Welcome to 1991. A world where the only interactive computer games, other than n Commodore Amiga, was among the bleeps and cackles of a smoke filled arcade. Since the invention of the affordable console, thankfully those days of throwing old ten pence pieces down a slot are long gone. But if you have ever felt the yearning to play those classics again, here is your chance.

SNK Classics Volume 1 has 16 NEOGEO games from the 1990s: Art of Fighting, Baseball Stars 2, Burning Fight, Fatal Fury, KOF94, King of the Monsters, Last Resort, Magician Lord, Metal Slug, Neo Turf Masters, Samurai Shodown, Sengoku, Shock Troopers, Super SIdekicks3, Top Hunter, and World Heroes. Pangs of nostalgia already?

Here developers have faithfully recreated these classics. The animation is jerky, the handling often clumsy and they are completely addictive. Some obviously work better than others, Baseball Stars, Samurai Showdown and the exceedingly tough Shock Troopers work the best, but probably because they were better games in the first place. Given the PSP’s handling the games pass over well. There is some noticeable slowdown on a couple of the games such as KOF94 (just like the real thing!) but nothing that particularly hampers the fun.

The other budget release from SNK is King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga. There are five versions of the game that were released between 1994 and 1998. Like the SNK Arcade Classics collection – which already has KOF94 – they are faithful and enjoyable enough renditions, but I’m hard pushed to see the value in the KOF collection when the Arcade Classics is so comprehensive.

Given their budget price, the Arcade Classics are a superb and fun addition for anyone who remembers these games from the 1990s. yet for anyone born after 1985, it merely serves to show how far gaming has progressed.