The post bankruptcy Neo Geo lineup, what are your picks?

Digmac

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The post by HMG got me thinking, 1995 was a great year of releases for the Neo, but what about the dark days after KOF 2000? Even though there were still releases, things were a bit different without the original SNK in control. What's your favorites out of the post Aruze lineup, if any?

Nightmare in the Dark
Zupapa!
Sengoku 3
King of Fighters 2001
Metal Slug 4
Rage of the Dragons
King of Fighters 2002
Matrimelee
SVC Chaos
Samurai Shodown 5
Metal Slug 5
King of Fighters 2003
Pochi & Nyaa
Samurai Shodown V Special

For me, my true favorite is Samurai Shodown V Special, which is my favorite fighting game actually. That, followed by Pochi & Nyaa and Zupapa!.
 
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cr8zykuban0

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my top 3 favorite out of this list would have to be also samurai shodown 5 special, king of fighters 2002 and sengoku 3
 

yagamikun

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Yesh - Ummmm, Sengoku 3 and KOF 2K2 I guess? :) Metal Slug 5 was okay too.
 

Late

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KoF '02, I never even bothered with SS5/Special, always had a kind of Mugen feel about it.
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

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Though I definitely felt like something was lost/missing at the time these were released, I still enjoyed the majority of those titles. If I had to go with one pick, my choice is definitely:

SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos

It felt like a chapter was finally closed. Capcom characters drawn in SNK’s signature sprite style was a long time coming. The gameplay didn’t feature kof rolling as I’d expected, but the lineup and gameplay was unique and set it apart from capcom’s CvS releases for better or for worst.
 

yagamikun

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KoF '02, I never even bothered with SS5/Special, always had a kind of Mugen feel about it.

Thank you. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's always felt that way! :D
 

roker

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I dunno, I loved the shittiness of KOF 2k1. It played good enough and had some interesting additions. Kind of reminded me of that time Tom & Jerry got outsourced to a Soviet country (Czechoslovakia) and it became a weird bizarre version of the cartoon that was never meant to exist. That's how I feel about 2k1.

Samurai Showdown V Special's fatalities were pretty cool too.

Fuck SVC Chaos.

edit: Matrimelee gets a shoutout for the music.
 

oliverclaude

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Nightmare in the Dark, great ost and atmosphere, good game.
Matrimelee has that craziness other games promised but never delivered.
Metal Slug 5, I like it more than 3, but it's subjective.
Samurai Spirits V Special, despite its flaws and unevenness, it's still an atmospheric versus fighter with some brilliant moments.
 

GohanX

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KOF 02 is probably the best game on the list, but I'd go with Rage of the Dragons as the favorite. It and Matrimelee get extra credit for not being extremely derivative of earlier Neo titles.
 

redfield0009

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Looking at the list apparently most of my AES collection consists of games in this category. My vote goes to Metal Slug 5. I've always been a huge Metal Slug fan and 5 had most of the SNK team back. My only complaint is that the game was unfinished and rushed out the door. That end boss transition is pretty jarring and more elements like the turtle boss would have been nice. Sliding is cool but it's not really needed.

It's a fun game and a hell of lot better than 4. It's my white whale. Hopefully one day I'll own an English copy for the AES.
 
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daskrabs

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Favorite is Nightmare in the Dark, but KoF 2K3, RotD, Matrimelee, and SVC are all great in some degree.
 

wataru330

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Zupapa, 02, and special shout out to KoF XI (not neo, I know-that’s why it’s special mention). ^_^
 

Massive Urethra Chode

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I love KOF 2002, but does anyone else find the background graphics to be lacking in some way? They look a bit cheap when compared to the likes of ‘98, for example.
 

redfield0009

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I love KOF 2002, but does anyone else find the background graphics to be lacking in some way? They look a bit cheap when compared to the likes of ‘98, for example.

The backgrounds in 02 are the worst in the series IMO. I wish the the series carried over the stage intros from 94.
 

Digmac

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I love KOF 2002, but does anyone else find the background graphics to be lacking in some way? They look a bit cheap when compared to the likes of ‘98, for example.

I don’t think it’s just KOF 2002 actually. I think a lot of the outsourced games took a hit visually. Samurai Shodown V and V Special have some weak background work as well, and Eolith made all of the KOF characters look like animal/human hybrids
 

Neo Alec

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I love KOF 2002, but does anyone else find the background graphics to be lacking in some way? They look a bit cheap when compared to the likes of ‘98, for example.
The whole discussion's been had many times before. 2002 plays well, but beginning with 2001 the presentation took a serious hit. It only started to come back in 2003 but never got there.
 

2D_mastur

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Probably 2002 and SVC Chaos.

People will shit on SVC all day, but it is the only time we will ever see Capcom characters on the Neo and that novelty alone is worth owning the game.
 

HeavyMachineGoob

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I like a lot of the post-bankruptcy lineup actually. My favourites being:

Nightmare in the Dark
Metal Slug 4
KOF 2002
Matrimelee
SVC Chaos
KOF 2003

I'd like to spend some more time with Sengoku 3, see if it really is as vapid as people say it is. I've tried to like Metal Slug 5, the horrible soundtrack ruins the experience for me.
 

Atro

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I like a lot of the post-bankruptcy lineup actually. My favourites being:
I've tried to like Metal Slug 5, the horrible soundtrack ruins the experience for me.

Hard to believe you like MS4 instead of 5 then!

The only good thing that game brought to my attention was the Double Machine Gun. While not MS3 quality, the OST for MS5 kicks man!
 

Dr. Meat

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Other than Sengoku 3, they're all pretty solid titles from good to great in my opinion.
 

2D_mastur

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Hard to believe you like MS4 instead of 5 then!

The only good thing that game brought to my attention was the Double Machine Gun. While not MS3 quality, the OST for MS5 kicks man!

I love MS5 too, the music is pretty bad-ass, kinda metal guitar riffs. The demon you face at the end is great too.
 
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fake

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RotG and Sengoku 3 just have that post-bankruptcy aesthetic. I have a small but mighty MVS collection, and both of those are in it.
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

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RotG and Sengoku 3 just have that post-bankruptcy aesthetic. I have a small but mighty MVS collection, and both of those are in it.

I think I know what you mean, but out of the post bankruptcy titles, Eolith, Yuki Enterprise, Mega Enterprise, etc all ended up mostly reusing older assets. I can appreciate that Noise Factory forged ahead and came up with their own visual style for Sengoku 3, Rage of the Dragons, and Matrimelee.

Though with that said, I still loved that SNK Playmore went back and drew the capcom characters in the “classic” SNK sprite style for SVC Chaos.
 
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