This is a rare event, where I actually get to write about a new arcade title before many people have played it.\u00a0 NG:Dev run by brothers RHE and THE have been around for a while now, making games for the ageing Neo-Geo platform, as well as ports to the equally defunct Dreamcast.\u00a0 There’s obviously a market for it too, since many NG collectors have more money than sense, and many Dreamcast owners are die-hard fans.\u00a0 If you want their cart releases, you’re looking at 300-400 euros, the price you have to pay for such a niche physical product.<\/p>\n
To date, they’ve released Last Hope (and the far superior Pink Bullets revision), Fast Striker and Gunlord.\u00a0 Last week they started shipping their newest title, NEO XYX (based on a PC title simply called XYX).<\/p>\n
NEO XYX brings a few new things to the table though which haven’t been seen in their previous games.\u00a0 First, the graphics are more in the Japanese arcade style, less of the heavy shading from previous games.\u00a0 Secondly, the game is primarily designed to be played in vertical aspect – a first for the Neo Geo platform some 23 years after it first appeared.\u00a0 This led to a little grumbling from fans, since dedicated Neo Geo cabinets are fixed horizontal, so they’ve also included a mode which rotates the text and controls so the game can be played sideways, although it felt a bit strange to me.<\/p>\n
The graphics in this latest title are by Rozyrg, and they look amazing.\u00a0 Everything is pixel drawn, it’s colourful, it’s well designed, it’s clean, the enemies look alive and feature great animation.\u00a0 The game also moves at a pretty solid 60 frames per second as you’d expect, with only occasional frame drops and some sprite tearing when the hardware is overloaded (only when bombing a very busy screen or during end of stage explosion fields).<\/p>\n
Sound is also well looked after by Rafael Dyll who has worked for NG:Dev in the past on all their previous titles.\u00a0 It’s a very European styled synth soundtrack with a fairly relaxed mid-tempo beat, and it suits the game perfectly with stages 2 and 4 being the stand-out tunes in my opinion.\u00a0 Sound effects are well done too, the mix is pretty much perfect – I’m a game music whore and really don’t like the music to be drowned out.<\/p>\n
I’m pleased to report that the gameplay is very sharp too.\u00a0 The ship speed is pretty high but not unmanageable and I got used to it after 10 or so plays.\u00a0 You have standard wide spread rapid fire on the A button (no powerups), and bombs on B which can be replenished by picking up the small ‘B’ icons left by destroyed enemies.\u00a0 Holding the C button at any time both focuses your fire and slows your ship down significantly – acting like a modifier button rather than the standard ‘A or C’ as found in many Cave games.\u00a0 It’s pretty comfortable, no issues there but it might not be ideal depending on your button layout.<\/p>\n