originally released in 1998!
King of the Monsters
I’ve always been a big fan of monsters and fighting games, so putting them together in King of the Monsters sounded like a “chocolate meets peanut butter” experience. While it wasn’t quite what I expected, this is another visually impressive SNK game that many of you will appreciate.
I was excited to choose from six nasty kaiju monsters to rampage through downtown Tokyo while smacking around a gigantic rival, but I was surprised to learn that King of the Monsters is more of a wrestling game than a fighter! Each cityscape is enclosed by an electrical field that both shocks your giant ape or sludge monster, while bouncing them back into the stage like the elastic edges of a wrestling ring. You’ll start by punching and kicking your titanic rival, but you’ll end the fight by pinning them down until the count of three. The monsters have plenty of personality, the controls are solid, and it’s fun to play alongside a friend to pummel enemy kaiju; I didn’t expect a fighting-wrestling combo title, but it works!
Prehistoric Isle 2
As cool as monsters are, dinosaurs will always have the top spot in my heart, and this frantic side-scrolling shoot-em-up was absolutely overflowing with dinosaurs of all kinds. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Prehistoric Isle 2 beyond its exciting premise of “the world has been overrun with dinosaurs, so get in a helicopter and blast them all,” as its controls are buttery smooth, the difficulty is high, yet fair, and the visuals of the worlds, effects, and the dinos themselves captivated me from start to finish. It makes sense that this game released so late in the console’s life, as developers clearly knew how to design slick-looking Neo Geo games by 1999.
Prehistoric Isle 2 will absolutely keep you on your toes, just like the Metal Gear series, and shoot-em-up fans will have a blast encountering all-new enemies frequently, strategically collecting blue or red powerups to upgrade their favorite weapons on the fly, and getting blown away by its many surprises. It may seem tough as nails at first, but it’s surprisingly fair for an arcade shooter!
Plenty of Replay Value
HAMSTER’s ACA Neo Geo collections include both the original Japanese and English versions of their respective arcade games, as well as a handful of other modes, such as a score attack, story mode, etc., depending on the game. Arcade games often lean towards the difficult side of the gameplay spectrum, so some modes allow for unlimited continues to let newcomers, kids, and anyone who wants to simply enjoy the core games from beginning to end have a more laidback experience.
Additional features include a charming CRT filter that makes the screen look like the game is being played on a 90s TV; two-player mode; online leaderboards for showing off your high scores; multiple difficulty levels; and the ability to create a save state for breaks and as a restart point for preserving continues.
Almost Pixel-Perfect
Sometimes, emulating classic games results in brief moments of immersion-shattering slowdown, where the action slows to a crawl when there are simply too many characters and/or effects on screen at once. Although it’s true that two of these three games felt like I was Neo dodging bullets in The Matrix, I discovered that the original Neo Geo arcade games had laggy issues in the exact same spots as well, so it’s a surprisingly authentic emulation.
In a nutshell, I never experienced slowdown while playing King of the Monsters, there was a tiny bit of lag during a few moments of the final level of Prehistoric Isle 2, and unfortunately there are many points in the latter quarter of Metal Slug 2 that ran like molasses — the New York stage in particular put the “slug” in Metal Slug. The good news is that even during these periods of in-game lag, you still feel in control and shouldn’t lose any lives because of it.
Finally, and I know it’s a very slight nitpick, but I wish HAMSTER used art from their Neo Geo games for the achievement art. As an Xbox player, I enjoy customizing my console’s background with art from one of the games I’m currently playing and it would’ve been really cool to adorn my Xbox with Metal Slug 2 boss fight art, the King of the Monsters kaiju select screen, or some of Prehistoric Isle 2’s menagerie of dinos.
Chances are high that you missed out on enjoying Neo Geo games in the 90s, so if you’re a retro gamer, do yourself a favor and browse through HAMSTER’s impressively large range of Arcade Archive Neo Geo titles. I absolutely suggest watching a few trailers on YouTube and plonking down eight bucks on a hidden gem or two.
