Mutation Nation stood out on a platform seemingly smothered in fighting games. The Neo Geo is obviously a fighting game dream machine. SNK seemingly went to great lengths to make it so. King of Fighters series to the Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown games, fighting games were well represented here. Mutation Nation is in the fighting game family, just the red headed stepchild of the family favorite series. Brawlers are different fighting games, a sub-genre that is not as popular as 1 on 1. Players control one character with a few moves, often chosen out of three choices. Each character has a limited set of moves to use while picking up weapons to help. Enemies come in groups and do not mind ganging up on you either.

Mutation Nation showed SNK had a sci-fi bone

In the early days, SNK was not just focused on one-on-one fighting games. They actually went out and tried other genres on the Neo Geo platform. Brawlers were one genre that I, personally, enjoyed a lot. I was only slightly interested in one-on-one fighters around this time but enamored with the likes of Final Fight.

A mutated story

Back to Mutation Nation. The story is all about some mad scientist in 2050 gets in trouble with his bosses. The scientist was fooling around with the gene pool with some wild experiments. An explosion and missing mad scientist turn to a virus that infects the area. Eventually the area becomes a slum, and creatures start appearing. At least it is a different story from the usual “girl kidnapped” style that plagues so many other games.

Standing out in a crowded market

Mutation Nation features a unique take on the brawler genre. Enemies are different, often disgusting, which you kill with cool special moves. While other arcade games were copying real life style events, Mutation Nation threw reality away. You will face off against some oddball enemies that would be out of place in any other game.

There is no digital re-release of Mutation Nation available so it is eBay or Amazon for the physical cartridge. For more Neo Geo fun check out our coverage.

Carl Williams

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