The Neo Geo AES is something I thankfully bought games for between 2010-2012, where prices are not as ridiculous as they are these days. Nearly all the games I own are the Japanese versions, but my console has been modded and has the option to switch regions, so it gives you English game titles and text. I also used a Hyperkin cable to record these videos, which has good video output, but some of the early games for some reason have sound issues, such as the first few Fatal Fury games.

Fatal Fury
Video length: 17:11
Game region:
Difficulty level: 2 out of 5

Playthrough with Joe. This is by far the easiest game in the series. In one way it's a lot like the first Street Fighter game: use the special moves to win. You could probably get through the entire game just by using Joe's hurricane upper and slash kick. Geese can be kind of tricky, but his AI does have an exploit: if you jump towards him and don't do anything, he often just backs off, so you can throw him.





Fatal Fury 2
Video length: 23:59
Game region:
Difficulty level: 3 out of 5

Playthrough with Andy. He's one of the easier characters to beat this game with because you can get through most of the game with this strategy: zen ei ken, crouching strong kick. Just keep doing that and you should be ok.





Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
Video length: 30:29
Game region:
Difficulty level: 5 out of 5

Playthrough with Mai. One of this game's biggest flaws is the difficulty, which is simply way too high. It's not quite as bad as Special but it's still far harder than it has any need to be. I found with Mai if you keep using a basic combo -jump in strong kick, standing strong punch, ryu en bu -that can work against a lot of opponents. There are a few you need more tactics for though, read the video description for more details.

This game also features different endings and bosses depending on who ranks you get after each fight. To get better ranks you need to beat your opponent quickly whilst taking as little damage as you can, which is difficult. I managed to get all the extra bosses to appear and get the best ending.





Fatal Fury Special
Video length: 33:30
Game region:
Difficulty level: 5 out of 5

Playthrough with Geese. This is an update that makes the bosses playable, adds some extra characters and also lets you do combos. It also raises the difficulty to absurd levels, to me this is one of the hardest Neo Geo games to beat. You need to learn special tactics for each and every of the 15 opponents you have to fight. And then if you want to fight the hidden boss, you need to beat everyone without losing a round, which I did. Totally worth it to see Geese's ending though.





Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Video length: 20:26
Game region:
Difficulty level: 3 out of 5

Playthrough with Rock. This is the last Fatal Fury game for the Neo Geo, which features almost an entirely new cast and ditches the plane switching mechanic completely. The CPU can get slightly obnoxious at times, but really only the bosses are difficult. For some reason they struggle against Rock's jumping strong punch attack, so I ended up using that a lot.



Metal Slug
Video length: 28:49
Game region:
Difficulty level: 4 out of 5

Playthrough of the first and best game in the series. I'm not great at shooters but this one's difficulty is fair enough up until the final mission, which is definitely where things get a lot harder.

As much as I’d love an original copy of this game, I haven’t got that kind of money to spend on this. So the version I'm using is the MVS version, played on a Neo Geo MVS converter. This lets you play the arcade MVS cartridges on your Neo Geo AES system and for the vast majority of people on the planet, is the only way to play the first Metal Slug on your Neo Geo.



Real Bout Fatal Fury
Video length: 20:37
Game region:
Difficulty level: 3 out of 5

Playthrough with Yamazaki. Compared to the previous two Fatal Fury games this is much easier, although it's still not exactly what I'd call an easy game to beat. I was able to take down most opponents with Yamazaki without too much trouble, the only two that gave me trouble were Billy and Geese. The problem with Billy is that he has a tendency to spam his super move when he's low on health, which makes jumping towards him dangerous. With Geese, you can trick him into using his counter by doing a jumping punch, then hit him with a combo before he recovers.





Real Bout Fatal Fury 2
Video length: 14:21
Game region:
Difficulty level: 4 out of 5

Playthrough with Terry. This game is the most popular of the Real Bouts, but personally I don't like it as much as RB Special. A lot of moves were taken out, the controls aren't quite as responsive and the CPU difficulty was increased. It's a short game though and the CPU has a problem where it won't block when it gets up, leading to quick wins so long as you can do combos.

To fight the hidden boss you need to beat the game without losing any rounds and connecting with either 5 P power moves or 7 S power moves. I used Terry's S power move because it's really easy to combo into.





Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
Video length: 17:16
Game region:
Difficulty level: 3 out of 5

Playthrough with Mary. Despite the title this is a brand new game, not some update of the original Real Bout. It's also easier than the previous game. If you want to fight the hidden boss you need to win without losing any rounds and a certain score. Cheat sites have different amounts listed, but I think you only need at least 800,000 points to get it.



Samurai Shodown
Video length: 35:46
Game region:
Difficulty level: 5 out of 5

Playthrough with Haohmaru. I know this series is really popular, but I don't like it. The controls for this game aren't very good, to get the heavy attacks you have to press two buttons together on the same frame, which can lead to not getting the move you want. I also find most of the kick moves useless, and I hate the collision detection -far too often you swing your sword and it just passes through the opponent harmlessly, then they get a cheap hit on you. And naturally the CPU is extremely cheap, getting massive damage buffs early on.

With Haohmaru you can get through most of this game by using his heavy slash only. Jump in heavy slash, followed by standing heavy slash, repeat. The CPU blocks a lot but you can wear them down eventually. The final boss is one of the strangest on Neo Geo -if you just stand/crouch there he tends to just walk up to you, so you need to throw him and then repeat. You have got to be perfect with the throw timing to get this to work.



Samurai Shodown II
Video length: 39:20
Game region:
Difficulty level: 5 out of 5

Playthrough with Charlotte. This is seen as one of SNK's best games, but I hate it. It basically takes all the problems I had with the first game, then makes the CPU even more ridiculously hard. The final boss of this is possibly the toughest Neo Geo boss ever.

With Charlotte, the plan is to use her heavy slash attack all the time. Her attacks have a weird hitbox the CPU struggles to deal with, making Charlotte one of the best characters to get the one credit clear with.





Samurai Shodown III
Video length: 24:38
Game region:
Difficulty level: 5 out of 5

Playthrough with Genjuro. Another day, another Samurai Shodown game completely ruined by its absurd difficulty level. But there's a difference with this one! If your character has a command grab, you can beat the game with this strat: jump towards the opponent and do an air attack, which should make them block. Then as you land, do your character's command grab move. The CPU should get grabbed, so you need to do this over and over to win. It works on just about every character, even the final boss.

This game does not have a blood code. As my Neo Geo has the Unibios installed, I turned the blood on via that.



Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge
Video length: 22:00
Game region:
Difficulty level: 5 out of 5

Playthrough with Amakusa. As usual, this game's difficulty is way too high, and to top it off, if you want the best ending and bonus scene you have to beat it within a time limit, which differs depending on which character you've chosen. Amakusa's weapon -which acts like a boomerang -seems to confuse the CPU a lot, they tend to get hit by standard attacks much more than they would with any other character.

I use an honorable death at the start of many fights. Doing this instantly loses you the round, but you start the next one with a full POW gauge. This means you can do a lot more damage to your opponent and defeat them faster, which helps a lot when trying to beat the game under the time limit.