Halloween 2018 Special! Neo-Geo Mini Reviewtober! 31 reviews in 31 sentences! SCARY! OCTOBER! SPOOKY!

I recently ordered the Neo Geo Mini (International) off of Amazon. As an arcade fan and a Neo Geo fan, this system checks all of the boxes for me. I was really disappointed that I never got a Neo Geo X Gold. It was out of my price range when it came, and it’s sure as hell out of my range now. The Mini and the 2 controllers were a touch overpriced but worth it. The arcade machine and the controllers don’t have the clicky sticks but they still feel really good and the screen is awesome!

There are 40 games on the machine and a lot of them are Metal Slug 1-X and King of Fighters. Everything runs well, and it’s so easy to boot up and play. I am super excited to easily play 3 Count Bout, Crossed Swords, Football Frenzy and some of the more obscure games I never had the chance to play. With Neo Geo games costing $7.99 a pop on the Nintendo estore and Microsoft store, this is a good value. TO THE SPOOKY REVIEWS!

1. 3 COUNT BOUT!– Still a better wrestling game than WWE 2K19
2. Blazing Star!– R-Type with better graphics and amazing music
3. Blue’s Journey– Neo Geo made a platformer!? It’s Good!
4. Crossed Swords– A first-person sword fighting masterpiece
5.  Fatal Fury Special- multiple plane King of Fighters
6. Football Frenzy- An American football game made by people who have never played American football
7. Garou: Mark of The Wolves- Classic fighter, best of a formula
8. Ghost Pilots- A weak 1942 clone, but not a bad shooter
9. King of The Monsters- A better wrestling game than 3 Count Bout
10. King of The Monsters 2- The Best Kaijou game ever made
11. Magician Lord- Another platformer that is solid, and is Neo Geo’s answer to Altered Beast
12. Metal Slug- A great shooter marred by not having blood due to censoring of the US version
13. Metal Slug 2- The last great Metal Slug
14. Metal Slug 5- Metal Slug: The greatest hits
15. Mutation Nation– Awesome Streets of Rage/Final Fight style game with a unique art style and cool power up system
16. Puzzled- An odd Tetris clone where clearing lines frees your adventuring who is riding a balloon…really
17. Top Players Golf- A terrible golf game made worse by knowing that Neo Turf Masters exist
18. Sengokou 3– A beautiful side scrolling beat em up that doubles as an art showcase
19. World Heroes Perfect- The best Street Fighter clone ever made and J. Max is amazing
20. Last Resort- A terrible shooter with bad controls and pretty graphics
21. King of Fighters ’95- Beautiful game that is trending in a solid direction with a great roster
22. King of Fighters ’97- It’s better than ’95 and not quite ’98
23. King of Fighter ’98– Objectively and scientifically the best KOF of all time, has the best roster, the best graphics, an endless move set and the sports team is the best
24. King of Fighters 2000- A KOF too many…
25. King of Fighters 2002- Another King of Fighters game….it’s fine.
26. The Last Blade 2- Not as good as I remembered but I also can’t remember the controls
27. Super Sidekicks- One of the few soccer games I enjoy, fast paced and a lot of fun
28. Samurai Shodown II- A classic fighting game that holds up extremely well
29. Real Bout: Fatal Fury- A solid fighter with a fun side step mechanic
30. Shock Troopers- The best arcade shooter ever made, amazing characters, graphics, options on which path to take and tons of replay value
31. Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad- Shock Troopers with Donkey Kong Country graphics…a masterpiece

Happy Halloween! Neo Geo Rocks!

Sonic Mania- As Spectacular as an Eclipse

Sonic the Hedgehog is my childhood. The blue hedgehog has RUN parallel to my life in so many ways. I am not one of those people who believe in the Sonic cycle, or that Sonic has sucked since Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sonic has been kicking ass non-stop on handhelds for decades and Sonic Colors was a masterpiece. Sonic Generations was very good and Sonic Lost World was not a bad game. Let’s look at this game not as a great comeback for Sonic but as a moment that truly shows what the pinnacle of vintage 2D sonic can be.

Personally, this game is an enigma for me. Sonic 1,2, and 3 Knuckles already exist. Sonic CD happened. So with that said, why does this game exist? Who is it for? Ironically, it exists for super fans who never stopped loving Sonic and the game exist for people who thought 2D Sonic was the only Sonic we ever needed. I disagree and love 3D Sonic but 2D is a staple. I wonder how non-fans of Sonic feel about this game….Playing through this game it takes me back to my childhood in a really neat way. Sonic Mania is 2D Sonic perfected.

You can play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. All have their classic skills. A lot of the levels in Mania are remixed original levels with some new levels in the game as well. They all fit really well together. They took some previous Sonic levels I hate, such as Flying Battery Zone and made them awesome.

Side note, Flying Battery Zone is the worst fucking stage. It is the level that keeps me from finishing Sonic 3 & Knuckles to this day. It’s too long, the gimmick of going in and out doors sucks. It’s confusing, and there is fire everywhere.

 

 

Sonic Mania took that level and added an amazing gimmick with some better boss fights.

The boss fights…..oh the boss fights. I would argue that Sonic has never had great boss fights. Mario seemed to understand boss fights better than Sonic. I love the aesthetic of Sonic bosses but normally they are so easy the boss fight is a waste OR they are so obtuse that you can’t figure out where to hit them. Sonic Mania doubles down on Boss Fights giving you one at the end of every stage (2 stages per level). The first boss stage fight is a smaller easier fight and the second stage fight is the BIG one that makes you think. Sonic Mania bosses are easy but they are soooo much fun if you have previous Sonic games as a reference point. I don’t want to spoil anything but one fight you get to turn the tables on Robotnik and fly his ship. You get to be the boss and it’s amazing.

These nostalgia moments in Sonic Mania are the best and worse. I love them because I have the frame of reference. I lived old Sonic. My son will see these references and won’t know what the big deal is. At one point, you play mean bean machine or see a character from a handheld game and those things resonate big with me but my son won’t get that.

All that said, this game play great. It feels perfect. The music is epic and the graphics are so good. The amount of frames in the animation is staggering and the attention to detail of this game is second to none. There is a completeness and crispness to this game that few Sonic games have had for years. This game is a great platformer even if it wasn’t a Sonic game. As a Sonic game it is truly something special. Oh and the special stages are sooo doooppppeeeee!

This game is a masterpiece. $19.99. More rare than an eclipse, a game of this quality at this price. Make it happen. 

I Have a New Work Out Partner – Jillian Michaels (actually XBOX Fitness on Xbox One)

I need to lose 10 pounds. Because of my back pain (herniated disc, etc…). And my stomach. There I said it. Unbeknownst to me I found a workout plan and a partner who is always ready to work out with me and is very easy on my back.

This is what I think I look like….

One of the features I believe is constantly underrepresented by Xbox is the XBox Fitness app. I hate Kinect. I had a 360 and never bought one. Dance Central is not a game I would buy. Xbox Fitness has me playing and using the Kinect at least 3 to 4 times a week .

The best part about it…..Xbox Fitness is free! (I have purchased 2 Jillian Michaels programs but did not need to). The work outs I use are mostly free and Xbox keeps adding better stuff. Currently I am using 10minute abs, Gatorade presents JJ Wyat working, Russell WIlson’s HIIT program, and I bought Jillian Michaels Kickbox FastFix and 30 minute fat burn. Those are probably not the correct names but that doesn’t matter right now.

I am a male, between 25-30 years who ran track in college and lifts weights regularly and I love Xbox Fitness and it has become a large part of my work out program. Finding back/spine neutral workouts is extremely hard for me, and Jillian Michaels makes it happen.

Dat motivation…

 

To summarize the gameplay experience, basically Xbox has made the work out experience a game.  You are given a scorecard to add levels too. A work out starts and you see the video of the workout on the left side and a yourself on the right side. Underneath the image of yourself (like a mirrored silhouette) you see a score circle that judges and scores your movements. There are also infographics comparing you to other people and your previous scores. The entire experience transcends the sum of its parts. Even on a day when I don’t want to work hard, the score keeps me going. They subtitle the workouts so I can play my music and still know what is going on.

 

 

I would love to be cliche and talk about how hot Jillian Michaels is and I could say that I only do this to look at beautiful women or whatever but the reality is they provide a great workout. Also, nothing has pleased me more than Xbone adding the NFL players work outs. I have been following the NFL for a long time and pro body building. Seeing those guy working out motivates me a lot. It also has a weird way of de-stigmatizing the idea of using workout videos. I feel like people judge me when i say I use workout videos (like it’s a feminine thing to do) but they don’t when I mention Russell Wilson.

 

All of that said, Xbox Fitness is the deal maker for me. I love PS4 but Xbox Fitness and Kinect is the killer app that keeps me with Xbox One. Jillian Michaels is worth the 20 dollars of apps I have ordered. Very rarely has gaming overlapped so nicely with another part of my life that I love, but here it is. Xbox Fitness is legit.