SNK 40th Anniversary Collection
By Paul Semel,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Collection of classic arcade games best for older gamers.
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SNK 40th Anniversary Collection
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What’s It About?
The SNK 40TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION is a collection of 25 vintage arcade games that include shooters, some beat-'em-ups, and a couple of real oddities, some of which a lot of players may never have seen before. Each game features its own story, though it's usually just a slim one about saving the world, escaping a P.O.W. camp, or grabbing food from the side of the road while in a moving car.
Is It Any Good?
For fans of old-school games who went to the back of the arcade, where the more obscure games were kept, this compilation is a gold mine. The SNK 40th Anniversary Collection presents 25 old-school games made by Japan's SNK Corporation between 1979 (the shooter ZMA Wars) and 1990 (the hack-and-slash game Crystals). While many are side-scrolling shooters -- including 1985's space shooter Alpha Mission, the 1985 tank game TNKIII, and 1989's Aliens-inspired S.A.R.: Search and Rescue -- there are also some interesting oddities. Chief among them is Munch Mobile, in which a car with googly eyes has to avoid oncoming traffic and other hazards while also grabbing food on the side of the road. This collection even, when available, includes both the original arcade versions and the console adaptations of these games, with the Xbox One version including both the American and Japanese versions of Baseball Stars!
As for what's been added for this collection: It presents all this old-school goodness in high-def (and 4K for those with fancy TVs), and there are some options that can make these games easier or harder. You can also now pause the action or save your progress, and there's even a museum that includes a chronological visual history of the company's games and some of their soundtracks. But while some of these games are still fun, some haven't aged well (I'm looking at you, Munch Mobile). It's also a bummer that this celebratory collection doesn't include any of the games from the company's biggest franchises: Metal Slug and King of Fighters. But if you're a fan of the other games they've made, you'll have a fun trip back in time with the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in video games. Is the impact of the violence in SNK 40th Anniversary Collection affected by the low resolution and pixelated graphics? Would the impact of the blood and gore be stronger if the visuals were more realistic?
In the "museum" section, there are some sexy drawings designed to promote the games in this collection, but since the original games weren't sexy, is this necessary or just a cheap attempt to manipulate people?
Game Details
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: NIS America
- Release date: April 2, 2019
- Genre: Arcade
- Topics: Adventures, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires, Space and Aliens
- ESRB rating: T for Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Last updated: January 9, 2022
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