Do yourselves a favor and get the latest issue of GMR magazine (Soul Calibur II is on the cover). Upon getting this issue, immediately turn to page 52 to read an 8-page Editorial about the history of 2D fighting games. There is plenty of Street Fighter hoopla mentioned throughout the article, but the real attraction would be their praise of SNK / Neo-Geo games. They have a list containing the 5 best 2D fighters of all-time, and wouldn't you know it? Samurai Shodown II and Garou received glowing praise for being innovative, etc.
They wrote small blurbs about each pick from their Top 5 list, so I decided to share these with my fellow Neo gamers. What struck me funny was their explanation of SSII -- it basically mirrors the same philosophy we subscribe to here. wink Anyway... on with the show:
NO. 5 Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves
For years, SNK had been mining the same 16-bit hardware to churn out endless sequels to Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, and World Heroes games. Whereas Capcom eventually evolved beyond its dated CPS-II hardware, SNK stuck to its MVS system, presumably saving on R&D expenses (although not saving quite enough to avoid bankruptcy). But with Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, the company finally proved it could hang with the competition, which by this point was the Street Fighter III series. For the last time in the history of Fatal Fury, SNK ditched the bitmap character art for the hand-drawn anime-cel style of the recent Street Fighter Alpha games. Despite only one returning character (Terry Bogard) from the original Fatal Fury cast, Mark of the Wolves is the fastest, most beautiful, and technically accomplished fighter in SNK's storied history. Since the cartridge is prohibitively expensive (upwards of $500), it's recommended that gamers seek out the near-perfect Dreamcast version.
It looks like they have a die-hard Neo-Geo fan at GMR. In all honesty, I believe this one will hit a nerve with some of you:
NO. 3 Samurai Shodown II
Unless your local bowling alley still has an SNK MVS system (the kind with three or four games in one cabinet) installed, chances are you haven't been playing much Samurai Shodown II recently. Which is a damn shame, because this game is not only the epitome of the series, it's one of the most focused, hard-hitting fighting games around that has stood the test of time. For a game that came out in 1994, it's amazing how well it holds up. Guilty Gear X2, as fun as it is, wishes it were Samurai Shodown II. Boasting sharp graphics, smooth animation, and a roster of 14 characters strong (Gen-An and Cham Cham reprazent!), the true star of SS2 is the razor sharp gameplay. Sadly, SS2 was never ported to a console capable of doing it justice (a Playstation port was crapped out, but never a *sob* Saturn version), except for the Neo Geo CD, which all but 14 people own. Two sequels, Samurai Shodown III and Samurai Shodown IV Amakusa's Revenge were released for both Saturn and Playstation in Japan.
<small>[ August 01, 2003, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: NeoLord ]</small>
They wrote small blurbs about each pick from their Top 5 list, so I decided to share these with my fellow Neo gamers. What struck me funny was their explanation of SSII -- it basically mirrors the same philosophy we subscribe to here. wink Anyway... on with the show:
NO. 5 Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves
For years, SNK had been mining the same 16-bit hardware to churn out endless sequels to Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, and World Heroes games. Whereas Capcom eventually evolved beyond its dated CPS-II hardware, SNK stuck to its MVS system, presumably saving on R&D expenses (although not saving quite enough to avoid bankruptcy). But with Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, the company finally proved it could hang with the competition, which by this point was the Street Fighter III series. For the last time in the history of Fatal Fury, SNK ditched the bitmap character art for the hand-drawn anime-cel style of the recent Street Fighter Alpha games. Despite only one returning character (Terry Bogard) from the original Fatal Fury cast, Mark of the Wolves is the fastest, most beautiful, and technically accomplished fighter in SNK's storied history. Since the cartridge is prohibitively expensive (upwards of $500), it's recommended that gamers seek out the near-perfect Dreamcast version.
It looks like they have a die-hard Neo-Geo fan at GMR. In all honesty, I believe this one will hit a nerve with some of you:
NO. 3 Samurai Shodown II
Unless your local bowling alley still has an SNK MVS system (the kind with three or four games in one cabinet) installed, chances are you haven't been playing much Samurai Shodown II recently. Which is a damn shame, because this game is not only the epitome of the series, it's one of the most focused, hard-hitting fighting games around that has stood the test of time. For a game that came out in 1994, it's amazing how well it holds up. Guilty Gear X2, as fun as it is, wishes it were Samurai Shodown II. Boasting sharp graphics, smooth animation, and a roster of 14 characters strong (Gen-An and Cham Cham reprazent!), the true star of SS2 is the razor sharp gameplay. Sadly, SS2 was never ported to a console capable of doing it justice (a Playstation port was crapped out, but never a *sob* Saturn version), except for the Neo Geo CD, which all but 14 people own. Two sequels, Samurai Shodown III and Samurai Shodown IV Amakusa's Revenge were released for both Saturn and Playstation in Japan.
<small>[ August 01, 2003, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: NeoLord ]</small>