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SNK Arcade Classics vol. 1
  PS2Action_VarietyUC  
  opened by paleface at 06:44:15 08/10/08  
  last modified by paleface at 20:51:51 08/05/24  
  paleface [sys=PS2; cat=Action_Variety; reg=NA]
           
This *would* have been a really great collection, except that the emulation of the sixteen included Neo*Geo games is really bad: it looks okay (once you switch off the default stretch-screen video size, anyway) right up until things start moving, and then you realize that the framerate is awful, and it renders most of these action-oriented games pretty unpleasant to play, with control input that feels about a half-second behind. Yuuuuck.
 
SNK's Japanese developers can emulate a Neo*Geo game perfectly, but apparently SNK USA hasn't quite got the hang of it yet.
 
Too bad, too, because I really did want to play some of these (as listed on the back cover):
 
Art of Fighting
Baseball Stars 2
Burning Fight
Fatal Fury
King of the Monsters
Last Resort
Magician Lord
Metal Slug
Neo Turf Masters
Samurai Shodown
Sengoku
Shock Troopers
The King of Fighters 94
Top Hunter
World Heroes
 
  paleface 21:26:31 07/26/24
           
I don't seem to have this collection now; I suppose I probably took it back after I found how badly it played.
 
Think I gotta get it again, the games I looked at just now SEEM to run at normal speed in PCSX2. Huh!
 
  paleface 21:38:58 07/26/24
           
All of these games came out on PS4 for instance in Hamster's ACA NEOGEO line; and the fighting games came out in other PS2 collections. This would free me from the PS4 for Burning Fight, at least, though. ; )
 
  paleface 14:03:24 08/03/24
           
And I have BS2, KotM, MS, NTM, and ST from Humble Bundle. And also BS2 in NEOGEOStation on PS3.
 
But I DON'T have (or could get) currently emulatable versions of Burning Fight, Last Resort, Magician Lord, or Top Hunter (or Sengoku but that's too flashy) from any other source. (ML came out for NEOGEOStation but I didn't buy it before it got delisted.)
 
  paleface 14:44:39 08/03/24
           
There was no Vol. 2. Mobygames credits "Ported by" Terminal Reality, a US developer; they also did Sam Sho Anthology, Metal Slug Anthology, and The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga (I seem to remember this last was set up REALLY poorly, with a horrible menu at least and I think also bad emulation problems; might have the PS4 port? My notes on it are under the JP PS2 Orochi collection--see entry 1048; but that was the first of their NEOGEO compilations; they seem to have improved after that...but still I could swear this SNK Classics one sure did run poorly on actual PS2 hardware).
 
  paleface 12:27:06 08/05/24
           
OOps I left one out of the list:
 
Super Sidekicks 3
 
  paleface 20:32:03 08/05/24
           

 
WARNING: Some of these games have intense flashing effects! 8 o
 
0:00 - start
6:48 - options & features
13:45 - Art of Fighting
21:02 - FLASHING FX!! Baseball Stars 2
31:15 - Burning Fight
38:36 - Fatal Fury
45:08 - King of the Monsters
53:36 - Last Resort
1:04:47 - Magician Lord
1:15:04 - Metal Slug
1:18:08 - Neo Turf Masters
1:28:24 - FLASHING FX!! Samurai Shodown
1:30:37 - FLASHING FX! Sengoku
1:33:24 - Shock Troopers
1:34:39 - Super Sidekicks 3
1:38:32 - FLASHING FX! The King of Fighters '94
1:42:59 - Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
1:48:24 - unlocked art
1:49:55 - wrap!
 
(There never was a vol. 2--but there was a "SNK Arcade Classics 0" with a similar logo, 3 years later--2011--in Japan, for PSP, compiled by SNK Playmore themselves rather than by Terminal Reality, and consisting of SNK games that pre-dated the NEOGEO hardware.)
 
Now that I've got another unopened copy off eBay, ripped it, and am running the iso in PCSX2--it seems to run fine? Metal Slug's control is noticeably slug-ish, but that was about the only problem I encountered; checked the Metal Slug arcade ROM from Humble Bundle in latest MAME and that did NOT have the input delay I experienced in this collection in PCSX2.
 
I specifically wanted this for Burning Fight, so I'm not stuck playing that on PS4, and that game feels pretty much the same here in PCSX2 as it does in the ACA NEOGEO version I just played on PS4. (ALL of these games are available in the ACA NEOGEO series on PS4 etc.)
 
So, cool, I guess. ^ _^
 
One quirk of the emulation is that for sprite scaling FX, when the sprite is scaled out (small), it renders in as high a resolution as your screen allows, rather than at low NEOGEO arcade resolution--so you have these very high-res sprites from time to time here and there, which is a bit jarring.
 
You can remap the controls per game, but the defaults are well chosen, just about where I'd want them for pad play. When you get a game over--also I think at other times during play--it saves a "Checkpoint," from which you can start again later. Nifty!
 
Art of Fighting - have this in other PS2 compilations; flashy shadows : P
Baseball Stars 2 - have arcade ROM from Humble Bundle; screen flashes : P
Burning Fight - yeah baby! : D
Fatal Fury - have in other PS2 compilations; kinda crusty
King of the Monsters - have from Humble Bundle; limited button mashy play : P
Last Resort - Nice backgrounds, otherwise not great : PP
Magician Lord - not great : P
Metal Slug - have ROM from Humble Bundle & Anthology; laggy input here
Neo Turf Masters - have from Humble Bundle, will play in MAME
Samurai Shodown - have in Terminal Reality's Anthology; screen flashes
Sengoku - way too much sprite flashing, dang it!
Shock Troopers - not into gun shooting
Super Sidekicks 3 - can't play these darn games ; D
The King of Fighters '94 - have in other PS2 compilations; screen flashes
Top Hunter - neat graphics, bad controls ; P
World Heroes - didn't get it unlocked; have in other PS2 compilation
 
Just getting the ball over the plate as a pitcher is surprisingly hard in Baseball Stars 2!
 
Jack Turner, that big guy in the bar in Art of Fighting, was a playable character in Art of Fighting 2.
 
So yep, keeping this around for Burning Fight. ^ _^
 
  paleface 20:51:51 08/05/24
           
(In the 00 pic, the initials entry code thingy is from Magician Lord, and the black and white illustration is unlocked in the gallery by Shinkiro of Ryu Saeba of Burning Fight.)
    
downloads:
· 00_games.png
 
references:
· ACA NEOGEO Art of Fighting (PS4)
· ACA NEOGEO Burning Fight (PS4)
· ACA NEOGEO Fatal Fury (PS4)
· ACA NEOGEO Sengoku (PS4)
· ACA NEOGEO Shock Troopers (PS4)
· Baseball Stars 2 (NEO)
· Garou Densetsu Battle Archives 1 (NeoGeo Online Collection v.5) (PS2)
· The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout (PS2)
· King of the Monsters (NEO)
· Metal Slug Anthology (PS2)
· NEOGEO Station The King of Fighters '94 (PS3)
· Neo Turf Masters (NEO)
· Ryuuko no Ken: Ten-Chi-Jin (NeoGeo Online Collection v.4) (PS2)
· Samurai Shodown Anthology (PS2)
· World Heroes Gorgeous (NeoGeo Online Collection v.9) (PS2)

 
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