My first thought was "Jesus Christ, this thing is gigantic." The board itself almost doesn't fit in my MVS cabinet, and the cartridges are almost twice as big as an MVS cartridge. They are, however, metal as fuck. No, seriously, I mean the cartridges are literally made out of metal. It's fantastic.
As I imagine many of you know, there are different "types" of Hyper Neo Geo 64 boards - one that plays the four fighting games (which I what I have), one that plays the two racing games, one that only plays the one rail shooter, and one that only plays the two Samurai Shodown games (which the first board I mentioned also plays). There's not just the "Hyper Neo Geo 64" like there is the "Neo Geo MVS." The board I have will NOT play a racing game, for example, even if I had it in a cabinet with a racing wheel.
I haven't played any of the four games I have in a lot of depth yet, but I've spent probably 20 minutes with each one, so I figured I'd share my thoughts on them.
Buriki One
I think this game has a really neat concept, but I personally don't care for it. It's kind of an MMA game where each character represents a different fighting style (the backstory is something about a world championship to see which fighting style is the best). You've got a sort of all-around fighting style called "Total Fighting," a few schools of karate, Taekwondo, boxing, sumo, professional wrestling, judo, Greco-Roman wrestling, Muay Thai, tai chi, and aikido.
The movement is what really makes this one unique. You don't use the C and D buttons at all; A moves you to the left, and B moves you to the right. The joystick is how you jump, duck, and attack. That's really what I don't much care for - the control scheme. It's not that it's bad - it definitely works - but I, personally, don't care for it.
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition
This is definitely my favorite of the four. It plays more or less like your standard Fatal Fury game but in a 3D environment. I think that's why I like it so much - by and large, they kept the formula about the same. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Samurai Shodown 64
My cart for this game is EXTREMELY temperamental, and from what I've read online, that seems to be the case with most copies of this game. I had to insert, remove, and reinsert the game probably half a dozen times before it would work, and from browsing the Neo-Geo forums and Google, that seems to be a common thing. When I finally DID get it work, though, I had a blast with it. The gameplay is smooth, and the fighting feels similar to what you're used to with the MVS/AES/CD Samurai Shodown games. The addition of the 3D environment definitely adds a new dynamic - the D button now moves you along the Z axis - and while I'm not sure it's better off with it, it doesn't really detract from the gameplay. I definitely don't think it's as good as the 2D Samurai Shodown games, but it's a good game nonetheless.
Oh, but they took out Charlotte. What the actual fuck, man? Charlotte was my girl. Gimme that French style epee fencing, bruh.
Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage
Why SNK gave the game this name in the West when there's another (completely different) game called Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage, I'll never know, but it doesn't really make much difference, but there's no reason to play or remember this game. It's just bad. It plays basically like Samurai Shodown 64 but much slower. Take that game, cut the speed by about 60%, and you're got its sequel. And there's STILL no fucking Charlotte. That's another strike against it.
It's not unplayable, especially if you're used to bad and sluggish fighting games like Shaq Fu and the early Mortal Kombat games, but if you've got a board that can play this game, then you've got a board that can play the first Samurai Shodown 64, and that's a better game in every regard.
