This Year in Defunct Games: 2011 Report Card

Best of 2011: Odin Sphere, GrimGrimoire, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Ring of Red, and God Hand.

Worst of 2011: The fact that those are the only five PlayStation 2 games released on the PSN in 2011 (and in the foreseeable future).

Looking Back: For years Sony avoided talk about releasing downloadable versions of PlayStation 2 games. They had skirted the issue by releasing HD ports of God of War, Ico, Sly Cooper and other popular PS2 franchises. And then, out of nowhere, comes the announcement that five third-party published games would hit the service. Could this be the beginning of a new PSN store or a one-time thing?

Instead of releasing five of the most popular PlayStation 2 games, Sony (or rather the third-parties) opted for five cult classics. They include Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire, two well-received games from Vanillaware. We also got Maximo: Ghosts to Glory (the spiritual successor to Ghost 'N Goblins), Ring of Red (a tactical RPG from Konami) and Clover Games' controversial God Hand. The good news is that all five of these games were worth picking up (especially at the $10 asking price). Unfortunately, the bad news is that nobody knows when more PlayStation 2 games are coming to PSN.

With so many unknowns still circling around the PlayStation 2 store, it's hard to give it a high score. The games themselves are great, there's no question about that. However, with only five games released and no future games announced, it's hard to consider it an overwhelming success. I look forward to Sony really turning this PSN store around in the coming year or two, but for now it's underwhelming.

Looking Forward: The future is anybody's guess. With only five games released, it's tough to tell if this is something Sony plans on doing more of or just a one-time event. The fact that none of these games are Sony published properties suggests this may not be the next PSone Classics, but it may just be that Sony is working on a slow roll-out. I suspect that we'll see a big push for these PS2 uploads the moment the HD collections stop selling. Hopefully Sony figures a way to make these games compatible with the PS Vita and really pushes this new storefront in 2012.

Best of 2011: The King of Fighters '96 and Shock Troopers.

Worst of 2011: There were no must-avoid games released in 2011, which is good. Unfortunately, that's mostly because SNK only uploaded six games in twelve months.

Looking Back: Released at the tail end of 2010, the Neo Geo Station has failed to become as prolific as some SNK fans would have hoped. To date there are only 16 releases, with only six of those being uploaded in 2011. While that's not a huge drop-off from the year before, it's hard not to be disappointed to not get triple that amount. With so many Neo Geo games left unreleased, it makes me wonder what SNK and Sony are waiting for.

The good news is that the games released in 2011 were largely strong, with two different King of Fighters games and a couple worthwhile shooters. None of the games I reviewed received a bad score, though Metal Slug, Baseball Stars 2 and World Heroes were given a cautious yellow light. Even then, those three games are still worth owning, especially if you're into playing old school arcade games over the internet. Still, even with a few good games, it's hard not to be disappointed by the extreme lack of games in 2011.

Looking Forward: Unlike Nintendo's Virtual Console, I still have faith that SNK will release a few more Neo Geo games in 2012. Notably absent are fan favorites like Samurai Showdown 2, WindJammers, World Heroes Perfect, Neo Mr. Do, Prehistoric Isle 2, Twinkle Star Sprites, Pulsar, The Last Blade and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. If they can deliver even a fraction of those releases, then SNK will be sitting pretty in the coming months.

Best of 2011: Vanguard, Prehistoric Isle in 1930, Sasuke vs. Commander, Marvin's Wars and Ikari Warriors.

Worst of 2011: Athena, Street Smart, Vanguard II and the original Alpha Mission.

Looking Back: Between July and December, SNK released 14 different SNK Minis. That's only three less than Nintendo's Virtual Console in half the time. Unfortunately not every one of these games is an instant classic, but the cheap asking price ($2.99 for each title) makes even the stinkers a little easier to swallow.

Much like the Neo Geo Station, SNK released a big chunk in July and then divvied the rest out over the next few months. The first batch brought us some big players (Ikari Warriors and Guerrilla War), some golden oldies (Ozama Wars and Sasuke vs. Commander) and some real turds (Athena). Up next we saw Street Smart and Alpha Mission. Then recently we ended the year with P.O.W. and Prehistoric Isle. It's an interesting mix to say the least.

Many of these games were being released on a home console for the first time. In the case of Sasuke vs. Commander, this was the first time American gamers had a chance to play the forgotten gem. Sadly none of these games support multiplayer gameplay, an omission that can be blamed on the PSP Minis format.

Looking Forward: Although SNK has covered many of their biggest pre-Neo Geo hits, there are still a few left to tackle. Where's Satan of Saturn? How about Munch Mobile, Fantasy, Mad Crusher, Victory Road, Time Soldiers, Gang Wars and The Next Space? And what I wouldn't do for a port of Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf.

Best of 2011: Bomberman '94, Alien Crush, Super Star Soldier, New Adventure Island and Soldier Blade.

Worst of 2011: The only truly bad game in the bunch is World Sports Competition.

Looking Back: Much like the SNK Minis, 2011 saw the launch of the TurboDuo PSN Store. While not a specific storefront, this was the year when we saw more than PlayStation 3, PSP and Neo Geo populating the PSN games section. Over the course of three months we saw a total of ten releases, including most of the biggest hits on the platform. Then, after June, it mysteriously went dark.

Regardless of the short release schedule and the relatively high cost of games ($5.99, the same price as Sony's much larger PSone Classics), the TurboDuo Store offered quite a few worthwhile hits that worked on both the PSP and PlayStation 3. We saw Bomberman '94, New Adventure Island, Super Star Soldier and, of course, a Bonk game. There was only one stinker in the bunch, the horrible World Sports Competition. Even the so-so releases, such as Zelda and OutRun clones, were pretty good.

Looking Forward: It doesn't look good for the future of TurboDuo games on PSN. This welcome addition has a few things working against it, including the closing of Hudson's American branch and a draught of games that has lasted for half a year. As it is, the TurboDuo games hint at what could have been. We'll likely never see releases of some of the Turbo's best games, such as Lords of Thunder, Bonk 3, Air Zonk, Dracula X, Devil's Crush and more. On the plus side, Hudson uploaded the best version of Bomberman before they mysteriously stopped supporting the TurboDuo PSN store.