SNK was synonymous with arcade gaming back in the day, with the
Electrocoin licensed multi slot cabs down the seafront and generic one slot
cabs down the pub, usually with Super Sidekicks installed. During the nineties versus fighter boom, I
remember my classmates proclaiming that Fatal Fury was better than Street
Fighter II. I’m a bit of a Capcom fan
boy and they were wrong of course, but there is no denying that SNK left a
great impression on me.
I’ve been collecting
MVS carts for quite a long time now.
Over the years, my arcade collection has gone in different
directions. For a while I was more
focused on the Neo Geo AES. I was
fortunate in that I was able to shop in Akihabara,
and Den Den Town,
and enjoyed picking up AES titles. It
brought the arcade experience home like no other system. I loved the box art, and the sheer size of
the carts. It was exciting and novel
being able to buy them from game shops.
The console and games were super expensive, and prior to travelling to
I had only seen pictures of the home system in gaming magazines and played the
games in the arcades. As I grew older
and my focus shifted from console to arcade collecting, I switched to the MVS. However I’ve managed to hang on to the boxed
console I picked up in
and my modest AES collection. There is
something quite special about the system, and it reminds me of a certain time
in my life. I’d be sad to part with it.
Boards and MVS carts
I picked up from G-Front and Try in 2011.
I managed to get all
the MVS titles I wanted and was happy with my collection. However the collection is never finished
really, and I still manage to set new goals and find more stuff to buy. Over the last couple of years, I’ve visited
old arcade Operators here in the
to hang on to any games I didn’t already own.
Ops didn’t always store games very well, and the beauty of MVS is that
they’re pretty robust and usually work after giving the edge connector a good
clean. I’ve set myself a new goal of
getting a full set of MVS titles, with English label carts were possible, plus
the Japanese exclusives. The boards must
be original, no boots.
MVS carts from UK Ops.
As my MVS collection
has grown, it’s becoming more difficult to find the titles I need to get the
full set. There are some Japanese
exclusives that I stand no chance of finding without widening the search. I’m in no rush though, and plan to continue chipping
away at it slowly.
Here are some new
additions to my collection.
Burning Fight, Ghost Pilots, King Of The Monsters and
Thrash Rally
I remember playing
Burning Fight in the arcades. Even back
then it seemed like a blatant Final Fight clone, only not as good. It hasn’t aged particularly well, but I like
how it takes place on the streets of
Art of Fighting 3, Matching Serial #007009
Mutation Nation
Pop ‘n Bounce, Matching Serial #000108
Samurai Shodown II
