I got to pondering this last night. After playing a round of Sengoku 3 (one of the best Beat em ups ever) I asked around the consensus seems to be Metal Slug 3, Garou, and Samurai Shodown 2. Crystalis also got a few mentions. I'm gonna poll here. These games almost always come up in a disucssion about SNK.
Vanguard was SNKs first classic game. BTW the last time I looked Alpha Denshi (ADK), Aicom, Noise Factory weren't SNK (or at least weren't when they wrote the games mentioned...) bit like putting Puzzle Bobble in the list as it first appeared on the Neo Geo
never got too into SNK's fighters. They're always so unbalanced that they aren't too fit for competetive play. But Metal Slug 3 is one of my favorite games ever
I voted for last blade 2 (i maybe liked 1 a little more but both are solid). Nods to Garou & Kof 98. Not sure why the massive love for MS3. I always though most felt 2 or X was the better metal slug?