Review: SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 (Wii)

Arcade Classics features 16 SNK games, one of which must be unlocked. In alphabetical order; Art of Fighting, Baseball Stars 2, Burning Fight, Fatal Fury, The King of Fighters '94, Metal Slug, Last Resort, Magician Lord, Neo Turf Masters, Samurai Shodown, Sengoku, Shock Troopers, Super Sidekicks 3: The Next Glory, Top Hunter, and World Heroes (the unlockable).

To non fans, the selection seems rather odd as most of the titles here you won’t have heard much about. Still, the big name games play alright, Metal Slug in particular is always a blast with it’s manic animations and over the top violence and is definitely the top draw here. It has that timeless charm that means that you can’t help but smile when you’re blasting “totally not” Nazis in the face with a rocket launcher.  The Beat’ Em Up entries are also as fun as they always were, King of the Fighter in particular being one of the few absolute stand out titles with it’s crazy characters and move sets.  And quite honestly Neo Turf Master is quite a decent title as well, which was a surprise to the non-golf orientated staff members here at Gamestyle Towers.

Unfortunately everything else is just not really interesting or just right out odd choices Shooter Last Resort plays like every other R-Type shooter out there. Super Sidekicks just isn’t that compelling as you’ll probably have a Pro Evo or FIFA title if you enjoy football games. King of the Monster is quite possibly one of the worst fighting games we’ve ever played and also downright confusing at times since our Godzilla rip-off would fall over for no easily discernible reason. Sengoku is another side scrolling fighting game to go with the other two  passable titles already on the disc, but with the ability to turn into a ninja, dog, and samurai all in the same level. And well, did anybody ever say to themselves that they missed playing Baseball Stars 2?

That said from a technical standpoint these games are arcade perfect. The graphics are vibrant, the sound design excellent, and they just feel like you should be slotting coins in to your Wii over and over. However if you’re using the Wiimote by itself for these titles we would definitely recommend switching to either the classic controller or a GameCube pad, as some of the games just don’t seem at home on the Wiimote. For example, the B button is used to throw grenades in Metal Slug, and it’s right below the dpad, when using the Wiimote in it’s “NES” controller state it’s very easy to brush the button and waste a grenade.

Even at the budget price label there’s not really that much to get excited about here unless you are a massive fan of SNK’s line up and haven’t played any of these titles in years.  Conversely if you did play these titles years ago, you’ve probably forgotten about most of them. Our advice? Pick up the Metal Slug Collection instead. But if you do miss these titles, they’re well emulated and well, where else are you gonna be able to play Magician Lord?

Rating: 5 / 10

Words by Garry Webber