Underrated or well damn deserving? The "World Heroes" series

steveold

Guerilla Warrior
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Nov 7, 2001
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Notice the change this time around.

WH, WH 2, WH 2 Jet, and WH Perfect. As a whole and overall (or you can break it down from individual game to game if you wish), were these fighting games underrated for the most part.... OR, or were they damn deserving of the lack of talk/respect that they had from 92-95?

Answer wisely and live prosperously. Answer wrong and DIIIE. wink
 

FeelGood

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dude, I wish you didn't already own WHP.

I wish there was someone in the world crazy enough to want this game.
 

SonGohan

Made of Wood
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I don't think they're underrated. I don't think they're as bad as most make them out to be either though. The only real WH game I still like to this day is WH2.
 

Ignition

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A very shitty series overall. Bad charater designs, ripping off capcom moves, crappy backgrounds, awful music and awful sound effects. Just shitty.......
 

Hot Chocolate

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I would say it's under rated but it's not and it's not as bad as some make it out to be, I enjoyed playing this over SF cause I liked the whole death match thing, the series is bound to make it to my MVS collection sooner or later
 

Michael Yagami

I was wondering if I might get a rank with a Castl
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I've always found the WH series enjoyable. No, its not the best or most polished fighter on the Neo, but they're still fun.

Mike
 

Gamefan

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I have the series and love it! They actually get more play time in my cabinet than the KOF games I have (KOF 94-KOF99). I feel they are considered underrated.

GAMEFAN
 

Ducky

Haomaru's Blade Shiner
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I love the World Heroes series. Very under-rated, and damn well deserving of much more than it gets.
 

SNKJorge

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I also like the WH series, very underrated,
my favorit WH is WHPerfect.
 

Wing Nut

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The World Heroes series ROCKS! I am a huge fan. Okay, so maybe it's nostalgia that's gotten the best of me, but I can't get enough of these games. I remember when I preordered the original World Heroes from Japan Video Games soooo long ago and the day the UPS truck dropped it off. I about burnt that cartridge to a crisp playing it so much.

Cutting edge these games are not, and that's the point. They were never meant to be serious like the KOF soap opera. I see them as the Evil Dead of Neo Geo - cheese so bad that they're great. The sound effects are hilarious. The music is like funky elevator music. Hanzo's and Fuuma's hair, well, very unique. And some of the background animations are literally two frames. The most shocking thing is, all of these aspects work together in perfect harmony to form four of the best fighters the Neo has. Sure the Last Blades and KOFs are good in their own right, but none will surpass the fun the World Heroes series has brought me.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
 

steveold

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I think it's safe to say WH games are very hit or miss, no?

I think they're underrated. Overlooked, underappreciated, however you want to slice it. I think the Death Match idea was more than just a gimmick -- it was flat out cool.

I love the cast of fighters, and most people, even if they dislike WH, will tell you Captain Kidd isn't too bad a design/character/idea.

And Kim Dragon was the first "Bruce Lee" wannabe. Before Fei Long or Tekken's Law.

And World Heroes did introduce the "air fireball." (credit Rasputin)

ADK instilled a zany charm to the games and I personally dig it. I also like the idea of drawing fighters from historical figures/myths. From "Jack the Ripper" to "The Immortal Hulk Hogan" to "Zeus" to "The Monkey King"... this was more than your average "me too" fighter.
From the goofy endings to the great various BGM, it was unique, and I liked the fact that the WH games never took themselves TOO seriously.
Hell, just look at Rasputin's "Secret Garden!" :D

Blatant Street Fighter II clone? Sure.
A disgrace to the 2D fighter genre? No.

To relate things to playing cards; I guess you could say that Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Last Blade, King of Fighters and whatnot, are the "aces" of Neo Geo lore. But to me the World Hero games were definitely Kings... and sometimes, aces hidden under your sleeve, whether you knew it was there or not....

Thanks for the good times SNK/ADK... frown
 

Loopz

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Since I like you Steve, mums the word.

World Heroes is, um..........yeah.
 

NeoSneth

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WH was not goooood.

It was a decent attempt into the 3d fighting market, but it did not cause any waves.....or ripples for that matter.
 

Real Bout Maniac

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As a whole, I like the series.

The original was one of my favorite games back in the day, and one of the first titles to really make me WANT a Neo.

WH2, while I found it sometimes frustrating (damn Ryoko and C. Kidd! :mad: ), is still the overall best in the series. Everything just came together so well in that game that I think it still holds up pretty well, even today.

I actually liked WH2 Jet, as some of the additions (the newer character animations really made the game seem much more fluid) were quite nice. But overall, the lack of a Deathmatch mode and some other key World Heroes staples really kept it from having the same magic as the two previous titles.

World Heroes Perfect, while I own, I can't say as I've put too much time into. My basic impression is, that while superior to Jet, I still find it lacks that certain something that made the first two so special. I dunno... maybe I just need to sit down and spend some qualtity time with it one day.
 

chainsawyak

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EvilWasabi:
dude, I wish you didn't already own WHP.

I wish there was someone in the world crazy enough to want this game.
I want it. How much do you want for it?
 

tsukaesugi

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I found the ports

WH2 for the SNES,

and

WH Perfect for the Saturn

to be more enjoyable than the Neo versions, mainly because the controls seemed better.

This thread oughtta be in Gameplay or 16-Bit.
 

El_Duque

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Real Bout Maniac:
WH2, while I found it sometimes frustrating (damn Ryoko and C. Kidd! :mad: )
hey don't diss captain!

what was the story suppose to be about? a bunch of historical people coming together and getting it on? about half of the roster came from actual people.

janne=joan of arc
brocken=WWII german officer + terminator + dhalsim
c. kidd=captain kidd
dragon=bruce lee
rasputin=rasputin
muscle power=hulk hogan
j carn=ghengis khan
erik=leaf erickson
 

Takumaji

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WH series = totally underrated. And it gets worse every day.
 

leGionellz

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this series is a missed opportunity for all fighting fans. I love it, esp 2 and yes, I love 2JET as well. 2 for the deathmatches and jet for the fast gameplay and nice athmosphere.

I just don't understand why people hate 2JET so much, I mean, I like the characters, the feeling, the gameplay, the sounds, everything !


It's not the best in any way, but still good for hours of old school fighting. Definitly not games which are just sitting on my shelve.

I still need to get me WHPerfect, would absolutely love to play that as well.
 

tsukaesugi

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leGionellz:
I just don't understand why people hate 2JET so much, I mean, I like the characters, the feeling, the gameplay, the sounds, everything !
lol, even my video-game-hating-girlfriend said 'Wow, this game is slow and old' the only time we played it together!
 

Takumaji

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tsukaesugi:
leGionellz:
I just don't understand why people hate 2JET so much, I mean, I like the characters, the feeling, the gameplay, the sounds, everything !
lol, even my video-game-hating-girlfriend said 'Wow, this game is slow and old' the only time we played it together!
Heh, my girl is the exact opposite. She's also not very fond of video games in general, but she loves the WH series, specially Rasputin and his silly taunts, shouts and gay poses. Believe it or not, she's quite good with him.

About 2 Jet, well, most ppl hate the 2-of-3 opponents gameplay. And yes, I agree with them, but for me, 2 Jet is a cool game, simply because of one small little feature: dashes. After playing lots and lots of WH1+2, I went nuts when I first tried 2 Jet in a local arcade and found out about the dashing. It gave the series a whole new dimension, and iirc, the ability to dash back and forth and the slightly faster gameplay were reason enough for most magazines to give WH2Jet a much better rating than WH1+2.
 

Lou Gojira

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Sep 13, 2000
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I'm kinda' in the middle on this one. While I own WH Jet on Home Cart, and WHP on NGCD, and wouldn't part with them for anything, they've never got a whole lot of play time out of me because I was always more into KOF or RB. I like the whole goof-ball aspect of it, and admittedly I think much of the graphics are very well drawn. The problem I have is in the execution. The characters tend to feel like they're floating when they jump, and you never really feel the impact of the punches, like it's all a badly choreographed fight scene in a cheesy movie.

*edit* fixed some grammer

<small>[ February 21, 2003, 08:04 AM: Message edited by: Lou Gojira ]</small>
 

@M

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I've always been a fan of World Heroes, but I do have to admit the games are kind of an acquired taste. There's some issues with the gameplay, but overall, I think the series was fun to play, so long as you didn't take it too seriously.

I think World Heroes probably got the recognition, or lack of, that it deserved, when compared to its competition.
 

mario

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Oct 25, 2001
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Gamefan:
I have the series and love it! They actually get more play time in my cabinet than the KOF games I have (KOF 94-KOF99). I feel they are considered underrated.

GAMEFAN
I agree entirely :)
 
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