Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting Game Sample - PSP
58While this is not one of the prettier PSP games I've seen, it's actually a solid vertical shooter once you get past the visuals, and it's even a bit creative too, with a wealth of unlockable content for any serious SNK fans. With a little more care, it could've even been one of the best shmups original to the PSP, but that's neither here nor there. "Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting" is an evolved version of "KOF Sky Stage" which was originally released in Arcades in 2010 as well as for Xbox 360's "Live Arcade" service. Featuring new characters and stages, much better banter between characters, and, unlike Sky Stage, it doesn't take itself as seriously (which is a good thing). It also uses Japanese voices instead of the weird Engrish voices of Sky Stage... most of which were "Castle of Shikigami" levels of cringe.
Being released by SNK Playmore and Moss a few months after Sky Stage, it's no small wonder that it feels like a Frankensteined version of "Raiden III" mixed with CS (not released by Moss btw) mixed with a fighting game, mixed with the later released "Caladrius", but let's elaborate a bit. The game revolves around "THE DAMNED", an evil organization which plots to use a time machine for its maleficent purposes and enlists the aid of some of SNK's biggest baddies (Rugal, Goenitz, Orochi, etc.) and World Heroes' Dr. Brown is the big brain on the heroes' side fighting to make things right. Players can choose from ten playable characters from SNK's rich history such as UNI-008 of "ASO / Alpha Mission" fame, Terry Bogard of "Fatal Fury / KOF" fame, Iroha of "Samurai Shodown" fame, Akari of "The Last Blade" fame, just to name a few, who all operate in unique ways. The game does not have power-ups in the traditional sense; instead, each character comes with a maxed out attack pattern and three special moves which they can unleash by charging and releasing them-- each one is highly situational and can be used again after a small cooldown and vary wildly in their utility. Players can also "Provoke" (taunt) enemies which clears the screen of bullets and slows the combo meter but makes enemies temporarily more aggressive as well and use your typical bomb which is based off of a signature attack from each character.
Each boss you face also has various quirks about them dependent on difficulty and their inherent skill sets which makes it feel a little bit like a fighting game as you can perform offense, support, defense, evasions and even counters on opponents, and bosses have a super move you have to watch out for on top of different waves you must clear. This is actually a really cool spin on the typical shmup formula with highly variable encounters and the game has its share of fun stuff for score chasers as well, whether it's collecting falling Neo / Geo / 100 Mega icons for extra points (dependent on how close you are to an enemy when they're destroyed), the aforementioned combo meter, or properly clearing boss waves. You also get an additional bonus for all the icons you collect if you can beat a stage without getting hit (if you do get hit, you only get a combo bonus). Of course, I've also saved some room to talk about the extra content.
First and foremost, the original "KOF Sky Stage" comes included for free if you get this game, though it was never very good and felt like an Alpha version of this game. Next, you can unlock illustrations, multiple endings for EACH character, music, partake in a ton of challenge stages for each character with unique conditions, play the game in TATE mode (one of the few PSP shmups to actually support this outright), view profiles of heroes and enemies alike, use Adhoc multiplayer, and play stages from any point once you've played them at least once. You can also play "Infinity" mode which makes you invincible (but won't record your scores) and go along greatly branching paths with each playthrough being five stages (which is significantly better in structure to Sky Stage).
The music is even pretty good, mostly being slight arrangements of themes from various SNK titles, and the game controls are tight. The only real issue is the visuals: most stages are VERY blurry, the game runs at a reduced 30FPS with the occasional slowdown, text and most other on-screen assets are blurry or poorly aliased, and as almost all the models in the game are 3D (with a few effects and animations being 2D), they lack detail. Some stages even have graphics glitches or clipping of the visuals... I don't think this would've been an issue if the game had a little more time in the oven. The translation is also a little rough, but outside of that, the game really checks out. It should be pretty cheap, so I'd grab it if you're a casual shmup fan or major SNK fan.
This is a video showing a few things. Enjoy.
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