Neo Geo Arcade 2 (Evercade) - Garou Alone Makes This A Near-Essential Buy

Evercade's collaboration with SNK has already delivered one top-tier collection in the form of Neo Geo Arcade 1, and the two companies have followed it up with this second helping, again made up of six AES / MVS classics from the early '90s.

Neo Geo Arcade 2 features Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Art Of Fighting 2, Metal Slug 2, Crossed Swords, Ninja Commando and Sengoku 2, delivering a nice mix of genres – no mean feat when you consider how many one-on-one fighting games there are in the Neo Geo's library.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves (also known as Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves) is widely regarded as one of the finest fighting games of all time, boasting exquisite 2D animation and an incredible degree of technical depth. If you're a fan of the genre, then this is likely to be the shining highlight of this particular collection; it's simply stunning.

In the same genre ballpark is Art of Fighting 2, which, while notable for being an improvement over its 1992 forerunner, isn't quite in the same league as Garou. Sure, the huge sprites and smooth zooming effect are still impressive by modern standards, but the gameplay is rather basic.

Metal Slug 2 follows on from the legendary first outing, and is excellent fun – however, performance hiccups plague it, including some quite dramatic slowdown. SNK released an improved version called Metal Slug X in 1999 to address these issues, and I imagine that will appear in a future collection. As such, Metal Slug 2 is perfectly fine, but I would have rather had X instead.

Crossed Swords is like a medieval Operation Wolf, with an emphasis on close-quarters combat. Mechanically, it's pretty unique; you can block incoming attacks, opening up your opponents for a devastating counter. There are also multiple routes through the game, extending its longevity.

Top-down action title Ninja Commando is perhaps the least essential entry on this pack, but it's still worth a couple of hours of your time, especially if you're a fan of games like Ikari Warriors, Shock Troopers and Mercs. Finally, we have Sengoku 2, a belt-scrolling fighter with mystical elements that has stood the test of time brilliantly.

All in all, this is another superb collection from Evercade and SNK – the selection of titles is nice and varied, and while I'd like to have seen more than six games included, it's still excellent value for money when you consider how much Neo Geo games cost on modern digital download services.