CheckMag | The '90s console everyone wanted, but no-one could afford: The best game from every genre

With an eye watering price of $699.99 when it launched in 1990 (a staggering $1732 in 2025 thanks to inflation), the Neo Geo was not cheap. Games themselves started at around $200 and only went up from there. However, the Neo Geo was what everyone saw in the arcades, and offered graphics that consoles like the Genesis could only dream of. 

Thanks to emulation, many of these titles are easy to find and easy to play, and the graphics still hold up well today. Some of these games were genre defining, so here are the best ones you may have missed.

While Contra may have set the benchmark for the run-and-gun genre, Metal Slug took the concept and polished it to a diamond. With bold sprites and detailed environments, Metal Slug was like playing a live action cartoon.

The game is surprisingly deep considering your main objective is to run from left to right, killing everything in your path. Similarly, there is no shortage of weapons and power ups (including the SV-001 tank, which gives the game it's name) to stop you accomplishing this. 

From the dishevelled POW's that drop power-ups when rescued, the soldier frantically pumping water out of a sinking ship as you blast it with your rocket launcher, to the fear on your enemies face as one of their comrades bursts into flames, Metal Slug oozes charm. 

Considering how attractive this was as an arcade, and how many quarters it would take to finish, it's no surprise the original spawned five sequels.

The Neo Geo was probably most well-known for it's PvP fighters, and while it had some side scrolling brawlers, it didn't include classics such as Double Dragon or Final Fight. Mutation Nation and the original Sengoku are indeed decent side scrolling beat-em-ups, but Senguko 3 took the genre to the next level. 

With sprites similar to those used in SNK's PvP fighting games, Senguko 3 introduced combos, allowing the player to string together up to 9 attacks. Where detail is lacking in the background and environments, the player and enemies made it feel like you were playing a side scrolling Garou. 

While Senguko 3 may not be one of the best side scrolling beat-em-ups, it is one of the few available for the Neo Geo.

If there was one genre the Neo Geo had in spades, it was Player versus Player (PvP) fighters. The system was probably best known for the King of Fighters series, with the last in the series being released as late as 2003. However, these were largely annual iterations of the same formula. 

As a direct competitor to Street Fighter 3rd Strike, Garou was a more tactical brawler. Requiring the player to wait for an opening before striking, recovering health when blocking at the last moment, and setting a tactical offence position (T.O.P) before the match begins. 

Garou: Mark of the Wolves was the culmination of everything developed through the Fatal Fury series (and was originally intended as a direct sequel). It presented entirely new assets, new fighting mechanics and a banging soundtrack, making it one of the finest brawlers on the system, if not every system.

The Neo Geo had a plethora of great sports games. Windjammers, Street Hoop, Neo: Drift Out, to name but a few. However, Neo Turf Masters is regarded as one of the best golf games ever, and is certainly one of the most addictive sports games on the system, with great replay value and even appealing to those who have a distaste for golf as a whole.

The arcade style gameplay made it extremely accessible, while giving enough shot customisation to make it feel like you had an influence over where the ball landed. The contoured greens transformed putting into the golfing equivalent of marble madness, and the character animations looked almost photorealistic thanks to the same motion capture used in Art of Fighting 3. 

The next best equivalent on the system was Top Players Golf, which looks terrible by comparison. 

Shooters were another area where the Neo Geo hosted some truly exemplar games. Blazing Star, the Prehistoric Isle series, Aero Fighters, Viewpoint, Last Resort, even Shock Troopers 2nd Squad. However, Pulstar took the R-Type formula and ramped it up to eleven. 

The game was built by ex-IREM employees, so the similarities with R-Type are no coincidence. The first level looks like a direct clone, and there are plenty of similar elements like the crab creatures exploding from the walls on level 2, right down to taking apart a mother ship piece by piece on level 3. 

Regardless of the similarities, with pre-rendered 3D intro sequences and pseudo 3D sprites, every level is a visual treat, and the gameplay easily matches that of its inspiration. Given that R-Type never made it to the Neo Geo, you couldn't ask for a better clone with Pulstar.

Another underrepresented genre on the Neo Geo are puzzle games. Likely because the slow pace wasn't suited to an arcade setting. Outside of Digger Man, or Neo Bomberman (which probably isn't categorised as a puzzle game at all), Bust a Move 2 (a.k.a. Puzzle Bobble 2) would probably be the most likely candidate.

Expanding from the original Puzzle Bobble, the second iteration added player versus player modes and better graphics to an already solid concept. Match coloured balls to their likeness before the ceiling collapses on your character. The ability to bounce balls off the sides added an 8-ball pool style element to the gameplay that gets increasingly stressful as time runs out.

A great entry point to the Neo Geo is the HyperMegaTech - Neo Geo edition (available on Amazon) which comes with 14 preloaded games, as well as the option to expand the library with Evercade cartridges.

There's no shortage of top tier games, and if you haven't experienced what it offers, the Neo Geo is well worth the time.