SNK has seen a number of ups and downs over the past 20 years, but they are on the upswing again and gamers benefit by being offered a compilation of 16 classic SNK arcade favorites on one disc. For around 30 bucks you get 16 games! Now I’m no math whiz, but I can tell ya, that’s less than $200 per game! (Which is what you would have paid for each of these titles if you owned a Neo Geo in 1990!)
It’s also less than what you might pay on a per game download if you bought these games in the Virtual Console on your Nintendo Wii (SNK titles go for about $9 USD), so all you value minded consumers can feel good about the fact that you can play “King of the Monsters” as many times as you want without running out of quarters to wash your clothes.
So lets talk about game play for a moment. I could go through 16 individual reviews of titles released over the last 20 years, but chances are you don’t really care what I have to say about your old favorites. Lets be honest here, you are buying this game because it has games you already have an opinion on, and you’re only reading this article because you want to know if SNK Playmore did your classic SNK titles justice with the Wii release of this game.
The short answer is yes. SNK Arcade Classics 1 plays better for the Wii than it did for the PS2 and PSP, both of which it was previously available on only months ago. They’ve added a few token unlockables, which are a nice touch… but left me thirsty for something more. If you read digital chumps often, you know that I am a born sucker for unlockable content. It’s what keeps me playing a game. What would have been really cool would be a 17th hidden game (or something…) but all we’re treated to is the standard bonus art, and a few miscellaneous other goodies which are amusing, but don’t really add much to the game experience.
Aside from the difference in controls, there really isn’t a huge difference between the Wii version of this title and its PS2 and PSP counterparts. I’d really like to see some sort of improved functionality for such a different console, or at least something that takes advantage of the online functionality of the Wii. What I was left with was a little bit of disappointment, dulled by the joy I took in reliving Fatal Fury.
SNK Arcade Classics vol. 1 has 16 games. What are they you ask? I’m glad you did, they are as follows:
Art of Fighting
Baseball Stars 2
Burning Fight
Fatal Fury
King of the Monsters
Last Resort
Magician Lord
Metal Slug
Neo Turf Master
Samurai Shodown
Sengoku
Shock Troopers
Super Sidekicks 3
The King of Fighters 94
Top Hunter
World Heroes
The selection of titles for volume 1 has a little bit of history, with a nod to the original Neo Geo system. They released the Neo Geo system bundled with “Magician Lord” in the U.S. for $599. SNK called this the “Gold System”, which also came with a memory card and 2 controllers. Conversely, the very LAST game to be released for the Neo Geo was a sequel to the included “Samurai Shodown”, another popular title for the SNK franchise. If you ever get that question right on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”, I want a commission for that little factoid.
Titles like “Art of Fighting”, “Metal Slug”, and “Fatal Fury” would spark many sequels and SNK as a whole made arcade gaming an experience that many gamers remember very fondly. Even the less known titles in this compilation are enjoyable to play, and the total package takes me back a few years. I’d definitely recommend adding SNK Arcade Volume 1 to your Wii library!