SNK (formerly known as SNK Playmore before the recent rebranding) just announced the PC version of The King of Fighters XIV on Steam. The release is scheduled for June 15th 2017. PC players who waited for a port with full controller-support, netplay and local VS mode can now look forward to this.
(The trailer screams for Billy Mays though, doesn't it?)
Simultaneously with the regular version SNK will also release a separate Deluxe Pack version which includes the digital soundtrack, artbook and the previous DLC characters and costumes.
Interview with former Samurai Shodown development members
Polygon recently released an interview with three members of the original Samurai Shodown development team, Samurai Gumi. Since interviews or public discussions with former SNK employees are quite rare (also due to the back then typical anonymization of Japanese development staff), the following excerpt gives us a good insight into the minds of the creators behind Haohmaru & Co.
Credit for this brilliant interview goes to James Mielke of Polygon. At this point it's also worth mentioning that a few weeks ago another interview popped up with Keisuke Nishikawa who worked on the Real Bout Fatal Fury series. You will find the links below:
Worries aside, fellow Neo Geoians. We still have some related games to cover in our monthly GOTMs. This month we're dusting our PS2 or Atomiswave board to take a look at one of SNK Playmore finest games after the downfall of the original SNK team. We wind back to 2005, to an era where the PS2 was flourishing and the Neo Geo already was officially buried - but definitely not SNK's legendary franchises like KOF.
With King of Fighters XI SNKP continued the success story that they already carried on with KoF 2003. This one still has the fast tag system, new gameplay mechanics and characters from Garou and other SNK franchises. What are your guys' thoughts about the eleventh game? Does it do justice to the franchise's epic legacy? Or was it an effortless cash-in?... Let's find out here:
The King of Fighters XI Thread High Score Challenge (upon request, please contact Merlin or Priest in case)
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure review added
A review of Neo Geo Pocket Color game Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure has now been added to NGFL review section. Thank you Sensi for writing the review.
If anyone else would like to write reviews for the site please contact me. The review format is completely up to the reviewer and you can add extra screenshots too if you want.
Huh? It's already been more than a month? Yup, and it's about time for another actual Neo Geo title for this GOTM. With Neo XYX the probably most succesful indie / homebrew developer for the system NGDEV broke out in a slightly new direction. This time they followed the footsteps of the cult-studio Toaplan and paid a homage to the golden years of vertical shoot 'em ups.
What's your view on this homebrew title? Does it do justice to a fully-licensed vertical Shmup from the 90's or is it rather a bland effort to remind us of the better days? You be the judge in this month's thread. Expect lots of pewpew.
Neo XYX Thread High Score Challenge (upon request, please contact Merlin or Priest in case)
In The Hunt - Game of the Month
What? A Game of the Month that has nothing directly to do with SNK or our Neo Geo? Blasphemy! Although, I advise you sceptics to hold your horses - in fact In The Hunt by Irem is strongly related to one of our favorite franchises on the Neo Geo. Experience a first class horizontal Shmup full of pixelated details, crazy bosses and screen-filling explosions!
Find out in our monthly GOTM thread why this game has some strong links to SNK - if you never played this game you would be surprised how familiar In The Hunt looks and plays like. And speaking of playing - why not bringing our traditional High Score Challenge back to life?...
In The Hunt Thread High Score Challenge (upon request, please contact Merlin or Priest in case)
Rockman: Battle & Fighters - Game of the Month
Who doesn't know that blue robot guy from SNK's biggest rival Capcom (at least they were back in the 90's)? Of course we're talking of Mega Man, better known as Rockman in Japan. While the Neo Geo AES/MVS wasn't that popular for having a third-party dev support, its smaller brother the Neo Geo Pocket definitely was. In fact Rockman Battle & Fighters was pretty one of the very titles few that Capcom directly developed for SNK's handheld console.
How do you like this one? Are you guys rather disappointed or delighted by this arena fighting game? Since it never came out of Japan, not too many western NGPC owners got their hands on it. Please discuss this and more in our monthly GOTM thread - and note that the game also has a regular score system. *wink wink*
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