Crossed Swords

Crossed Swords is a bit of an odd-ball game on the Neo-Geo, but it complements another early release: SNK's own The Super Spy which released the prior year. Little is known about the development of the game, but we do know it had some success in Japanese game centers on launch being quite popular in mid-1991. There are no hard sales numbers to gleen much information from, but critic reviews from the day were generally positive, praising the pattern-based gameplay and light RPG mechanics. Crossed Swords was never ported to any of the popular 16-bit consoles of the day, though, which isn't surprising as I don't feel it would have worked all that well on any other platform. 

In Crossed Swords you play as a nameless knight who travels through a forest, a village, and a medieval stronghold slashing monsters with your sword. The basic gameplay loop is learning to block either high or mid attacks, then countering when you see an opening. You can strafe left and right but cannot go forward or backward manually, and all traversal happens automatically. 

The crux of the game is learning how to read the animation tells of the enemies to know where to block and when to slash. While you only have one life, you do have a health bar you can choose to replenish after each stage...for a price. As you kill enemies you earn gold to purchase new weapons or food items in between stages. A weapon’s melee strength is determined by how much you pay for it, but each weapon has a limited number of unique special magic attacks that either outright clear an area or deal massive damage to one foe. Because each weapon has unique magic attacks, once you wrap your head around the mechanics you might choose a weapon with lower attack stats but higher magic power depending on the situation you find yourself in,

There honestly isn't a lot to say about the gameplay tempo and pacing of battles due to the simple mechanics. This is a game that is 100% about pattern recognition and rhythm. It's not a rhythm game, mind you, but I can see it appealing to folks that enjoy the heavy emphasis on pattern recognition in that genre. It's a tough game, sure, but once you get the static AI patterns down it's an easy 1cc that will take you less than 15 minutes to clear. That said, the AES version defaults to two credits rather than the standard four, so you'll be starting over from the beginning more often than you'd probably like if you don't have a memory card. 

ADK's sprite work has always been a little "less than" SNK's, and this game is no exception. Still, it looks great with good draw distance in the pixel art and detailed enemies. Your character sprite is a transparent wireframe, which does look a little strange. At the same time, you need to be able to see all enemies at all times and having a fully realized sprite while playing would have gotten in the way. There isn't much to speak of in terms of music and sound design. It's all serviceable but not at all memorable. 

Really, Crossed Swords gets old quickly and becomes easier the more you play. That said, it is a nice curio of the early Neo-Geo library and can be rather addictive for the right type of gamer. Crossed Swords isn't a bad game at all, but it is quite shallow all things considered. 

If you're after a physical edition of the game, you have your normal SNK hardware choices. The Japanese AES release will set you back around $200-$400 depending on your source, and a US edition isn't much more in the 2022 retro market. The MVS release is getting a bit more rare these days, but still cheaper than the AES counter part. Crossed Swords also saw a later release on the Neo CD, but given these "early" Neo games are some of the more expensive on the CD hardware, you're better off going after the AES version if you're after a retail release. 

Crossed Swords did see a sequel that was exclusive to the Neo CD platform. It is one of the very few home-exclusive titles, but you'll see conversions and reproduction cartridges you can use on your AES or MVS for sale around the internet. You can read more about this most excellent sequel in the full review. 

If you're building your AES library, skip this one until you have many of the more sought after titles on the platform. Crossed Swords is a fine game, but for ~$300 you could have yourself dozens of better games that will last you much, much longer.