Coinop classics 1986-2006 - which library to finish first?

[cjl8336 cjl8336]

SNK and Capcom had their unified arcade systems, but I wanted to play similar 1986-2006 2D titles from the other guys as well
No sports games though, it will take too long to play in a single sitting
Titles I am considering were released on similar platforms (Taito had several games on its 68020-based boards for example)

Where to begin?
Taito - lots of scaler games similar to Sega
Irem - shmups titles mostly, only played the original r-type a long time ago
Poly Game Master - haven't played any, but if it is supposed to be a Taiwanese neo-geo knockoff it should have some decent titles
Capcom - CPS1&2 library
SNK - neo-geo AES versions only if they differ substantially from MVS

 

[Deean]

SNK because it's not that long compared to others i think(except for the final boss in some games).

 

[Isegrim]

Capcom has all my essentials arcade wise.

 

[Bonkers225]

Taito > SNK > Capcom

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Taito will get you the best variety overall. And I mean that both in “genres of games” and “quality of games”.

Taito also has a ton of games that I keep discovering. Like, I don’t know they exist until I just stumble across them.


A final note: SNK has a lot of sports games in their library. Amazing, cool, beautiful and awesome sports games! But still, sports games. So that may be a turn off to you wanting to try them first.

And Capcom has name recognition, yes, but their arcade lineup is INSANELY REPETITIVE. There’s tons of stone cold classics, but you’ll have to wade through updates upon updates upon sequels to sequels if you go for them. Once you reach the 90’s, you’ll hit the “oh wow! Something fresh and fun!” which is immediately followed by “God dammit, not another Street Fighter 2 variant.”