What Happened To All The Non-Fighting Games?

In the early days of the Neo Geo there were a ton of different genres, but now all the games are fighters (with the exception of the Metal Slug series). Am I the only one who liked those odd ball games like Spin Master, Zupapa, and Top Hunter? Why no new shooters? Pulstar, Alpha Mission II, Andro Dunos, and View Point are not enough! Hell I'd even like a new sports title (I love the 'simplfied' style of Neo sports games).

AAAAARRRGGGGHHHH!

Tempest

Well, games like Pulstar, Blazing Star, Aero Fighters, Zupapa!, Andro Dunos, and so on aren't developed by SNK. I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not, but it is a possibility. I sure as hell wouldn't mind a new shooter that doesn't involve slugs.

<a href="http://www.gamespy.com/top10/march03/genres/" target="_blank">http://www.gamespy.com/top10/march03/genres/</a>

So sad, those are some of my favorite genres (well except for VR, Educational, and FMV).

Tempest

So agree!

I was an SNK fan before there was NeoGeo, back when they made weird stuff like Psycho Soldier. Really creative and wacky designs, like the early stuff on the NeoGeo. Lotsa variety and creativity.

Then Street Fighter II happened. And every company wanted to become a fighting game company.

Sure, we all like good fighting games, they're fun and have long lasting appeal. But other genres are fun too. I guess we need to just be glad Metal Slug still exists.

What's weird is that you'd think Metal Slug's success would warrant a little more experimentation into the side scrolling genre on the NeoGeo. Metal Slug does prove there's interest in 2D platform/sidescroll games - as long as they're very well made.