10) King of Fighters 2000
Okay, if you know anything about the Neo-Geo, you'll be able to predict that the King of Fighters is one of its landmark series. While not very popular on the competitive fighting circuit (due to its unbalanced characters and high learning curve), KoF 2000 is still a very great title in the series. The only thing holding this back from being at the top of the list is the fact that compared to the 2 games before and after it, the roster for this game seemed to be very lacking.
9) Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
Oh yes, Fatal Fury. For those who don't know, Fatal Fury is famous for one thing, and that is that the series is often confused with King of Fighters (King of Fighters is really a mix of Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting). The series as a whole, isn't that good. Weird hit detection and high competition from better games made it an overall flawed experience. The third game, however, did EVERYTHING right. The moves were tight, and the characters were all balanced in their own rights. Plus, SNK decided to add in an early build of a 3D movement system which worked surprisingly well, and it still stands to be the only 2D fighter with 3D movement that doesn't suck.
8) Waku Waku 7
Alright, time for a history lesson kids. The Neo-Geo's main competitor in the early 90s was the CPS (both 1 and 2). While Neo-Geo had more games, and USUALLY better gameplay, the CPS had better graphics due to its ability to handle a wider range of colors. Waku Waku changed this. It proved that the Neo-Geo could have vibrant colors and cutesy animations. While the gameplay was ultimately flawed (you could really just juggle the opponent against the wall using the HP button and they wouldn't be able to retaliate) the graphics were still some of the most COLORFUL to hit the Neo-Geo.
7) Samurai Shodown III
This game, more than any other in the series, reinvented how people played fighting games. Gone were the days of spamming Hadoukens and Senpukyakus. This game made you actually feel like a Samurai. You waited until the opponent attacked, then you either blocked it or dodged it, and when they were caught off guard, you unleashed a flurry of swipes and took out a chunk of health. While this lent itself well to make the series unique, it also turned off many Street Fighter players who could no longer turtle or spam.
6) Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle
The true underdog in this list. Kizuna Encounter wasn't the most popular game for the Neo-Geo, but boy was it fun. Have you ever played a tag-team fighting game and then had your first character die thinking that it was okay because you had another character, only to find that you have to keep both characters alive to win? Well, this is the game that introduced that concept. Basically, this game made your team choice, and the way you handled your team very important. It is almost 100% impossible to beat this game only using one character. This game also had extremely smooth combat; you could just line up combos and beat your opponent into submission so easily and beautifully. The only downfall to this game is the fairly uninspired character design.
If any game has a more beautiful soundtrack this, I'd really like to know. Let's get past that and just say that this game oozed beauty. The game had amazing stages, and the character sprites were fairly detailed. The fighting mechanics were very fluid, and every character seemed to be on a very equal playing field. That isn't to say that this game is easy, because it isn't. The way that the characters are balanced is that each of them has a distinct weakness that can be exploited by everybody else, and if you didn't know how to accommodate for the weakness, you would be a few miles up shit-creek with a paper paddle.
I'd like to warn in advance, that this is the last KoF game to make the list. Why? Because it's my favorite, obviously. This is the only title in the series which I feel to be fluid. Instead of having weird button combinations to switch characters, this game simply has a button to do so. This can allow you to create some crazy, amazing team-based combos. It also has an enormous character list in comparison to other games in the series. Needless to say, I've sunk plenty of time into this game.
3) GAROU: Mark of the Wolves
Now, this is usually where a top 10 Neo-Geo game lists would end, and it's obvious why. This game had, hands-down, the greatest graphics of any game on the Neo-Geo. It also had some pretty good gameplay. (although nothing too innovative, outside of TopSet) The main thing that makes this game great though is the fresh new characters. Even Terry Bogard (the most notable character out of all the characters in all of the SNK games [he's the one with the red cap]) got a fresh new coat of paint. While I can't say I liked the new look, it was still amazing that they could completely redesign such an iconic character.
2) Samurai Shodown V Special
Now, remember how I said that Samurai Showdown III reinvented fighting games? Well, this game did the same, but this time, they did it by combining the defensive aspect that the series is known for with the offensive aspect of games like King of Fighters. No longer was it limited to defending and blocking, now there was (technically) parrying and combos. This game also had the COOLEST, if not the most diverse (they took out Slash and Bust classes) roster.
1) Art of Fighting 3
Fluidity. How many times have I brought this up so far? Well, it doesn't matter, because this is the most fluid game for the Neo-Geo. You could string together attacks and blocks and parries and more attacks, all very quickly and with tons of style. The structure of the fights also seems to play out like a tutorial. The first match is just punch until the enemy is dead. The second fight basically emphasizes the importance of combos. The third fight teaches you when to block. The fourth teaches you how to mix them together. Everything after that just tests the skills you have learned. The ONLY (and I mean ONLY flaw) is the limited character selection, but that is only a minor problem.
