New to Neo Geo

D_Harris

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2008
Messages
2,518
Reaction score
51
Location
Staten Island, New York
I have three Neo Geo motherboards. Two one-slots and a two-slot. (MV-1, MV-1C, and MV-2F). I'll probably sell them and get a four slot motherboard, but I wanted to ask for game recommendations. (Especially if you are/were an OP who is familiar with what the most popular titles were).

All of my other games are from '79 to '85, so the Neo Geo MVS system is the latest that I own.

I do have Puzzle Bobble, Metal Slug, Metal Slug X, Samurai Showdown II, Fatal fury II, and two Word Heroes II carts. I won't be keeping them all and wanted to settle on two titles, but that from what I can tell would be difficult, so I figure I'll go for four.

So recommendations on what the four best Neo Geo games are would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
If I could choose any 4 to keep in the machine for an extended period of time. All play great in both single and co-op/head-to-head mode.

Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move - Cute, simple and anyone can play it. Great head-to-head.

Metal Slug X - Best of the series IMO as far as levels, power-ups, etc. You have to have a Metal Slug game in an MVS.

Blazing Star - Best shooter on the MVS, hands down.

Nightmare in the Dark - Plays very much like Snow Bros. but a Graveyard/Monster/Halloween type theme. Another great co-op game.
 
Last edited:
Well, there are always the multicarts available. You can have a great deal of the Neo's library in one slot and a select (not available on the multis) in the other.

As for single games, Samurai Shodown II, Metal Slug 3, Pulstar, League Bowling, and King of Fighters 98 are all great.
 
If it were me (if I could ever find a neo geo cab in my area) my 4 slot would be:

-Samurai Shodown 2
-Baseball Stars 2 (Substitute Baseball 2020 if I couldn't find BS2)
-Metal Slug of some sort
-Puzzle Bobble/Bust A Move 2

Basically have a fighter, a shooter, a puzzle game, and whatever else you want and you've got a nice bit of variety.
 
I'm not big on the fighting games... so my list is way different.

Puzzle Bobble/Bust-a-Move
Metal Slug X
Top Hunter
Shock Troopers, 2nd Squad
 
League Bowling

Baseball Stars

Any Metal Slug

Any Samurai Shodown

King of the Monsters



At least, those are what I would go for, in that order.
 
Thanks everyone.

I've been doing some thinking. For the last couple of days KLOV refuses to show all games.(I can't even get Ms. Pac-man to come up). So I went to Google video and took a look, even though I still don't know the all of the specifics regarding the controls.

Since I have Puzzle Bobble I assume that Bust-A-Move would be redundant, but if there was another "chick" game that was different I'd consider adding it.

There doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on which is the best Metal Slug. (But it may be Metal Slug X). Is Metal Slug 1 a must have since it's the first, of should I sell it and get Metal Slug 3?

I'm not into the fighting or sports games, even though Samurai Showdown seems to be highly recommended. And neither are the individuals likely to play at my place. (Do driving games like NEO Drift Out require steering wheels?).

(I assume that for these Neo Geo game four buttons is the maximum).

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
(I assume that for these Neo Geo game four buttons is the maximum).

Yup, 4 buttons. Some games only use 2 or 3 though. There is no steering wheel for MVS.

As far as Metal Slug. They all pretty much play the same, but it just depends on what you prefer as far as weapons, enemies, level design and difficulty. Some say MS1 is too bare. Other says MS3 is over the top. Some say MS2 is just right. But guys like me say MSX is a good balance of the three. It's really personal preference. MS3 and MSX carry more value though.

I'm not a fan of SNK fighters so that's why I didn't say SS. It's a memorable series, but not that great. SSII would be my choice if I were to have it in there. I have it on my machine right now just because.

Bust-A-Move/Puzzle Bobble is a must have because it's like MS where it's an MVS staple. Almost like SMB to the NES. Plus, it appeal to kids and girls. Although repetitive, it's challenging and fun, especially head-to-head.
 
Well, I do have Puzzle Bobble and Samurai II already. (But I'll sell the Samurai Showdown II).

I've red that there is a slow down issue on some of the Metal Slugs and I want to stay away from that. I heard this about MS2 and MS3. (But I'm not sure about MS1, which I have).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
neo geo

try stakes winner- it's a horse racing game- girls like it and it's different-

just another option and not mainstream sports or fighting-
 
I've got a spreadsheet that I did up with types for the various games (shmup, fighter, puzzle, etc). I just took the data from the price list and added game type to it.

You can see it at
https://spreadsheets0.google.com/a/...NuS2NyNXBBRnAtMVZ4YXBVcHc&output=html&ndplr=1

A couple of things:
Metal Slug 1 does (in my opinion) slow down a bit at times. I still find it quite fun, though I haven't tried any of the others.

Bust-A-move is great. Bust-A-Move Again is cool, but doesn't save to the card. I'm still trying to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Puzzled is BRUTALLY hard (at least I found it so). It's kind of Tetris-is and I had trouble getting anywhere in it. Of course, I'm just realizing that's probably in part because my joysticks were shot, making it hard to maneuver (I just replaced them, I'll have to try it again).

I've only played it a couple of times now, but I like Over Top, but I'll warn you that if your joysticks have too much slop it's completely unplayable. That was the game that made me really realize just how bad the sticks on my cab were - it was actually impossible to drive the car with those sticks, and now it works fine (I still suck, but hey that's to be expected!)
 
Is there a reason you need to sell the extra carts you have? Why not just build your cart collection? You don't have to collect them all, but maybe just keep ones you think you or someone else will play.

The awesome thing about the MVS is that it's so versatile. So if you ever get sick of any games, you can always rotate them out. Just because there are four slots, doesn't mean you need to restrict yourself to only four carts.
 
Is there a reason you need to sell the extra carts you have? Why not just build your cart collection? You don't have to collect them all, but maybe just keep ones you think you or someone else will play.

The awesome thing about the MVS is that it's so versatile. So if you ever get sick of any games, you can always rotate them out. Just because there are four slots, doesn't mean you need to restrict yourself to only four carts.

Great advice. I've only got a 2 slot, but I've got 5 carts that I'm fooling with. Especially since my wife doesn't like the kids playing Metal Slug, I have a number of other things to keep everyone happy.
 
If I had to pair down to only 4 Neo Geo games, they would be

Puzzle Bobble - Lets face it, everyone loves this game and its always popular at parties.

Metal Slug X - My personal fav, but as everyone else has said, 1 and 3 are also sweet.

Last Blade 2 - I think this is the best fighter for the Neo Geo, it's more approachable than KOF for non-SNK fighting game friends and it looks amazing.

Blazing Star - Probably the most graphically impressive game on the Neo along with Garou, and a great shooter.

If you prefer street fighter-ish fighters over fantasy sword fighters then I'd sub Garou: Mark of the Wolves for Last Blade 2.
 
I agree with the sentiment about not selling the carts you have. Nothing you have is THAT valuable anyway---the effort probably isn't worth it.

Games to go for is a matter of opinion...but....

Viewpoint
Baseball Stars 2
World Heroes Perfect (Underrated and Best in the Series)
Neo Turf Masters
Magical Drop (2 or 3)
Bust a Move
ANY of the Fatal Fury games
ANY Metal Slug You can Get
Stakes Winner (They're worth what they cost (about 10 bucks or so) and are a hoot for a short time).
Street Hoops (ENDLESS FUN)

Avoid/Overrated

King of Fighters Series
Sam Sho (I just don't like it)
Aero Fighters (I want to like them...but they're Kinda dull.)

Best part of Neo-geo is that there a few really bad games. There are a couple that haven't aged well or are mediocre, or aren't the best in the series, but I can think of very few bad Neo-Geo games.
 
I don't think I was understood.

I'm a classic gamer who has nearly 100 PCBs of games from between '79 and '85, so I'm not thinking of starting a NEO GEO collection.

I picked up the NEO GEO not for myself, but to have added options for the other players I know, who are also classic gamers. So I figure a 4-slot with four games, that I don't intend to have to rotate out, would satisfy the occasional need for something different would work. (I read there were too many issues with the 6-slot).

Again, no one I personally know is into the fighting or sports games. (And the puzzle games appear to be very similar to each other).

I'm not trying to sell the carts because they are "valuable", but because I don't really want carts around that I don't intend to use. Puzzle Bobble, MS1, and MS X, are the only games I intentionally picked up. The other carts just came with the motherboards I bought.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
Back
Top Bottom