Welcome back to a time when a quarter lasted three minutes and you sucked at every game in the arcade. Where a fighting game lasted four hits and you were dead and frustrated because it took a dollar to beat the first guy.
SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 brings together 16 titles from the golden age of arcades. Of course six of them are fighting games in the classic SNK style. That’s no surprise since they made their name on King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown. But it does take away some diversity that one would expect from a 16 game compilation. Three titles in the collection are sports titles including Neo Turf Masters, The Next Glory Super Sidekicks 3 (soccer) and Baseball Stars 2. The rest of the games are an assortment of scrolling shooters and platformers.
I have to say that the games still look pretty good. Well most of them. Some look and play poorly, just like they did when they were in the arcade in the early 90’s. But SNK has always been known for their particular artistic style in their games.
To give you reason to play over and over a Goals System is implemented in the compilation and every game has eight medals that can be gained which will in turn unlock move lists for characters, soundtracks and the game World Heroes (unlocked after you have 10 medals total). It gives you something to shoot for while playing