I like to play the first World Heroes

LoneSage

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For the past couple of months, I've been playing World Heroes. The first one. The original. Where Muscle Power still had blonde hair and a handlebar mustache in his character portrait.

I don't know why I keep coming back to it. Maybe the simplicity of it makes for a good 20 minute ride on the subway. Nothing complex.

This game has a lot of charm. It's a charming game. Some of the music is too legit to quit, especially Fuuma's theme with Mount Fuji in the background.

I like Brocken being a ripoff of a Jojo character. I like Mongolia being represented in a fighting game. I like Hanzo and Fuuma having the ability to double jump. I like one of the challenge stages hitting a slab of rock and the resulting sculpture look like something out of Choaniki. I like fighting in a cage over New York City at night. I like the character's name being chanted during the Continue screen (but I'll never like being caught off guard to continue, uh oh only 5 seconds left). I like Death Match.

There's also a lot to not like about the game, I guess, if you're a serious kind of fighting game player.

But there's got to be a reason I keep coming back to this. Just a call back to a simpler time.

If I had to choose between this or World Heroes Perfect, it's no contest.
 
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@M

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2 is my favorite from that franchise, but, the first one is good too. Fighters from throughout time is a fun premise and the character/stage designs are great. I'm a Rasputin man myself; I dig his general silliness, giant hands/feet attacks, and his message of love. 😁

I remember an employee from Sunsoft wrote a long letter to EGM because they didn't like the 7/10 score that they gave their SNES port of WH1 and Ed Semrad countered that they did do a good job of porting it, including the game's deficiencies, but, it didn't stack up to SF2, etc.
 

yagamikun

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I revisit WH2 the most often in the series because it's more refined than the first but still keeps it simple and approachable. WHP is my "favorite" as it's the most fleshed out of the WH games compared to fighters, but WH2's simplicity and campiness is just too much fun.
 

joe8

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World Heroes 1 & 2 are the best, because they're the only games in the series with the Deathmatch mode.
 

HellioN

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I picked up WH2 on MVS a while back along with KoF '94.
I haven't been arsed to get my MVS out of storage to play it tho.
I'm a terrible person because of this.
 

Johnny16Bit

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WH1 is so retarded, in so many ways - it's the game that brought me back to the Neo Geo, actually. I pity the guys who are "serious about fighting games" or care so much about some artistic bollocks and look down to it.

WHP is a riot too, albeit of a slightly different kind.
 

HornheaDD

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I liked WH1 when it came out it was cool at the time. Now I think it's kinda unplayable. But 2 is still pretty good and so is Jet. I've owned Perfect for a while and it was a lot of fun, and it was cool how they were trying to make a more robust fighting game to keep up with the times, but I didn't like the control scheme. Kinda like (I know this is probably heresy) Samurai Shodown 2. To me SS2 is the best in the series but the button "placement" basically making it a 6 button fighter was difficult to get used to. WHP did something similar if I recall correctly.

I still like the WH series for the aforementioned charm. Especially flipping the tables and having a deathmatch mode at the arcade. So cool! Especially with some of the dangers in the deathmatch mode, etc. Really fun series. But WH2 is definitely my preferred WH.
 

Tarma

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Sorry, but never been able to get into WH series... in fact I sometimes wonder how it became succesful enough to warrant three sequels... although, WHP is not bad, unremarkable... a bit like FHD.

But, yeah, can't stand WH1 & 2, really not my cup of tea, and I'm no aficiando of the genre by any means.
 

Neo Alec

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The first is a great Street Fighter alternative. The silly histiory/time travel theme set the original apart. It has a nice variety of characters, stages and moves. Plays very well and not clunky at all for its time. Sometimes the simplicity of the original is best.

Sorry, but never been able to get into WH series... in fact I sometimes wonder how it became succesful enough to warrant three sequels... although, WHP is not bad, unremarkable... a bit like FHD.

But, yeah, can't stand WH1 & 2, really not my cup of tea, and I'm no aficiando of the genre by any means.
It was the thirst for Street Fighter clones at the time. It presented a worthy alternative at the time, and the series rode that wave until it petered out.
 

Azathoth

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I find myself going back to the first entry more than the others. I'll easily admit a lot of it is nostalgia, but there's some valid reasoning behind it too.

I prefer the deathmatch mode in 1 much more than 2 for the simple reason that it uses regular life bars rather than that seesaw button mashing shit. I like how characters with charge move specials don't actually require a charge time, so moves like Dragon's kick can be whipped out at the drop of a hat.

WH1 also has probably the meatiest throws of any game other than Fighting Masters, they really carry impact. It seems like most characters also have a decently large range on their throws and the ability to whiff throws opens up room for punishment. ADK shit the bed when they changed the throw mechanic from 2 onward. The range for throws was greatly reduced, having the character perform a taunt instead of a throw whiff animation makes it so you don't really know the limits of your throw reach.

Why have a dedicated throw button in 2 and Jet if you're still going to throw with a close punch/kick? At that point there's zero reason to not go with a regular 4 button setup.
 

Fygee

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Same reason a lot of us enjoy the early games. Warm, fuzzy retro memories, simple gameplay, and enjoyable old game jank.

I still bust out Fatal Fury 1 on an occasional basis. It's just fun because it takes you back to 1991, long before fighting games really figured themselves out and added 50 million complex systems, and reminds me of when I first started seeing MVS cabs.

Also a big reason I loved the hell out of the new Samurai Shodown. Fuck combos, fuck weird systems. Just good, old fashioned timing, special moves, and strategy like it used to be, with just enough extra mechanics to make things interesting, but not overwhelming.
 

StevenK

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I am a first world hero
 

HellioN

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I liked WH1 when it came out it was cool at the time. Now I think it's kinda unplayable. But 2 is still pretty good and so is Jet. I've owned Perfect for a while and it was a lot of fun, and it was cool how they were trying to make a more robust fighting game to keep up with the times, but I didn't like the control scheme. Kinda like (I know this is probably heresy) Samurai Shodown 2. To me SS2 is the best in the series but the button "placement" basically making it a 6 button fighter was difficult to get used to. WHP did something similar if I recall correctly.

I still like the WH series for the aforementioned charm. Especially flipping the tables and having a deathmatch mode at the arcade. So cool! Especially with some of the dangers in the deathmatch mode, etc. Really fun series. But WH2 is definitely my preferred WH.
I didn't really become a SS fan till 3. That's when they fixed, IMO, the control layout.
I have a hekken sword, why do I need 87 different kicks for?
I do remember play SS1 on genesis with a 6 button pad, it was basically SF with swords.
 

LoneSage

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Huh. Thirty years anniversary for this series, July 28, 1992. Has it been that long? Apparently so.
 

neo_mao

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Oh @LoneSage, you got me with this one. Nostalgia overload.

I like the first one, but part 2 is my favorite.

I remember reading Gamepro's review of WH2 in 1993 over and over again. I was in awe. Something about it just struck me...the colors were so vibrant. I thought Mudman and his stage was like the most amazing thing ever. And C Kidd.

That was probably in 1993. Didn't play the game until probably 2008 when I first bought the homecart, 15 years later.

And it didn't fucking disappoint.

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HornheaDD

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I remember buying the WH2 home cart from Gamedude for like $50 or so. Didnt come with its case and it had that shitty Gamedude sticker. Might as well have been an NGF sticker.
 

Neo Alec

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I'll never forget the quote for WHP -- I think it was from GamePro. In their summary they wrote "World Heroes Perfect is far from perfect. I think it just made me want to play it more to prove them wrong. I respected all of the mainline Neo Geo fighting series so much.
 

Fygee

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Oh @LoneSage, you got me with this one. Nostalgia overload.

I like the first one, but part 2 is my favorite.

I remember reading Gamepro's review of WH2 in 1993 over and over again. I was in awe. Something about it just struck me...the colors were so vibrant. I thought Mudman and his stage was like the most amazing thing ever. And C Kidd.

That was probably in 1993. Didn't play the game until probably 2008 when I first bought the homecart, 15 years later.

And it didn't fucking disappoint.

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I think Scary Larry was paid off by SNK for this review. 5/5? Wow.

Even back then the game was fun, but not in any way mindblowing or any real threat to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat's dominance.
 

neo_mao

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I think Scary Larry was paid off by SNK for this review. 5/5? Wow.

Even back then the game was fun, but not in any way mindblowing or any real threat to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat's dominance.

“Street Fighter may have to move to the suburbs now that the masters of mayhem are back on the block”.

lulz
 

SouthtownKid

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I think Scary Larry was paid off by SNK for this review. 5/5? Wow.

Even back then the game was fun, but not in any way mindblowing or any real threat to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat's dominance.
You're right, but like other people in this thread, I still occasionally play and always enjoy a little World Heroes 2. But at this point, I never go back to any Street Fighter older than Super Turbo. If it's a choice today between playing WH2 or Championship Edition/regular Turbo, it's not even close.
 

Johnny16Bit

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I think Scary Larry was paid off by SNK for this review. 5/5? Wow.

Even back then the game was fun, but not in any way mindblowing or any real threat to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat's dominance.

From an operator's point of view, it did have a huge success in the arcades, from the charts/figures I remember seeing. Being on the Neo Geo and playable on the cheapest 2 buttons panel cab certainly helped, but it did suck a lot of quarters.
 

Ajax

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I really loved this game when I was 7 and I still do. It has a lot of flavor. Great music, great sounds in general. I like the other ones, and maybe the others in the series are better games, but this one will always be my favorite.
 
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