When do you think SNK's Fighters started to become really good?

[johhnnyD14]

Around what time do you think SNK really got fighters right and started making absolutely awesome ones?

Or do you think they were awesome from the start?

From my experiences, they starting getting really good with their releases around late 95 to 96, with KOF '96, Real Bout and Real Bout Special.

What do you think?

 

[BanishingFlatsAC]

Around what time do you think SNK really got fighters right and started making absolutely awesome ones?

Or do you think they were awesome from the start?

From my experiences, they starting getting really good with their releases around late 95 to 96, with KOF '96, Real Bout and Real Bout Special.

What do you think?

Fatal Fury Special and Samurai Shodown 2 are among the best SNK ever made.

 

[Kid Panda]

Fatal Fury Special and Samurai Shodown 2 are among the best SNK ever made.

+1

 

[ChrisB]

Fatal Fury Special and Samurai Shodown 2 are among the best SNK ever made.

Yes classics and one of the best. KOF 98 is great and last blade which was also released in 98

 

[johhnnyD14]

Something about Fatal Fury Special just kind of puts me off. Its definitely a good game, but in my opinion it's not incredible.

 

[wyo]

1992 - Fatal Fury 2 - Huge step up over the original and arguably SNK's first great fighter.

 

[CORY]

The first Fatal Fury game was pretty meh IMO but it started to get way better with Fatal Fury 2. With the Special upgrade, SNK was pretty much on par with what Capcom was offering at the time. While Capcom just kept going with SFII Dash Plus Rainbow Turbo X Edition, SNK offered something different with Samurai Shodown. This is when they really started to make really good games for me: when they became confident enough to make their own stuff.

 

[BanishingFlatsAC]

Something about Fatal Fury Special just kind of puts me off. Its definitely a good game, but in my opinion it's not incredible.

Just means you don't know how to play it and you need to spend more time with it.

 

[GohanX]

Fatal Fury 2 was probably their first really good fighter, but when Samurai Shodown came out that is when you realized SNK could go toe to toe with the best Capcom had to offer.

 

[ballzdeepx]

The first Fatal Fury game was pretty meh IMO but it started to get way better with Fatal Fury 2. With the Special upgrade, SNK was pretty much on par with what Capcom was offering at the time. While Capcom just kept going with SFII Dash Plus Rainbow Turbo X Edition, SNK offered something different with Samurai Shodown. This is when they really started to make really good games for me: when they became confident enough to make their own stuff.

Yeah I agree with this, SS was really the first game to make me say damn and pursue the home console. I played a bunch of the older stuff up until then but SS pulled me away from the capcom side for a long time.

 

[BladeDancer314]

Probably when SamSho2 came out, that game is really good.

They hit the great mark in 98 with kof98 and Last Blade

 

[johhnnyD14]

Just means you don't know how to play it and you need to spend more time with it.

Give me tips, master

Because I suck major ass

 

[ebinsugewa]

What's really great about FFS doesn't come out at first glance (and of course not in single player). High damage, but not brokenly so. Controls extremely well for a fighter of that vintage. Reasonably well balanced roster. You also have more evasive options than in Street Fighter. Truly excellent game.

And of course, this song:

 

[wyo]

Arranged version is awesome too

 

[beigemore]

Around what time do you think SNK really got fighters right and started making absolutely awesome ones?

Or do you think they were awesome from the start?

From my experiences, they starting getting really good with their releases around late 95 to 96, with KOF '96, Real Bout and Real Bout Special.

What do you think?

I think more 96-97 with KOF96/97, RBFFS, SS4, and WW7. 95 was good because it seems thats where they finally found their modern art style.

 

[klee123]

For me around 1993-1994 when Samurai Shodown came out which for me differentiated SNK from Capcom. Then KOF came out which cemented SNK's place in 2D Fighters.

I enjoyed Art of Fighting, but thought it wasn't anything special.

Didn't enjoy the early FF's either until Real Bout personally.

I think more 96-97 with KOF96/97, RBFFS, SS4, and WW7. 95 was good because it seems thats where they finally found their modern art style.

Now that you mention it, I do agree that around 1995, that their games used less and less English voices in their games as well.

The art was the biggest change and was more "Japanese" in style which I much prefer.

 

[FinalbossNYC]

each of their series had something original from the start but Samurai Showdown 1 was very innovative as a whole, most "firsts" in the fighting game genre started in SNK titles.

personal favorites looking back to that time

Samurai Showdown 1
Art of Fighting 2
World Heroes 1 (all bout death matches)
Real Bout FF Special
KOF98
Waku Waku 7 ( a must own)

 

[Bill Kilgore]

Starting at 1994. They made Samurai Shodown 2 and the first King of Fighters at that time. I like Fatal Fury Special and World Heroes 2 but i don't like em as much as most of the fighters that followed starting at 1994.

 

[Electric Grave]

Fatal Fury 2 was the real beginning, after that it was all groovy. I feel that the first attempts FF & AOF were trying too hard not to be SF and they went about it rather odd but once they realized SF was the way to go, I think things started looking up and up.

 

[oliverclaude]

The first Garou was a statement, SNK's own declaration of independence. The immense work Nishiyama put into the its creation was comparable to the efforts Terrence Young put into Dr. No, and the outcome was that raw diamond of a classic, the basis for all the years to come. Later, this rough gem got it's polishing and became a crown jewel. For anyone, who missed it: here's the story, told by the genius himself.



For me personally though, the further evolution of Vega's claw and Sengoku's bonus katanas into what later became known as weapon based fighters is where things started to radiate that distinct The Future Is Now glow. So naturally, I'd go with Samurai Shodown as my first choice. A full set of original characters, swords, splatter and the sovereignly Engrish in it's title. Iconic.

 

[Electric Grave]

Don't get it wrong Oli, FF is a fu game and the start of it all for SNK but it's not the game that made you think this was as good as SFII. I think it's safe to say we all know the story about SNK's Neo and the SF creator, a nice article for sure but even with all that FF is a stiff game,not as stiff as SF1 for sure soyou can really see the progress of the genre's progenitor but even at that both games are below SFII.

SF didn't really hit it until final fight got involved if you know what I mean...

 

[oliverclaude]

Certainly, and I don't deny your most accurate argumentation regarding FF's flawed playability at all. The effort tho is an extra issue, thus the extra mention in my post, which felt apposite. The fact that the Final Fight team worked on SFII is absolutely valid, too. I wonder if team Sengoku worked on SSI, as well. BTW, what isn't below SFII? You'd have to reach for the 3rd dimension to rival it's historical importance & godlike playability, so logically only Suzuki's revolutionary VF comes to mind as being close, otherwise adding second planes, zoom features, weapons or team sport to the formula is not enough, I'm afraid.

 

[BerryTogart]

"really good" is hard to say as preferences might differ on what defines that (gameplay? presentation?) - what defenitely did set them apart imho was the first Samurai Shodown, it introduced a very unique flair (at least there was nothing else on the mass market I knew in that regard at that time) and good gameplay - so I agree with oliverclaude at that one.

 

[Electric Grave]

Certainly, and I don't deny your most accurate argumentation regarding FF's flawed playability at all. The effort tho is an extra issue, thus the extra mention in my post, which felt apposite. The fact that the Final Fight team worked on SFII is absolutely valid, too. I wonder if team Sengoku worked on SSI, as well. BTW, what isn't below SFII? You'd have to reach for the 3rd dimension to rival it's historical importance & godlike playability, so logically only Suzuki's revolutionary VF comes to mind as being close, otherwise adding second planes, zoom features, weapons or team sport to the formula is not enough, I'm afraid.

I meant below as in gameplay. FF2 was more up to par with it and Samsho brought it up a notch with added mobility and larger stages.
SF2 is the measuring stick and FF2 and samsho were the first games to hold that stadard.

Final Fight is like the Newton of brawling games, including fighting games.

 

[oliverclaude]

Final Fight is like the Newton of brawling games, including fighting games.

Which would make you a Darwin, I gather .

Regarding the question of playability vs gameplay tho, I may lack the proper definition, but in my understanding the gameplay of SFII & FF is the same, there's no better or worse here, only a second plane added on the side of our King of Fighters. The latter plays more stiff, hence the less appealing playability. Or... it's just my way of hairsplitting.