Last Resort

In the world of 1992 fighting games were just beginning to take off in the wake of Street Fighter 2 and Fatal Fury, so SNK's line up on the Neo-Geo wasn't yet full of fisticuffs. Due to this, the early Neo-Geo library had much more variety. During the first couple years of the Neo-Geo's life, SNK would develop or publish a number of horizontal and vertical shooters. While some of these are quite good (Last Resort, Andro Dunos), others left a bit to be desired (Ghost Pilots). 

As with Metal Slug some years later, Last Resort was developed by a team of programmers and artists that worked for Irem on seminal arcade classics like R-Type. While many folks consider this game to be an R-Type clone, I would beg to differ. While you can see some influence in the game design, I would call this game (along with others like Pulstar and Last Hope) inspired by R-Type. Last Resort is definitely its own thing, even if the graphics look like they are ripped straight out of the Akira anime.

The gameplay of Last Resort is somewhat standard fare for the time. You pilot a ship in a war-torn world against numerous enemy aircraft of multiple varieties. Your normal shot is not very powerful, but power-ups are actually quite plentiful in the game so you don't stay under-powered for too long even after you lose a life. There are a couple different normal shot upgrades you can obtain in the form of a laser shot and a barrage of missiles. Your ship is also not at full speed at the outset, so you have to collect S icons to increase your ships speed. At max your ship is very nimble, but the default speed isn't quite as slow as other games that have this speed mechanic so you never feel like you don't have the ability to maneuver around enemy fire if things get hairy. 

Much like R-Type, the crux of your ship's power is gained through the use of your bot. This attachment does not have the ability to act as a shield as the bot in R-Type or Pulstar, but you can maneuver it around your ship to fire a secondary shot in what ever direction it is facing. You can also hold down your action button to power up the bot and send it hurtling toward enemies. While this charged bot is useful in theory, you have to position your ship just right in order to get your bot aiming toward the trajectory you want it to travel. The reality here is that because the bot's position depends on your ship's position, you often find that you're unable to position the bot to shoot where you want because it will put your ship at risk of being blown up by surrounding enemy craft. You do have the ability to halt the rotation of the bot with the B button, but moving your ship around still moves the turrets around on the bot - which defeats the purpose of making it stationary. While I found using the bot a bit annoying in my play, it's overall not a bad mechanic and it eventually becomes second nature. It does take some finesse, though, and for new players it might be a deterrent. 

Like most shooters, when you lose a life your weapon systems and speed are set back to default which can lead to some frustrating losses as the check points often land you right in the middle of a particularly difficult section of a level with little firepower to try to push your way through. Thankfully, the checkpoints are plentiful but that doesn't mean much if you can't make it past the checkpoint unscathed. The game is mostly fair, but some design choices are clearly there to eat your quarters with no thought of balance given to the home market. 

Speaking of balance, playing in two-player mode throws all balance out of the window. Where as the single-player adventure has multiple checkpoints throughout the stages, two-player mode has you respawn where you died. While this sounds good in theory, it can land you in a few tricky situations. For example, during a boss fight there is no way to get your bot back which is the crux of your fire power. It makes the game needlessly difficult at some points, and a bit easier in others. It's a bad trade overall, though. 

Last Resort is a beautiful shooter with all sorts of fun little details thrown in for good measure. The backgrounds are beautiful and take inspiration not only from R-Type, but also the manga/anime Akira. Colors are dark and subdued, but still have flourishes of brightness to make it stand out. There are numerous types of enemy craft, and all have detailed sprite work that stand tall even today. A fun touch is the enemy pilots who are ejected out of their ship when they are shot down, so you constantly have these little people raining down around you. Sound design is admirable, with good explosions and effects. The music is outstanding, though, with an interesting mix of classical and electronic genres that give the game a very unique feel. 

While Last Resort is a good game overall, it can be too difficult for casual shmup fans. That said, the ardent shmup enthusiast will get a lot of mileage out of the game because of its difficulty and highly technical gameplay. It's not impossible to master, but it will take a lot of patience to get through. I doubt I'll ever beat this game on the AES' limited 4 credits as it's entirely too frustrating an experience for me. Last Resort is loved by many, and for good reason. Even though I don't have the game rated as high as other modern reviewers, I still whole heartedly recommend giving the game a shot (pun intended).

While Last Resort is one the cheaper shooters on the Neo, it is still prohibitively expensive for most AES collectors. Complete Japanese or US editions run in the ballpark of $450 to $800 depending on condition and where you purchase the game from. Of course the game is much cheaper on MVS and CD, but like all CD games, the price is quickly rising in the 2023 retro game market. The game is also available on the modern Arcade Archives release as well as on SNK's mini consoles, and that is where I recommend most people play this game. 

If you're into shmups and want some great ones on the Neo-Geo, Last Resort is a no brainer and should make it into your library sooner than many other games. If you're more into fighters, though, I recommend holding off on Last Resort until you grab a few must have fighting games first. Last Resort is definitely worth your time, but make sure you're in for a bumpy but beautiful ride.