10 Greatest Neo Geo Video Games

Most video gamers my age have either owned or played a friends NES, SNES, Genesis, Playstation, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox, Wii, Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. However, another good console of the past that did not have as many gamers was the Neo Geo. The Neo Geo was not as popular as the other consoles at the time but there were some good video games that came from the Neo Geo.

10) Neo Bomberman
The Bomberman series is probably known best on the Nintendo but the series has been on many consoles. There were two Bomberman games on the Neo Geo, Neo Bomberman and Panic Bomber. Both were enjoyable puzzle games but Neo Bomberman was the preferred version because it retained Bomberman's traditional top-down gameplay.

9) Viewpoint
Viewpoint is a sub-genre of the shooter called an isometric shooter. Viewpoint was an arcade game in 1992 and allowed players to control ships and do the usual shooting and bombing of enemies. In 1992 Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded Viewpoint with both the Best Graphics Award and the Best Music Award in the cartridge game category.

8) SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos
SNK vs. Capcom may not excite as many players as Marvel vs. Capcom but the games were still a lot of fun. The SNK featured characters from King of Fighters, Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and Samurai Showdown while the Capcom side was made up mostly of Street Fighter characters.

7) Crossed Swords
Crossed Swords is an action RPG with a fantasy setting. Crossed Swords was a good combination of action and RPG and allowed players to enjoy the RPG genre without the difficulty of most RPG games.

6) Shock Troopers
Shock Troopers is a shoot em up arcade game with a war setting. Characters walked on foot and had a gun as well as the ability to throw grenades. Shock Troopers is similar to a game like Commando on the NES but it has better graphics since it was later than the NES.

5) Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Garou: Mark of Wolves was the ninth and final game in the Fatal Fury series. Mark of Wolves was released late in the Neo Geo's run and early in the Dreamcast era so it really pushed the graphics capabilities of the time. Fatal Fury never got as much attention as the Street Fighter games but for Neo Geo fans the Fatal Fury is a classic franchise.

4) Blazing Star
Blazing Star was a scrolling shooter that was released for the Neo Geo. Blazing Star and its predecessor Pulstar were similar to the R-Type franchise. Blazing Star was criticized for being a pretty easy game but made up for it with really good graphics at the time. Blazing Star used pseudo-prerendered sprites and CGI cutscenes.

3) Sengoku 3
Sengoku is a series of video games that was released on the Neo Geo console although the third game is very different from the first game. The third game was a about a clan of ninjas that tried to stop an outbreak of Japanese demons.

2) Metal Slug 3
Metal Slug is a very popular series of run and gun video games for the Neo Geo. SNK was going bankrupt when Metal Slug 3 was being made so they went all out figuring it was the last Metal Slug game. In Metal Slug 3 characters could take different forms depending on the situation including a mummy form and a zombie form.

1) King of Fighters 2001
King of Fighters is the eighth installment of the very popular King of Fighters series. King of Fighters is much like Fatal Fury, not the notoriety as Street Fighter but plenty of diehard fans that loved the series. One difference between King of Fighters and other games is that in King of Fighters players can actually make a team of four players and switch out the characters during battle.