SNK Minis coming soon

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SNK Minis coming soon

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Started 1 year ago by onmode-ky
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onmode-ky
Member

The most recent PS+ post on the PS Blog reveals several SNK arcade games will be releasing as Minis soon. Here's what's coming, July 19th:

Guerilla War*
Athena*
HAL 21*
Ikari Warriors*
Marvin's Maze*
Sasuke vs. Commander*
Ozma Wars
Vanguard

The 6 titles with asterisks are games that were part of the recent, Japan/Asia-only SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 0. With 6 of the collection's 20 games being released as standalone Minis, I guess we aren't likely going to see Vol. 0 itself getting a release in the West. Of the 2 no-asterisk games, Ozma Wars is SNK's first game (and its Wikipedia entry also notes it's the first video game with disparate levels, as well as the first to use a life bar mechanic), and Vanguard is one of the first scrolling shooters (it scrolled both vertically and horizontally).

The same Store update will add 2 SNK NeoGeo titles, Baseball Stars 2 and KoF '95, presumably to the NeoGeo sections of the Store--however, the blog post only notes what looks like a PS3 price, so I can't tell if the titles are coming to the NeoGeo section for the PSP.

The SNK Minis will normally be priced at $3 each, but PS+ subscribers (such as those of us who activated our free 30 days late in the availability period!) will get Guerilla Wars as a subscription-time freebie and all the other titles at 20% off, a savings of 60 cents each.

I'm already backlogged even just on Minis, but thanks to the PS+ discount bit, I think I'll be jumping on the shoot'em-ups in the set: Ozma Wars, HAL 21, Sasuke vs. Commander, and Vanguard. Maybe I'll get Athena, too.

Posted 1 year ago #
JeremyR
Member

My long wait for Vanguard is finally almost over!

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

Saw that one coming from miles away. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
pspgamer01
Member

is vaguard a hard game. Or is it more like a game where you have to invest a lot of time to memorize the levels and be able to proceed further in the game??

Posted 1 year ago #
JeremyR
Member

The thing is, most of my experience with Vanguard is with the Atari 2600 version. I remember playing it in the arcade, but that was like 30 years ago. And uh, I can't remember a lot of things from college, much less way back in elementary school.

But it wasn't crazy hard. And the nice thing was that you could continue by adding another quarter.

I'm also hopeful that it will have save states, you know, where you can simply save a place in the game, then come back to it later. That way you can just keep saving until you die. Then start over from there.

Posted 1 year ago #
pspgamer01
Member

but you need to hold your psp like the controls in the arcade to play it properly right. cuz with the psp buttons it's difficult to hold 3 buttons at the same time.

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

but you need to hold your psp like the controls in the arcade to play it properly right. cuz with the psp buttons it's difficult to hold 3 buttons at the same time.

I'm not sure what you mean. This is what the Vanguard arcade cabinet's control panel looks like:

You don't need to press 3 buttons at the same time, though I suppose you could. It would be awkward on both this control panel and on the PSP, though.

Posted 1 year ago #
pspgamer01
Member

well nevermind than.

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

Out of curiosity, were you thinking of a different game with a similar name?

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

The same Store update will add 2 SNK NeoGeo titles, Baseball Stars 2 and KoF '95, presumably to the NeoGeo sections of the Store--however, the blog post only notes what looks like a PS3 price, so I can't tell if the titles are coming to the NeoGeo section for the PSP.

I just found a trailer uploaded today to the Asia PS Store indicating that these games are part of a slightly larger influx of new titles into the NEOGEO Station (so they should be for both PS3 and PSP). The other 4 games will be Metal Slug 2, World Heroes, KoF '96, and Shock Troopers. It's strange seeing a trailer with ESRB rating info at the beginning hit the Asia PS Store before it appears anywhere else (haven't even found it on the Web).

I wonder if this also means that more SNK pre-NeoGeo games will be releasing as Minis after next week's initial batch, perhaps more from SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 0.

Posted 1 year ago #
JeremyR
Member

The G1M2 guy said on their Facebook page that more are on their way...though he just said titles they've developed, so it could be another Ancient Game Treasures: _____ game, I suppose.

Anyway, Vanguard is even more awesome than I remembered. Little rusty, it took me three continues to get to the boss (where I died immediately).

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

JeremyR, can you ask G1M2 to clarify if they meant more SNK Minis?

I got Vanguard, HAL 21, Ozma Wars, and Sasuke vs. Commander. Go, temporary PS+ subscription (it's saved me over $10 already!)! Of these games, I've so far played all but HAL 21, and I'm pleasantly surprised by all of them.

Ozma Wars, being so early, I thought it would be sort of like Space Invaders in its simplicity, but Ozma has different kinds of enemy waves, with different forms of attack. At the farthest point I reached in the game, admittedly not that far, I had not yet seen any repeat wave. My complaint about the game, though, is that it seems to randomly speed up and slow down. Presumably, this is how the original actually played, but I don't know if it played that way by design or by hardware limitation. . . . Ozma was the only game of the bunch I got which had a (single-page) manual. I played this until I hit 10,000 points.

I also played Sasuke vs. Commander until I hit 10,000 points. The basic gameplay is fairly standard, as it's sort of like Galaxian or Satan's Hollow, with moving enemies that try to get you, but the boss fights are actually rather different. You have a time limit within which to beat the boss, wherein the amount of time left results in (mucho) bonus points. The two bosses I beat had very different forms of attack, such that I'm really quite curious how subsequent bosses attack.

Vanguard plays very well, and I'm not just saying that because I fear JeremyR's vengeful wrath. I'd only played it a few times once several years ago (MAME), back when this press release for a later-canceled product was announced (if it had been released, I could see JeremyR buying more than one). So, I had to continue a bunch of times to reach the boss, where I suddenly died. On my second try, I did better and somehow beat the boss upon arrival--not sure what happened, really. My score topped out at 33,800. The game has very varied level and enemy designs, much more so than Konami's Scramble, another very early scrolling shooter. Incidentally, the music in the original that was used without permission? It's still there in this. :)

When these games get reviewed, I hope the reviewer makes use of the savestate capability and gets decently far into the games. :D The interface also allows for controls customization (curiously, they don't all use the same button for default coin insert) and editing game settings.

Oh, I also played the PS+ freebie Guerrilla War to the end (infinite continues--which I really needed even to reach the first boss). Not my cup of tea, but an interesting thing about it was that the "stretch mode" for the display (all these games have it, allowing you to make the game fit the PSP screen height while retaining the aspect ratio) actually resulted in showing more of the screen than the normal mode; in normal mode, you're not able to see your score.

Posted 1 year ago #
G1M2
Member

Thank you for the kind words about the work we have been doing on the Minis. It has not been announced, but there will be more Minis coming. I cannot mention specific titles, but we expect that you will be very happy (and no, we are not thinking that you are desperately waiting for the next Ancient Game Treasures title - although we are willing to take requests).

I would recommend continuing to watch the ESRB website - as this seems to be the place where the first "official" announcement comes out...

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

G1M2, maybe you can answer this one: do you have any Minis releasing next week?

I played more Ozma Wars and Sasuke vs. Commander, this time using the savestate functionality to get as far as possible. With Ozma, I got to just before the 4th docking, around 26,800 points, but it was essentially impossible to avoid getting hit by the enemy that then appeared. After each docking, the waves do more or less repeat, incidentally. With Sasuke, I think I got past the 8th boss, around 56,800 points, before throwing in the towel. There really is some interesting variety to the boss fights. One of the forms relies more on luck than skill, though.

I've also tried out HAL 21 now, and it's probably the least interesting of the four I got. There is nothing really wrong with it, but it seems to play like a slightly easier version of Xevious, and that's all. It does have a temporary super gun you can get if you collect 5 'E' items, but that's the only mechanic that's any different from Xevious. Also, I can't figure out how you're supposed to actually kill any of the bosses. They've all just seemingly disassembled themselves after I've fought with them for a bit; is that me actually winning or not? If not, can the bosses only be killed when you have 2 players (which would be never, with these Minis versions)? And, lastly, does the game have an end? I kept continuing and continuing, and what looked like unfamiliar terrain kept scrolling down . . . so where does it end, or has it been looping (like Xevious) without me noticing?

Posted 1 year ago #
JeremyR
Member

Eek, I hope they don't have any more releasing next week. We're going to have a backlog as it is...

You really weren't kidding -HAL 21 really is like Xevious. Ikari Warriors is really a lot like Taito's Front Line (only Viet Name instead of WW2). And while I wouldn't say they are alike, if you squint, Sasuke looks like Satan's Hollow.

None of them are bad, but it's like going to a concert full of cover bands...

Posted 1 year ago #
JeremyR
Member

Ack, now that I've played it more, Sasuke is a lot like Satan's Hollow. Doesn't have that bridge building aspect, but the boss fights are just like it. Since this came first, I guess it must have inspired it?

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

HAL 21 does have very different enemy behaviors from Xevious, as well as a greater tendency to send them in droves, but it really does feel a lot like a 2-player (originally) version of Namco's game.

Ikari Warriors (not that I've played it, only seen footage) reminded me more of Capcom's Commando than Front Line, but I have admittedly played very little of Front Line.

It's been a while since I last played Satan's Hollow (it's in my Midway Arcade Treasures and the multicab), so I, uh, don't remember the boss fights. How similar are they? I think I encountered at least 4 different boss fight types during my savestate-backed run of Sasuke.

Posted 1 year ago #
G1M2
Member

@onmode-ky: We do have more Minis coming out - but they will not be in the next few weeks. The publisher controls the release timing - and they want to release the titles in groups. For the Data East games and Ancient Game Treasures: Mill, we were the publisher, so we decided when to release them. SNK is the publisher of the classic SNK Minis.

It is funny how everyone has their personal favorite games. Ikari was my favorite SNK classic arcade game from back in the day, but I am really enjoying Marvin's Maze...

Posted 1 year ago #
JeremyR
Member

Front Line was one of my favorite games on the Colecovision. I guess was pretty much the first game like Commando, predating it by several years, so I always think of games like that as Front Line clones, not Commando. Or Rambo games.

Plays exactly the same, you have a little soldier, move him vertically to the top of the screen, rotate his gun with a dial (or two different buttons in case of console ports) another for grenades. And then after so far in the game, you get in a little tank, like Ikari Warriors (haven't played Commando much).

The Colecovision version of Front Line used the Super controllers, so they played really well. You sort of held it like a gun, and could press 4 different buttons with one hand like triggers, while controlling the joystick on top with the other.

And in Satan's Hollow, the boss was a big devil head and did figure 8 patterns on the screen, shooting a stream of fire that splashed at you. The first boss in Sasuke sort of reminded me of it, anyway.

Posted 1 year ago #
O
Member

I'm having a hard time figuring out the menu controls in Vanguard. Sometimes I end up starting a 2 player game, not sure how or why. I know it has something to do with the left shoulder button. Also, what are the coins for?

I'm not a fan of SHMUPs, but since Vanguard is such an iconic game among the older crowd, I decided to give it a try.

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

For Vanguard, the L button is (in the default config) the coin insert button, and the R button is the 2-Player Start button (for when you have 2 or more coin credits available). If you're asking what the "COIN" text in the upper left corner of the screen means, that's the count of coin credits that are currently in the machine. That is, you can use the 2-Player Start button when that number is greater than or equal to 2.

I don't know if you can pilot a tank in Commando. The best I've ever done in that game was the beginning of the third stage, and I don't recall having a tank available by then. However, I guess Ikari Warriors is still more like Front Line, considering Commando has you only firing in the direction of movement.

Soooo . . . no one out there can answer my earlier questions about HAL 21? G1M2, maybe?

Posted 1 year ago #
ChaosRandom
Member

I'm wanting to grab one of these, but dont know which one. Ofaliss? Options?

Posted 1 year ago #
O
Member

I honestly don't know bud. Sorry. I'm not an old school gamer, I only got Vanguard just to say I played an iconic game and I can live without that to be honest. It's ok, but it won't be on my PSP for much longer. I've already beaten the high score and in classic arcade cabinet style, I left ASS as the player name, so I've had my fun!

onmode-ky and Jeremy are your best sources for old school games.

Posted 1 year ago #
ChaosRandom
Member

Yea, I like the old school, but I may pass on these. Good thing I'm not one of those guys where the money burns a hole in my PSN wallet.

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

Probably the best way to decide which of these is for you is to search YouTube for gameplay videos. Being early arcade games, they all have their gameplay up front, so you won't even have to watch any of them for a while to make your decision. For quick reference, though:

Guerrilla War - top-down run-n-gun
Athena - platformer
HAL 21 - vertically scrolling shooter, a lot like Xevious
Ikari Warriors - top-down run-n-gun
Marvin's Maze - maze game (i.e., descended from Pac-Man)
Sasuke vs. Commander - vertical single-screen shooter
Ozma Wars - vertical single-screen shooter
Vanguard - side- and vertically scrolling shooter, in a sense like Salamander/Life Force (which came later)

Posted 1 year ago #
ChaosRandom
Member

Oh my!!! I loved Life Force. Up up, down down, left right.....awww forget it, you know the rest.

Posted 1 year ago #
Sniper D. Luffy
Member

they had a review for Ozma Wars already, maybe i'll wait for the reviews and decide then.

Posted 1 year ago #
ChaosRandom
Member

Not a bad idea, but if I get one, I think I'm leaning toward Vanguard.

Posted 1 year ago #
onmode-ky
Member

The next barrage of SNK Minis may be around the corner. I say this because the first batch coincided with the arrival of two more NeoGeo Station games, and it looks like we're about to get another NeoGeo pair next week; the Asia PS Store just got World Heroes and Shock Troopers today. Let's hope JeremyR's had enough rest. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Sniper D. Luffy
Member

I kinda hope they have some Neo Geo pocket games toom like say Last blade or Metal slug or other fun games like those. I'd buy it, after reviews to get a better idea of course.

Posted 1 year ago #

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