USA Sports Team

Why do the USA Team have this aura of hatred around them? It seems that a lot of people really hate these guys... I don't even like them myself! Although Heavy D! is cool.... Is it because they don't fit in with the storyline at all, or is it something else?



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Why do i use the lame Mask strap in alpha 3? man i should use the super strap in Super SFX!

I dunno, I like USA Sports team! Especially Lucky, I have lots of fun playing him...

I think people just don't like that the USA Team doesn't look "cool" like Iori/Kyo/etc. Well, maybe except for Heavy D with his shades and stuff, most people like Heavy D...

Also, CPU Lucky plays hella cheap, hehe, he's always reading your mind and doing impossible anti-air things with that cyclone kick, and he's always throwing you when you least expect it ... people probably don't like Lucky because of that, hehe...

Oh yeah, And they dont seem to really mesh with storyline, so maybe people dont take them seriously, or something.

I

HATE

THEM


dont ask me why....been that way since 94...

i cant stand em,dunno why

i have to admit though,
that heavy d is not THAT bad as a char...

miles better than mickey rogers,
but nowhere as good as Vanessa

i reckon i hate em cos i cant really imagine...

i mean,
you just cant accept the fact that a basketball player can defeat TERRY BOGARD !

know what i mean?

no way !

I think it's mainly their appearances...
I know when I first saw them I was like, "THIS is supposed to represent USA??? What a joke!!" Pretty much the same things people said about Team China...

Then, someone actually started using them and was very successful with them. It started to open my eyes with the team, then I started to use them against AI and found them to be lots of fun. Lucky Glauber is very tricky with his kicks, teleport and his slam dunk super that's almost like a Power Geyser. Heavy D is a major technical player with crazy chains on all of his punches. I liked this character best, but alas I couldn't play with him as well. Brian Battler is just POWER... his football tackle super is a total energy drainer, and is sometimes hard to block.

Of course I was psyched when they were added back in KOF '98... I remember causing crazy headaches against turtles & keep aways with Lucky/Athena/Brian teams... you pretty much can't run when everyone can literally charge at you at top speed or teleport.

The chances of them making a re-appearance is slim, as they have always been voted as the worst characters. Abilitywise, they're excellen... but their look just doesn't appeal to most gamers out there.

Their gameplay is extremely powerful.

Character-wise, it's... strange.

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I eat King sized pancakes for breakfast, Terry-aki burgers for lunch, and meat Jhun with sloppy Joe and Kim chee for dinner. All I need is Kyo to BURN'em.

I wish I understood this aura of dislike myself, because to be perfectly honest, they're some of my all-time favorite KOF characters. Even when '94 came out, I liked them. And when they got some cool new moves and all that extra nice looking animation in '98, they were even better. I think what it is, and this is just theory on my part, is that SNK made them not to be taken seriously. Of course, the problem is, people automatically associated "nonserious" with "lame", and that's where the dislike started.

I'll give you another example. Think about the World Heroes characters. It's obvious that a lot of "tongue in cheek" design were put into them. This isn't a bad thing, it gives those characters their own special look and charm. But when you drop that same idea into a "serious" fighting series like KOF, it may not go over well.

That wasn't a slam to any of the WH characters mind you, just the closest comparison I could think of. For me the cool thing is, you're not supposed to take the USA Team seriously, but once you learn their moves and get into their styles, you take them seriously anyway.

Did anybody get to see any of the Hong Kong KOF '98 comics? Team USA were given boss status in the story, and how they were portrayed, it would make anybody think twice when viewing them again. Brian in particular is portrayed with glowing red eyes when he pulls off special moves, and fights five characters at once. Heavy D fought four or five characters, and Lucky went one on one with Joe Higashi, and that fight went for several issues.

I love Lucky and Heavy D!. LOVE THEM. But Brian just sucks too bad, and brings the group down. The character design just sucks, nevermind that he's not that great of a fighter. Sometimes I use my "sports team" in KOF98, and take Lucky, Heavy D!, and Terry Bogard! Mmmm..... now that's a cool team! What? I'm serious!

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It would be cool if Duck King led them in Kof 2001, to try to make them all cool, and full of street cred! Hell, Duck King needs to be in the next game, as a striker isn't good enough!

[ May 05, 2001: Message edited by: Rain ]

Theres nothing wrong with Heavy-D and BrainBattler on USA team.

Both can do huge combos and are unique playing characters.BrainBattler being capable of a 50% combo which is well worth learning.

The only downer is the very cheap,boring and low combos Lucky.Soooo crap.A perfect example deserving not to be in any further Kof games.

Replace Lucky with Rick Strowd from realbout2.

USA Sports Team F'ing RULES!

Well, except for Brian.

I love lucky and all of his moves.
Heavy D! isn't a bad character also.

It would be cool to see a match between Heavy D! and vanessa..



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PSO- Look for me as !GigaShock!, Primpcess, or Rolf on Ship:Titania Room:Neo Geo World

Sorry, Yojimbo, but I have never heard anyone say that they loved Brian B and hated Lucky! What is going on with that? B is just a big fat dork of a character, but Lucky is pretty cool with nice animations and a bit of style (albeit weird) with KOF98.

Spike


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<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Yojimbo:
Theres nothing wrong with Heavy-D and BrainBattler on USA team.

Both can do huge combos and are unique playing characters.BrainBattler being capable of a 50% combo which is well worth learning.

The only downer is the very cheap,boring and low combos Lucky.Soooo crap.A perfect example deserving not to be in any further Kof games.

Replace Lucky with Rick Strowd from realbout2.

Click to expand...

dude Lucky rules
nuff' said...

CPU lucky is the cheapest mind-reading CPU char I've ever fought, but really, it's fun to play as lucky. He has good zoning game that you can mix up with teleports and stuff, or something. And I love doing Dwn A, Dwn A, Hellbound DM; it's his only worthwhile combo, but it looks cool, and takes off heaps of damage!

All 3 sports guys are pretty fun to use, although I guess I like Brian the least.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Yojimbo:
Theres nothing wrong with Heavy-D and BrainBattler on USA team.

Both can do huge combos and are unique playing characters.BrainBattler being capable of a 50% combo which is well worth learning.

The only downer is the very cheap,boring and low combos Lucky.Soooo crap.A perfect example deserving not to be in any further Kof games.

Replace Lucky with Rick Strowd from realbout2.

Click to expand...

I think that the aura of hatred has something to do with their stinking personalities. They are the American Sports Team so they don't appeal to anyone but them "durned" americans. They are rather sterotypical. You know! Tall black man playing bball and fat white man playing american soccer (i'm aware of the soccer thingy, but i really don't think you can call american football for football, they only kick it right afer a touchdown or in the beginning, so i'll call it american soccer). They also have this black Mike T lookalike in their team. So i'm very glad that they are only in 94 and 98!

Yeah, their appearances are a big part of it, as well as how they fight (at least in Lucky's case). After all, who would you take more seriously: a young woman kicking a burst of energy at you, or a guy bouncing a basketball at you? Would you be more afraid of an mean football player, or an serious judo champion? On a similar note, this is probably why Heavy D! is the most "accepted" of the Sports Team; he's a boxer, and thus recognized as a fighting game archetype.

Not that I dislike the Sports Team, mind you. In fact, I really don't hate any KOF characters... except maybe Kyo and K', and even then that's on and off...

People most likely don't like the sports team as they aren't as colorful characters as the rest. Characters like K', Kyo and Iori are colorful so they are always have lots if attention surrounding them.

Originally posted by JIrish:
<STRONG>Yeah, their appearances are a big part of it, as well as how they fight (at least in Lucky's case). After all, who would you take more seriously: a young woman kicking a burst of energy at you, or a guy bouncing a basketball at you? Would you be more afraid of an mean football player, or an serious judo champion? On a similar note, this is probably why Heavy D! is the most "accepted" of the Sports Team; he's a boxer, and thus recognized as a fighting game archetype.
</STRONG>

Click to expand...

I get where you're coming from. But hey, um, Lucky has his big Hellbound DM, that's a chi attack! And um... basketballs... while Brian... tries to ram you with his shoulder... never mind.

I eat Lucky users for breakfast! Throw a basketball at me and i'll super your nutz.

Then cross your sorry butt up with a screw bodypress and 60% combo u till you scream "im sorry for being a cheapass!"

Stupid Lucky good for nothing...

Bring it, my Lucky's pretty damn good.

It pisses me off to see so many people rip on Lucky and Heavy D! They are two of my favorite characters from my favorite KOF.

So, bite me... all of you!

Spike

Well bite yourself as if you like the Sports team and everyone else doesn't then there must be something wrong with you. <IMG SRC="smilies/veryangry.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/tickled.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/redface.gif" border="0">

WOOHOOO!!!!! My first posted topic is still on the first page!!!

*Realises what he's just done*

Sorry... <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[ May 12, 2001: Message edited by: Rain ]

Heavy D! is cool, but Brian.....

"I am Number 1!"
Geez..... someone shoot him already!!
and Lucky - "Oww!"
nuff said.

Originally posted by Yojimbo:
<STRONG>Theres nothing wrong with Heavy-D and BrainBattler on USA team.

Both can do huge combos and are unique playing characters.BrainBattler being capable of a 50% combo which is well worth learning.

The only downer is the very cheap,boring and low combos Lucky.Soooo crap.A perfect example deserving not to be in any further Kof games.

Replace Lucky with Rick Strowd from realbout2.</STRONG>

Click to expand...

Well, one of my best characters in '98 is BrianBattler. He's very scary in ExtraMode because he can do a 50%+ combo at sweep range which is an overhead. He has good crossups and longs pokes, as well as autoguard moves. His DM's suck, however.

I think the USA team is very unique because they play very different from other characters, especially Lucky. He's like the only keep-away game character with O.Shermie. Don't tell me that those characters are not allowed to play turtle/keep-away because they look cheap. What, are they suppose to start pressuring like Kyo/Iori?

As for people that don't like USA team, either they hate their appearances or they can't play them.

The HEAVY!

I've always hoped that SNK would bring the team back with a few of the following: Heavy D!, Vanessa, Rick Strowd from Real Bout 2, maybe Axel Hawk from Fatal Fury 2/Special or perhaps Michael Max from Fatal Fury. The truth is the US Sports Team was never that popular. I mean c'mon the guys fighting with a freakin basketball... give him a baseball bat or a hockey stick atleast that makes a bit more sense. Heavy D! in general has always been the most popular of the trio. His appearance has ALWAYS reminded me of CLUBBER LANG (except "D" is a lil more laid back)! Anybody remember Mr. T from Rocky 3! Would'nt be a bit surprised if that's where they got the idea from. In my opinion Heavy D! actually carried the team. When SNK revamped him in '98 his character had depth. All his moves were not going to be mastered like Ryo, Roberts, Iori's or even Kyo. And Kyo in my opinion was somewhat technical when it came to defense. Terry is another technical fighter more so than Kyo but not as tech as "D" is. Heavy has a steep learning curve compared to the others. But once you do acquire the skill and unleash his full unbridled potential, it's a beautiful thing! He can play an opponent from a distance or crowd them so much that they barely have room to move.

He can switch back and forth in an instant from the offensive to defensive and vice-versa! With the proper patience and timing he can wait almost any opponent out. You'd be surprised at how many human players feel the need to punch or kick because he's taking up all their personal space! And GOD FORBID if you trap someone in a corner with him... I think he's one of the most under rated fighters in the entire King Of Fighters series.

One of them throws a basketball... I mean come on, how lame is that!?!