Seeing as SNK is celebrating their 20th anniversary today, it seems like a good time to get some of the Video Game Masters, as well as some of our fans and subs together, to sound off and tell what their favorite games are. Let's continue this stroll down memory lane.
Mark's faves-
I'm always gonna have a soft spot for the classic KOF and Fatal Fury games. My all-time favorite Fatal Fury game will always be Real Bout Fatal Fury. The game just felt faster and more combo-based than Fatal Fury 3, and I loved what they did with Kim Kaphwan and Duck King. The thing this game has over the sequels were the crazy stage traps. Winning by locking someone in an elevator? Blue Mary losing her top underwater? It's good old fashioned SNK insanity.
For KOF it's going to be harder to choose... but I guess I'll have to say KOF 2000 is one of my faves, though I really enjoyed KOF XI, KOF 2006 (AKA Maximum Impact 2) and KOF XIII. Honorable mentions are Art of Fighting 2, World Heroes 2, the Double Dragon fighting game and Neo Geo Battle Coliseum. One thing to mention about Coliseum is that it brought back Hanzo and Fuuma from World Heroes, and had a clone of Orochi as a boss named Mizuchi.... that fought like how Orochi would have fought like in KOF 97, if was actually a challenge. And I'm really diggin this Rhythm of Fighters game I just downloaded on my phone. It's catchy.
Rakiarmas- (another member of and VGM show for several episodes.
I think my very first SNK game was Metal Slug. I got this game for the PS1 from my older sister. It was very fun, but VERY hard. King of Fighters came much later, when I got PS2. If I have to choose a favorite SNK game series then that would be Samurai Shodown series. As an fan of Samurai & fighting games this is my kind of game. I have the Anthology version, that has all six classic Samurai Shodown games in it. Bought it immediately when it arrived into the stores.
SNK always had a lot of good games in a lot of different genres. I always enjoyed their puzzle games like Puzzle Bobble and Magical Drop (Magical Drop III was especially popular amongst my group of friends), their sports games were fun, and everybody loves Metal Slug. But, like most folks, I was and still am most in to SNK for fighting games. I've not kept up with them much for a long time, though, so most of my fond memories go back to two games I played in my arcade hey-day: Samurai ShoDown and World Heroes 2. SamSho had fantastic graphics, music so good it got me to buy my first video game soundtrack, and even some good voices. Sometimes, I would actually lose around to Charlotte just to hear her say "Uh-huh" in a sexy voice! Plus, the game play was spot on. Battles could be intense back and forth affairs, or I could take somebody out in about 4 hits with Gen-An. Plus, as a weapons based fighter, it really stood out against the competition.
World Heroes 2 was just fun. It wasn't nearly as polished a game as some of the stuff that SNK developed in house, but ADK managed to make a lot of interesting characters who all played very differently from one another... well, with the exception of Fuuma and Hanzo, of course! My friend Jenny and I were always competing for the title of best Fuuma in the arcade, and you could hear us doing his "rah-raah-RAAAH!" battle cry across the hall in the Petland! Two great games from the peak of the arcade fighting era!
ImpulseKid86- (holy crap, we even got Impulse Kid himself in on this! It's good to have you aboard good sir).
Although I was aware of the Fatal Fury series growing up, King of Fighters '98 was the first KOF game I ever played. The graphics were astounding for the time, with all their pixelated charm. The music was difficult to hear since I was in an arcade, but I imagine it's also pretty awesome.
Ninten70- (one of our most awesome and long-lasting fans of our channels)
I Like Metal Slug X because I liked how the Stage's background have changed, kinda reminds me of SFII: Champion Edition. And I like how in the Chinatown stage where you make your character fat. As for Samurai Shodown 1 I liked the Graphics of the game. It has that Mortal Kombat influence combined with Street Fighter and Bushido Blade.
And so we conclude out little look back into the past of SNK and their classic Neo-Geo games. Back in the day they rocked the arcades with their Neo-Geo system that could play the exact same game on their home console. Due to the system costing 500 bucks and the games going for 200, it didn't last long in the market. Nowadays it seems they keep themselves afloat by re-releasing their classic games on XBox Live or iPhone and have also recently started making Pachislot games, which are kinda like slot machines at a casino. It's a shame though, since these machines have such amazing animation, you kinda wish they were the cut scenes of a whole new game. The Art of Fighting Pachislot has great animation that makes you wish the anime looked like that.
The Fatal Fury Pachislot takes it to a whole other level with new designs and wardrobe for Terry, Mai and Geese, and Billy Kane even has a new haircut and mini-ponytail resembling his bandana. I wish this was actually a whole new Fatal Fury game with these designs! Anyways time will tell where SNK Playmore will continue to take their business and their classic characters. Happy 20th guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment