BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
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- Mar 21, 2014
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It's nice to see FFS rank so highly. For such an old fighter it really holds up well.
Well once you get into it - it really is a good game imho
BerryTogarts NeoGeo Fighters History Quest
- Thread starter BerryTogart
- Start date
Well once you get into it - it really is a good game imho
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
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A great day for me on my fighting game quest - as I managed to beat what is said to be one of the hardest fighters on the NeoGeo - Art of Fighting 2.
What started as a joke to a pal who visited me yesterday to play some couch coop (MvC2, Gigawing2) with my pun "If you dare we'll try to beat AOF2 and won't stop until we did it!", resulted in me finally reaching this milestone of my quest today.
While he hasn't much experience in fighters and often uses a jump-in-kick combination throughout the whole fight, watching his matches did allow me to check out the backgrounds more closely:
*) Is Macs bar a meeting point for satanists as there is an inverted pentagram on the wall?
*) Why does Ryo stock on car tires when he drives a motorcycle and uses a helicopter to reach his next fight?
*) Did the seer in Kings background anticipate me beating Mr. Big?
More importantly I managed to observe some patterns in the opponents while my buddy struggled against them and I decided to take down the tactics in a notebook. (See spoiler below)
What can I say about this game? It is hard... yes.. it is fucking hard. In my opinion THIS should have been called "Puzzle Fighter" because in comparison to the usual fighting games this more than any other game I ever played says:
"There is a pattern with which you can beat every cpu opponent that's in this game - good luck finding it! (By the way... you are going to suffer... a lot)"
That said you should only check out the spoiler below if you are close to throwing the game out of the window (and I mean literally, I SAID this sentence multiple times yesterday but actually didn't do it).
The "fun" if you'd like to call it that - is to find the patterns that work against the CPU - once you got them, the only thing that seperates you from victory is almost perfect execution of the tactics you found (should be easy - right?)
What makes this game so frustrating in addition to getting beat up over and over while you try to find the correct tactics, is that placement is SO important in this game - you have to actually know up to the fraction of an inch how long your leg sweeps are, how far you have to stand and ideally have a backup solution to get back in "the pattern" when you screwed it.
That said - if you are REALLY frustrated and take away the main thing this game has to offer - see my tactics below.
I did pick Ryo. (Useless and made up tip: Purple and White Ryo are the best Ryos)
What I didn't like:
*) Getting into this game - it is hard, it is frustrating, you hate the game - you find the correct approach in an (sometimes literally for me) hour of testing tactics against a cpu, then the next one comes and it's back to the start for you.
Once you FIND the tactic it is (for the difficulty of this game speaking) most of the time "easy" to execute and you make fast progress - but until this time comes.... the pain... the pain....
*) Button mashing in mini games - I hate button mashing
*) Background interaction: Granted I only had time to look at the backgrounds more closely when my pal was playing - but there isn't much happening in them. A horse moves its head, a topless guy cheers - yeah... great)
*) They didn't bother with ANY story any more: Ryo uses his helicopter to fly around in the city beating up random people for absolutely no reason - including his friend, his sister and his father. The term "price money" is mentioned in a concluding cutscene but that's about it.
*) They removed the speaker (I guess because of the story) that says: SOUTH TOWN! A classic from part one I did miss greatly
What I did like:
*) A dedicated throwing button that can be used no matter if you did punch or kick first. You wonder why this is in "like"? Well try AOF1 then you'll know what I'm speaking of
*) 4 colors for each character - nice
*) The backgrounds that are there ary nicely done and well drawn. They have static details and fit the characters - I like them.
*) The spirit gauge idea and feel of the game. What this game has speaking for it is its totally different approach - it is a very slowly paced fighter - and much deeper into "finding and executing tactics" than your average "combofest"
*) The mini games - the basic idea is nice and it is cool that you can "level up" your character during the course of the game
*) The feeling you have after beating this game yourself - not looking up tactics. It is a worthless achievement and no one will understand it - except the people who did beat it.
*) The ending credit jokes where they used basic animations of included characters to create funny scenes
The verdict: So hard to say. This is defenitely an intriguing game, but only if you are willing to invest the time and effort to play it extensively. If you are a person with little time at hand (I generally have little time but there are some weekends where I get so play 4 or 5 hours in a row so that works) or someone who doesn't enjoy clawing your teeth into a task - don't get this game. You'll end up more frustrated than happy.
If you are interested in the evolution of fighting games and look deeper into what programmers tried to differentiate their game from others - this is a very good game for you.
With all the frustration and time I did put into this game - it is never unfair. If you find the correct tactic and execute it perfectly - if you master this "Art of Fighting" - you'll be rewarded with a very interesting experience.
So - where does all this information put the game in the BerryTogart Ranking?
If it wasn't for its high entry level it would rank higher (5th) - but honestly, this is NOT the game you want to put into the console for a VS match with your pals who are not frequent fighting game players.
1.) Samurai Shodown 2
2.) Savage Reign
3.) Fatal Fury Special
4.) Waku Waku 7
5.) King of Fighters 96
6.) World Heroes 2 Jet
7.) Samurai Shodown 1
8.) Fatal Fury 2
9.) King of Fighters 94
11) Art of Fighting 2
12.) Fatal Fury 1
13.) World Heroes 2
14.) World Heroes
15.) Art of Fighting
16.) King of Fighters 95
over 9000) Galaxy Fight
What started as a joke to a pal who visited me yesterday to play some couch coop (MvC2, Gigawing2) with my pun "If you dare we'll try to beat AOF2 and won't stop until we did it!", resulted in me finally reaching this milestone of my quest today.
While he hasn't much experience in fighters and often uses a jump-in-kick combination throughout the whole fight, watching his matches did allow me to check out the backgrounds more closely:
*) Is Macs bar a meeting point for satanists as there is an inverted pentagram on the wall?
*) Why does Ryo stock on car tires when he drives a motorcycle and uses a helicopter to reach his next fight?
*) Did the seer in Kings background anticipate me beating Mr. Big?
More importantly I managed to observe some patterns in the opponents while my buddy struggled against them and I decided to take down the tactics in a notebook. (See spoiler below)
What can I say about this game? It is hard... yes.. it is fucking hard. In my opinion THIS should have been called "Puzzle Fighter" because in comparison to the usual fighting games this more than any other game I ever played says:
"There is a pattern with which you can beat every cpu opponent that's in this game - good luck finding it! (By the way... you are going to suffer... a lot)"
That said you should only check out the spoiler below if you are close to throwing the game out of the window (and I mean literally, I SAID this sentence multiple times yesterday but actually didn't do it).
The "fun" if you'd like to call it that - is to find the patterns that work against the CPU - once you got them, the only thing that seperates you from victory is almost perfect execution of the tactics you found (should be easy - right?)
What makes this game so frustrating in addition to getting beat up over and over while you try to find the correct tactics, is that placement is SO important in this game - you have to actually know up to the fraction of an inch how long your leg sweeps are, how far you have to stand and ideally have a backup solution to get back in "the pattern" when you screwed it.
That said - if you are REALLY frustrated and take away the main thing this game has to offer - see my tactics below.
I did pick Ryo. (Useless and made up tip: Purple and White Ryo are the best Ryos)
Spoiler:
What I didn't like:
*) Getting into this game - it is hard, it is frustrating, you hate the game - you find the correct approach in an (sometimes literally for me) hour of testing tactics against a cpu, then the next one comes and it's back to the start for you.
Once you FIND the tactic it is (for the difficulty of this game speaking) most of the time "easy" to execute and you make fast progress - but until this time comes.... the pain... the pain....
*) Button mashing in mini games - I hate button mashing
*) Background interaction: Granted I only had time to look at the backgrounds more closely when my pal was playing - but there isn't much happening in them. A horse moves its head, a topless guy cheers - yeah... great)
*) They didn't bother with ANY story any more: Ryo uses his helicopter to fly around in the city beating up random people for absolutely no reason - including his friend, his sister and his father. The term "price money" is mentioned in a concluding cutscene but that's about it.
*) They removed the speaker (I guess because of the story) that says: SOUTH TOWN! A classic from part one I did miss greatly
What I did like:
*) A dedicated throwing button that can be used no matter if you did punch or kick first. You wonder why this is in "like"? Well try AOF1 then you'll know what I'm speaking of
*) 4 colors for each character - nice
*) The backgrounds that are there ary nicely done and well drawn. They have static details and fit the characters - I like them.
*) The spirit gauge idea and feel of the game. What this game has speaking for it is its totally different approach - it is a very slowly paced fighter - and much deeper into "finding and executing tactics" than your average "combofest"
*) The mini games - the basic idea is nice and it is cool that you can "level up" your character during the course of the game
*) The feeling you have after beating this game yourself - not looking up tactics. It is a worthless achievement and no one will understand it - except the people who did beat it.
*) The ending credit jokes where they used basic animations of included characters to create funny scenes
The verdict: So hard to say. This is defenitely an intriguing game, but only if you are willing to invest the time and effort to play it extensively. If you are a person with little time at hand (I generally have little time but there are some weekends where I get so play 4 or 5 hours in a row so that works) or someone who doesn't enjoy clawing your teeth into a task - don't get this game. You'll end up more frustrated than happy.
If you are interested in the evolution of fighting games and look deeper into what programmers tried to differentiate their game from others - this is a very good game for you.
With all the frustration and time I did put into this game - it is never unfair. If you find the correct tactic and execute it perfectly - if you master this "Art of Fighting" - you'll be rewarded with a very interesting experience.
So - where does all this information put the game in the BerryTogart Ranking?
If it wasn't for its high entry level it would rank higher (5th) - but honestly, this is NOT the game you want to put into the console for a VS match with your pals who are not frequent fighting game players.
1.) Samurai Shodown 2
2.) Savage Reign
3.) Fatal Fury Special
4.) Waku Waku 7
5.) King of Fighters 96
6.) World Heroes 2 Jet
7.) Samurai Shodown 1
8.) Fatal Fury 2
9.) King of Fighters 94
11) Art of Fighting 2
12.) Fatal Fury 1
13.) World Heroes 2
14.) World Heroes
15.) Art of Fighting
16.) King of Fighters 95
over 9000) Galaxy Fight
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
Correction to Galaxy Fight positive parts after getting hinted at it by whisp: The soundtrack is pretty well done and once you search for an OST on YouTube or similar without having to look at or play this abomination I have to admit the music is pretty well done (too bad for the composers that hardly anyone will notice)
New Rating: over 8999)
New Rating: over 8999)
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
Having completed Art of Fighting 2 - it's time for part 3!
I played this the first time at Stromkabels home on a cab and was impressed on how the style changed and how good the gameplay felt.
The sprites seem to be a bit smaller, gameplay seems to be a bit faster.
When looking at the intro which typically features the basic moves explainations for the games it seems that a tripping move joined the the classic throw - which is a nice addition.
Playing the first few rounds the first thing one realises after having played AoF1 and AoF2 is: this is SO much easier than the other two iterations.
Special Moves still hit very hard and spirit management is still a thing - though it isn't as important as in the previous iterations.
Newly introduced is a "desperation move" that can only be performed with low life and about 3/4 spirit - but boy do they hit.
You can even drain a big chunk of the last bosses lifebar with that move and more than once it turned a fight I was in completely around.
This time our heroes seem to be leaving SOUTH TOWN! to wreak havoc in different parts of the world (seems like Mexico). Along with that the player is presented with a completely new cast apart from the returning characters Ryo and Robert.
What caught me completely off guard is that in this iteration Robert seems to be the main character who drives the storyline and as there is no intro you have absolutely no indication of that whatsoever, apart from him being the first character in the selection menu.
True to my habit of picking Ryo in every iteration this had the interesting side effect that I did complete the game without having ANY clue what is happening in South To..... Mexico and why I want to find that Freya girl.
I played some rounds with Robert afterwards, which not only shows you Freya right at the start but also haves you battle in a stage (Wylers Mansion) that you don't get to see as Ryo. (and it is a very interesting stage too - Crash! Boom! Chandelier!)
What I did not like:
*) No intro and the "hidden" story (see above)
*) Lying on the ground - you really often do lie on the ground. It's interesting that you are longer on the ground the harder you get hit, but sometimes it gets annoying, especially if you get laid multiple times (who would have thought that I'd complain about that once)
*) Desperation move strength: for my taste it hits a bit too hard
*) There's a timer at the bottom at the screen which I generally DID like, but I didn't find any input on the timer having any purpose and that is just teasing without a purpose (yeah, you can do a playthrough "time attack"... great)
*) Slight slowdown on jumping in some stages due to zooming
What I did like:
*) The sprites - Wikipedia says the characters were animated with the help of motion capturing (if it is there is MUST be true! Who would ever place lies in an open database everyone can edit), I don't know if that is correct, but they look really good
*) The stages: Many details, sometimes hillarious scenes like the fight in front of a fighting pit, where the whole crowd in the background ignores you to watch a cage match of two boring everyday fighters, while absolutely no one is interested in the fireballs that get thrown in the front.
*) The soundtrack: nothing too special, but smooth, fitting, good listening
*) The cast: I really like the fresh breeze that came with the new cast, especially because all the characters are interesting and have much going for them. Kasumi Todoh who knocks you down, remembers that she forgot something, gets out her dictionary and reads up on how to insult you.
Gameplay feels good, controls are responsive, allthough the desperation moves are a bit strong they give you new tools to play with.
The time opponents spend on the ground doesn't go to waste as you can channel longer special moves or give them a hearthy kick when they are down. The teethgrinding difficulty of the previous parts is gone, scenes and cast are fresh and while the sprites are not as huge as in previous parts, they still are impressive.
After slashing opponents over and over with blades in other games which don't seem to impress them, it's a nice change of pace to actually have a game where you hit hard and special moves are really strong. (This is a bit daunting for new players in 2p though as you'll generally quickly crush them as more experienced player)
I really like this game and as I personally always wanted to love AoF but just couldn't - this seems to be the part for me.
Not an easy placement this time - I even went back to read my own reviews to consider everything that I mentioned on the contestants, but in the end it is time for the king of the hill to move down a step.
Samurai Shodown 2 is a beautiful piece of history, the backgrounds are gorgeous and the music enchanting, still - when I'd have to decide for a single game to play on a gaming night, it would be AoF3 at the moment.
1.) Art of Fighting 3
2.) Samurai Shodown 2
3.) Savage Reign
4.) Fatal Fury Special
5.) Waku Waku 7
6.) King of Fighters 96
7.) World Heroes 2 Jet
8.) Samurai Shodown 1
9.) Fatal Fury 2
10.) King of Fighters 94
11) Art of Fighting 2
12.) Fatal Fury 1
13.) World Heroes 2
14.) World Heroes
15.) Art of Fighting
16.) King of Fighters 95
over 8999) Galaxy Fight
I played this the first time at Stromkabels home on a cab and was impressed on how the style changed and how good the gameplay felt.
The sprites seem to be a bit smaller, gameplay seems to be a bit faster.
When looking at the intro which typically features the basic moves explainations for the games it seems that a tripping move joined the the classic throw - which is a nice addition.
Playing the first few rounds the first thing one realises after having played AoF1 and AoF2 is: this is SO much easier than the other two iterations.
Special Moves still hit very hard and spirit management is still a thing - though it isn't as important as in the previous iterations.
Newly introduced is a "desperation move" that can only be performed with low life and about 3/4 spirit - but boy do they hit.
You can even drain a big chunk of the last bosses lifebar with that move and more than once it turned a fight I was in completely around.
This time our heroes seem to be leaving SOUTH TOWN! to wreak havoc in different parts of the world (seems like Mexico). Along with that the player is presented with a completely new cast apart from the returning characters Ryo and Robert.
What caught me completely off guard is that in this iteration Robert seems to be the main character who drives the storyline and as there is no intro you have absolutely no indication of that whatsoever, apart from him being the first character in the selection menu.
True to my habit of picking Ryo in every iteration this had the interesting side effect that I did complete the game without having ANY clue what is happening in South To..... Mexico and why I want to find that Freya girl.
I played some rounds with Robert afterwards, which not only shows you Freya right at the start but also haves you battle in a stage (Wylers Mansion) that you don't get to see as Ryo. (and it is a very interesting stage too - Crash! Boom! Chandelier!)
What I did not like:
*) No intro and the "hidden" story (see above)
*) Lying on the ground - you really often do lie on the ground. It's interesting that you are longer on the ground the harder you get hit, but sometimes it gets annoying, especially if you get laid multiple times (who would have thought that I'd complain about that once)
*) Desperation move strength: for my taste it hits a bit too hard
*) There's a timer at the bottom at the screen which I generally DID like, but I didn't find any input on the timer having any purpose and that is just teasing without a purpose (yeah, you can do a playthrough "time attack"... great)
*) Slight slowdown on jumping in some stages due to zooming
What I did like:
*) The sprites - Wikipedia says the characters were animated with the help of motion capturing (if it is there is MUST be true! Who would ever place lies in an open database everyone can edit), I don't know if that is correct, but they look really good
*) The stages: Many details, sometimes hillarious scenes like the fight in front of a fighting pit, where the whole crowd in the background ignores you to watch a cage match of two boring everyday fighters, while absolutely no one is interested in the fireballs that get thrown in the front.
*) The soundtrack: nothing too special, but smooth, fitting, good listening
*) The cast: I really like the fresh breeze that came with the new cast, especially because all the characters are interesting and have much going for them. Kasumi Todoh who knocks you down, remembers that she forgot something, gets out her dictionary and reads up on how to insult you.
Gameplay feels good, controls are responsive, allthough the desperation moves are a bit strong they give you new tools to play with.
The time opponents spend on the ground doesn't go to waste as you can channel longer special moves or give them a hearthy kick when they are down. The teethgrinding difficulty of the previous parts is gone, scenes and cast are fresh and while the sprites are not as huge as in previous parts, they still are impressive.
After slashing opponents over and over with blades in other games which don't seem to impress them, it's a nice change of pace to actually have a game where you hit hard and special moves are really strong. (This is a bit daunting for new players in 2p though as you'll generally quickly crush them as more experienced player)
I really like this game and as I personally always wanted to love AoF but just couldn't - this seems to be the part for me.
Not an easy placement this time - I even went back to read my own reviews to consider everything that I mentioned on the contestants, but in the end it is time for the king of the hill to move down a step.
Samurai Shodown 2 is a beautiful piece of history, the backgrounds are gorgeous and the music enchanting, still - when I'd have to decide for a single game to play on a gaming night, it would be AoF3 at the moment.
1.) Art of Fighting 3
2.) Samurai Shodown 2
3.) Savage Reign
4.) Fatal Fury Special
5.) Waku Waku 7
6.) King of Fighters 96
7.) World Heroes 2 Jet
8.) Samurai Shodown 1
9.) Fatal Fury 2
10.) King of Fighters 94
11) Art of Fighting 2
12.) Fatal Fury 1
13.) World Heroes 2
14.) World Heroes
15.) Art of Fighting
16.) King of Fighters 95
over 8999) Galaxy Fight
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
/me is a real man and did beat AoF2 without desperation moves
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2004
- Posts
- 20,259
Real men put KOF'95 way up their list...
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2003
- Posts
- 7,576
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
haha, you got me there
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2013
- Posts
- 840
Glad to see the love for AoF3. It's pretty high on my list too.
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
Samurai Shodown III
After beating AoF3 I felt it was time to return to some sword slashing action - and give the SS series a chance to reclaim the throne on my personal rating.
The intro is well done and apart from having very nice drawings creating a good atmosphere the usual naysaying terms that nevertheless seem to be fitting float over the screen...
To have no fear... to slice and kill! - yeah, that's what I'm here for.
After chipping in one of my virtual credits (and giving myself some Unibios help with the imaginary cash) I get presented with the start screen.
Immedately I'm a bit disappointed because I'm faced with a sad truth that I already knew - Earthquake is not in this game.
Looking over the cast my mood isn't much cheered up, as I'm not much of a gal fighters fan so new chars like Rimururu don't appeal to me very much.
The usual american ninja and real ninja are there and for the lack of inspiration I pick Gaira Caffeine (what can go wrong with a name that reminds me of Coffee).
Trying to go offensive... I get crushed. Cycling between some chars and trying this and that (e.g.: the ice girl) I face a horrible truth: I can't even beat the first opponent.
I find myself raging over some facts that raise the doubt if someone ever tested this before it went out: (some facts are commonly known to veterans):
*) The hit boxes: what can I say... I wield a giant sword and slash it at my opponent from a distance of about 2 pixels and... it goes through him without doing any damage... an especially "enjoyable" experience when you are loosing regularely anyways and at the moment you actually manage to get a hit on the opponent it doesn't connect
*) The non-following screen: Both characters jump in the air, slash at each other but you don't really see it because the screen is zoomed in and they get "cut off"
Deciding that you perhaps have to play that one defensively (like Samurai Shodown 2 in parts) I decided to let the cpu do the first move.
Stood there.... eagerly waiting... for... movement... something... then I stood up... got myself something to drink... came back to the controller - nothing did happen in the meantime.
The cpu decided to take the first move after 45 seconds. Yes... it will stand there staring you down for 45 seconds doing nothing.
Getting feedback from some other people who like this game it was suggested I should make myself a bit more familiar with the controls and test a bit and playing it a bit more I really got the hang of it.
I got a bit more calm playing and started to enjoy the nice backgrounds (though not as nice as in SS2 imho) and nice ideas like a total change of scenery when there is a shodown (both characters won one round and both are at low health).
When this happens the background will change to a style fitting the stage (e.g.: icy landscape for Rimururu) and the music will change to a more dramatic style - those are nice touches.
The controls are basically mapped nicely and I really like that you don't have to AB simultaneously any more to do a hard slash.
Then again this got replaced by "ducking in the background" and "switching to the other side of the opponent" with an AB combination and unfortunately this is where most of the "magic" to beat the opponent lies.
As you might know if you follow my quest I'm not the biggest fan of "plane switching" and while I like having this moved to the same plane more than moving to the background, it still feels cheesy to me.
Much of the damage seems to come from catching your opponent "unaware" (so either he slashes - you switch and slice his back, or you switch too soon then he slices you as you arrive).
While this might be interesting for seasoned players playing in VS mode, the combination of the wrong hitboxes along with the extensive use of the switching creates a fighting style that I don't really like all too much (at least not for 13 rounds, which is how long it will take you to beat the game).
If I had to describe the fights with a series of sound effects written to words (what a stupid idea - but why not try it), it would go something like this:
woosh - ping - ping - ping - wooosh - ping - ping - ARGH - ping ping ping - wooooooosh - ping - ping - ping- ping - ping - FLESHCUT
So... much blocking, ducking, something that might resemble tactics in a swordfight but ultimately failed to impress me too much.
If you ever tried Iaido where you do the same 3 moves over and over until you have them perfected and like to win with a single sword stroke (well 2 in this game), this might be the top iteration of the series for you.
Once I got the hang of the game I was able to perfect some opponents by just switching to their backside and hard slicing them 2 or 3 times - I didn't have the feeling that that was a great achievement though.
Finally I beat the game with Haohmaru and knowing some of the SNK bosses Zankuro Minazuki seems to be managable (still not easy, but I was able to beat him after a couple of tries).
For two player action this game is something I can't see myself playing with others who didn't practice this at least as much as I did, because with all the counters and how much damage they do newbies won't stand much of a chance.
I might have played it totally wrong, but apart from the "Ougi Kogetsu Zan" (DP) move for countering jumps and sometimes "Ougi Senpuu Retsu Zan" (Tornado) for tricking enemies into jumping I didn't use many special moves, neither the super.
All in all this iteration of the beloved Samurai Shodown series while quite innovative and daring with the controls and type of play, was not good enough to reclaim the throne.
What I didn't like:
*) Hit boxes
*) Special move motions: So many characters have special moves that end with "down" (like back, down-back, down) and I'm not much of a fan of that
*) non-explained Slash/Bust options: So I can choose the "normal" style and a "dark" style for my character. For those with pets it makes a notable difference (having one or not, type of the pet), but for chars that don't have that you wonder what actually is different (you can of course look it up, but the game should as least give a short mentioning of the styles)
*) Button mashing: when a clash happens I was unable to win a single time, I might just be a very bad button masher - also don't like that mechanic too much (I liked the random mechanic in SS1 more)
*) The story doesn't say much - you cannot build too much atmosphere with non-connected scraps of scenery - no matter if they are good, the few cut scenes that are there throw more random quotes at you
*) The roster may be appealing to some people - personally I missed many of my favorites (Earthquake, Nicotine, ChamCham, etc.) whom they replaced with stereotypes like "dark guy wielding a big weapon being gothic" (Basara Kubikiri) - at least we get a guy that beats up people with an umbrella!
*) Dominance of "side switching" (AB) in fights - seems to be an essential part of the strategy vs the cpu used often (over combos, special moves and such)
*) You fight yourself in a match and the next matchup is the judge, who turns into a copy of you... boring
What I did like:
*) Music - scenery - atmosphere
*) Slash/Bust - while not explained, getting to choose from different movesets/pets for your favorite character is pretty cool
*) Hard slash on C instead of AB
*) Shizumaru Hisame - also known as Umbrella guy!
*) The balls the programmers had to try and revamp the fighting system to get it closer to something that resembles a swordfight
Where does it list on the BerryTogart fighters rating?
Curses on my initial tries aside, this is defenitely not a bad game and quite some thought went into the mechanics.
Defenitely nothing I'd pop in for quick two player action, I did learn to like the game.
While not prefering it over my top picks, this does rate over WH2Jet for being more original (sorry WH) and over SS1 for having a deeper engine and a bit darker style I prefer.
1.) Art of Fighting 3
2.) Samurai Shodown 2
3.) Savage Reign
4.) Fatal Fury Special
5.) Waku Waku 7
6.) King of Fighters 96
7.) Samurai Shodown 3
8.) World Heroes 2 Jet
9.) Samurai Shodown 1
10.) Fatal Fury 2
11.) King of Fighters 94
12) Art of Fighting 2
13.) Fatal Fury 1
14.) World Heroes 2
15.) World Heroes
16.) Art of Fighting
17.) King of Fighters 95
over 8999) Galaxy Fight
After beating AoF3 I felt it was time to return to some sword slashing action - and give the SS series a chance to reclaim the throne on my personal rating.
The intro is well done and apart from having very nice drawings creating a good atmosphere the usual naysaying terms that nevertheless seem to be fitting float over the screen...
To have no fear... to slice and kill! - yeah, that's what I'm here for.
After chipping in one of my virtual credits (and giving myself some Unibios help with the imaginary cash) I get presented with the start screen.
Immedately I'm a bit disappointed because I'm faced with a sad truth that I already knew - Earthquake is not in this game.
Looking over the cast my mood isn't much cheered up, as I'm not much of a gal fighters fan so new chars like Rimururu don't appeal to me very much.
The usual american ninja and real ninja are there and for the lack of inspiration I pick Gaira Caffeine (what can go wrong with a name that reminds me of Coffee).
Trying to go offensive... I get crushed. Cycling between some chars and trying this and that (e.g.: the ice girl) I face a horrible truth: I can't even beat the first opponent.
I find myself raging over some facts that raise the doubt if someone ever tested this before it went out: (some facts are commonly known to veterans):
*) The hit boxes: what can I say... I wield a giant sword and slash it at my opponent from a distance of about 2 pixels and... it goes through him without doing any damage... an especially "enjoyable" experience when you are loosing regularely anyways and at the moment you actually manage to get a hit on the opponent it doesn't connect
*) The non-following screen: Both characters jump in the air, slash at each other but you don't really see it because the screen is zoomed in and they get "cut off"
Deciding that you perhaps have to play that one defensively (like Samurai Shodown 2 in parts) I decided to let the cpu do the first move.
Stood there.... eagerly waiting... for... movement... something... then I stood up... got myself something to drink... came back to the controller - nothing did happen in the meantime.
The cpu decided to take the first move after 45 seconds. Yes... it will stand there staring you down for 45 seconds doing nothing.
Getting feedback from some other people who like this game it was suggested I should make myself a bit more familiar with the controls and test a bit and playing it a bit more I really got the hang of it.
I got a bit more calm playing and started to enjoy the nice backgrounds (though not as nice as in SS2 imho) and nice ideas like a total change of scenery when there is a shodown (both characters won one round and both are at low health).
When this happens the background will change to a style fitting the stage (e.g.: icy landscape for Rimururu) and the music will change to a more dramatic style - those are nice touches.
The controls are basically mapped nicely and I really like that you don't have to AB simultaneously any more to do a hard slash.
Then again this got replaced by "ducking in the background" and "switching to the other side of the opponent" with an AB combination and unfortunately this is where most of the "magic" to beat the opponent lies.
As you might know if you follow my quest I'm not the biggest fan of "plane switching" and while I like having this moved to the same plane more than moving to the background, it still feels cheesy to me.
Much of the damage seems to come from catching your opponent "unaware" (so either he slashes - you switch and slice his back, or you switch too soon then he slices you as you arrive).
While this might be interesting for seasoned players playing in VS mode, the combination of the wrong hitboxes along with the extensive use of the switching creates a fighting style that I don't really like all too much (at least not for 13 rounds, which is how long it will take you to beat the game).
If I had to describe the fights with a series of sound effects written to words (what a stupid idea - but why not try it), it would go something like this:
woosh - ping - ping - ping - wooosh - ping - ping - ARGH - ping ping ping - wooooooosh - ping - ping - ping- ping - ping - FLESHCUT
So... much blocking, ducking, something that might resemble tactics in a swordfight but ultimately failed to impress me too much.
If you ever tried Iaido where you do the same 3 moves over and over until you have them perfected and like to win with a single sword stroke (well 2 in this game), this might be the top iteration of the series for you.
Once I got the hang of the game I was able to perfect some opponents by just switching to their backside and hard slicing them 2 or 3 times - I didn't have the feeling that that was a great achievement though.
Finally I beat the game with Haohmaru and knowing some of the SNK bosses Zankuro Minazuki seems to be managable (still not easy, but I was able to beat him after a couple of tries).
For two player action this game is something I can't see myself playing with others who didn't practice this at least as much as I did, because with all the counters and how much damage they do newbies won't stand much of a chance.
I might have played it totally wrong, but apart from the "Ougi Kogetsu Zan" (DP) move for countering jumps and sometimes "Ougi Senpuu Retsu Zan" (Tornado) for tricking enemies into jumping I didn't use many special moves, neither the super.
All in all this iteration of the beloved Samurai Shodown series while quite innovative and daring with the controls and type of play, was not good enough to reclaim the throne.
What I didn't like:
*) Hit boxes
*) Special move motions: So many characters have special moves that end with "down" (like back, down-back, down) and I'm not much of a fan of that
*) non-explained Slash/Bust options: So I can choose the "normal" style and a "dark" style for my character. For those with pets it makes a notable difference (having one or not, type of the pet), but for chars that don't have that you wonder what actually is different (you can of course look it up, but the game should as least give a short mentioning of the styles)
*) Button mashing: when a clash happens I was unable to win a single time, I might just be a very bad button masher - also don't like that mechanic too much (I liked the random mechanic in SS1 more)
*) The story doesn't say much - you cannot build too much atmosphere with non-connected scraps of scenery - no matter if they are good, the few cut scenes that are there throw more random quotes at you
*) The roster may be appealing to some people - personally I missed many of my favorites (Earthquake, Nicotine, ChamCham, etc.) whom they replaced with stereotypes like "dark guy wielding a big weapon being gothic" (Basara Kubikiri) - at least we get a guy that beats up people with an umbrella!
*) Dominance of "side switching" (AB) in fights - seems to be an essential part of the strategy vs the cpu used often (over combos, special moves and such)
*) You fight yourself in a match and the next matchup is the judge, who turns into a copy of you... boring
What I did like:
*) Music - scenery - atmosphere
*) Slash/Bust - while not explained, getting to choose from different movesets/pets for your favorite character is pretty cool
*) Hard slash on C instead of AB
*) Shizumaru Hisame - also known as Umbrella guy!
*) The balls the programmers had to try and revamp the fighting system to get it closer to something that resembles a swordfight
Where does it list on the BerryTogart fighters rating?
Curses on my initial tries aside, this is defenitely not a bad game and quite some thought went into the mechanics.
Defenitely nothing I'd pop in for quick two player action, I did learn to like the game.
While not prefering it over my top picks, this does rate over WH2Jet for being more original (sorry WH) and over SS1 for having a deeper engine and a bit darker style I prefer.
1.) Art of Fighting 3
2.) Samurai Shodown 2
3.) Savage Reign
4.) Fatal Fury Special
5.) Waku Waku 7
6.) King of Fighters 96
7.) Samurai Shodown 3
8.) World Heroes 2 Jet
9.) Samurai Shodown 1
10.) Fatal Fury 2
11.) King of Fighters 94
12) Art of Fighting 2
13.) Fatal Fury 1
14.) World Heroes 2
15.) World Heroes
16.) Art of Fighting
17.) King of Fighters 95
over 8999) Galaxy Fight
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
Played some Samurai Shodown IV today and after getting to Amakusa in about 6 minutes the drama started. I wasn't able to beat the guy for a while and when I finally did - guess what - another boss that already went down the drain miraculously returned.
I tried to beat the guy and honestly I wouldn't consider myself THAT much of a noob in fighters having played quite some now - but after letting this guy munch about over 70 virtual creds I gave up. I don't even know what's more annoying: that I didn't beat him or that I kept trying when I stopped having fun.
Will take a little cooldown from the quest I guess.
I tried to beat the guy and honestly I wouldn't consider myself THAT much of a noob in fighters having played quite some now - but after letting this guy munch about over 70 virtual creds I gave up. I don't even know what's more annoying: that I didn't beat him or that I kept trying when I stopped having fun.
Will take a little cooldown from the quest I guess.
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2013
- Posts
- 2,495
seriously, those rankings are criminal
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2007
- Posts
- 8,152
Fuck yeah they do!
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
Perhaps the best claim why KOF95 is a good game I've ever read, so full of valid points - a masterpiece
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2003
- Posts
- 7,576
So are you saying KOF 95' is not a good game? This isn't the type of criteria one should use in the pursuit of assesing whether KOF 95' is or isn't one.
Last edited:
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
Go create your own thread and show me how it's done - thank you.
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
Samurai Shodown IV
===================
What's better than sword slashing with weird hit boxes? MOAR swordslashing with correct hit boxes of course.
It's Samurai Shodown IVs turn, as I managed to get my hands on it in time to see what changed from III.
Button layout is still the same, but in addition to III there are some new extras, most prominently the "Combo" system - where you initiate with CD and follow up with a combo that is almost the same for every character from what I could find on the net.
As playing with Haohmaru worked well so far for me I did stick to him again in his "Bust" version (the move set seemed to be more interesting for me)
Picking the style I decided that not being able to block is not something I want in this game, so I just opted for the normal mode.
I started out with tactics from SS3, which worked for some parts, but generally this game allows to be a bit more offensive than Shodown III.
The controls are smooth and the only problem I really had was performing the super (back - forward - down - AB) on point - again I had to realise I'm not a big fan of the "2 buttons simultaneously" mechanic. (perhaps because I suck at performing it)
As you can learn from my former reviews I'm not much of an experienced player, but I do like combos so I trained a bit on the first opponents to perform them well.
The only thing I could pull off rather regularely however was a 4 hit combo, as I seem to mix up the buttons after the momentarily moment of joy where I realise I managed to press CD at the same time in the correct distance.
So if you're a newb this is a rather fun mechanic for 2 player - in single player I was happy to be able to beat the game without performing a 14 hit combo (which I only managed to do 3 or 4 times in total so far)
Interestingly enough the main draw for a 14-hit combo seems not to be the damage (when not combining it with supers or similar), but the effect you get, which is a full POW bar.
Talking about the difficulty - this game is a weird beast. There's a time attack mode, so you need to reach the end in under 10 minutes which (funny enough) is very easy. (Continues just set the timer at the last time you had before challenging the current opponent)
If you fail the time attack you just fight a "normal" opponent at the end - and then the game is over and you loose, if you manage to stay under 10 minutes however the troubles start.
First of all you face Amakusa who ports around the battlefield like Akuma on a 100-Coffee spree. This is paired with fireballs and stuff, but eventually I beat him with some well timed jump slashes and AB-slide-around-the-opponent-then-slash-his-back moves.
VICTORY! It's Amakusas Revenge and you prevented that - a winner is you and..... fuck.
Someone slices the guy in half from behind and guess what - there is a SECOND end boss: Zankuro Minazuki.
This guy takes no shit from you as you slice and slice and slice with him hardly loosing life while some well placed hits from him will take you down.
The first time I attempted a playthrough in the under 10 mins version this guy literally munched credits from me for 1.5 hours until I gave up.
It seems he gets even more unfair the less life he has - suddenly pulling things off like blocking your sword slash and hitting you back uncounterable for a ton of damage.
His "Fireball" is a ground projectile (much like a power wave from FF but faster) and caught me unawares a lot of times as the first reaction is to block which doesn't help if you don't block low.
On the 2nd playthrough I managed to beat him rather quickly with "only" 4 continues.
Finally he goes down - I cheer and put the joystick aside only to realise there is ANOTHER fucking opponent. Are you kidding me?
Gladly this time it is just "normal difficulty Genjouro" and I hacked him to pieces only to find out in the credits that after 6 months we meet again.... yeah....
talking about the story: I really disliked it. The "Amakusa is so evil and does evil things in evil hut" story really is getting old, other characters appear for no good reason whatsoever.
Perhaps it is better when playing the main storyline char (Kazama Kazuki) - but I didn't try to finish the game with him yet.
All in all the difficulty change at the bosses really stressed me out, but I really like this game.
There are many options/techniques to explore, an ok cast and little details like the pet of Nakoruru changing depending if you take bust or slash (which was already in SS3) are nice additions.
Sounds are ok and fitting, though I don't remember any outstanding tunes from the playthrough.
The graphics themselves have a dark touch to them - which is ok for me, apart from the Amakusa stage there wasn't too much going on in the backgrounds that impressed me however.
What I did not like:
*) Exploding difficulty on boss levels and the "heyho there's STILL another boss" factor
*) The "Hanzo Hattori" stage, where the screen is shaking continuously all the time - really annoying
*) Earthquake is not in this game
*) Combo initiation via CD - personally I'd have liked to just have to perform the combo without the CD initiation, that would have helped to make the gameplay even smoother for me
*) The "story" if you can call it that
What I did like:
*) Game mechanics - apart from the CD initiation the combo system is great, the idea to use it to fill your POW gauge is nice, there are a lot of extras like exploding the POW bar, doing a "super slash", switching sides, ducking in the background, sword clashes, etc.
*) Sword clashes against the CPU are winnable now (well actually you win almost every one on standard difficulty but as I dislike button mashing this is a good thing for me)
*) The "dramatic" changes in a close battle where the background switches - though this was more impressive in SS3
*) Charlotte is back!
The people complaining about "no love for 95" made me realise one critical point in the list however: considering diversity in the list is not a good idea for ranking purposes, as most people are fans of "series" and then compare their favorites of the series to other games - therefore I switched to a "top of the series" ranking, following up with a sub-ranking for each series.
This does not only allow to easily see my recommendation for the "top" game of a series, but also the game in comparison to other games. ("If I could only get one game of the series, which would you recommend?)
1.) Art of Fighting 3
2.) Samurai Shodown 2
3.) Savage Reign
4.) Fatal Fury Special
5.) Waku Waku 7
6.) King of Fighters 96
7.) World Heroes 2 Jet
over 8999) Galaxy Fight
Samurai Shodown
----------------
2.) Samurai Shodown 4
3.) Samurai Shodown 3
4.) Samurai Shodown 1
Fatal Fury
-----------
2.) Fatal Fury 2
3.) Fatal Fury 1
Art of Fighting
----------------
2.) Art of Fighting 2
3.) Art of Fighting
King of Fighters
-----------------
2.) King of Fighters 94
3.) King of Fighters 95
World Heroes
-------------
2.) World Heroes 2
3.) World Heroes
===================
What's better than sword slashing with weird hit boxes? MOAR swordslashing with correct hit boxes of course.
It's Samurai Shodown IVs turn, as I managed to get my hands on it in time to see what changed from III.
Button layout is still the same, but in addition to III there are some new extras, most prominently the "Combo" system - where you initiate with CD and follow up with a combo that is almost the same for every character from what I could find on the net.
As playing with Haohmaru worked well so far for me I did stick to him again in his "Bust" version (the move set seemed to be more interesting for me)
Picking the style I decided that not being able to block is not something I want in this game, so I just opted for the normal mode.
I started out with tactics from SS3, which worked for some parts, but generally this game allows to be a bit more offensive than Shodown III.
The controls are smooth and the only problem I really had was performing the super (back - forward - down - AB) on point - again I had to realise I'm not a big fan of the "2 buttons simultaneously" mechanic. (perhaps because I suck at performing it)
As you can learn from my former reviews I'm not much of an experienced player, but I do like combos so I trained a bit on the first opponents to perform them well.
The only thing I could pull off rather regularely however was a 4 hit combo, as I seem to mix up the buttons after the momentarily moment of joy where I realise I managed to press CD at the same time in the correct distance.
So if you're a newb this is a rather fun mechanic for 2 player - in single player I was happy to be able to beat the game without performing a 14 hit combo (which I only managed to do 3 or 4 times in total so far)
Interestingly enough the main draw for a 14-hit combo seems not to be the damage (when not combining it with supers or similar), but the effect you get, which is a full POW bar.
Talking about the difficulty - this game is a weird beast. There's a time attack mode, so you need to reach the end in under 10 minutes which (funny enough) is very easy. (Continues just set the timer at the last time you had before challenging the current opponent)
If you fail the time attack you just fight a "normal" opponent at the end - and then the game is over and you loose, if you manage to stay under 10 minutes however the troubles start.
First of all you face Amakusa who ports around the battlefield like Akuma on a 100-Coffee spree. This is paired with fireballs and stuff, but eventually I beat him with some well timed jump slashes and AB-slide-around-the-opponent-then-slash-his-back moves.
VICTORY! It's Amakusas Revenge and you prevented that - a winner is you and..... fuck.
Someone slices the guy in half from behind and guess what - there is a SECOND end boss: Zankuro Minazuki.
This guy takes no shit from you as you slice and slice and slice with him hardly loosing life while some well placed hits from him will take you down.
The first time I attempted a playthrough in the under 10 mins version this guy literally munched credits from me for 1.5 hours until I gave up.
It seems he gets even more unfair the less life he has - suddenly pulling things off like blocking your sword slash and hitting you back uncounterable for a ton of damage.
His "Fireball" is a ground projectile (much like a power wave from FF but faster) and caught me unawares a lot of times as the first reaction is to block which doesn't help if you don't block low.
On the 2nd playthrough I managed to beat him rather quickly with "only" 4 continues.
Finally he goes down - I cheer and put the joystick aside only to realise there is ANOTHER fucking opponent. Are you kidding me?
Gladly this time it is just "normal difficulty Genjouro" and I hacked him to pieces only to find out in the credits that after 6 months we meet again.... yeah....
talking about the story: I really disliked it. The "Amakusa is so evil and does evil things in evil hut" story really is getting old, other characters appear for no good reason whatsoever.
Perhaps it is better when playing the main storyline char (Kazama Kazuki) - but I didn't try to finish the game with him yet.
All in all the difficulty change at the bosses really stressed me out, but I really like this game.
There are many options/techniques to explore, an ok cast and little details like the pet of Nakoruru changing depending if you take bust or slash (which was already in SS3) are nice additions.
Sounds are ok and fitting, though I don't remember any outstanding tunes from the playthrough.
The graphics themselves have a dark touch to them - which is ok for me, apart from the Amakusa stage there wasn't too much going on in the backgrounds that impressed me however.
What I did not like:
*) Exploding difficulty on boss levels and the "heyho there's STILL another boss" factor
*) The "Hanzo Hattori" stage, where the screen is shaking continuously all the time - really annoying
*) Earthquake is not in this game
*) Combo initiation via CD - personally I'd have liked to just have to perform the combo without the CD initiation, that would have helped to make the gameplay even smoother for me
*) The "story" if you can call it that
What I did like:
*) Game mechanics - apart from the CD initiation the combo system is great, the idea to use it to fill your POW gauge is nice, there are a lot of extras like exploding the POW bar, doing a "super slash", switching sides, ducking in the background, sword clashes, etc.
*) Sword clashes against the CPU are winnable now (well actually you win almost every one on standard difficulty but as I dislike button mashing this is a good thing for me)
*) The "dramatic" changes in a close battle where the background switches - though this was more impressive in SS3
*) Charlotte is back!
The people complaining about "no love for 95" made me realise one critical point in the list however: considering diversity in the list is not a good idea for ranking purposes, as most people are fans of "series" and then compare their favorites of the series to other games - therefore I switched to a "top of the series" ranking, following up with a sub-ranking for each series.
This does not only allow to easily see my recommendation for the "top" game of a series, but also the game in comparison to other games. ("If I could only get one game of the series, which would you recommend?)
1.) Art of Fighting 3
2.) Samurai Shodown 2
3.) Savage Reign
4.) Fatal Fury Special
5.) Waku Waku 7
6.) King of Fighters 96
7.) World Heroes 2 Jet
over 8999) Galaxy Fight
Samurai Shodown
----------------
2.) Samurai Shodown 4
3.) Samurai Shodown 3
4.) Samurai Shodown 1
Fatal Fury
-----------
2.) Fatal Fury 2
3.) Fatal Fury 1
Art of Fighting
----------------
2.) Art of Fighting 2
3.) Art of Fighting
King of Fighters
-----------------
2.) King of Fighters 94
3.) King of Fighters 95
World Heroes
-------------
2.) World Heroes 2
3.) World Heroes
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
Fatal Fury 3
=============
Enough of this weapon based combat stuff - back to a game where man and women fight with their bare hands!
Well and... fans... and... iron canes...
Turn on the game and... wow - the intro blows me away. Mysterious guy stepping out of a train, Geese in a car with the sun creating lensflares, rocking music and an announcer who tells me that "the lone wolves are back!".
I am hyped and immedately start the game - to see a character selection screen that resembles that of AoF3, with all fighters standing/sitting in a sort of group photo.
I wouldn't mind that if I wouldn't immedately recognize, that there are actually LESS characters available than in FFS.
Obviously the game does not include some of my favorites like Duck King, Billy Kane and Laurence Blood.
Oh well but we got some new people at least: Some bruce lee guy with Nunchucks, a capoeira guy (Joe however hillariously keeps stating that as Cooperia), some more bouncing tits and a Boxer who works in some metal facility.
I tried some of the chars and played around a bit with them - but in the end settled for Joe, whom I can usually take to a good performance all in all.
His "lightning fast fists" attack is just gone, but apart from that all the good flying kicks, knee uppers and the tornado punch are there.
What I did like about him in this game is the good reach of basic attacks and the speed with which the hits get delivered (kicks to she shin, sliding knee, uppercuts, etc.)
During the rounds I was able to perform some basic combos, nothing too fancy or special but good for the occasional attack series.
Speaking of rounds - the switch from the intro to the "map" where the next fight takes place is really weird - everyone is displayed as chibbi character version of himself and you see your guy running over the map there.
Apart from that, the usual trashtalk introduces the fight, with occasional hints on some "scrolls" someone is searching for for whatever reason. (The intro won't tell me and MVS has no manual)
The quotes range from boring to very funny (if you beat up Mai you meet Andy next who wants to make you pay for making her cry!), also the kickboxer shorts of Joe seem to find a lot of attraction.
After the first 4 fights an "Accident" happens (really? what happened? Did Ryo ram me with his bike?) and you meet "Yamazaki" who decides that one hand is enough to beat you. (Spoiler: it isn't)
When he gets some punches he decides that you'll perhaps meet again later and goes off (you only need to win one round) - only to let the next opponent fight you in the same stage.
The stages themselves are very nice, colorful and well drawn. Most of the time you have some extras (a bird cleaning the teetch of a crocodile, trains going through, an aquarium with aquatic giant spiders, and so on).
As you progress through the rounds the stages change in mood (usually the time passes and it moves from day to night), sometimes you can interact with the stage like kicking the opponent into the water in the background with the last hit on Terrys stage.
The special moves are easy to perform and nothing out of the ordinary, but personally I was hardly able to perform Joes super well in this iteration.
I like that the developers seem to have put quite some work in to the whole presentation, though I must say I prefer the presentation of FFS in the end.
After fighting my way through a lot of enemies (all characters), I get paired against Geese and guess what - Billy Kane has a chameo just to leave a second later, too bad.
From round two on the stage starts shaking and burning (I don't know why they became so obsessed with that in later games, that also happens in SS4), but this time Geese doesn't get a free flight ticket. (or is it zombie Geese? I could swear he fell from a skyscraper in an earlier part of the series...
After watching something that looked much like an end scene suddenly I get paired against Yamazaki and have to fight a pretty weird matchup. He does a ton of damage like all SNK bosses tend to do, but always falls for simple jumpkicks if you know the correct distance).
This fight is therefore rather boring than really challenging (it's more of "train your perfect distance").
He goes down and groans, but instead of a second end screen or something some "invisible person" decides to speak with me and informs me that they will not fight me because my "fighting style wasn't good enough" (I guess this has to do with the rating you get at the end of each round).
Perhaps this should motivate me to finish the game again, but I really don't feel like playing FF3 until "the game decides I'm ready to fight the last opponent" (especially since I guess only one "bad" win will be enough to have this weird end again).
Therefore: Sorry FF3 - You are a nice game but in doubt I'll rather put in FFS again.
What I did not like:
*) Planes and shifting between them - I'm still not a fan
*) The NG Boss factor - even bad AI can be unfun when all it takes for you to die is 2 hits. (Yamazaki has a super move that literally took 70% of my life bar)
*) Less characters than FFS, the new characters were ok, but not all that intriguing
*) Supers seemed to be hard to perform
*) "Super secret bosses" that depend on your performance in all rounds (I can live with the SS4 time limit, but the fighting style trigger seems a bit harsh)
What I did like:
*) The stages are nice
*) Special moves are easy to perform, good control of your character
*) The intro absolutely rocks
Where does FF3 go on the newly refurbished BerryTogart Fighters hitlist? In the internal FF struggle FFS stays on top of FF3 and also FF2 ranks before this (though I would not recommend getting both over FF3).
You seem to be able to stay for a shorter time on a plane in FF3 and it's hard to explain but from the "flow" of the game that makes it even a bit worse for me. The games strenghts however put it in front of FF1 obviously.
1.) Art of Fighting 3
2.) Samurai Shodown 2
3.) Savage Reign
4.) Fatal Fury Special
5.) Waku Waku 7
6.) King of Fighters 96
7.) World Heroes 2 Jet
over 8999) Galaxy Fight
Samurai Shodown
----------------
2.) Samurai Shodown 4
3.) Samurai Shodown 3
4.) Samurai Shodown 1
Fatal Fury
-----------
2.) Fatal Fury 2
3.) Fatal Fury 3
4.) Fatal Fury 1
Art of Fighting
----------------
2.) Art of Fighting 2
3.) Art of Fighting
King of Fighters
-----------------
2.) King of Fighters 94
3.) King of Fighters 95
World Heroes
-------------
2.) World Heroes 2
3.) World Heroes
=============
Enough of this weapon based combat stuff - back to a game where man and women fight with their bare hands!
Well and... fans... and... iron canes...
Turn on the game and... wow - the intro blows me away. Mysterious guy stepping out of a train, Geese in a car with the sun creating lensflares, rocking music and an announcer who tells me that "the lone wolves are back!".
I am hyped and immedately start the game - to see a character selection screen that resembles that of AoF3, with all fighters standing/sitting in a sort of group photo.
I wouldn't mind that if I wouldn't immedately recognize, that there are actually LESS characters available than in FFS.
Obviously the game does not include some of my favorites like Duck King, Billy Kane and Laurence Blood.
Oh well but we got some new people at least: Some bruce lee guy with Nunchucks, a capoeira guy (Joe however hillariously keeps stating that as Cooperia), some more bouncing tits and a Boxer who works in some metal facility.
I tried some of the chars and played around a bit with them - but in the end settled for Joe, whom I can usually take to a good performance all in all.
His "lightning fast fists" attack is just gone, but apart from that all the good flying kicks, knee uppers and the tornado punch are there.
What I did like about him in this game is the good reach of basic attacks and the speed with which the hits get delivered (kicks to she shin, sliding knee, uppercuts, etc.)
During the rounds I was able to perform some basic combos, nothing too fancy or special but good for the occasional attack series.
Speaking of rounds - the switch from the intro to the "map" where the next fight takes place is really weird - everyone is displayed as chibbi character version of himself and you see your guy running over the map there.
Apart from that, the usual trashtalk introduces the fight, with occasional hints on some "scrolls" someone is searching for for whatever reason. (The intro won't tell me and MVS has no manual)
The quotes range from boring to very funny (if you beat up Mai you meet Andy next who wants to make you pay for making her cry!), also the kickboxer shorts of Joe seem to find a lot of attraction.
After the first 4 fights an "Accident" happens (really? what happened? Did Ryo ram me with his bike?) and you meet "Yamazaki" who decides that one hand is enough to beat you. (Spoiler: it isn't)
When he gets some punches he decides that you'll perhaps meet again later and goes off (you only need to win one round) - only to let the next opponent fight you in the same stage.
The stages themselves are very nice, colorful and well drawn. Most of the time you have some extras (a bird cleaning the teetch of a crocodile, trains going through, an aquarium with aquatic giant spiders, and so on).
As you progress through the rounds the stages change in mood (usually the time passes and it moves from day to night), sometimes you can interact with the stage like kicking the opponent into the water in the background with the last hit on Terrys stage.
The special moves are easy to perform and nothing out of the ordinary, but personally I was hardly able to perform Joes super well in this iteration.
I like that the developers seem to have put quite some work in to the whole presentation, though I must say I prefer the presentation of FFS in the end.
After fighting my way through a lot of enemies (all characters), I get paired against Geese and guess what - Billy Kane has a chameo just to leave a second later, too bad.
From round two on the stage starts shaking and burning (I don't know why they became so obsessed with that in later games, that also happens in SS4), but this time Geese doesn't get a free flight ticket. (or is it zombie Geese? I could swear he fell from a skyscraper in an earlier part of the series...
After watching something that looked much like an end scene suddenly I get paired against Yamazaki and have to fight a pretty weird matchup. He does a ton of damage like all SNK bosses tend to do, but always falls for simple jumpkicks if you know the correct distance).
This fight is therefore rather boring than really challenging (it's more of "train your perfect distance").
He goes down and groans, but instead of a second end screen or something some "invisible person" decides to speak with me and informs me that they will not fight me because my "fighting style wasn't good enough" (I guess this has to do with the rating you get at the end of each round).
Perhaps this should motivate me to finish the game again, but I really don't feel like playing FF3 until "the game decides I'm ready to fight the last opponent" (especially since I guess only one "bad" win will be enough to have this weird end again).
Therefore: Sorry FF3 - You are a nice game but in doubt I'll rather put in FFS again.
What I did not like:
*) Planes and shifting between them - I'm still not a fan
*) The NG Boss factor - even bad AI can be unfun when all it takes for you to die is 2 hits. (Yamazaki has a super move that literally took 70% of my life bar)
*) Less characters than FFS, the new characters were ok, but not all that intriguing
*) Supers seemed to be hard to perform
*) "Super secret bosses" that depend on your performance in all rounds (I can live with the SS4 time limit, but the fighting style trigger seems a bit harsh)
What I did like:
*) The stages are nice
*) Special moves are easy to perform, good control of your character
*) The intro absolutely rocks
Where does FF3 go on the newly refurbished BerryTogart Fighters hitlist? In the internal FF struggle FFS stays on top of FF3 and also FF2 ranks before this (though I would not recommend getting both over FF3).
You seem to be able to stay for a shorter time on a plane in FF3 and it's hard to explain but from the "flow" of the game that makes it even a bit worse for me. The games strenghts however put it in front of FF1 obviously.
1.) Art of Fighting 3
2.) Samurai Shodown 2
3.) Savage Reign
4.) Fatal Fury Special
5.) Waku Waku 7
6.) King of Fighters 96
7.) World Heroes 2 Jet
over 8999) Galaxy Fight
Samurai Shodown
----------------
2.) Samurai Shodown 4
3.) Samurai Shodown 3
4.) Samurai Shodown 1
Fatal Fury
-----------
2.) Fatal Fury 2
3.) Fatal Fury 3
4.) Fatal Fury 1
Art of Fighting
----------------
2.) Art of Fighting 2
3.) Art of Fighting
King of Fighters
-----------------
2.) King of Fighters 94
3.) King of Fighters 95
World Heroes
-------------
2.) World Heroes 2
3.) World Heroes
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2004
- Posts
- 20,259
What do you expect from this place, do we just let you flap your gums and act like a noob? Well, yes of course we'll let you but like in any other thread you're going to find other people's opinion thus the idea of a forum, your rankings are met with contempt, deal with it.
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
I'd expect some serious arguments, contradicting opinions or hints on facts I might have missed, which would increase the overall value of the thread by input of people who perhaps have more insight on a game or play on a better level than me.
In comparison to your "valuable" input I also had many arguments with whisp about the different games I played so far, but those were founded on facts (like the hint on the rather good Galaxy Fight Soundtrack which I missed) and not on emotional instability or boredom of the poster - so I can start to see why he doesn't bother trying to talk about games here anymore.
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2004
- Posts
- 20,259
You're asking too much out of the opinions of others about your rankings, some people will elaborate and others won't find it worth a while to do so, you have no choice whatsoever but take it all in and deal with it as you see fit, either way the short comments reflect the basis of your thread; Poor meets poor and it ain't changing any time soon.
BerryTogart
Bolt Thrower.,
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Posts
- 1,403
I guess I'll stop asking for good Arguments as you don't seem to have any or are too cool to share them, thank you for the bump though.
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