Go ahead and take a quick glance over to the right at the sidebar of my blog.

Cmon..go ahead....yeah...right there. Yeah....right over there.

You'll notice in my hastily written and woefully inadequate "profile" there, that I said that I mainly use my PSP not so much for serious gaming, but rather for playing stuff when I have to sit and wait somewhere, which is basically true. I like owning a bunch of game compilations so that whenever I'm stuck at the laundromat or on a bus (rarely) or during a really slow night at work, I can just casually play some games to pass the time.
I have both the Capcom Collections (Which I recommend), the Sega Genesis collection, one of the Midway hits, and just the other day I picked up the SNK Arcade Collection Vol. 1.

(yes, I know that's the PS2 box, but trust me, it's also out on the PSP)

Unfortunately, what with all the speculation on whether or not SNK/Playmore is going away or whatever, I wonder if there will ever be a Vol. 2, because if not, that would really suck.

Vol. 1 is a pretty basic collection of some of the earlier Neo Geo arcade carts SNK was known for, featuring:
• Metal Slug
• Magician Lord
• King of Fighters '94
• King of the Monsters
• Samurai Shodown
• Art of Fighting
• World Heroes
• Fatal Fury
• Last Resort
• Top Hunter
• Sengoku
• Burning Fight
• Shock Troopers
• Super Sidekicks 3
• Neo Turf Masters
• Baseball Stars 2
(NOTE: World Heroes has to be unlocked, but more on that in a bit..be patient)

Basically, if you've ever played an arcade compilation disc, you pretty much know what to expect. The games are straight ports of the original version and are, I would say, 98% accurate, except for occasional stutters, lag, and control glitches, all of which are rare. There are bonus features for some of the games and ad-hoc 2 player. Now, I know NO-ONE with a PSP, so I have never played an ad-hoc game in my life, but mainstream reviews are saying the multiplayer is laggy and not very good, so take that for what it's worth.
In addition, like some other game compilations, this one has a "Rewards" system where the extras have to be earned by winning medals. Medals are obtained by achieving a certain goal in each game and then unlock the extra stuff, which unfortunately, really only amounts to a shitload of movelists for the fighting games. And you need to win at least 10 medals to unlock World Heroes as a playable game (which isn't very difficult).
Controls can be customized a bit and the video can either be 4:3, 16:9 (which stretches most of the games, obviously) or "original pixels" which projects at the original resolution which is smaller than 4:3.

Obviously there are some of you out there who will look at the games list and cream yourselves. If that's the case, please stop reading my blog and clean up, for god's sake. Then there will be others who will look at the games and say "Neo Turf WHAT?" But most gamers should recognize the major titles here, like Fatal Fury, Metal Slug, and Samurai Shodown, all three of which went on to spawn major, long-lasting series with a huge fanbase.
Admittedly, out of the 16 games, 5 of them are fighting games (6 if you technically count King of the Monsters), so if you hate 2-D fighters, especially ones with such old-school gameplay as these, then your probably better off with the fantastic tits...errr...gameplay of a current gen fighter like VF5 or Dead Or Alive 3.

Are the emulations good? Yes. Despite some annoying loadtimes and the fact that some games have slight pauses every now and then (presumably to load), these are the SNK games that we all know and love with the sound and music that, for better or worse, we all remember. Perhaps the game that will be the most sought after many gamers will be the original Metal Slug. Well, rest easy...it's all there, and the animation is NOT truncated, as it was in some previous console releases.

At $30, the collection is not a casual purchase per se (although it's $20 on PS2), but it's certainly good for people like me who enjoy arcade collections or anyone who absolutely loves these old SNK hits, and wants to relive those glory days. So, I recommend it, although most people already know if they're the type for this, I'd imagine.

Let's just hope a Vol. 2 comes along too, with the rest of the SNK classics we all remember wasting our goddamn money on.