Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
Neo Geo Battle Coliseum is an SNK crossover fighting game similar to its flagship series The King of Fighters, but it features several characters who have not appeared in KOF canon (such as those from Samurai Shodown, The Last Blade and World Heroes). It was released in 2005 on Sammy's Atomiswave arcade system, and subsequently on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox Live Arcade.
The game takes place in the year 2017, with a tournament being held by the leader of the WAREZ corporation, who seeks to find the strongest fighter in the Neo Geo universe and defeat him/her, paving the way for him to install himself as the supreme ruler of the world. In response, the federal government dispatches two of its brightest secret agents, Yuki and Ai, to investigate.
NGBC utilizes a 2-on-2 tag battle system, and teammates can tag in and out at will. There are benefits to allowing your partner to rest for a while, such as Regenerating Health, a regenerating power meter, and the ability to use an attack that stops your opponents from regaining their health (and in turn, boosting your attack power for a short time).
Arcade mode functions differently than most fighting games. Instead of a set number of opponents to fight, you are given five minutes to defeat as many opponents as possible. Once the time expires, you then face one of four different Final Bosses, depending on your performance.
Playable Characters:
- Original to this game: Yuki and Ai
- The King of Fighters: Kyo[1], Iori, K', Shermie
- Fatal Fury: Terry[2], Geese, Mai, Kim, Tung Fu Rue, the Jin brothers (Chonrei and Chonshu), Rock, Hotaru
- Art of Fighting: Ryo[3], Robert[4], Mr. Big, Lee
- Samurai Shodown: Haohmaru, Nakoruru, Genjuro, Shiki, Asura
- Last Blade: Kaede[5], Moriya, Akari, Washizuka
- World Heroes: Hanzo, Fuuma, Mudman
- Aggressors of Dark Kombat: Kisarah Westfield
- King of the Monsters: Cyber Woo
- Metal Slug: Marco and Mars People.
- Athena: Athena.
Bosses:
- Original to this game: Mizuchi[6] and Goodman.
- World Heroes: NEO-DIO.
- Fuun Series: Shishioh/King Lion.
- Batter Up: Ai's Batting Hero attack.
- Beam Spam: Mizuchi can throw projectiles at you from any angle, from any position.
- Expy: SNK deliberately expied themselves with Goodman, a blatant Take That to Igniz from the Aruze/Eolith days.
- Handbag of Hurt: Kisarah fights by hitting people with her backpack.
- Hikaru Midorikawa: Yuki's voice.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: All of Yuki and Ai's moves are named after old SNK games.
- Original Generation: Yuki, Ai, and the True Final Boss Goodman.
- Secret Character: Athena (the princess from her own game; not to be confused with KOF regular Athena Asamiya) and the Mars People.
- Shout-Out:
- The backgrounds and special move names are littered with references, not just to the series represented, but to other much more obscure SNK games such as Robo Army, Alpha Mission II or Top Hunter.
- Yuki is not boy.[7]
- Nakoruru's win quote against any of the fire users refers to Smokey Bear of all things.
Nakoruru: "Uh, didn't the bear tell you? Only you can prevent forest fires, so watch those flames."
- SNK Boss: Expected. After all, SNK is the Trope Namer. Notoriously, all four final bosses are ridiculously powerful and ridiculously cheap.
- Spiritual Successor: This is basically the sequel to SVC Chaos, minus the Capcom characters, but with better character balance and a tag team format.
- Take That: WAREZ is named after a term for piracy. SNK blames piracy for it's bankruptcy in the past.
- Your Size May Vary: Cyber Woo from King of the Monsters 2 was a building-sized robotic King Kong. This game's version is relatively human-sized and controlled by a human.