NeoGeo games come to Virtual Console this summer
- April 18, 2007 00:00 AM PST
Wii owners may not have to be content with just owning 16-bit ports of arcade titles from the 90's -- they'll soon be owning the real thing, as SNK signs on for a worldwide agreement to release their NeoGeo games on the Virtual Console.
By Eugene Huang
Sure, Samurai Shodown II might be making a return sometime soon, but will the game's garbled translations remain intact as well?
Those who still have a soft spot in their heart for 2-D arcade games of old may be excited to hear that SNK will soon be offering their NeoGeo games on Wii's Virtual Console. Although GamePro reported back in February that Japan's Virtual Console would be receving NeoGeo games sometime in the future, Nintendo was not able to produce a release schedule, nor had there been an official announcement regarding plans to release them in the American market.
But Ben Herman, president of SNK Playmore USA, recently spoke with IGN, and confirmed that NeoGeo games will be released for the Virtual Console service starting sometime this summer. Furthermore, the company aims for a simultaneous worldwide release for all Wii markets. However, Herman also notes that SNK's downloadable content will not be exclusive to the Wii.
"We will have content on Xbox Live Arcade as well, and we are talking with Sony about getting some of our properties onto their new Home network," he states.
Herman also points out that his developers have been working on new titles that will soon welcome SNK into the new HD era.
"We have things right now that we're developing for the arcade that are in full high-def," he claims. "Obviously that opens the possibility of bringing HD to the appropriate next-generation systems as well."
But until that time, SNK's earliest retro releases will be focused mainly on the Virtual Console. The company is currently reviewing its vast library of 120 NeoGeo titles, and determining which games would make the most significant impact for their projected release date of mid-summer, especially taking into account the unique tastes of gamers from different geographical regions. Herman does note, however, that the first game probably won't be a Metal Slug game. Despite the series' worldwide popularity, the offering of such a game would interfere with the profits of Metal Slug Anthology, which recently saw a release on the Wii late last year.
As for the standard price of downloadable NeoGeo games on the Wii, Herman wouldn't give an exact figure yet, but estimated that their games would be available at "just a little above the Super NES point". Prices for Super NES games on the Virtual Console are usually 800 Wii Points, or the equivalent of US $8.
