Developer Blastar just released his single-screen game aptly titled, Flappy Chicken for the Neo Geo AES, MVS, and CD. The game is a one or two player head-to-head game where you compete with a friend or yourself for the highest score possible. Think Flappy Bird but instead of trying to avoid crashing into pipes, your on-screen avatar (a cute little chicken) bounces on yellow chicks which converts them to eggs while simultaneously avoiding floating mines. It’s a simple and fast-paced arcade style game that high score chasers should enjoy.
This release is close to final, and the following fixes/improvements were applied:
– Fixed a bug in the competition mode.
– Changed the menu (AES/NGCD) and added a new option.
– With the new menuitem ‘border on/off’ the black border (recommended by SNK) can be disabled. This also expands the playfield to the complete 320pixel.
– Pause mode for AES & NGCD added, press [SELECT].
– All buttons (A to D) can now be used in the game to flap (suggestion from Mega Shocked), this way you don’t wear out A on your controller.
Flappy Chicken can be obtained through Blastar’s Patreon page, which also provides access to a few more WIP homebrew titles for the various Neo Geo consoles. Also in development is a four player Tetris style game as seen below. This will be the next release once Flappy Chicken is gets its final release per Blastar’s patreon.
Do not confuse the unnamed four player Tetris game with another Tetris style game released by Blastar named Looptris Plus. This one is a head-to-head versus game where the play field is based around a rotating column. In its current stage, Looptris Plus feels pretty complete and is very playable.
Finally, there is a demo of a side scrolling platformer simply titled “Jump and Run”. The demo has some gorgeous looking assets and looks a lot closer to the classic Neo Geo games that most people remember. This one has been in development for years, and I’m hopeful that it gets completed and released someday. The playable demo available from the patreon is a few short stages but it’s fun and shows a lot of promise.
If any of these titles grab your attention, then head over to Blastar’s patreon page. The games ROMS are provided in various formats such as Bin/Cue, MAME Zip, and Neo SD & Darksoft formats. The bin/cue files work on the Neo Geo CD Loader and even on the current WIP NGCD core for the MiSTer. Unfortunately, there are no physical copies for these as of the time of my writing this.
As a Neo Geo CD owner, these releases are great additions to the anemic library that the console suffers from in comparison to the AES and MVS. They are also single load titles that mostly avoid the juggling monkey and pad out the Neo library with a few more non-fighting games.
The four player Tetris game sounds like a great idea if the Neo Geo communications link or homebrew 4 player adapter can be utilized. The Jump & Gun is especially welcome for CD owners who have finished Blue’s Journey/Raguy, Magician Lord & Top Gunner, but missed out on Ganryu and Gunlord.
Blastar isn’t the only developer working on new titles for SNK’s most popular console. Neohomebrew recently released a breakout/Arkanoid style game called Hypernoid that has spinner support, and developer Fullset is working on a bullet hell shooter called Project Neon. Finally, Metal Slug, Cyber Lip, and Contra lovers may want to keep an eye on Cyborg Force, by Ozzyouzo.
