Many consider Sengoku 3 as the best beat'em up on Neo Geo, IMO they are wrong wrong :-P
Sengoku 3 is heavily based on combos (prepare to do a lot of them on a lot of cannon fodder) so the aniamtion are quite smoother than other old Neo Geo beat'em up.
If you like combos go for it.
Instead in Sengoku 2 you quickly cut down enemies (and the sense of impact is more satisfying), you have a parry and there is in place a transformation system which let you change your character in other forms (a tengu warrior, a holy wolf, a ninja and so on) which gives variety.
Sengoku 2 is overall much more memorable than Sengoku 3 IMO.
More over the game from 1992 has better graphics (except stiffer animations) and music than the game from 2001.
If you want a good alternative to Metal Slug, check out Shock Troopers (the first one) it's a good run'n gun similar to MERCS and Ikari Warrior.
As for exploring other less tackled genres, maybe the arcade platfomer genre is for you since it was a quite rare breed in arcades and Neo Geo has a few representatives (sorted for what I consider the best and the worse):
Magician Lord is a trial'n run game (think Ghost'n Goblins) where you need to learn how to tackle the levels otherwise is quite hard.
It's a bit on the "coin muncher" side in level design but it's a great game IMO with great graphics (it was released in 1990) and stunning musics.
It's single player only though.
Spin Master is a game by Data East, very colorful cartoony graphics though forgettable music.
It's on the easy side and overall it's a simple game but thanks to good level design (every stage has a gimmick), solid controls and short length it has a high playability coefficient.
You can play it in coop (two players) and thanks to the low difficulty and solid gameplay it's ideal to play (and replay) with other less expert people.
Treasure Hunter is a mix between side scrolling beat'em up, fighting game (you can execute the same moves from Fatl Fury and there is a dual lanes design like FF) and platform game.
Being more like a sidescrolling beat'em up with addeded fighing game and platfomr game elements it may become repetitive after a while if you play it single player, two players session is recommended.
It has some of the most beautiful 2D view on Neo Geo and catchy musics.
Blue's Journey is a game very dear to me (I played it a lot when I was younger).
It's the most close to platform games on consoles of the set which is quite an oddity (the platform games for arcade games had jumping elements but were more focused on action).
It's a nice little game whose biggest strengths are the charming atmosphere and the variety/exploration within the stages where you can find shops, mini games, alterative paths (there are always two path for each stages).
It is by no mean a mastepiece instead it's a nice little game (though I always felt the jump physics to be off).
You heard good things about Ninja Combat? that's a new to me :-)
Ninja Commando on the other hand is a good vertical scrolling action/shooting game.
Zupapa is indeed a nice Bubble Bobble clone (though it pale compared to the King).
Another odd game (comapred the offerings in the arcades) is Crossed Sword: it's basically Punch out in a fantasy setting with RPG elements (you earn exp, money to buy new stronger weapons in shops, sometime you can choose how to tackle a mission and there is a feeble narrative).
It can become repetitive but it's quite original game.
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