http://www.gamesdomain.com/faqdir/arcade_fighting_guide.txt THE UNAUTHORISED ARCADE REVIEW GUIDE TO FIGHTING GAMES (July 1989-July 1998) v2.5 By Michael Tham mike_tham@hotmail.com Preface by Jonathan Winkler (original author): This is a guide to nearly every arcade fighting game ever released since the trend started a looong time ago. The games contained herein were the sole responsibility of their companies and the author is in no way affiliated with these companies. The author did his best to keep the games' releases in order (most of us know that Mortal Kombat came years after the first Street Fighter II) but there may be some discontinuity. Still, he hopes you find this guide informative and useful when looking for old games to satisfy a new hunger. Remember, these are reviews. Opinions. Furthermore, someone out there is not going to agree with some of them. That's all fine and dandy with me, but there's really no reason to cry over spilt milk. I believe I am making an accurate representation of each game. This is meant for those people who may not have played one of these games. Intro by Michael Tham : Hello and welcome to the Arcade Review Guide to Fighting Games. When I found this guide at Andy Eddy's site, I liked it a lot as it was pretty informative and useful. Unfortunately, the original guide was last updated in 1995. So, I decided to continue with the guide. However I have could not get in touch with the original author as his e-mail address is not stated in this guide. I hope Jonathan would not take any offence in me continuing his work. Fighting games have been the most expanding genre of arcade games since shooters. The reasons are simple, they allow exciting competitive play and needed more skill. The only skill needed in shooters was to memorise the enemy and have quick and calculating reflexes. In fighting games, you not only need quick reflexes, you need to have in depth knowledge of the game mechanics as well as being able to anticipate and counter attacks. The genre boomed with the release of Street Fighter 2. SF2 is probably the most 'copied' game in the world. A few years later, Sega released Virtua Fighter and the 3-D fighting games were born. The market is still pretty much dominated by 2D games and the only really good 3D games are Virtua Fighter and Tekken. ( SFEX doesn't count as gameplay-wise it basically is a 2D game ) Also, the line between arcade fighters and console fighters has slimmed. Practically all the arcade fighters end up being ported over to home consoles. In view of this it will be stated which console the game is ported over to. The abbreviations I will use are : 3DO = 3DO GG = Game Gear SG = Sega Genesis SCD = Sega-CD 32X = 32X SS = Sega Saturn DC = DreamCast PSX = Playstation GB = Gameboy SNES = Super Nintendo NG = Neo Geo N64 = Nintendo 64 Games that have yet to be released on a home system will be marked with a * I will only rate the game that I have played and have extensive knowledge on. Games with a rating of * are approximations. All the original author's comments have been untouched. I really appreciate feedback and please also send in your own comments. Having more than one opinion on a game is much fairer and will readily put up any other thoughts one the games, even if they contradict mine as long as it is well argued and interesting. I encourage short reviews and score if you have played the game extensively. Also note that the games are not really listed in order of when they are released though it is a rough estimate. Happy Reading! This guide is best viewed with Microsoft Word. Future updates can be found at www.gamefaqs.com If you want to put this guide anywhere, be sure to tell me first. Original Author: Jonathan Winkler Current Author : Michael Tham On with it now... STREET FIGHTER II - The World Warriors (Capcom) SNES, GG Obviously, it all started here. It took a long time for this game to wear off with its many reincarnations which were, actually, the same game doctored up. Still, It would be unfair to knock on this game. This was the supreme innovator. Based loosely on the original Street Fighter game, which enjoyed questionable success in the mid-to-late 1980s, it sported much sharper graphics, much improved sound, and much smoother control than anything previously seen. It was the first game in which you could choose from a roster of more than four characters, and have them all move and act differently. It was the first to offer special techniques that were not simply button presses (excluding the original SF) and regular techniques that produced a range of effects. Finally, it was the first game that could be seriously competitive yet extremely diverse. All this combined to make a very inspirational game. Of course, for a long time, it was the only game in town. And sometimes it was easy to win by being cheap. But these were small gripes at the time. 9 FATAL FURY (SNK) NG, SG, SNES Not too far from the release of Street Fighter II, came a system called Neo Geo. It was tested in arcades and although there was a home market, the arcade was certainly cheaper to play and easily more profitable in the long run. The fifth game released for Neo Geo, and the first fighting game, was of course Fatal Fury. Although the game only offered a selection of three people, the game was more of a showcase of what the Neo Geo could do rather than a great fighting game. However, it was the first alternative to Street Fighter II and because of that many people managed to get excited over it, although breifly. There was not much innovation except for a few background conditions and a two-player simultaneous option which might have been more interesting had it been executed well enough. True, the sound, music, and graphics were good for the time, but the replay value diminished because of the confusing controls, and it lost its following a few months after its release. 6 STREET FIGHTER II - Champion Edition (Capcom) SNES Although Capcom was not exactly fearing for its life with the grosses off Street Fighter II, an influx of letters with both ideas and complaints got them back to work on the game. Although not exactly a new game, it did offer the option of same player vs. same player, options to play as the four characters who could not be controlled in the original, a slightly buffed-up look and some new moves for the original characters. This game did not enjoy the prolonged success of its predecessor, but it was still a top-notch fighting game. 9 WORLD HEROES (Alpha Densi) NG The second fighting game for the Neo Geo was World Heroes, and, like Fatal Fury, the game's style and slight differences from Street Fighter II did make it a formidable contendor for a while. Unlike Fatal Fury, the controls were a little cleaner, too. However, the style of the game was too much of a rip-off, since it used too many of the ideas that were originated by Street Fighter II. Not only that, but it was too easy as a one-player game, and too cheap as a two-player game. It faded out almost as quickly as Fatal Fury. 5 ART OF FIGHTING (SNK) NG, SG, SNES The third fighting game for the Neo Geo was Art of Fighting, arguably the best/worst fighting game for the system at that time. On the plus side, the graphics were large and well detailed, and the sounds were loud and clear. The controls were OK, although the play was a bit confusing. The one-player story mode only allowed you to choose from two characters, but the two-player mode let you choose any of the characters. The Artificial Intelligence of the game was pretty hard, and some of the special moves did way too much damage. Also, there was an annoying zoom-in and zoom-out which made the game even more confusing. With all its flaws, this game did not leave a lasting impression. 6 FATAL FURY 2 (SNK) NG, SG Released on almost the same day as AOF, this was the first sequel of many for a Neo Geo fighting game. Some control improvements, more new characters, big moves and overall smoothness helped this game gain the attention that the first one lost. This time, the addition of a female character (a very hyperactive female character) helped it keep its popularity. All the makings of a great fighting game, but still, something was missing... originality and profundity. The whole lot of techniques involved in the game were mainly designed for the 2-D fighting field even though there was a foreground and background to the game which might have made it more fun if the programmers had spent more time on it. Also, the two-player simultaneous mode was not present in this sequel, another thing the programmers could have improved on. 7 MORTAL KOMBAT (Midway) SG, SNES, GG, GB With only a few fighting games out as of yet, American companies were entering the fray, and Midway stepped in with their first fighting game. Instead of drawing and animating the characters, the programmers decided to use digitization, which would allow them to use actual film of actors doing punches and kicks, and incorporating it into the game. But that was certainly not the main attraction in the game. Mortal Kombat was the bloodiest fighting game to hit the market at that time. No game before it had ever had such an excessive amount. Gory fatalities involving decapitation, disembowelment, and conflagration were the most intriguing, innovative, and controversial features of the game. The game itself was pretty good, involving ways to "juggle" the opponent to get combo hits in, and some special moves with attitude. And instead of holding back to block in the game, there was a Block button, allowing the player to block while holding in almost any direction. The music was decent, offering high quality sound. Many people thought it better than Street Fighter II, though it did have its shortcomings, such as a selection of 7 characters in the game as opposed to SF2CE's 12. 8 STREET FIGHTER II TURBO - Hyper Fighting (Capcom) SNES, SG Capcom's third installment of the Street Fighter II upgrades was a turbo chip for the Champion Edition. Although it didn't do too much for the game, the faster speed, slight alterations, and new moves made Street Fighter II peak in popularity. Unfortunately, the then new Mortal Kombat was taking a lot of attention away from the game, so profits were low. Nonetheless a decent installment. 9 TIME KILLERS (Strata) Ouch. This game had more blood in it than a single human body could muster up, but that didn't keep a small crowd of hit-seekers away from it. It wasn't until it had been out for a few weeks that people began to realize that the game had lousy controls, ugly character sprites, lousy music, and some ridiculous moves (a "head" button? Wheee!!). It was possible to behead your opponent at any time during the round, which scored a win, and all you had to do was press all five buttons at once. You'd think that for something so devastating, Strata would have made it harder to do. I'm sorry blood-hungry fans, but considering the competition at the time, the game sucked...terribly. 4 WORLD HEROES 2 (Alpha Densi) NG The second sequel to a Neo Geo fighting game, but the first from a third-party company. All the characters were present from the first one, with the addition of six new characters, bringing the character total up to 14, which was the largest selection in a fighting game thus far. Each character had at least 3 special moves, some had up to 6. New backgrounds, some humor, and overall size helped this game become the new standard among Neo Geo fighting games, and nothing has gone below it in terms of quality. Problems here? Not too many, other than the AI was very hard to overcome and the final boss was really hard. 8 MARTIAL CHAMPION (Konami) Capcom and Konami were once dead-even in the arcade market. But that was before Street Fighter II. So Konami sent its first attempt to close the gap with Capcom in the form of a fighting game called Martial Champion, but unfortunately, it just wasn't enough. The game wasn't too bad as some games go, with huge characters and great sound, but its best assets caused some of its biggest problems. First of all the characters fill up half of the entire screen but are animated poorly. The contols are quirky, with three attacks: High, Medium, and Low. Jumping with a high attack was pretty useless, since it almost never connected, and sometimes the button you press while jumping makes the dynamics change so it's hard to time moves and techniques, especially since the characters jump so high the ground scrolls off the screen. Konami seldom fails, but this was no victory for them. 6 SUPER STREET FIGHTER II - The New Challengers (Capcom) SG, SNES, SS, PSX The first SF2 was considered great by many. SF2CE was even better, with its anti-cheapness. Many people liked SF2 Turbo for its speed, but by then a lot of people wanted a SF3. Unfortunately, they got Super Street Fighter II. This marked the decline of an era. The first gripe many had with it was its speed, which was significantly slower than Turbo. Secondly, some of the characters' original moves were taken out, and their new moves didn't do much for them. Third, the change in audio got mixed results from everyone; while the voices were more diverse now, there was less passion in them, and a kick no longer had that bassy thump. Finally, the four new characters were a mixed bag. Although their personalities fit in with the rest of the gang, only two of them passed the test of balance. Of the other two, one was too cheap (T. Hawk), and one was almost useless (Cammy). When this game first arrived, people did get excited over it, but over time grew apathetic and started looking for something new. And boy did they get it. (Read on...) 8 SAMURAI SHODOWN (SNK) SG, SNES, SCD This game came out with almost no anticipation over it, no publicity, yet it fought its way to the top three just for being a top notch fighting game in every respect. Innovative, excellent controls, lots of techniques, great one- liners, detailed characters, outstanding music, and a winning personality all combined to make this game the best Neo Geo fighting game ever. SNK included the idea of fighting with weapons into a fighting game and even included some animal friends who could do their share of fighting too. Great throws too. There's even some blood and gore, but it's not as serious as Mortal Kombat. Still, this game helped the Neo Geo gain a lot of respect in the fighting game field, and exhibited the significant change in SNK's fighting game staff (some members of Capcom's staff came over to work for SNK). 9 MORTAL KOMBAT II (Midway) SG, 32X, SNES, SS One of the more unexpected releases of the year was the sequel to Mortal Kombat, since the original hadn't been out for one or two years. But, that aside, the sequel was a dramatic improvement over the original, even though the style remained intact. Not only was the gameplay dramatically sped up, but the control was much more responsive. The sound was an improvement in quality but the voices were a disappointment compared to the original. Of course, there were the standard improvements, all beginning with more: more graphic detail, more characters, more moves, more fatalities, and more secrets. There were even some humorous-at-first-sight Friendships and Babalities. The game concentrated mostly on secrets, but this was a slightly flawed idea, since once all the secrets were discovered, the game got tedious quickly. Still, while the game lasted, it was quite fun, and sometimes it still draws some people to it at arcades. 9 FIGHTER'S HISTORY (Data East) SNES Although many games before it had attempted to imitate Street Fighter II, Data East had to go to court with Capcom because of this game and its "similarities" to Street Fighter II. To tell the truth, the game was not too great. The control was very clean and quick, and the graphics were somewhat stylish. The sounds were okay but nothing too brutal and the challenge offered by the game was mediocre. There really isn't much new offered by Fighter's History other than each character has a "weak spot" that immobilized them if it's pummeled enough. Other than that, nothing to write home about. It may make one wonder why Capcom was so afraid of it. 6 FATAL FURY SPECIAL (SNK) NG, SCD, GB Like Capcom with Street Fighter II, SNK upgraded the Fatal Fury series. This one came off a bit smoother than most upgrades, since it used some characters from the first Fatal Fury with all the guys from Fatal Fury 2, plus it made the four bosses from Fatal Fury 2 playable, bringing the roster up to fifteen characters. All those and a secret character from another Neo Geo game, Art of Fighting (who could be made playable in the home versions). The AI was dramatically improved, and other than a few improvements in the area of graphics, most of the stuff was just the same as in Fatal Fury 2. Still, A good upgrade. 8 VIRTUA FIGHTER (Sega) SS, 32X Although the Sega Virtua series had already debuted with a game called Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter was a game that unlike any other fighting game previously made. Using wireframe polygon graphics, the characters looked almost real in their fluid movements and many angles of viewing (which were nearly infinite), but up close they were blocky and their faces showed very little expression. The control of the game was both strange and innovative. Rather than have things like fireballs and teleports, Sega just tried to make the game with the most realistic fighting possible (except the jumping, where the characters would float in the air as if they ate six-hundred bean burritos). It was based more on timing and technique than quickness and response. The music was good, and the challenge was formidable. Probably the most innovative fighting game of its time. 8 SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO (Capcom) 3DO, SS, PSX Another one from the did-they-really-need-to department. Arguably the least necessary upgrade in the SF2 series, SSF2 Turbo was not much better than its predecessors. It did add some neat little effects as well as some minor tweaks in play and speed, plus a secret character, but these could not revitalize this old game well enough. At this point it finally started showing its age. The graphics and sounds were just the same as SSF2 and so I need not go further. 7 SURVIVAL ARTS (American Sammy) It should come as no surprise that the success of the Mortal Kombat series would spawn a few wannabes and that was exactly the case with Survival Arts. Yes, it had digitized characters. Yes, it had blood and carnage. But no, the gameplay was ridiculous. For one thing, you could jump at someone to attack them, but the hit detection was so weak, you might connect only 50% of the time. You could pick up weapons off the ground but you had to know exactly where to stand to pick them up. There were not a lot of special moves, and it was easy to beat the game by throwing fireballs the whole time. The music was terribly inappropriate, the sounds almost nonexistent, and the acting... let's just say no one's getting a movie contract out of this cast. I never knew a game could be this bad. This game made Time Killers look great. 4 BLOODSTORM (Strata) Strata made a good move by leaving the words Time and Killers out of this title, even though the game was obviously a sequel to Time Killers. Bloodstorm was better than Time Killers (actually, almost anything could have been better than TK), but only a select group of people got to see the improved graphics, decent sounds, cool effects, and overdone blood, thanks to the low distribution. The controls were quirky, but much better than Time Killers although they were obviously ripped off of Mortal Kombat. (But then, this whole "blood" thing was started by that game anyway). Loads of secrets inhabited this game, including the ability to modify and save characters with a password, make taunts, discover secret characters, and of course Death Moves. Not a hit, but worth a few plays. One of those games that you had to get into to enjoy. 7 ART OF FIGHTING 2 (SNK) NG, SNES With all the control flaws that plagued the first installment of AOF, this Neo Geo sequel was something of a disappointment, as it did not do much to correct them. There were a few improvements, such as full character selection (a range of 12 rather than 2), World Heroes-type controls (where the attack's strength depends on how long the button is held), and some additions in gameplay, such as throw prevention and defensive hops, but it just wasn't quite enough to provide the boost that other Neo Geo games had received in their sequels. Not only was the AI very cheap, but there was quite a lack of balance between each of the characters. It almost never got off the ground in popularity. 7 WORLD HEROES 2 JET (ADK) NG Like Capcom and SNK, ADK (formerly Alpha Densi) upgraded their hit World Heroes 2 game by adding 2 new characters and a tournament mode. Unfortunately, the game had no endings (strange...they were present in the predecessor), and it was seemingly easier. The home version offered more than the arcade version, such as modifying a character's speed, power, etc. With all the bad stuff that happened to this game, there were a few nice additions that brought it back up to former status, such as at least three new moves per character and new move dynamics that add some more technique to the game. Although it's quite different, it's only as good as it was before. 8 POWER INSTINCT (Atlus) SNES Power Instinct was a pretty decent fighting game. What makes it so? Solid controls. Nice graphics. Good music and sounds. Cool characters with some neat- looking moves. Innovation? Uh...well, not much. Power Instinct is the kind of game that comes along every once in a while where not much is wrong with it but it needs more of something. There wasn't enough moves in each character's arsenal to muster a big "wow" with players but there was some humor inherent in the game, and one of the characters can temporarily become a younger version of herself with different special moves. That seemed like a nice touch. Other than that, though, nothing too special about it. 7 FIGHTER'S HISTORY DYNAMITE (Data East) NG Although this game held great similarities to Fighter's History, the backgrounds, sounds, and controls were very different. Not only that, but instead of being a stand-alone coin-op, Data East made the jump to the Neo Geo platform for this release. I really can't say much about this release. The controls were a bit more difficult than the original, thanks to the limited four buttons on the Neo Geo, and the clunky joystick made some of the over elaborate special moves a pain to perform. The graphics were OK, the sprites were pretty much the same, and all the backgrounds were new. The most noticeable changes in sound were the music (it's actually a lot weaker than before) and the announcer's voice. Otherwise, Data East made the two original bosses playable, and added two more new characters to the roster. And, of course, they left the "weak spots" in. Not a bad showing from Data East, but I wish they had done more, since it has flaws. 6 PRIMAL RAGE (Atari/ Time Warner Interactive) SS, SG, PSX, SNES, GG, GB Trying to add something significant to arcade fighters, TWI came up with a stop- motion technology and used it in Primal Rage. The game was based around big dinosaurs and a couple of sasquatches who were worshipped by tiny humans wearing odd-coloured skins, but that aside, this game did draw quite a bit of attention with its rather large characters and difficult yet clean play mechanics (which required that the player hold down buttons and waggle the joystick in some way to perform special moves). The backgrounds did give a feeling of depth, and the sounds were loud and bassy. There were even a few added features: finishing moves (some humorous, some full of bloody carnage), the ability to eat humans (which gave the player more energy), and volleyball (it's a secret, of course). The game drew a crowd for some time, but even though an upgrade came out a few months following release, it didn't really last with some players. 8 DARKSTALKERS - The Night Warriors (Capcom) PSX Finally, everyone thought, a Capcom fighting game that's not Street Fighter II! I wholely agree with that thought. The characters in this game were mostly horror-fiction characters, such as a zombie, a mummy, a wolfman, and of course, a vampire. The controls were clean (due to their similarities to previous Capcom games) and the characters were medium-sized and animated fluidly. The music was pretty good, though not eerie enough for the dark personality of the game, and the sounds were not bad either. The backgrounds were very active and the game had turbo speed. The sheer number of moves per character was great, and each had enhanced special moves as well as super moves. Still, it felt like more of the same. I'm sure Capcom wanted to make this the next Street Fighter II but that just didn't happen this time around. Still, it's a fun game and pretty challenging too. 8 KING OF FIGHTERS '94 (SNK) NG The idea behind this game had great potential but the execution was fairly poor. The game worked with a selection of teams (each with three characters), with characters from previous SNK games like Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Ikari Warriors, and even Athena (Athena?!). Although there were a total of twenty-two characters in the game, there was no option for customizing teams or choosing individual characters. Too bad...that would have been a great feature. The controls were a bit cleaner than any previous SNK games (with the exception of Samurai Shodown) but the character selections were really unbalanced. One character might have had speed, strength, and reach, but another might have had none of these. The graphics were OK, but the character sprites were small and the backgrounds were somewhat plain. The music was pretty good, and each character had his/her individual voice. Otherwise, only average. 7 KILLER INSTINCT (Nintendo/ Midway/ Rare) SNES From a collaboration of some of the finest companies in the video game forum came Killer Instinct. Sporting a new look for fighting games, it used SGI rendered graphics instead of standard platforming or polygons. The effect was even more realistic than Mortal Kombat, another Midway product. Of course the main attraction of the game was that it combined the best of every major fighting game. The backgrounds seemed inspired by Virtua Fighter, albeit more detailed. The controls were every bit as clean as Street Fighter II, almost more so (a difficult accomplishment) and the characters were completely balanced, something that fighting games had had a hard time achieving since the beginning. The finishing moves were obviously the spawn of the Mortal Kombat series, and the humiliations as well. There was even some originality with the combo system. Rather than settle for three to five hit combos that do loads of damage, KI instead went the maximum with individually named combos that ranged from Triple (3 hit) Combos to Ultra (up to 44 hit) Combos. And just to be fair, there were Combo Breakers included which would stop any combo (except an Ultra). And finally, Ultimate Combos, which string a finishing move on the end of a combo. All that plus the standard secrets, like a stage select, turbo speed, and even a method to play as the final boss. My only criticism was that there should have been a way to play a game without the need for combos, but the sheer number of combos and techniques was probably what kept people playing. This was the game that took the top notch one step higher. 9 SAMURAI SHODOWN 2 (SNK) NG, PSX, SNES SNK proves that sequels are not just new characters and a change of backgrounds. The game looks and plays quite different from its predecessor. Four new characters have been added and one taken out (Tam Tam). The graphics are much more colourful and detailed. The gameplay has also been sped up and improved. Desperation moves can now be done after the rage gauge has been maxed. Another trivial addition were dollmoves : turning your character into a kawaii (cute) doll for a few seconds. The game plays much more solid than SS and the atmosphere is more intense. Who said that sequels are always bad? Considered to be the best in the series... 9 VIRTUA FIGHTER 2 (Sega) SS, SG Using significant improvements in their texture mapping technology, Sega released Virtua Fighter 2, which was a lot like the first game, only smoother and unfortunately a bit slower. The characters were all the same as the ones in the original, with the inclusion of only two new characters. All the old characters got new moves and new animations (which seems to be the requirement for sequels) and new backgrounds were created (all much better than the original's big platform with 2-D backdrop). A lot of voice was added to this one, probably to give it personality, but most of the voice actors were B-rated and their lines were long and simplistic. The game played exactly the same as its predecessor, which could have been good or bad depending on whether or not the player was used to this control. It's not easy for me to say that I liked VF2 any more than I liked VF1. I have to say that 3-D does have its flaws, but at least they're less apparent in this sequel. 9 X-MEN - Children of the Atom (Capcom) SS, PSX Adding a slight twist to fighting games, Capcom took an already-popular license and used its characters to create an intense, but unfortunately very unbalanced game. The combo system contained in the game was probably the loosest of any fighting game ever released. Basically you could hit your opponent anywhere: into the air, out of the air, and even while they're down. The AI could pull off some nasty tricks and cheap moves, and usually the super powered X-attacks were way too strong. But at least the action was fast (although the turbo was not adjustable) and intense, the characters were large and animated pretty smoothly (though, surprisingly, not as smoothly as in Darkstalkers) and the backgrounds had a lot of depth, (there is a lot of vertical movement, somewhat similar to Konami's Martial Champion). Capcom did put forth a lot of effort to get this game right. Unfortunately, it didn't come out quite as well as many would have hoped, but it was still pretty decent. 8 MORTAL KOMBAT 3 (Midway) PSX Well, MK3 could have been something new and exciting, but instead it used the exact same fighting engine as MK2(which really is not that bad, but Midway did nothing to correct its flaws)with the addition of only a "run" button which only let the player run forward and a combo system not unlike the one found in Killer Instinct.. This version, although it has yet to be upgraded, contained fatalities, friendships, pits, mercy moves, and the stupid-rumour-turned-true Animalities. In total the overall feel of it was a game that thrived on mere cheapness, where most of the special moves could set up combos that may take away a LOT of energy, throws could be done repeatedly without much chance of reversal, and many people could beat anyone using only a jump-kick and a sweep (one of the flaws of MK2). The characters were VERY unbalanced (Sonya has the fewest useful moves) and the new characters looked pretty goofy. The jump from the first to the second had people writing up high expectations for the third, but unfortunately it failed to meet them. Still, those who never got their complete fill of MK2 found some enjoyment in this one. But talk about the Capcom fighting syndrome... 7 DARK LEGENDS (Data East) SS A weapon based fighter based on characters from Chinese mythologies and history . The game is similar with Street Fighter ; utilising 3 slash buttons and 3 kicks. The graphics a bit on the simple side. The characters become larger when closer and smaller when farther, ie Art of Fighting. The graphics are a little choppy and uninteresting. The game received very limited release in the arcades so I doubt it is good. *6 KING OF FIGHTERS '95 (SNK) NG, SS, PSX A great sequel to one of the best fighting game series with one important change : the ability to mix team members! This really made the game much more playable. On the downside, it means that the weaker characters will be neglected while people only group the powerful characters together. There are some improvement in graphics and sound. The disappointing U.S.A. team were replaced by Iori, Billy Kane and Eiji. We finally get to meet Kyo's dad, Saisyu and hear more about that Orochi crap. Rugal returns as some kind of cyborg and is still as cheap. The damage setting is a bit too high where one simple combo can drain half your life. Worthy sequel... 8 TOHSHINDEN 2 (Capcom/Takara) PSX Since Capcom isn't making any 3D fighters they decided to release someone elses. Capcom did not make the game, Takara did but Capcom released it in arcades. When TohShinDen first came out on the PSX, everyone was too blinded by the graphics to notice how shallow the gameplay was. Surprise, surprise, the gameplay's practically the same, with the addition of an overdrive gauge. Good looks aren't everything. *6.5 DARKSTALKERS 2 : Night Warriors/VAMPIRE HUNTER (Capcom) SS A great alternative to Street Fighter. The cast from the first darkstalkers game return with 2 new characters, Lei-Lei ; a female chinese vampire and Donovan ; a pony-tailed guy with a BIG sword. The backgrounds have been completely redone and the gameplay is still the same. This time the bosses Huitzil and Pyron are also playable. Basically this is the same game as the prequel with new characters, moves and faster gameplay. The only downside to the game would be the depth. Don't get me wrong, this game is not easy to learn but its not hard to master, especially with the chain combos and all...8 STREET FIGHTER ALPHA/ZERO (Capcom) SS, PSX Capcom decided that 3 would wait and launched a new SF game using the Darkstalkers engine, introducing chain combos and air combos into the SF world. The characters were given a more cartoony look and Sagat got beefed up. Guy and Sodom from Final Fight made their first appearance into the SF world. More importantly it featured Dan's first appearance! ... 8 SAMURAI SHODOWN 3 (SNK) NG, SS, PSX, GB This time SNK decided to do a complete makeover. The characters were redrawn, the graphic style was changed and the gameplay overhauled. In short, its really a whole new game. Every character in the game now has a slash or bust personality. Slash is good while bust is bad. Whichever side you chooses affects your moves and strategies so its like having double the characters. The game also introduces Chizumaru, the new hero of Samurai Shodown who uses an umbrella. The game now has a much darker look to it and the music more haunting. The game didn't hold my interest for long (so I can't really give it a score), especially since Jubei was gone :( *7.5 ULTIMATE MORTAL KOMBAT 3 (Midway) SS Duuhh. Another upgrade featuring more palette-swapped ninjas than you can shake a stick at... 6.5 FATAL FURY 3 : Road to the Final Battle (SNK) SS A real overhaul of the FF engine. Much more cartoony look similar to the Alpha series and introduced some new characters into the series. The game plays similar to its predecessors and introduced hidden power attacks to the series. Like KOF 96, the characters have to share 5 stages among themselves. *7.5 TEKKEN (Namco) PSX Namco's answer to the VF series. Introduced the (in)famous tenstrings and secret characters that were basically carbon copies of the main characters. With graphics that blew away VF and impressive moves, the game was a big hit. The characters were more detailed than VF but the backgrounds were 2D. One of Tekken's best features were its simple and straightforward gameplay as opposed to Virtua Fighter's. Another of Tekken's draws were the beautiful looking moves that awed gamers everywhere. *8.5 TEKKEN 2 (Namco) PSX The sequel to Namco's big game that came out in 1995. Featuring better graphics and more characters, it caused quite a big stir in the gaming community. The game also had much more interesting characters (go Bruce!) and more complicated gameplay. Among the new additions were reversals and ability to dodge. Great effort. *8.5 FIGHTING VIPERS (Sega/AM2) SS Sega's alternative to the VF series featuring much more wacky characters like a girl on roller blades and a kid fighting with a skateboard. The game runs on a model 2 board and are pretty impressive. The combatants fight in cages and can use them to their advantage. The gameplay is much looser than VF and has much more 'Tekkenesque' moves. Still at heart similar to VF, there are few long combos that go over 5 hits. However, air juggling is much more effective and easy to use. The game has something to offer VFers while waiting for VF3 but the gameplay is a tad shallow... 8 STREET FIGHTER ALPHA/ZERO 2 (Capcom) SS, PSX The rather quiet sequel to Alpha. Got rid of chain combos (hurrah) and added in custom combos :-/ Capcom also added some of the most interesting fighting characters in ; Gen and Rolento. The old duo of Dhalsim and Zangief are also back in full force. Capcom also introduced Ryu's wannabe student, Sakura! The backgrounds have been given a much needed face lift ; now everyone has their own backgrounds! (No more sharing). There are much more detail and animation to the backgrounds. ( check out Birdie's and Gen's). Some backgrounds were more interactive like Dhalsim's where his wife would clap or despair depending on whether he hit his opponent or was being hit. Capcom decided to introduce Custom Combos which when activated, your character could chain any moves together and get a high hitting combo. It was not a very popular feature because 1) it drained all your super bar and there was no way to control how much super you want your custom combo to east. 2) It was not very impressive 3) Left you very open if not used in combos or on an exposed enemy 4) You were better off using your super combo. IMHO, this is probably the best Street Fighter game out there. (Until SFZ3 comes out) I mean up till today, people still play the game in the arcades...9 MARVEL SUPER HEROES (Capcom) SS, PSX The much anticipated sequel to X-Men! Featuring much better graphics, cool characters and aerial combos which changed fighting games forever. This is one of Capcom's best effort yet. The game manages to capture the feel of a comic book, especially in terms of the colourful graphics and excellent gameplay. Some of the backgrounds were a few screens long/high! Speaking of gameplay, this has got to be one of Capcom's most balanced game yet. It wasn't as cheap as the Versus games and it was tighter than X-MEN. Though Blackheart and Shuma-Gorath are relatively unknown characters, they are one of the most interesting and challenging characters Capcom has ever come up with. Another interesting feature of the game was the use of gems which could improve the characters' attributes. Even though the game is already 2 1/2 years old, it is a legend in its own right and reminds of the days Capcom games weren't filled with cheesy moves and cheap characters...9 LAST BRONX (Sega/AM3) SS Sega's first weapon based 3-D fighter. Only in this game, the weapons are not swords or any other lethal objects. Rather, the fighters rely on nunchakus and bos. (Though one of them uses a sai) The graphics are your standard model 2 fare which is pretty good. You fight in an enclosed arena though you can't use it to your advantage. The gameplay is very different from VF. It relies a lot on G- cancelling and aerial combos. However the lack of moves and slightly above average gameplay doesn't make it stand out in an overcrowded market... 7.5 KING OF FIGHTERS '96 (SNK) NG, SS, PSX Year after year, this series returns without fail. In 1996, SNK decided to change the game a bit by making it a bit close-range orientated. How? By 'Danning' the projectiles and replacing the dodge with the roll. And for the first time in the series, teams shared backgrounds :( SNK also introduced the bosses team comprising Geese, Krauser and Mr Big. *8 REAL BOUT FATAL FURY (SNK) SS SNK did not want to count to 4 just yet so they needed some fancy new name. Then the janitor said " What about Real Bout ?" Real Bout IMHO, is a big imporvement over the disappointing Fatal Fury 3. First of all the number of characters has been increased and some weak characters like Wilson have been strengthened. *8 VIRTUA FIGHTER KIDS (Sega/AM2) SS I think this game was only released in Japan so correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, the game ran on the S-TV board and was said to have started off as a joke when the guys at AM2 decided to experiment with facial expressions for VF3. VF kids is basically VF 2 but the fighters have BIG heads and short limbs. Probably the game's main attraction was the cute characters but that wears thin in a short time. It is very trouble some playing with the big headed characters and to judge your hitting range. At least Sega was smart enough to limit it in Japanese arcades... 6.5 ART OF FIGHTING 3 (SNK) NG Will SNK be third time lucky? The answer is no. After the limited success of AOF2, SNK decided to give the game another complete makeover. The result? Not very pretty. The AOF3 poster states that the characters were motion captured to make it even more realistic. I have yet to even see the game but a friend of mine adviced me to stay away from it. After all it did not even generate enough interest to warrant a port to consoles. X-MEN VS STREET FIGHTER (Capcom) SS, PSX (sort of) What do you get when you put the X-men and Street Fighters together? No prizes for guessing. One of the most innovative games ever, it introduces tag team fighting rather than KOF's waiting in line game. Capcom were smart enough to make the gameplay X-men style instead of SF. The characters are pretty interesting and diverse ( Psylocke would have been a lot more interesting than Storm though). The one drawback was the existence of too many easy to do infinity combos :( which just took away the skill factor from the game and the fact that many gamers shamelessly use it. But nevertheless, a fine effort from the guys at Capcom and probably the best of the Versus series... 8.5 SONIC THE FIGHTERS *SS Hhmmm, perhaps we will be seeing 'Mario Fighters' soon. Sonic hasn't had much impact on arcade games. I believe there was a 3 player Sonic game called Segasonic. (I think) Anyway, I believe that the game was only released in Japan and did OK, but that's all it did. Anyway, the game is a 3D fighting game running on the model 2 board, featuring characters from the Sonic series ducking it out in rings. The fighting is supposed to be funny with hammers and all the other stuff you can find on a Saturday morning cartoon. Though I have not seen the game or found any guides on it, I believe that it is a safe bet to say that it uses the VF P, K, G. MARVEL SUPER HEROES VS STREET FIGHTER (Capcom) *SS *PSX The sequel to XSF. This game should be called Shotokan Fighters VS non- fireballers. If you look at the characters, most, if not all the fireballers characters are practitioners of Shotokan karate ; Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Chun Li(why Capcom?!), Sakura, Spidey, Cyclops, Dan and Captain A. Another bad thing about the game was that there were no new characters unlike the 3 in X-Men vs Street Fighetr. Capcom was very lazy and used the SAME BACKGROUNDS from XSF and only beefed them up a bit. The game was slowed down a lot and there are some hit- detection problems. Capcom also decided to follow Midway and introduce palette- swapped 'secret characters' like Mephisto and U.S.Agent who don't look like their comic book counterparts. Big waste of time and money... 7.5 SUPER GEM FIGHTER MINI MIX (Capcom) SS, PSX After Puzzle Fighter, Capcom realised that 'kawaii' sells and is a good way to squeeze more money from the Street Fighter series. So, they have come out with probably the cutest fighting game ever. The whole game screams cute ; from the characters to the hilarious backgrounds. However, Capcom decided to simplify the game a bit with only three buttons ; punch, kick and special. The game plays a bit like the original though it relies quite a lot on chain combos. During their attacks the characters turn into other Capcom characters, change clothes or do some other funny stuff. Featuring characters from Street Fighter, Darkstalkers and another Capcom game, this fighter is fun. *8 SOUL EDGE (NAMCO) PSX Namco's first foray into the 3D weapon fighting department. The graphics were really good (when it first came out) and can even hold its own today. The characters really have personality and makes TohShinDen look like a circus. The game also has a weapon gauge which determines the longevity of your weapon. The gameplay is based on button tapping combos. The fighting is done on rings and like VF, there are ring outs. One of the stages is on a rocking platform on a river. *8 REAL BOUT FATAL FURY SPECIAL (SNK) NG, SS Fatal Fury -> FF2 ->FF Special ; sound familiar? What next? Real Bout 2 Special? To tell you the truth, this is probably SNK's most successful fighting series next to the King of Fighters. Well actually the first Fatal Fury was also known as the King of Fighters tournament. Its even written on Terry's hat. OK. Enough about gaming history. What's so special about Special? For starters, there are new characters. Well, actually they're old. Old characters are much better due to their nostalgic values (hear that Capcom?). Returning for another bout are Krauser, Cheng, Tung and Laurance. The graphics are still the same as FF3 and some of the characters have somehow met their dark side, namely Andy (jealousy perhaps?), Blue Mary (Terry rejected her?), Billy (got fed up being Geese's dog?) and Tung Fu Rue (couldn't get a date?). Nevertheless, the Fatal Fury series has always been one of the best and consistent series to date. *8 SAMURAI SHODOWN 4 (SNK) NG, SS, PSX After the somewhat disappointing 3rd outing, SNK decided to bring back some old guys from the past including the only true samurai in the series, Jubei ! (Hurrah) as well as Charlotte (Rachoo!) and TamTam (oosa!).The graphics have been improved a bit with some more detail but overall, it retains the feel of SS3. The game has some more of a 'story' to it with the backgrounds are not according to the characters but your journey to finish off Zankuro once and for all or get Zankuro's powers for yourself, depending on who you are using. Gameplay is still faithful to SS3 and much to SS fans, air blocking has been removed! *8.5 VIRTUA FIGHTER 3 (Sega/AM2) *DC Graphically, the most impressive fighting game in the market with ultra realistic characters and backgrounds. The graphical leap from Virtua Fighter 2 is astounding. The backgrounds are absolutely amazing, being made up of polygons, unlike other fighting games out there. Basically the game screams polygons! ( 1 million per second in fact) The snow, the sand, fire and birds. Everything made up to realistic polygon perfection. Great lighting effects and the characters look more realistic than ever. Jacky's leather jacket and Aoi's costume move with such realism. On Aoi's stage, the snow are actually polygons, not 2D graphics. The characters have very detailed facial features and move with life-like grace. One look at this game and you will never go back to VF2 again. Gaming companies should follow Sega's example of making sequels that look like sequels. The game also introduces the evade button and uneven fighting arenas to the game. Alas, only two characters were added ; Aoi, Akira's rival for the crown of King/Queen of reversals and Taka, a big sumo wrestler who has a sort of super armour like Hulk in MSHvsSF. Gameplay is where this game really differs from the crowd. Many people may get put of by the lack of flashy moves but once you get into the game, you will be surprised to see the amount of skill needed in the game. Virtua Fighter is not just about how fast you can pull of a move or memorising a 10-string. Its depth does not lie in having a lot of characters or having many moves. In fact Tekken has more characters and moves than Virtua Fighter. What makes the gameplay so 'deep' then? That, IMHO is the balance of the game. By limiting the number of canned combos, players have to develop their own strategies for playing. Everything is not predetermined. There's so much freedom in your tactics and every time I play, there is always something new for me to discover. The game controls like a dream. Its not rigid like calling a phone. Its more like a dance. Like you are the character. The game is probably the hardest to master. It will take a lot of credits before you can settle down to the feel of the game and a hell lot more to learn a character like Akira or Shun Di. Another thing is that I find this to be the most balanced fighting game out there. By having a smaller number of characters, it is easier to prevent having overpowered characters. The downside of the Model 3 board is of course the price and playing the game has really hurt my budget. Nevertheless, a fine and overlooked effort from the geniuses at AM2... 9 DEAD OR ALIVE (Tecmo) SS, PSX Probably the only 3rd party to use the famous model 2 board. Dead or Alive is an excellent fighting game along the lines of Virtua Fighter and Tekken. The graphics are a tad better than VF2 with more solid backgrounds and detailed characters. The game uses 3 buttons ; hold, punch and kick. Blocking is achieved by holding back or downback. What makes this game stand out is the hold button. It is essentially a reversal sort of move where you catch your opponents attack and reverse it, leaving your opponent open for attack. Of course your opponent can reverse your attack and so on. The gameplay needs time to get used to but once you settle down, the matches are very tensed. The game plays a bit more like Virtua Fighter, no 10 hit combos but rather relying on stringing individual moves together and creating your own offensive strategies. There are also chained throws like Tekken though they are too easy to reverse. The downside is that the game lacks moves and the reversal gets boring. There is no difference between reversing high and low attacks. Somehow its much easier for beginners to stand up to experienced players. Also all moves can be reversed which kind off sucks. Also the lack of a block button is bad for VFsque characters like Gen-Fu who unfortunately have no way to buffer in motions. Without a block button, the control is not absolute and you cannot buffer. The game would have benefited more with a more Tekken approach. On the whole Dead or Alive is a very solid game with innovative gameplay. Bravo Tecmo, I'm sure everyone's looking for Dead or Alive 2 ... 8.5 STREET FIGHTER EX (Arika) PSX Street Fighter enters the realm of 3D fighting.. sort of. Arika consists of the original Street Fighter programmers who have left Capcom. This is the first Street Fighter game to be done by another company other than Capcom. First the graphics. The game runs on a system-11 so it would be easy to port over to the PSX. The downside was that the graphics were blocky and the 2D backgrounds boring. Somehow shotokan karate seems to be even more famous with 2 more ryu clones joining the game ! (Arrrgghh) Though the game has loads of characters, a lot of them are just plain ripoffs ( Cycloid boys, Kairi ). To make it even works, Akuma can do a diving kick after an air fireball! Talk about your no- risk, high damage move! After talking about all the negatives, its time to move on to the good parts of the game. Firstly, there are no chains, air blocking or Alpha counters! (Yah, Arika) These features though widely complained about, have not received enough attention from Capcom. The game also introduces super cancelling into the game, which I think is better than having to press 1,2 or 3 buttons for their respective levels. Capcom copied this concept (sort of) to SF3. Another welcome addition is the ability to cancel super into each other . Though this feature sort of existed in SFZ with Chun Li and Nash, they were more of juggles. Nice effort Arika but the goofy characters (Skullo) have to go ... 8.5 STREET FIGHTER III (Capcom) Capcom finally counted to 3! After so many years of waiting, speculations and false rumour. SF3 runs on the CPS-III, Capcom's latest board. The first thing you'll probably notice is the smooth animation, more realistic characters and Ryu/Ken's funny new roundhouse sweep. The 2nd thing that will probably grab you is the number of characters available. Kinda reminds you of the original Street Fighter 2, doesn't it. I wonder how many instalments will its take before there is a decent number of characters to choose from. Kudos to Capcom for getting rid of air blocking and introducing non fireball and more importantly non-shotokan characters. The parry system was very interesting because it made fireballs not that useful, promoted close range fighting and needed more skill than just jumping in and holding back. The bad thing is that it promoted A LOT of poking games which just kinda sucks as this is a 2D game. The characters are a bit unbalanced with Yun/Yang being too powerful and the Shin-shoryuken taking way too much energy. Still, it is a better thing for Street Fighter purists than the XXXXX vs Street Fighter Series. Every character in the game has lots and lots of winning quotes, depending on who you fight and what super art you use to finish them off. Infinities are once again present in this game. Probably the worst thing is the last boss, Gill. Who in their right mind would come out with such a ridiculous character? Perhaps he is a reject last boss design from Vampire Saviour. Give me Bison any day . 8.3 TEKKEN 3 (Namco) PSX Will Tekken have what it takes to take the thunder away from VF3? Looks like it will. Due to porting to PSX reasons, Namco decided to use the system-12 which is just a system-11 with more RAM. The result? Minor improvement in graphics, lame 2D backgrounds and still blocky characters. However, Namco did improve the gameplay quite a lot with some new twists such as a fighter who can switch fighting styles and the ability to reverse reversals! Only some of the original cast managed to make it back to the 3rd King of Iron Fist Tournament. (Sob. Bruce. Sob) This would probably be the last time we see Heihachi unless he finds some fountain of youth thing. The new hero of Tekken is Jin, the offspring of Kazuya and Jun. Also we finally meet the god of fighting who is probably one of the most sucking (not to mention cheap if used by a person) bosses in gaming history (though nothing sucks as much as Gill). The game is even more complex than ever and has even more moves than VF! Brave Namco. *9 KING OF FIGHTERS '97 (SNK) SS, PSX How old is the Neo-Geo? 8 years? The latest instalment in the line of the KOF series arrives with more characters, the same graphics and more overpowered not to mention unbalanced characters. Actually, this has always been the case with the previous KOF games. Can you say Orochi? Sigh, SNK should have made them only selectable in the home versions. The graphics really look outdated now though SNK tries to make up for it with more details but it looks a bit washed up, especially the colours. 2 modes of play which are a bit different adds some new variety to the game which has had the same 19 characters for 4 years running with minor additions and subtractions every year. Still the characters' individuality do stand out and this is definitely the best so far in the series. SNK needs to move on to a new board before 98... 8.5 VIRTUA FIGHTER 3 : Tournament Battle (Sega) DC* VF3 goes KOF. I believe did this to compliment the Japanese group arcade playing style. The game has been received well in VF playing countries ie Japan, Taiwan, Korea and there are many teams popping up. Hhhmm, how come this never happened with KOF? There are minor changes to the gameplay such as new moves besides the 3-on-3 fighting. The graphics have been redone though and are said to be more beautiful. You can also change views from bird's eye view to Doom 1st person perspective. However, VF characters lacks the charisma and number to make this appealing to non-VF fans. I wonder what kind of lame story has Sega cooked up for this one? STREET FIGHTER III : 2nd impact DC* Here comes the upgrade to SF3. Guess what? Capcom decided to add three characters ; Urien, Hugo and Akuma! (How exciting!) Urien is basically a toned down version of Gill who has decided to use only one colour on his body. Hugo is quite interesting variation of Zangief though Zangief would have been a much better choice and Akuma... well, we know who Akuma is and man, is he overpowered. Sure he may not have the new ES moves that every other character had but he rules at short and long range, especially with his combos and multi- hitting fireball. By the time you finish parrying it, be prepare to get smacked in the face. Enough about Akuma, he's probably the only thing that spoils the game. The backgrounds have been given a face life but the old characters have not been changed much and some have been weakened, especially Oro :( Yun and Yang are a bit different, but not much. Though it is quite an improvement over SF3 with the ES moves and better graphics, not much has changed. The ES moves are like the ones in darkstalkers and your character flashes and has trailing shadows when he does them. Try harder Capcom, we know you can. Maybe in the 3rd Impact or maybe 21st... 8.5 VAMPIRE SAVIOUR (Capcom) Probably Capcom's most underrated series. The creatures of the night return with more wacky and interesting characters. There's Jedah ; one of the coolest characters ever, Queen Bee ; ok but nothing much, Bonnie Hood ; Rambo, eat your heart out and Lilith ; the Darkstalkers equivalent of Dan though she doesn't have crazy taunts. The game also introduces a 3 level energy bar like in XSF where some damage can be healed back. The backgrounds have been given an overhaul and even though the sprites are pretty old, they are still pretty impressive by today's standards, even more so for the new ones. Fine effort by Capcom. *8.5 SAMURAI SHODOWN 64 (SNK) The first game to show the power of the Neo-Geo 64 and man, if this is what the machine can practically do, SNK better go back to the drawing board! The first thing that strikes you is how outdated the graphics seem. Low polygon count, low frame rate (the characters move very rigidly) and boring 2D backgrounds. The characters can't even walk or dash! They just sort of slide on the ground. The graphics alone is enough to put people off. However, the gameplay is still the same (though a bit on the sloppy side) with some additions and is pretty good. This time there are two attack buttons, one for throw and one for dodge. What attack comes out depends on the button and direction. The throw is a welcome addition but can only throw standing opponents. The 3D dodge is very useful. The problem with this game is that crouching attacks and the C+D combo attacks are too powerful. The new characters are pretty weak compared to the veterans. Either that or they have some secret attacks I'm not aware of. Another fine addition is the ability to break wall and floors and proceed to another ring. The gameplay is solid but lacks depth. Only for Samurai Shodown fans...7.5 MORTAL KOMBAT 4 (Midway) *PSX, *N64 Mortal Kombat finally goes 3D! Does that mean that the game will finally return to its pre-MK3 glory days? The once again over hyped game is pretty much mediocre. The 'powerful' Zeus hardware cannot even touch the model 2. The polygon graphics do give the game a new sense of life and even better finishing moves. The game is back to its original dark and gritty atmosphere! Its an OK game, but does not have the qualities that made MK2 one of my favourites. The characters are still the same MK types. Not much variety in strength, speed, size etc. What's new is the ability to use weapons as well as rocks and skulls on the floor. This adds a little variety to the usual punches and kicks. This game is reputed to be much better than MK3. Whether it can stand up to the challenge of current fighting games is another question. *7.5 MARVEL VS CAPCOM : Clash of super heroes (Capcom) Another of Capcom's easy money-making schemes (what's next? Darkstalkers vs Street Fighters?), only this time there are plenty of new characters and improved gameplay. Now you can call on your helpers for help instead of your partners and many super combos rely on the helpers to guarantee a hit since they cannot be comboed. The number of times you can call on your helper depends on the effectiveness and damage your helpers can do. The graphics have been downgraded a bit, its time to move to the CPS-III. Some Capcom characters make their first VS game appearance ; Megaman, Strider and Captain Commando. On the downside, the game is even more unbalanced. Why did you weaken Zangief more, Capcom ? Why?! Its not like Zangief was ever overpowered! Sigh. And Wolverine got a new move. What the hell is Capcom thinking. And why the hell did they have to add the double attack mode where two characters jump in and you control both of them with unlimited supers within a time limit. It on promotes button smashing and 'cheapness'. Sounds a lot like custom combos. A lot of people use it to chip their opponent to death and there's nothing they can do about it. Furthermore, Capcom is thick-skinned enough to add some more cheap 'secret' characters which are lazily done ; Shadow Lady (which is basically a shadow Chun Li though she bears little resemblance to the awesome manga series by the creator of Video Girl Ai), Carnage (red palette swap of venom), Gold Iron Man blah blah blah. Sigh. Some even say that the armourless Hulk is the thing from Fantastic Four. Maybe some of Midway's people are working at Capcom? Must be. Still the game is very fun to play and definitely better than MSHvsSF... 8.3 RIVAL SCHOOLS : United by Fate (Capcom) *PSX Another unnoticed effort by Capcom (and rightfully so). The graphics are the same as Street Fighter EX. Only this time, the fighters are high school students! The story is that the high schoolers gather to solve some mystery. (By fighting each other?) However, the game is a tag team type game similar to the Versus series. However, unlike the Versus series, you can only switch partners after one round so its more like KOF except its two people. The team-up super moves are also in the game. The game only has two different punches and kicks and the gameplay is very similar to the Versus series. Where would a Capcom fighter be without a Super Meter and this is where the 'Burning Vigor' comes in. It fills up very, very fast and super moves play an important role in this game. The fighters are you would expect high school students to be. There are even footballers and Volley ballers! Sakura even guest stars in the game. THE FALLEN ANGELS (Psikyo) A rare effort from a relatively unknown company. The graphics are very realistic though the same can't be said for the moves which look a bit rigid. Psikyo tries to balance between flashy moves and realistic fighting. The backgrounds are pretty impressive, especially the stage with the large burning fire in the background. The characters are pretty standard with the cool hero, strange looking close-up fighter and karate exponent with flies circling his head! A fine effort to bring some originality to a pretty stagnant genre. That's graphic-wise but I can't comment on the gameplay. There seem to be some chains in the game as well as super moves. Any comments from people who have played the game? VAMPIRE SAVIOUR 2/VAMPIRE HUNTER 2 (Capcom) SS, *PSX Basically the same thing as Vampire Saviour except with one or two different characters. Vampre Saviour 2 has the missing characters from VS but kicked out Gallon, Sasquatch and one other guy. Vampire Hunter 2 has all the characters from Vampire Hunter but with Vampire Saviour's game engine. Why Capcom chose to release two same games with only different characters is beyond me. Wouldn't it be better to release one game with all the characters? STAR GLADIATOR 2 (Capcom) PSX* The sequel to Capcom's first 3D fighting game. The graphics have been improved quite some bit and the moves are a lot flashier. Lighting has been done well to give the game a much more polished look and the backgrounds have more depth though they are still 2D. Capcom follows the Namco trend of doubling the number of characters by having evil twins etc, etc. The game uses chain combo system like its predecessor. Its interesting to see a 3D fighter using anime for its intro and endings. If you like Star Gladiator, you'll love part two. REAL BOUT FATAL FURY 2 : The Newcomers (SNK) NG The latest in the Fatal Fury series, this time with only two new additions ; a Chun Li lookalike with Akira Yuki's moves and a kickboxer with white hair and a ponytail. Yawn! The Neo-Geo really shows its age with this game. The characters look very rough on a big screen. LAST BLADE (SNK) NG Unfortunately, a much unnoticed game which IMO, is better than SS64. The game uses the same ol' board but surprisingly, the graphics are not as rough as KOF97. As the game pretty much suggests, it is a sword fighting game with characters that could have come out of a Samurai Spirits game except they're not that dark. Instead of slash/bust, we get strength or speed. You can either make your character stronger or faster. A worthy game that should be given much more attention. EHRGEIZ (Namco and Square) PSX* Namco's first game that is not a follow up counter to Sega's games. A 3-D fighting game which really is 3-D. Unfortunately, I think the game runs on the system 12 so you know what type of graphics to expect. You fight in enclosed 3-D rings with walls, boxes, levels, buildings etc. Basically, you can move anywhere you want. You can play the game with the typical in your face tactics or hit and run. You can also use the boxes the fight. The characters look like they've come out from Tekken. Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 is also in the game! From seeing people button mashing at the game, I think Namco should stick to what it does best. Nevertheless, a noble and average effort. STREET FIGHTER EX2 (Arika) *PSX When I first say this game, I thought I was looking at Street Fighter EX's new secret characters. After realising that it was not because the intro was a hell lot different, I decided to give the game a go. The graphics are smoother and better than EX ; Zangief doesn't look like a Lego reject but the polygon count is about the same. In fact, the animations have been carried over. They just smoothed the edges with gouraud shading. After reading somewhere that EX2 would have better backgrounds, I was disappointed. The backgrounds are improved some what but are still plain, unimaginative and boring. Tekken 2 had even better and more realistic backgrounds. However, the best thing about this game is the return of more SF2 characters ( Dhalsim, Vega and Blanka ) and the getting rid of boring, unoriginal Ryu clones (hopefully they won't turn up as secret characters). For the fun of it, Capcom also added Hayate (Hayato) who belongs in Star Gladiators and IMHO is a waste of time and memory. He doesn't even fit into the name Street Fighter. Why not Cammy or Sagat or Fei Long? The moves have been beefed up graphically; when Ryu throws the Shinku Hadoken or Hadoken, there is a trail of dust following the fireball and when fireballs collide, there are polygonal sparks, some of which fly towards the player. The excel combo system is pretty much the same as custom combos where your attacks are sped up and you can chain hits together easily. The intro shows the characters performing excel combos. But unlike custom combos, button smashing will get you nowhere and it only uses one level of your super bar. Excel will also allow you to use super moves provided you still have one or two supers left. On the whole, the game does not deserve the name EX2 as the game is practically the same and is more of an upgrade. Perhaps they should call it Super Street Fighter EX... 8.5 PSYCHIC FORCE 2012 (Taito) The sequel of the crap Playstation game. Psychic Force is a Dragonball type 3D, 360 degrees fighting game. Your characters fight in a transparent box and can move anyway and there's no crouch. The energy and psychic bar are situated on the side of the screens. The game is filled with fireballs and impressive looking magical attacks. The graphics are smooth and detailed with no rough edges. The lighting is done pretty well to give the game a more solid look. The game uses three attack buttons : block, light attack and hard attack. Surprisingly, the game is on the top 10 list in Japan. MACE : the dark age (Atari) I finally got to see the game though there's only one in Melbourne. The game is pretty much similar to Soul Edge, even the characters. However its theme is based on gore like MK. The graphics are pretty smooth and look better than Soul Edge. In a way, it looks like a N64 game with the smooth textures to hide the lack of polygons. However, their movements are rigid and 'restrained' giving an unrealistic feel to the game. The game features different types of terrain, more so than VF3 as well as hazards such as spikes jutting out form the ground and swinging axes. The game play of course, relies on button tapping combos and there are even finishing moves ala MK. It looks ok but you'll have to like the chain combo games. *6.5 ASTRA SUPERSTARS (Sunsoft) *SS Now this is one hell of a wacky game from a company I have not heard from from a long time. I believe that Astra Superstars is their foray into the fighting game department and A.S. is a poor choice for their debut. The intro is really a put off - badly drawn characters and weird music. The game features characters fighting in a big 2D plane throwing fireballs and magic at each other. Think of it like Psychic Force and Dragonball meets some cute cartoon. Can only be appreciated by those into kawaii stuff. *5 SOUL CALIBRE (Namco) *PSX The much hyped game has finally arrived on Australian shores. For starters the graphics are very good and Namco is really pushing the system 12 to the max. The game has some of the most realistic and amazing animations ever seen, running at an amazing 60fps. Only a handful from Soul Edge return though expect to see quite a lot of secret characters in line with the Namco tradition. Also new to the game is the ability to move in the 3D game. As they say, if you liked the original, you'll love the sequel. KING OF FIGHTERS 98 : dream match never ends (SNK) NG After a quick month of speculation, perhaps the last KOF for the neo-geo has been released. On first seeing the game one would no doubt notice the characters are bigger and the graphics smoother. There are more colour to it and it looks brighter. Once again though, the backgrounds really are boring. The characters seem to have lost some detail. SNK has even crappier art when you win. Either you love it or you hate it. However, KOF fans care a lot more about the gameplay than the graphics. SNK brought back almost all the characters ever to appear in the series except for four. (don't be surprised if they turn up as secret characters) Also in advanced mode, the second character has 4 stocks instead of 3 and the third character 5 stocks. In extra, your charge bar shortens when you lose. SNK has finally done the right thing by making missed throw animations and weakening overpowered characters like Heidern. For KOF fans, this is heaven. For gamers looking for something different... wait until next year... Missing from this section: Shogun Warriors Buster (Kaneko) Knuckle Heads (Taito) Blood Warrior (Kaneko) Battle K-Road (Jaleco) Agressors of Dark Kombat (ADK) Perfect Soldiers (Irem) Power Instinct 2 (Atlus) Kaiser Knuckle (Taito) Double Dragon (Technos) Tattoo Assassins (Data East) Gowcaizer (Technos) Galaxy Fight (Sunsoft) Fighting Vipers 2 (Sega) War Gods Killer Instinct 2 COMING SOON TO AN ARCADE NEAR YOU! Street Fighter Zero 3 (Capcom) Samurai Spirits 64 II (SNK) UPDATES Version 0.2 27/05/98 First update in a long time. 0.22 09/06/98 Added SFEX2 and Rival Schools. Minor spelling and misc. additions. Can now be found at www.gamefaqs.com 0.24 23/06/98 Added Sonic the Fighters and Soul Edge. Some corrections. 0.25 3/07/98 Added Psychic Force and rated SS64. 0.27 11/07/98 Added Mace : the dark age and minor corrections. 0.30 31/07/98 Added Astra Superstars, Soul Calibre and KOF 98. CREDITS AND THANKS Jonathan Winkler For starting this guide and doing a good job on it! My parents For the money and support (sort of) Timezone For putting SS64 on free play :) That's two times already! Capcom For starting the fighting game trend with SF2 : WW All companies in this guide For keeping fighting fans all over the world happy. Gamers who love the challenge to use less used characters like Zangief, Jin, Chang Kohan, Andy Bogard and Takaarashi. No thanks Those magazines that give stupid 'strategies' like : though X lacks power, his combos more than make up for that or look for opening in your opponents defence and use X's combos to punish him. What happened to the good old days when you could actually learn something (besides news) from reading a gaming magazine? Those magazines that think that the only good characters in Street Fighter games are the Shotokaners and encourage people to use overpowered characters like Evil Ryu and Shin Gouki. The crazy reviewer of a certain magazine who gave both SFEX and VF3 the same score 9/10 and said that there was nothing new in VF3 besides the dodge. Up till now, I really can't find what's so different between MK3 and UMK3. Magazines who give too much (undeserved) praise to lame games like MK3 and War Gods. All games are trademarks of their respective companies. The ideas in this guide are the author(s). This guide is free and no money should be made from it. If you want to use this guide, please contact the author beforehand.