http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3162753

SNK Playmore USA announced today that classic Neo Geo arcade games will be joining the Genesis, Turbografx-16 and Nintendo's various systems on the Wii's Virtual Console service. Games mentioned included Fatal Fury, World Heroes and Art of Fighting, with pricing set at 900 Wii Points ($9 dollars).

There aren't many details other than that, including any release dates, so we'll have to wait and see. Tokyo-based D4Enterprise, Inc. will be handling the releases, with more promised to be announced "in the coming months."

Now if only we could play them online...

Wait... no Samurai Showdown? Where's mah Nakoruru fix?

Ah well, I'm sure we'll be seeing it soon.

I wondered if they'd throw on the Metal Slug games, those being my favorites of the Neo Geo hardware. I know they did release a Wii compilation, but having them individually on the VC would be both profitable to them and convenient to people who only want one of two of them.

Did they have an "original control scheme" on the Wii compilation? I heard the motion controls weren't so hot for it.

Biomotor Unitron, please.

The compilation let you use gamecube controllers if you didn't like the wii-mote or wii-mote/nunchuck combo. Unfortunatley, none of the control schemes using the wii controllers didn't use the motion sensitivity.

And $9 a game isn't that great a deal, especially when you can get most of the Neogeo fighters for cheaper on the PS2 and they have added features. Art of Fighting Anthology - $15, Fatal Fury Collection - $15. The Metal Slug Anthology was only $40 at launch and will likely be at $20 before they could get any into the VC. With SNK still reprinting the KOF series and the Samurai Spirits games, I doubt we'll be seeing a very comprehensive list hitting any of the downloadable services.

I see anything added to the VC as bad news, anyway. The more games that end up on the VC, the less chance those games will appear through cheaper venues elsewhere. Look at the Xbox Live Arcade entries. Streets of Rage 2 comes in at only 400 MS Points ($5) while on the VC it's 800 points ($8). Fatal Fury Special is also only 400 MS Points, but I guess we can expect that price to go up, too.

Neo who now?

Cthulhu
Neo who now?

Neo Geo was an extremely expensive console you could buy back in the day ($650 at launch). It was expensive because it was more or less actual arcade hardware, and the extremely expensive games you could buy were the actual arcade data. So it was the perfect arcade experience at high price.

Notable Neo Geo games include King of Fighters, Metal Slug, Samurai Showdown, Magician Lord, and World Heroes, among others.

When considering that you'd often pay $200 dollars or more for a Neo Geo game, the Wii's $9 price point is a bargain... though Isukun's right, it's not a bargain compared to the compilations you can get for other consoles. Though, the way I see it, if you just want one of the Samurai Showdown games, not the entire set, the VC avenue isn't a bad way to go.

Unless they release the same game on the Xbox Live Marketplace or PSN where it will be cheaper (and have support for online multiplayer). It was kind of my point that they have already started releasing some of the same games at a lower price point on other downloadable services. So when a company like Microsoft who is known for pushing developers into setting their prices higher on their Live Marketplace is able to make a game available at a lower price and add features, what does that say about Nintendo's pricing scheme?

Considering how the vast majority of SNK games were based around competitive gameplay, it also sucks that Playmore wants to support the one system which won't give their fans what they have wanted for years now, online matches. Who knows, though, it's entirely possible Playmore may try to put more of the recent games on the 360 or PS3 rather than the wii simply to appease that crowd.