Is Samurai Showdown II the best in the series?

Johnny16Bit

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Always good to read some love for SSIII. Despite its flaws (that have grown a kind of perverse charm to them), I think it's my favourite in the series.
Fuck the bugs, that game just oozes sleeplessness and fanaticism from the developpers.
 

DevilRedeemed

teh
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Slash Bust is the best thing in a fighting game to never be taken further. In 3 it is a fundamental part of it's brilliance
 

RAZO

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I'm glad III is being shown alot of love in this thread. I think the first three games are great and the others are subpar at best. V being the worst in the series.

III is still my favorite in the series. The first two games are excellent arcade games with great action, awesome backgrounds, and really nice fun music but the art was too cartoony for my taste. Still I understand why people pick II as the best.

I felt that in III the artists took a riskier approach. The dark serious tone really did it for me. The music is also sad but beautiful at the same time if that makes any sense. The backgrounds are simple but very well done.

It is my favorite game on the Neo hands down.
 

LoneSage

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man, a kafuin_gaira shout-out on page 1! Love to see it.
Are you kafuin_gaira? You joined after kafuin's last post. If you are him, thanks for the great deal. My teenaged self loved playing those games on the real hardware at home.
 

PGorath

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Are you kafuin_gaira? You joined after kafuin's last post. If you are him, thanks for the great deal. My teenaged self loved playing those games on the real hardware at home.
Nope, he was an irl friend from the old arcade and SNK days back in 1995-2004-ish. He used that screen name on SRK also and I'd totally forgotten about it until I came across your post.
 

Neo Alec

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This.

.....and to the OP of this thread: 2 is the epitome of the Neo Geo as well as the era both in 90's 2D fighting games & arcade games in general. It is arguably one of the finest video games ever made & commands it's place as such.

SS3 is a stellar entry as well, although a bit of a divisive one due to it's darker tone. It's one of the prettiest games on the Neo & one of my personal favorites.

I think you should shun much of what you are being told by skipping the first installment. It is a great game in it's own right & I would say that is where you should start. A true Neo Geo fan will start with SS1 & then work their way up.

If you are interested in english home carts I would recommend that you shun that for now & go the route of Jap home carts, MVS carts or Neo CD's as the Sam sho series (well the first 3) on CD are tops (while SS3 CD is regarded as amazing).

SS4 was a botched mess, SS5/Special is kinda mugen like but liked by competitive players due to the maxed out roster.....and SS6 is best forgotten.
Epitome of the Neo? SS2, KOF98, MOTW, MS2/X... Neo Turfmasters.

What am I missing? Puzzle Bobble and Windjammers or something?
 

SignOfGoob

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I also like III. I don’t have it but I played it a lot when it came out, mostly on an MVS in the student housing building at CCS in Detroit.

As far as totally ground-up fighting games go it’s way up there for me. The brush strokes, the muted tones, minimal OST, the extreme damage, it was for sure an inspired game. I and II are…you know, anime. A very specific anime even. III is like a 150 year old ink drawing come to life.
 

SignOfGoob

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Last Blade for sure.

Nobody likes KOF 94 enough to play it, that’s been the case since 95 came around. It isn’t the epitome of anything if the other nine games are all more popular.

You must know a lot of things about Ninja Masters I’ve never seen. :)
 

bubba966

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As a person that's not a huge fighting game player SS 1 & 2 are great. I've enjoyed playing SSVS the best out of the series though. 4 was... meh imo.
 

DevilRedeemed

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Last Blade for sure.

Nobody likes KOF 94 enough to play it, that’s been the case since 95 came around. It isn’t the epitome of anything if the other nine games are all more popular.

You must know a lot of things about Ninja Masters I’ve never seen. :)
You do make a fair point. But if you check my reasoning I include it for meaningfulness. It was cutting edge when it came out, and by logic of what was established was always going to be superceded and left behind year on year. It is ground zero. But it remains as important as MK1 and SP2 for what was concocted. Epitome in a temporal relative sense but epitome non the less. The blueprjnt, the framework, the uncut gem.
Ninja Masters is awesome

Edit: I am not giving the word epitome a seperate meaning but am giving foundational games of worth a seperate category, one where they stand abone. Whatever came after could be seen as better on countless fronts, but when the initial offering starts the ball rolling in such a significant way, their place within the pantheon is assured. At least imo.
 
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Tarma

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I've always liked 4, but 2 is awesome. I had started getting into 3 as well after initially not really liking it all that much.

Of the original 4 games, I don't think there is a truly bad game among them. The later additions I can live without.
 

Johnny16Bit

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Nobody likes KOF 94 enough to play it, that’s been the case since 95 came around. It isn’t the epitome of anything if the other nine games are all more popular.

Well I do. And I played an 8 player tourney last year with people who enjoyed as much as I did. After all the years and plenty of episodes, this one still has one of the best OST and presentation, and a unique atmosphere. It's dated, but hey - so are the others. It does represent SNK and the Neo Geo at their peak, better than other great titles that were published on a dying system, imo.
 

SignOfGoob

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The fact that you can’t pick your teams makes it very hard to enjoy. You can have one or two guys you know how to play but you’re stuck with some schlub you’ll forced to master even if you can’t stand him. This isn’t a problem for Japan or Mexico but it completely shitcans Korea unless you’re one of the %2 of KOF fandom that doesn’t absolutely hate Choi. This is exactly how I felt in 94 and nothing has changed.

I like KOF 94 for its presentation, the way the backgrounds are, things that seemed to be forgotten as the series went on. KOF 95 is like the full release version of 94. So much better even though it’s still mostly the same “old” game with little animation. 95 also has the more interesting old fashioned sort of BGs, Kings stage in particular rules. To me 94 and 2001 are the least of the KOFs. Most days I’d rather play 2001. Not all days, but most.

Obviously “epitome” has a bunch of definitions. I didn’t even consider that some may take that as simply “when SNK was most popular”. To me that seems totally irrelevant since I never worked for them. Many many many system have their best games come out when the system is dying. Yoshi’s Island, Sapphire, FC Kunio and DQ games, etc. If industry ruling popularity and profit make a game the epitome then that game on Neo is Fatal Fury Special.
 

DevilRedeemed

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The fact that you can’t pick your teams makes it very hard to enjoy. You can have one or two guys you know how to play but you’re stuck with some schlub you’ll forced to master even if you can’t stand him. This isn’t a problem for Japan or Mexico but it completely shitcans Korea unless you’re one of the %2 of KOF fandom that doesn’t absolutely hate Choi. This is exactly how I felt in 94 and nothing has changed.

I like KOF 94 for its presentation, the way the backgrounds are, things that seemed to be forgotten as the series went on. KOF 95 is like the full release version of 94. So much better even though it’s still mostly the same “old” game with little animation. 95 also has the more interesting old fashioned sort of BGs, Kings stage in particular rules. To me 94 and 2001 are the least of the KOFs. Most days I’d rather play 2001. Not all days, but most.

Obviously “epitome” has a bunch of definitions. I didn’t even consider that some may take that as simply “when SNK was most popular”. To me that seems totally irrelevant since I never worked for them. Many many many system have their best games come out when the system is dying. Yoshi’s Island, Sapphire, FC Kunio and DQ games, etc. If industry ruling popularity and profit make a game the epitome then that game on Neo is Fatal Fury Special.
No... but each to their own
 

NeoCverA

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I remember when researching KOF's that 2001 was considered among the best in terms of its technical offering (combos?, play mechanics?)

I have never really seen that anymore - lol what happened to those opinions? I personally can't stand it because Backgrounds and Music is what get me hype. 2k1 is shit on both fronts.
 

terry.330

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I remember when researching KOF's that 2001 was considered among the best in terms of its technical offering (combos?, play mechanics?)

I have never really seen that anymore - lol what happened to those opinions?
Those people were lying to themselves to justify buying a shitty game. Denial.

While it is somewhat true, it's still a shitty game.
 

SignOfGoob

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I remember when researching KOF's that 2001 was considered among the best in terms of its technical offering (combos?, play mechanics?)

I have never really seen that anymore - lol what happened to those opinions? I personally can't stand it because Backgrounds and Music is what get me hype. 2k1 is shit on both fronts.

KOF 2001 was always an amusing pile. Due to the ability to use as many as three strikers on your team the combos can get stupider than Marvel vs Capcom but they are no fun to watch mid game. Too many strikers, too many long combos. It’s boring to watch pretty quickly.

This makes it the exact opposite of KOF 94 which barely has juggles. You’ll have like one good combo per character in 94. It also doesn’t have stocks or SDMs.

If KOF 2001 was genuinely good at anything it was the story mode. It had new characters, new boss, real endings. It moves the story along. The BGs are nearly as bad as Street Fighter Zero 1. Even though they tried to add interesting details to the backgrounds they just aren’t that well drawn and almost nothing moves.

KOF 2002 is very good, I have no issues with 2002’s gameplay. It’s KOF 98 Part 2…but the BGs still sucked. KOF 2003 was very good looking on all fronts, back to full power SNK really.
 

DevilRedeemed

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Excellent job of laying out your case.
Thing is when I read your last response I got the sense that we where navigating different seas, you purposefully or unintentionally missinterpret what I write in order to state your opinion, I think it's a waste of both our times.
 
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