The Neo Geo Mini is a big improvement over the Neo Geo X, but that's not really saying much. This is the Japanese Neo Geo Mini, but SNK released many variants of it, which I'll no doubt get round to playing at some point in the future...


Bakumatsu Roman
Video length: 30:05
Game region:
Difficulty level: 4 out of 5

Playthrough with Akari. I was able to get through this game ok up until the bosses. I couldn't get consistent strats to work against them and I got very lucky with them. I was surprised that the super move I mashed out against Kagami in round 2 not only hit him, but did enough damage to finish him off.





Bakumatsu Roman Dainmaku
Video length: 23:54
Game region:
Difficulty level: 4 out of 5

Playthrough with Setsuna. This game’s difficulty is slightly harder than the first one, at least for the regular opponents. But this game has less opponents to fight in the arcade mode compared to the first one. However the boss is another story. He’s the usual SNK garbage they were still churning out. I mean, I don’t hate Kouryu’s design, I just hate his input reading and damage output.





Garou Densetsu Special
Video length: 34:22
Game region:
Difficulty level: 5 out of 5

Playthrough with Krauser. By this game's standards, it wasn't quite as difficult to beat the game and fight Ryo with Krauser compared to other character's I've used. I mean, it's still really hard, but the he Krauser strats are very basic: use his blitz ball, then if the opponent jumps towards you, use his leg tomahawk move to hit them. On certain opponents just spamming blitz ball is enough.





Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Video length: 23:21
Game region:
Difficulty level: 3 out of 5

Playthrough with Kain. He's the game's final boss but the player-controlled version is toned down compared to the CPU version. I didn't find him much fun to use either, other than him having a really good T.O.P. attack -if the opponent tries to block three of these attacks in a row, it'll break their guard.





Metal Slug
Video length: 27:04
Game region:
Difficulty level: 4 out of 5

Playthrough with Marco. This is the easiest game in the series, but it's still got a few tough moments -the difficulty gets harder on the fifth mission, and you really need to know what you're doing on the final mission.





Real Bout Garou Densetsu
Video length: 19:24
Game region:
Difficulty level: 3 out of 5

Playthrough with Bob. Bob was a lot of fun to use in this game because his desperation attack is really good at breaking the stage objects, especially if the opponent blocks it. This leads to a lot of quick fights, as you can send the opponent out of bounds easily.





Real Bout Garou Densetsu 2
Video length: 16:49
Game region:
Difficulty level: 4 out of 5

Playthrough with Rick. This game is the hardest of the Real Bout series, and if you want to fight the hidden boss not only do you need to not lose any rounds, you also have to connect with certain super moves several times. Rick's potential power move is the one to use, the CPU tends to get hit by it a lot.





Ryuko no Ken
Video length: 20:37
Game region:
Difficulty level: 4 out of 5

Playthrough with Ryo. This is the Japanese version of Art of Fighting, the only changes are the title screen is different, and John's taunt has him speak in Japanese instead of English. This game isn't too bad once you know what to do, the only opponents who tend to be problematic are Mr. Big and the final boss. If Big doesn't use his cross diving move and instead keeps using his roll attack, it's difficult to hit him. The final boss can also be a problem due to his fast moves and high damage output.





Samurai Spirits Amakusa Kourin
Video length: 21:00
Game region:
Difficulty level: 5 out of 5

Playthrough with Genjuro. This game is also known as Samurai Shodown IV. This could have been great if it wasn't ruined by the difficulty level, but that's SNK for you. To get the best ending you have to beat every opponent with a time limit too, which is ridiculous given how difficult the CPU is. With Genjuro, you'll want to use his QCF+C rekka chains a lot, most opponents won't fully block these. You'll also want to do honorable deaths in round one of most fights -doing this makes you immediately lose, but you start the next round with a full POW gauge, meaning you'll do more damage.





Samurai Spirits Zero Special
Video length: 28:07
Game region:
Difficulty level: 4 out of 5

Playthrough with Zankuro. This game is easier than any of the previous games in the series, the only catch is that to get the full ending you need to beat three of the four bosses with overkill moves. You only get once chance to use your overkill move, if you miss, you can't try it again. The first two bosses tend to get hit by them, but the third one, Gaoh, doesn't. It's best to try and bait him into doing the move where he twirls his spear above his head, and do your overkill whilst he's still doing that move.





Shin Samurai Spirits
Video length: 38:18
Game region:
Difficulty level: 5 out of 5

Playthrough with Earthquake. This is the Japanese version of Samurai Shodown II, and it's one of the hardest Neo Geo fighters. The opponents are relentless and the final boss is one of SNK's worst. There is a well-known strat with Earthquake: his crouching heavy slash. The CPU often won't fully block this move (which can do up to three hits) so that's all you really need with Earthquake. However this is still far from an easy run, you can't just mash out the move, you need to get the timing right otherwise the CPU will start jumping over it.





Tsuukai GanGan Koushinkyoku
Video length: 37:22
Game region:
Difficulty level: 3 out of 5

Playthrough with Joe. For some reason the AES version of this game -known as Aggressors of Dark Kombat outside of Japan -changed it so you have to beat it twice to fully complete it. The second loop may have more difficult opponents, but to be honest I couldn't tell -the first loop was already too difficult!

I really didn't think I could complete this until I figured out that playing the waiting game is the best way to win. If you just hold back and block, the CPU will keep attacking you and eventually do something you can punish. So the strategy for every opponent is the same: block and wait, then strike back when the CPU leaves itself open. If you play it like this, this game isn't too hard to beat.





World Heroes Perfect
Video length: 25:13
Game region:
Difficulty level: 4 out of 5

Playthrough with Hanzou. This is the best World Heroes game, but it's still not particularly good. The controls were changed so you now have three different strength levels of punches and kicks like in Street Fighter, but you have to press two buttons together at the same time to get the strongest ones -something I don't like. With Hanzou, you can beat a lot of opponents just by using his QCB+kick move a lot, keep using the strong kick version. I also got to fight Son Gokuu, who only appears if you complete certain actions on certain stages, check the description for more details.