My Hyper Neo series - Samurai Spirits 64 2 - 5/5

BlackaneseNiNjA

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Very nice video. I’ll always stick to my guns and say that SNK should have stayed away from 3D in those days and instead should have focused on producing high quality 2D games on the HNG64 hardware (similar to Capcom’s approach with the CPS3).

I agree that by making 3D titles SNK drew direct critical comparisons to the superior 3D titles released by Sega and Namco at the time. For comparison, Capcom’s 3D arcade titles were fun (Star Gladiator, Street Fighter EX series, etc) but even those games were not huge successes either in the arcades. Hell, Capcom even went as far as publishing Battle Arena Toshinden 2 for arcades prior to their own 3D Street Fighter EX effort. For hardware reference, both Toshinden 2 and Street Fighter EX ran on the Sony ZN-1 arcade system; indicating that Capcom wasn't exactly eager to reinvent the wheel that Sony had already created in terms of hardware:

MV5BNmQzNmFjZTMtYzMzMi00ZGVmLWFmNzctZDVkOTg3YTE4ZTZkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzg5OTk2OA@@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,769,1000_AL_.jpg


Developing top selling 3D arcade titles was difficult for many top arcade developers, not just SNK. Had SNK switched their latter 2D sequel projects (Garou: MotW, Last Blade 2) from the aged MVS hardware to the HNG64 we may have seen some increased critical praise and distribution reach for those titles at a time when SNK desperately needed it.

Lastly, the jump to HNG64 would have helped SNK with another major issue robbing the company of increased sales: piracy.
The complex architecture of these boards/carts would have certainly helped on that front.
 
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evil wasabi

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One thing that probably gets lost in the cracks was that Asia had a massive economic meltdown in 1997 that ran through 1998, which were the peak years for the Hyper 64 system. It was possibly hard for a small company like SNK to source capital for development during that period. It would be cool if you could confirm this with someone who may be in ITK. Maybe Shawn has a connect.
 

awbacon

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All valid points, I think exposure would be the main one though in my mind.

I never even heard of HNG64 until many years after it had gone.

Never saw one in the wild but thats no major shocker really as the arcade scene over here was pretty dead by the time it came out.

I think you are right about them stretching to thin with stuff to, That hurt them in many ways IMO.

Yes. A smaller Japanese company supporting 3 platforms at once was probably just too much financially to bear
 

awbacon

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SNK definitely improved their overall design with 3D on this one. An improvement visually and design wise compared to Round Trip RV
 

awbacon

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It irritated me I couldn’t answer all my own questions about the hardware on the first version of the tech overview video, so I found someone who could. Talented European engineer named Reza took a look and made a massive pdf schematic / overview / reverse engineering document for me.

No more Hyper questions now lol
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

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Absolutely fascinating! Having some light shed on the separate 2d image processing pipeline was also long overdue as well. Thank you!
 

awbacon

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Absolutely fascinating! Having some light shed on the separate 2d image processing pipeline was also long overdue as well. Thank you!

Thank Reza, the dude who did the work! But thanks all the same. Always fun to do this type of stuff
 

awbacon

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Maybe the reviews are bad. Maybe the graphics aren’t great...but I still love this game
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

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Maybe the reviews are bad. Maybe the graphics aren’t great...but I still love this game

Great video! :buttrock:

One of my favorite Fatal Fury games of all time (it’s where the “ 超えるべき奴がいる“ catch-copy in my signature comes from lol). It’s a fantastic spin on the real bout style of gameplay with great presentation and an amazing soundtrack.

I definitely agree that this game gave us a good glimpse of what could have been done with 2D on the system via certain backgrounds . Thank you for shining some positive light on this title :buttrock:
 
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kahel

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I am really enjoying these videos . Neo geo 64 was always a mystery to me and it great to learn about it .

Thanks for making these.
 

awbacon

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Great video! :buttrock:

One of my favorite Fatal Fury games of all time (it’s where the “ 超えるべき奴がいる“ catch-copy in my signature comes from lol). It’s a fantastic spin on the real bout style of gameplay with great presentation and an amazing soundtrack.

I definitely agree that this game gave us a good glimpse of what could have been done with 2D on the system via certain backgrounds . Thank you for shining some positive light on this title :buttrock:

The backgrounds on some of the stages are epic. Some are clearly lazy rush jobs. But it shows it could have produces some pretty f’ing epic 2D games. SNK dedicated an entire side of the motherboard to 2D processing vs relying on a licenses 3D chipset with inferior 2D capabilities. Sadly they then never used the power it had
 

awbacon

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Very nice video. I’ll always stick to my guns and say that SNK should have stayed away from 3D in those days and instead should have focused on producing high quality 2D games on the HNG64 hardware (similar to Capcom’s approach with the CPS3).

I agree that by making 3D titles SNK drew direct critical comparisons to the superior 3D titles released by Sega and Namco at the time. For comparison, Capcom’s 3D arcade titles were fun (Star Gladiator, Street Fighter EX series, etc) but even those games were not huge successes either in the arcades. Hell, Capcom even went as far as publishing Battle Arena Toshinden 2 for arcades prior to their own 3D Street Fighter EX effort. For hardware reference, both Toshinden 2 and Street Fighter EX ran on the Sony ZN-1 arcade system; indicating that Capcom wasn't exactly eager to reinvent the wheel that Sony had already created in terms of hardware:

MV5BNmQzNmFjZTMtYzMzMi00ZGVmLWFmNzctZDVkOTg3YTE4ZTZkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzg5OTk2OA@@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,769,1000_AL_.jpg


Developing top selling 3D arcade titles was difficult for many top arcade developers, not just SNK. Had SNK switched their latter 2D sequel projects (Garou: MotW, Last Blade 2) from the aged MVS hardware to the HNG64 we may have seen some increased critical praise and distribution reach for those titles at a time when SNK desperately needed it.

Lastly, the jump to HNG64 would have helped SNK with another major issue robbing the company of increased sales: piracy.
The complex architecture of these boards/carts would have certainly helped on that front.

Lolol that poster. Good old 90’s “tits and ass” marketing at its best. Reminds me I need to play some Battle Arena Toshinden soon
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

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The backgrounds on some of the stages are epic. Some are clearly lazy rush jobs. But it shows it could have produces some pretty f’ing epic 2D games. SNK dedicated an entire side of the motherboard to 2D processing vs relying on a licenses 3D chipset with inferior 2D capabilities. Sadly they then never used the power it had

SNK’s underutilization of those dedicated 2D processing capabilities will always be the biggest tragedy of the HNG64 library imho (A huge thank you to you and reza for that revealing information about the system).

Even though SNK would eventually retreat back to 2D games on the decade-old mvs in their “Playmore years”, it would have been something truly great to see the original teams in their heyday use the HNG64 to go head to head against the cps3 in terms of sprite work and animation.

Garou: MotW and Last Blade 2 could have been even more impressive using the enhanced 2D hardware of the HNG64.

Lolol that poster. Good old 90’s “tits and ass” marketing at its best. Reminds me I need to play some Battle Arena Toshinden soon

Right? Kotobuki Tsukasa’s art (channeling Masami Obari) on this series is definitely iconic for a lot of reasons. lol

Hell yeah! Toshinden ftw :buttrock:
 
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titchgamer

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Just seen the fatal fury video and totally agree with all your points.

I got to pick it up a few weeks ago and loved it! I am not a huge fighter fan but that is by far my fave game on the system I have played so far.

I didnt expect much from it as it reviewed badly (the hng 64 not just ps1) but I dont feel it was justified at all and having played would say the reviewer who wrote it was full of shit.
 

awbacon

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Just seen the fatal fury video and totally agree with all your points.

I got to pick it up a few weeks ago and loved it! I am not a huge fighter fan but that is by far my fave game on the system I have played so far.

I didnt expect much from it as it reviewed badly (the hng 64 not just ps1) but I dont feel it was justified at all and having played would say the reviewer who wrote it was full of shit.

So many of the reviews focus on the graphics, which in the 90's was a major review criteria, but if you take out the "doesnt look as good as X game in arcades" its a super solid fighter. Not top tier but still VERY good
 

titchgamer

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So many of the reviews focus on the graphics, which in the 90's was a major review criteria, but if you take out the "doesnt look as good as X game in arcades" its a super solid fighter. Not top tier but still VERY good

I think even graphically its nice.
You mentioned SF Ex a in the video and from what I remember of the game (got bored of it very quickly!) I think wild ambition was superior.

You dont have as many characters but I think the presentation and game play is solid.

I am on the lookout for a candy cab I can permanently put my HNG 64 in and I suspect this will be the game in it most of the time when I do.
 

awbacon

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One iffy port and one name share lol
 
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BlackaneseNiNjA

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Excellent vid as always and a very fair assessment of the ps1 port of FF: Wild Ambition. I always play the HNG64 version and rarely play the ps1 port unless I’m out of town with my playstation portable, but the arranged soundtrack produced for the ps1 version really was something special imho and it was nice that they let you choose between the original or remix tracks.

Also, in addition to adding Li Xiangfe to the regular roster (it took forever to unlock her on the hng64 version and is the reason I always hesitate to remove the board sometimes lol), the psx version let you play as Duck King and Ryo in his timed-skipped Mr. Karate form (just in time for his Buriki One transition lol):




The segment on Samurai Shodown was really great as well. Not only is the psx Samuai Shodown a different game than the HNG64 title, but it objectively just didn’t play as well. Considering that neither of the HNG64 Samurai Shodown titles were well received, it’s no wonder the psx title ended up on the bottom of the stack (along with Samurai Shodown Sen) even if it isn’t a terrible game at all.
 
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awbacon

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That’s all she wrote folks! Seven games. Seven videos. Fun times
 
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