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SNK releases 24 games on GOG.com (developed by Code Mystics), including KOF '97 Global Match, 2003, Metal Slug 4, SamSho IV, and AOF3

Seaneko

Seaneko

Member
Jun 11, 2020
792
California

GOG yet again joins forces with SNK, to release over 20 classic titles and a Publisher Sale!

GOG yet again joins forces with SNK, to release over 20 classic titles and a Publisher Sale!
www.gog.com www.gog.com

All new SNK games added yesterday were developed by Code Mystics. The older titles on GOG were handled by DotEmu and the general consensus is that they're terrible releases plagued with slowdown and lack of customizable settings. If you're looking to buy some titles while on sale, you may want to refer to the lists below that indicate which titles are handled by Code Mystics or DotEmu respectively. It's worth mentioning that you can actually extract the original arcade ROMs from the DotEmu versions' Mac or Linux installers and play them on MAME, so there's at least SOME merit to buying them.

3 COUNT BOUT
ALPHA MISSION II
ART OF FIGHTING 3: THE PATH OF THE WARRIOR
CROSSED SWORDS
GHOST PILOTS
THE KING OF FIGHTERS '97 GLOBAL MATCH
THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2003
KING OF THE MONSTERS 2: THE NEXT THING
KIZUNA ENCOUNTER: SUPER TAG BATTLE
LAST RESORT
MAGICIAN LORD
METAL SLUG 4
MUTATION NATION
NINJA COMMANDO
NINJA MASTER'S: HAOH NINPO CHO
OVER TOP
ROBO ARMY
SAMURAI SHODOWN IV: AMAKUSA'S REVENGE
SENGOKU
SENGOKU 2
SOCCER BRAWL
SUPER SIDEKICKS
THE SUPER SPY
TOP HUNTER: RODDY & CATHY

The following games were updated from DotEmu versions to Code Mystics versions a few years ago:
GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES
THE LAST BLADE 2
SAMURAI SHODOWN V SPECIAL

The following games received a rollback patch on Steam that was never released for the GOG versions:
THE KING OF FIGHTERS '98 ULTIMATE MATCH FINAL EDITION
THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2002 UNLIMITED MATCH

ART OF FIGHTING 2
BASEBALL STARS 2
BLAZING STAR
FATAL FURY SPECIAL
IRONCLAD
THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2000
THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2002
KING OF THE MONSTERS
THE LAST BLADE
METAL SLUG
METAL SLUG 2
METAL SLUG 3
METAL SLUG X
NEO TURF MASTERS (no longer available for purchase on GOG)
PULSTAR
REAL BOUT FATAL FURY 2: THE NEWCOMERS
SAMURAI SHODOWN II
SENGOKU 3
SHOCK TROOPERS
SHOCK TROOPERS: 2ND SQUAD
TWINKLE STAR SPRITES
 
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Seaneko

Seaneko

Member
Jun 11, 2020
792
California
Gonna bump this once just in case some people who might be interested haven't seen this yet.

Are any of these titles worth grabbing? I've been looking up footage of them on Youtube as well as reading articles on HardcoreGaming101 to get a vibe for them since I'm unfamiliar with a lot of these. It appears Metal Slug 4 is the worst one of its series due to being outsourced to another company and its heavy reuse of assets, so I probably won't bother with it. And KOF 2003 doesn't seem well regarded due to its implementation of Marvel-style tag team. Over Top looked interesting and I've been in an arcade racer mood lately... except the game lasts like 10 minutes and doesn't appear to have much variety to it. And even some games that are good like KOF '97 and SamSho IV appear to be superceded by their following games anyway.
 
FamilyTeam

FamilyTeam

Member
Mar 19, 2024
120
Brazil
No Neo Turf Masters???
Seaneko said:
Are any of these titles worth grabbing? I've been looking up footage of them on Youtube as well as reading articles on HardcoreGaming101 to get a vibe for them since I'm unfamiliar with a lot of these. It appears Metal Slug 4 is the worst one of its series due to being outsourced to another company and its heavy reuse of assets, so I probably won't bother with it. And KOF 2003 doesn't seem well regarded due to its implementation of Marvel-style tag team. Over Top looked interesting and I've been in an arcade racer mood lately... except the game lasts like 10 minutes and doesn't appear to have much variety to it. And even some games that are good like KOF '97 and SamSho IV appear to be superceded by their following games anyway.
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Metal Slug 4 has some comical amount of asset reusage but gameplay wise people have really come around to the game in the last few years. It's pretty much the third best playing game in this franchise, almost by default, many of the Metal Slug games aren't THAT well designed. If you frankly get past the asset reusage it's a great deal of fun.
Playing the KOFs that aren't the super popular ones (95, 98(UM) and 2002(UM) for the Neo Geo ones) is not necessary unless you're really into the series and want to explore all the different characters, lore and endings. But still all of them are substantially different games in presentation, roster and sometimes even gameplay so you might want to check them out if you like fighties in general. 2003 is strange but I like how unique it is at least.
 
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Seaneko

Seaneko

Member
Jun 11, 2020
792
California
FamilyTeam said:
No Neo Turf Masters???
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Yeah you can only get it through Humble Bundle via one of their Neo Geo collections, it's bizarre.

Metal Slug 4 has some comical amount of asset reusage but gameplay wise people have really come around to the game in the last few years. It's pretty much the third best playing game in this franchise, almost by default, many of the Metal Slug games aren't THAT well designed. If you frankly get past the asset reusage it's a great deal of fun.
Playing the KOFs that aren't the super popular ones (95, 98(UM) and 2002(UM) for the Neo Geo ones) is not necessary unless you're really into the series and want to explore all the different characters, lore and endings. But still all of them are substantially different games in presentation, roster and sometimes even gameplay so you might want to check them out if you like fighties in general. 2003 is strange but I like how unique it is at least.
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Interesting to know, thanks. I'm not opposed to trying out MS4 or 2003 at some point and might see if there are more varied impressions of them than the ones I happened to look at last night. The KOF games aren't a priority for me since I have 98UM and 2002UM but might get them sometime if I feel like trying something different from those.
 
FamilyTeam

FamilyTeam

Member
Mar 19, 2024
120
Brazil
Seaneko said:
Interesting to know, thanks. I'm not opposed to trying out MS4 or 2003 at some point and might see if there are more varied impressions of them than the ones I happened to look at last night.
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I think this is a case where casual audiences vs. veteran impressions vs. the superplay/speedrun community would vary wildly. Ironically nothing exemplifies this disconnect better than Metal Slug 3 vs. Metal Slug 4.
People who are just casually playing the games with their friends or in an arcade want spectacle, craziness and a lot of variety. In that sense, Metal Slug 4 is a flat 0/10, presentation wise the game is very lazy and the asset reusage is blatant even at a passing glance. Metal Slug 3 is genuinely one of the most spectacular and bombastic videogames of all time in that regard: it's got an absolutely obscene amount of alternate paths, almost all of them either with unique gimmicks, new vehicle types, new backgrounds and exclusive enemies, it's got many new weapons, so many different level types and of course the final stage keeps upping the stakes every second with many plot twists and setpieces and fighting so many different bosses.

...the problem is that beyond the initial wow factor, Metal Slug 3 kinda su-ucks to actually play. It's an absolutely mind blowing experience the first time around but the second time that game just drags and the gameplay issues become impossible to ignore. It's a near hour-long arcade game which kinda makes it a chore to play, a lot of alternate paths are either slow, boring, unbalanced in difficulty or leave you very ill-equipped to fight the bosses or all of them at the same time, and yeah speaking of the bosses, as much as they're the most over the top and grandiose in the series, they're almost all actually pretty ass to actually fight against. Metal Slug 4 then is kinda something you appreciate more on repeat playthroughs. I guess they really had to make the most with what they had, because it more so focuses on being a well balanced and mostly well playing entry in the franchise, with some of the most interesting bits of level design to make use of previously established mechanics. MS3 and MS4 are pretty opposite games in that sense.
 
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