Written by: Mark

 

 

 

It appears that retro gaming is making a comeback thanks in no small part to the success of Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and Nintendo Virtual Console which has seen classic games from a variety of systems prove to be successful. Due to this many companies have released compilation discs and the latest of which is "SNK arcade classics Vol.1" for the Nintendo Wii.

 

Questions are sometimes asked as to whether these compilations can stand up to the quality of next gen gaming but one thing is certain is how much value for money these compilations usually prove to be.

 

In this review I take a look at the aforementioned SNK arcade classics Vol.1 on the Nintendo Wii and see if the game offers enough variety and fun to warrant a purchase.

 

 

SNK may not be the most identifiable games company to many gamers, however there is no doubt that throughout their history they released a number of classic games such as the Metal Slug series, Fatal Fury and the Samurai Shodown franchise.

 

 

Quite often games such as these and many more could be found in video arcades everywhere on the kind of arcade cabinets which allowed the player to select from a number of titles on the one machine and it was due to this that the games were readily available thanks to the variety on offer. In addition what proved unique was that the arcade cabinets had a card slot which allowed you to save data which could then be transferred to your home Neo Geo system if you were lucky enough to own one of these expensive consoles or vice versa.

 

 

Upon receiving this game the first noticeable thing was that the package featured sixteen titles most of which are also available on the Virtual Console service for 900 points each. Obviously this means that the game will offer excellent value for money but does beg the question as to why the game was released in the first place as the games are readily available elsewhere and surely the downloads would make more money for the developers. Also with the game being advertised as volume 1 does suggest that further SNK titles will be released as another compilation in the near future which should be enough of a reason to save those Wii points in anticipation of what may be released next.

 

 

The game is being advertised as containing, and I quote ‘16 classics on one disc!’ and there is no denying that there are some great games in the package and many which I would suggest were popular games rather than classics when they were originally released in the 1990’s.

 

The full list of game are as follows:

 

 

 

Upon their initial release in the arcades and on the Neo Geo system the SNK games were always recognised as often providing superior graphics to other games available at the time. Although remembering the majority of these titles first time around I always recall some of them lacking in gameplay.

 

 

This however did not apply to all games by the developer as the fighting games often had differences to other 2d fighting of the era such as Street Fighter 2 & Mortal Kombat in that the SNK games allowed inclusions of weapons and interaction with scenery and backgrounds which led to these being more technical. Due to this I was looking forward once again to reliving my youth with the chance to re-visit some of these titles thanks to this game but I am sad to say that although there are still some good things in the games the most have not stood the test of time as well as other games of the era such as those on the Super Nintendo and Sega systems as well as the aforementioned Street Fighter 2.