PixlBit

Yeah I don't know what it was, but it seems like SNK had a big distribution center or something near Dallas, TX, because their games were always a big staple in arcades.  Even before the NEO GEO, I remember lots of arcades having all the Ikari Warriors games, Guerilla War, Prehistoric Isle, Time Soldier, P.O.W., and many more.  And then once the NEO GEO arcade cabinets came out, they were EVERYWHERE!  Even the local video rental places had a few!  I even saw dedicated cabinets for Bust-A-Move and all the Metal Slug titles.  And in college, one of the arcades on campus had nearly every SNK arcade game ever made, with a whole row of all the Metal Slug games and even Samurai Shodown 64!  I think the arcade owner must've been an SNK fan.  And back when they were selling the home NEO GEO system, I saw those a lot in stores, too, as well as the games.  Nobody ever bought them, because they were so expensive, but they were there.

Another thing that's interesting is that ever since I've been reviewing games, SNK has gone through a LOT of changes since then.  But no matter what, I've always been in good standing with their PR dept., whether it be internal or external.  So I've always been able to review MOST of their new games!  I really don't even try hard to contact them either.  SNK just seems to follow me. I've also had a great time when they had booths at E3.  One year a famous SNK character designer was there, and I got to talk with him and he gave me a Fatal Fury hat and signed a poster of Mai Shiranui for me (not one of my favorite SNK characters, but I'll take it).  And another year when they were showing off the NEO GEO Pocket Color, I played SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash with the devs and we traded cards and such for a good hour!  

Just remember that these aren't ALL the games on this mini system.  I'll go over the rest of the games in psrt 2 of this blog when I post it in about a week.

If you want to see a version of this blog with pictures, click on the link below.  I was just too lazy to post pictures here, too.

http://www.gamerdad.com/blog/2021/07/09/summer-of-snk-part-1/

I think Locke's Quest was originally a DS game.  I know one of the guys who helped make it, too.  Never played it myself, though.

I reviewed one of the Romancing SaGa remakes a while back.  Not sure if it was 2 or 3.  I wasn't impressed with it, though.  When I was a teen and big into Square's 16-bit RPGs, I'd always get mad when I found out one was never released here.  But I guess sometimes it was for a good reason.

I only downloaded Capcom Arcade Cabinet to have a free version of 1943 to play, since it's one of my all time favorite shooters to this day.  I don't like how they nickel and dime you with the other titles, though.  Used to, you could get ALL these games on one collection.

I have a lot more respect for Donkey Kong now, but as a kid, I didn't like it as much.  It was just too hard for my little kid head to wrap around.  Games like Pac-Man just were more appealing to me.  I guess when the Famicom version of Donkey Kong came out, it must've been pretty impressive, especially since that system was originally designed to play a near perfect version of Donkey Kong.  But by the time it came to the US, it wasn't so impressive especially since it was missing a level.  Did you know that 'Donkey Kong' was one of my little brother Jeff's very first words?  Although that has more to do with Donkey Kong Country.

One thing I liked about the 360 is the variety of games it had.  Even RPGs.  I have Blue Dragon, but never beat it.  Today's RPGs are just too long and meandering.

I imported the PSP Salamander collection, so that's how I played it.

There are some Salamander callbacks in other games, too.  Have you played Gradius V?  The first level is filled with Zelos hearts of varying sizes!  And there's a Konami arcade fighting game where you play as a bunch of Power Ranger-like super heroes.  I think it was called Monster Maulers.  Never played it myself, I just saw YouTube videos of it.  Anyway, one of the things you fight is an Easter Island head from Gradius, and another is the brain with one eye and arms from Salamander!  They even play the same song as you fight it!

Injustice is the fighting game with DC Comic characters, right?  Yeah I don't know anyone in that game I would pick either.  Unless they had Power Girl, and the only reason why I like her is that her name is easy to remember and she looks strong.

I reveiwed a Sakura Wars game back on the Wii.  I couldn't get into it, but that doesn't mean it was a bad game.  Very high production values anyway.  I just don't like tactical RPGs and I got tired of having to talk to everyone all the time in between battles.  There was one character I thought was kind of neat, though.  She was a cowgirl from Texas and in the game she tries to move her horse into her apartment.  I thought that was funny.  I think her name was Gemini Sunrise or something like that, if you care.  Are there any neat characters in the new Sakura Wars game you think I'd like?

I've always been curious about the Master Blaster Zero games, but since I never got into the one on the NES, I haven't tried the new ones yet.

Make sure to read my new blog on my best games of 2021 so far!

Game Freak also made a cool downloadable game on the 3DS called Pocket Card Jockey that combined horse racing with solitaire!  It was a lot of fun and addictive.  Some of the horses' names made reference to Pokemon, like "Volt Tackle" and "Bulba Soarer."

I rented this a couple of times and played it with my friend and really enjoyed it.

Later we saw the arcade version at Six Flags and were excited to play it.

Have you ever played Salamander 2?  You chase the brain boss in the first level and when you think you're going to fight it again, a giant mouth comes and eats it and you must fight that instead!