Satan of Saturn

EVIL 0.75b






1981. Celluloid molester-, accomplished mindscorcher, Stanley Donen JUST gave you Saturn 3, the science-fiction statement in which Kirk Douglas reveals body parts NO MAN WITNESSES and goes away with his SANITY INTACT!

The facial expressions will invite you to develop fresh-, and way more proper definitions of Epic Endurance, as well. Follow the link < - deliberate repetition as an element of rampantly aggressive marketing strategy - to confirm, and to start finding the first 5 reasons of the infinite number of reasons of which all do tell you that checking out Saturn 3 is no longer an aspect of the known Universe you can safely ignore.

I suspect that the Japanese evildo... developers responsible for the Highly Illegal Space-Time Rift represented proudly by this here gem, have seen, surely MUST HAVE seen Saturn 3. The game speaks the language of Space Invaders, yet exhibits quite a few clever traits by which we must regard the title as one of evident aspirations and - as hinted delicately - immense evilness.

Is Evil the capacity to Harm without Remorse? HAH! The Satan of Saturn LAUGHS at your indecisive fumbling, puny human, being ready to confront you with the True Definition of Evil.

Muhaha ZISSSS, baby!

addendum:
it has come to the attention of the Galactic Sanity Keeper Committee that the embedded Satan of Saturn video, as of the moment of this report, is no longer available. The Committee utilizes all its channels and its stupendous influence - including telepathic willbending and EMP bursts - to solve the matter. In case you see the video, then the Committee apologizes for taking fruity seconds away from the amazing accomplishment you relentlessly work on and call an earthy lifetime. You see: a Committee is a Master at worshiping Minutes, and a Grand Master at wasting Hours.

Enjoy and Read on!




The game gives you - illegally, I'm sure - musical sequences from Star Wars, combine the very planet name Saturn to it, and you have the era's quite effective- and quite relentless space punishment at your fingertips. Satan of Saturn demonstrates sublime deviations from the trends established/outlined earlier by its aforementioned primal inspirator, finding inventive channels to present a solid, fresh take on the genre. The ability and necessity to deconstruct hostile UFOs won't likely register as an idea you and your dog never heard of before, yet the monsters will exhibit multiple agendas and consorting, radically different movement patterns, all of which will accelerate based on the performance you dare to resonate towards the Satan of Saturn.



As far as the multiple agendas of the hostiles are concerned, these are as follows:

1. Destruct Player Butt.

2. Destruct Space Structure that Emits Player Butt.

The latter being the mothership that releases your shuttle each time you start a new level, or in case you have lost a life, but still have at least one left. The hostiles will exhibit immense, even EMENCE interest in killing off your only ally Death Star style, you know, little stuff into the little hole. Most of the enemy patterns - not all though, which is an interesting addition on its own - will incorporate the intention to reach the opening you see on the mothership below you. If you let even one attacker through, then the mothership is toast, and you are toast with it, baby, as there will be no mothership to give you another life. Sad, yes?

Let us conclude via eager nodding of our heads that this is a very elegant method to enforce the player to take risks and master the hostile patterns, as, safety gameplay will result in the UFOs coming through. You know they are here already. You know they are watching. You know they need you. You know that they are communicating with you through the television set. You have seen that all before. The message is so clear, so obvious, so evident! You know it will find you again. It MEANT to.

Well, where were we? Oh, yes! We covered the first portion of Satan of Saturn, that being the
segments in which the Planet Saturn spills UFOs at you to question your integrity and/or to eradicate your only ally in this game, the mothership. These initial attempts usually consist of six- or seven rushes you need to survive, - preferably by killing all the baddies, yes - then comes the second sequence that consists of an entirely different kind of rush: bombing. Two fleets will go for your sitorgan, one from the left, one from the right. Not all of them will drop bombs, but finding out (experiencing) which one will and which one won't, is the natural, effective field of operation of these great segments. A bad reaction to an incoming bomber is a good demise watched by the bomber hostiles. If you are the Bad Enough Dude to overcome the bombers - which, as it seems to me, are easier sequences than the first periods - then the game, instead of telling you to

GO *+,:@#!! YOURSELF!,

tells you ,to:



the GO TO THE SATURN screenshot

Letting you know that this is something the game considers a personal matter between it and you from now on. Saturn, according to the representation delivered by this here retroid delicacy, is a pretty hostile place. These sequences will reveal your pilot, I assume?? Not sure, really. You control some weird looking stuff, that seems pretty defendable, though. The game will put you against some crazy spacebugs, moving rather fast and unpredictable. They molest consensus from top to bottom with a perplexed enough intention of eating you up alive! Shooting is their thing, too. So, it's quite challenging, but, at the same time, rather refreshing to - "lure" the living BEEP! out of them, naturally. The spacebugs have the ability to teleport back to the top of the screen once they reach the bottom. In case you emerge triumphant against the spacebugs, then representatives of the Ultimate Defenders of Saturn will put you against a new kind of despair! If you ever saw a mosquito on radical recreational drugs, then you will face this challenge well prepared! If not - then you WILL! Meaning: you will see them.



Once the mosquitoes are out of the picture - literally, you feel me!? - the game tells us that it is time for the new pattern. These new patterns are the effective levels of the piece, and, according to my subjective, nevertheless scientific observations, they mostly mean a gradual increase in speed, affecting both the movement of the hostiles and their projectiles. This is how the game goes: three sequences to take part in with a gradual increase in speed. Where does the hinted Evil come in then? HERE:



See my amazing score of 99480 even the Satan of Saturn is completely baffled by?? Don't worry, I am not a Cosmic Immortal, or at least I fail utterly at noticing it so far: this score is the result of saving the game constantly, and reloading it when my ass got fried. I did this to see what the game has to offer at its end, and, here is True Evil: the game has NO end. The developers - I think, quite correctly - thought that no human being will be able to reach 100.000 points in their game, so, guess what: once you reach 100.000, the counter resets and you are free to wage your war on against the Satan of Saturn. And NO, I don't think the game could go any faster than it already is by the time you reached 100.000.

Does this take away something from the piece? Evidently, and here is why: I think you can get away with infinite gameplay if you are free to score - but, resetting the counter to zero after a certain point takes all aspirations away from continuing on. Heck, a

YOU REACHED 100.000, NOW GO GET A LIFE, NERD!

would have been awesome, I think. Without this, the Timeless Laughter of the Satan of Saturn still rings in my ear once I see an arcade cabinet from behind, but, the Laughter stays absent when I watch political debates.

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Fatal Fury 3

GOOD KICKS COME IN THIRDS






Fatal Fury 3 - Road to the Final Victory is the fourth installment of the series, as this particular title comes to you as the direct follow-up to Fatal Fury Special, the actual third statement of the franchise. Do not exhibit the Special Turbo Edition 2 Fear yet, though.

While the cited Special variant of Fatal Fury, essentially speaking, is an improved version of Fatal Fury 2, it also sported trends - even hidden! trends - that made it both an extremely popular delivery, AND an output SNK chose to develop further on. Following the 1993 Fatal Fury Special that offers a subtle, yet quite cunning blend of existing SNK games, the firm gives us this here third episode in 1995. Fresh territories, approached from familiar paths - seems like a legit method to settle crisp elements you could offer consecutive blends with in a future of perspectives and sweet responsibilities, right? Perhaps we will see whether such an idea occurred to SNK, as well.

Enjoy and Read on!




Fatal Fury 3 offers a set of the more recognized characters the series has by the release date of this effort, along with five newcomers and a highly confidential number of mysterious main meanies. Since each classic- and fresh characters are fueled by the mutual desire to weigh in as memorable sprite-imprints at the end of the sessions, let us see if they exhibit convince power we must count with.



The core system utilizes quite a few of the focal elements that fueled the previous Fatal Fury installments. A primal trait of the series is the ability - or, even need - to molest opposing entities on multiple planes. Fatal Fury 3 keeps this particular tradition intact, even refined, now giving you a Front, a Middle and a Back plane to wage war on. Characters are able to switch between these Planes by consensus commands, and, as with the previous Fatal Fury titles, your palette of executable actions is deeply dependent on the Plane you standing on at the moment.

The Plane system always was a neat trait in the series, now is the time to devote steep attention to the more complex implementation Fatal Fury 3 delivers the method with. Now each character has a rather robust set of quasi-Specials specifically tailored to Plane-Based combat. These maneuvers do come via different attack types and you surely could assault multiple body regions with them, while switching Planes still remains a safe method to leap out of the way of most attacks and even Specials - granted of course that you happen to be a Bad Enough Dude and swift enough to do that.



The K.O. Move simply NEVER gets old - because it IS old already.

While blocks and Throws all do use the same methods you already could familiarize yourself with via the previous Fatal Fury statements, there is a nice set of nifty Specials that are massively context sensitive. A good example would be Geese Howard, who now is a playable character. Geese is Master, even a Masta of countering attacks with quite satisfactory Throws, yet, you need to invoke these Specials in the right time, AND in the right context to successfully state them. An example: Geese must be attacked by a Special to make his Dragon Throw invokable.

Fatal Fury 3 introduces a semi-coarse, nevertheless fresh addition in the form of its combo system, inviting you to master the respective chain attacks of each character, usually made out of four- or five consecutive hits. Surely, you can stop a chain any time you like, but, naturally, the main idea is to perform your combos all the way through, dealing sentimental quality damage in the hostile organic structure in front of you. This early, and, as such: quite significant implementation of a combo system is one of the most important traits this sequel brings to the fray, regardless the fact that it is not of a supercomplex character yet.

It seems to me that the - sorry about that - special Specials became a little more tricky to pull off, the main reason being the more precise rhythmization you must give SOME of them in with. A circumstance that becomes quite noticeable when dealing with various Desperation Specials, as we will now see.

While Command moves and the "common Specials" are easy enough to invoke, some of the Desperation moves have a tendency of occupying the identical button commands as a certain Special - or even Specials - of your character relies- or do rely on. The factor to decide whether you unleash your stock-Speciality or your Desperation - is entirely dependent on the precision of the tempo you give the command in with. Cool design, huh?

Well, it IS, and it ISN'T, because:

1. Desperations ain't too easy to pull off, thus you will be satisfied when you managed to do them, but -

2. Desperations ain't too easy to pull off, thus you won't exactly be satisfied when you invoke a stock-Special instead, which uses the same initial command as your Desperation.

To put it shortly, you have supersteep chance of assaulting good old air molecules with a Special instead of your Desperation move - until you master the tempo required to introduce the Desperation, that is.



Hon Fu - left - is one of the 2 entities whom I would cheerfully kill with ANY instrument you could name - Origami Flower, Plastic Soldier, Toothpick: all included.

We must hastily take care of a pretty dangerous and highly illegal timeleak in the fabric of the Universe, so let me remind you that certain conditions MUST be met before you could demonstrate your Super Desperation Special, let alone your Hidden Desperation.

The first one is the easier to pull off: once your lifebar reaches the critical state which it reacts to by intense flashing: you are free to deliver the Super Desperation, even in rapid succession, if you can. Hidden Desperations though require you to invite them in the round that is about to decide the outcome of the battle: the invitation itself happens by pushing all the action buttons you can find, - meaning the buttons of the keyboard/interface you playing on you know, it's not like you need to push all the action buttons in the known Universe AND Beyond - including the Start button once you see the GO! text appear on the screen. On a standar keyboard layout, that would be:

Left SHIFT+
Left CTRL+
Left ALT+
SPACE+
1

If you gave the command in successfully, your character's name will turn bright green and you will be free to resonate your Hidden Desperation once your lifebar starts to flash. One Hidden Desperation/round, though.



Can you find the Hidden Desperation on this image?

Inviting the possibility to rely on the move is not the most difficult part though, quite the contrary: the invite command is but the introduction to Hidden Desperations. These moves are definite PITAs to demonstrate, as they are usually composed of three individual command chains that require extreme precision to sew together, thus making the Hidden Desperation a finalized- and successful attempt, forming before your very eyes as you give in these complex chains. Sadly though, in my opinion, the hardest part is NOT to keep the chain, but to START it at the first place.

Trust me, french kissing a cobra on amphetamine - meaning: it is the cobra who is on amphetamine - is a much more manageable task than giving the Hidden Desperation in to a CPU enemy in Fatal Fury 3, mainly because the difficulty it poses to introduce the first chain. Surely, it's not Near the Impossible - like skiing through a revolving door is - yet the game gives you blatantly shallow chances to shine via your ultimate delicacies, I would say.

The output has some cool, yet quite minor supportive elements you can play around with, these are invokable K.O. moves and Send to Background moves, spiced up by much less satisfactory "unique attractions" that you can utilize only on one- or two maps. Like a Ceiling-Fatality, a definite "Uhuh, So What?" vibe for the whole family.

Characterized by the stable Fatal Fury traditions that do arrive to you with a more complex Plane- and an inventive Combo system, this here 1995 installment of the series certainly registers as a solid effort, with but the extremely fragile Hidden Desperations to cast a pseudo-shadow on it. An integral delivery nevertheless.

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Fatal Fury 3 Guide
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Mars Matrix

SINGULARITY BLISS






Instead of the casual information apocalypse this here planet enthusiastically looked forward to in 1999, Takumi gave you Mars Matrix, a solid Bullet Hell effort to celebrate all the years starting with the digit "2" - AND beyond.

Published by Capcom and demonstrating pretty much all the colors and shapes the conservative Anime Mind could conceive by the day, Mars Matrix arrives to smash all your preconceptions about orthodox projectile sizes and their corresponding speed. Face the Bubblegum Shooter, and sink those extremely vicious teeth into it - be aware though that this effort will : Bite Yer Butt Back.

Enjoy and Read on!






The most curious thing that is about to assault your grateful senses is Mars Matrix's rendition method. The effort comes in a standard aspect ratio, which is something to be mildly perplexed about, considering that similar titles usually do arrive via the classic narrow screen realization, see Battle Garegga or DoDonPachi, or Bolo Yeung, who is BUT mildly related to our current session, though.

The core buildup is straightforward, presented in a fluent, flamboyant manner. You spend your quality time in this game by dodging the absolutely, I mean like: abbbbbsssolutely obscene number of incoming hostile projectiles, something to create rather solid focus-related fun in front of the crystal clear parallax scroll the game chases you on.

While the general tempo of the gameplay is not particularly difficult to keep up with, - exclude those Boss Fights now, baby - an awareness of the layout of the hostile units AND the inherent patterns the attack waves will come in by, will be: crucial. The less versatile mode you play Mars Matrix by, the harder it gets, and this weighs in as a primal trait of precious propensity. Let us see into this in detail.



You will rely only on a single attack button during the game, yet, depending how you handle this particular function, you can execute multiple forms of offense. Tapping the button will give you the good old projectile foam, while a short hold-and-release results in an abrupt, yet highly effective burst characterized by IDP. (Increased Damage Potential, why, what were you thinking?)

You can see a nifty little meter on the bottom left corner of the screen, - or, if you can't, then it is likely that we are discussing different outputs here - once this gauge is full, you are free to release the - please check chair and hold on to it - Singularity Cannon!

This particular baby will suck in every single hostile projectile on the screen and will throw them back at the enemies, eradicating all forms of mechanized existence in front of you. Behind you. Around you. Well, you could say:

Hey, this is a peace of quality cake, gimme the Singularity Cannon, like: FAST!

Sure, there you have it. Tend it, feed it, lick it, keep it. But, some pointers to be aware of: as the meter might have implied that to you already, Mars Matrix uses a nice balance system to prevent a superrepetitive reliance on the Singularity Cannon, though it is generally safe to say that you are free to lead a gameplay which is deeply dependent on the undoubtedly magnificent space-warpa' thing.



- Singularity Cannon ZISS!!, Baby!
- OK.

In my opinion, though the less you use the Singularity Cannon, the harder the game becomes, it is a SIN to overdo it. Be sure to check out how well - or, how miserably, har! har! - you perform without this Ultimate Device of Destruction. Following the Golden Rule of Shoot'em Ups, Mars Matrix always WILL offer the Gap you can slip through to attain good old survival, and the need of finding these in those extremely dire situations are the moments the game truly shines by, I would say. (Thus, I do say, too.)

You will have to deal with some highly elaborate RPG elements in the game as well, just substitute the expression "supercoarse" instead of highly elaborate. Offering two kinds of spaceships to play within, Mars Matrix will deeply reward you in exchange of collectible Golden Cubes. You will see an Experience Bar in the upper left corner: this gauge fills up as you collect these Golden Extras, slowly depleting when it does not get any content to bite unto. So, you want to feed it, thus attaining the next Experience level, which gives you more effective weapons AND slightly more stable hair on chest. For Ladies: how about more precisely defined calves? Me would dig that.



Each level concludes by quite demanding Boss Fights. As long as you have no conception about what to anticipate from the later Main Meanies of the game: then you will have a whole new series of redefinitions of the highly delicate term: immense suckage.

The key here, of course, is to remain the Relentless Screensaver - HAH! - who always finds the method to overcome obstacles by, let that be even the All Time Fav Insert Keyboard/Joystick Into Monitor Display Special. As a charming delivery fueled by memorable outbursts of an extremely foul temper, Mars Matrix gives you powerful tools to survive, yet, also delivers the question along with it:

Chickening Out Already, Singularity Boy?

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Battle Garegga

RESTLESS LIMITER






1996 greets consensus with Battle Garegga, a Shoot'em Up statement by the 8ing and Raizing corporations. This title of considerable fame and well harvested notoriety introduces and sports quite a few unique traits, hardly seen anywhere else in the genre so far.

I think sober - yet mildly redundant - debate could be formed whether to regard Battle Garegga as a classic Shoot'em Up delivery OR a Manic Shooter similar to the great Gap Finder DoDonPachi, and here is why: Battle Garegga can be played in a way to make it as Manic as you have ever seen - yet you will want to handle this baby with great care and respect instead, because, believe you me, Battle Garegga will destruct human butt mercilessly once the organ in question starts to think that the Sun shines out of it.

Enjoy and Read on!




The game offers and dictates a pleasant initial pace, one which by it's easy to get carried away and render rampant destruction. As you will soon see: rampant destruction is something you will likely want to avoid in this game, though. As for the basic elements and circumstances Battle Garegga brings to the table, there are four selectable ships coming to you in multiple variants, each sporting a different kind of Secondary Punishment capability.

Collectibles can give you both multiple levels of Options - mobile devices to offer supportive fire - and heavily concealed access for weapons of manic mayhem and inherent, good old scenery destruction of acceptably sentimental qualities. All Stages do come to their respective Conclusions via well presented Boss fights, yet these face-offs are supersensitive to the performance of the player who just arrived to take part in them. Indeed, Battle Garegga is Highly Responsive to Players, as we will see.



The game offers a whole lot to destruct both in scenery and in hostile incoming vehicles, yet, once you give in to your secretive (?) weapon psycho, our notorious subject matter Battle Garegga will persistently inquire if you happen to have yet another trick up your sleeve. The output is not too shy at all, not when concerning the edge of its questions, not when we witness the arsenal it offers. Atop the evident ability of upgrading your initial equipment to messengers of senseless anger and/or incomprehensible armor penetration, your Secondary weapons will be collected as invokable Maximum Bursts of the corresponding weapon type. Was that a "huh?" for you? Nothing too difficult, really: once you collect a certain number of Bomb icons, those little images will turn into a Big-A*s bomb which will give you the aforementioned Maximum Burst upon release. In case you decide to stack your Secondary Verdict for a while, you can go for yet another of the Big Bombs/Maximum Bursts, simply by collecting Bomb icons further on. As for the Optional devices: there can be a maximum of four of those around you, but you can organize them into different, nifty formations via the third button. Battle Garegga has some secret formations - invokable and collectible when certain conditions are fulfilled, see Below - in store for us, as well.

Question quickly becomes evident: why not deconstruct all that can be deconstructed? The answer comes to us via Battle Garegga's invisible, yet ever-present Rank system. As a secretive, silent, yet painfully aware mathematical entity, this algorhythm is your worst, even worstest rival in the game. The Rank system keeps track of pretty much all aspects the output invites you to explore or to rely on. How much you shoot? How powerful your shots are? How often you release your Secondary weapons? Or, do you prefer to STACK them? How many Options you keep around your ship?



All these questions, and many more are being eagerly monitorized by Battle Garegga, in fact, the Rank gets higher with each shots you release, even better/worse: with each frame (!) you survive. If your perform masterfully, a point will come, from which on Garegga will hate your guts quite passionately and will punish it by exhibiting near-impossible challenges. The solution is to keep the Rank system from increasing beyond manageable challenges, yet the most effective method for this is to die. Whether on purpose, or by - bleheh - accident. The less life you have in stock, once your butt is fried: the greater the decrease in the Rank will be. As such, Extra lives are evident musts to go for, yet you should be aware that different regional variants of the game deliver Extra lives at different Score requirements.

Minor, nevertheless important methods are existent to keep the Rank system at relative, yet much needed peace. As a general rule, you don't necessarily want to destruct all, you don't want to shoot the naked air, you don't want to collect all Power Ups, especially not if they no longer mean instant benefit to you beyond Points. Though Autofire is available, it is something Battle Garegga is especially fond of being enraged at. You can program the Autofire, by the way: buffer in some crazy-ass shots, and your Autofire will remember the rate you stated. Keep in mind though that the game hates this classic function, and will start punish you thoroughly if you decide to rely on it constantly, trust me.



Medals and Options do play a significant role in the game, too. What was stated concerning destruction, enjoys its merits concerning collectibles. You don't want to rush on all stuff that is present on the screen at any given time - especially not incoming shots. Sorry, not all jokes do need to work, otherwise, how could we appreciate one which is capable to? Be aware that letting certain collectibles to get away will grant access either to items of more significant scores, or to more versatile tools of magnificent mayhem.

Since this particular subsystem AND the Rank method at the core are rather complex and sophisticated elements, I would urge you to consult the massively thorough, pretty much scientifically detailed Guide I gratefully deliver at the bottom. The Rank method also makes a rather unique experience out of this charming delicacy, offering a gameplay that invites you to implement strategy beside the natural readiness of Gap Seeking and to render a trusty, steady period of Proper Eradication. Question no longer is if you can utilize all tools to dominate the game - question is if you can utilize proper tools to stay alive in the game.

Battle Garegga invites, and, later on, even demands a different approach than most shmups do popularize, yet it delivers its unique experience by speaking the consensus dialect you, as Player, will be thoroughly grateful for and familiar with. Oh, the One and Only Sentence you absolutely MUST write down when you offer an opinion about Battle Garegga: it is hard to differentiate hostile projectiles from resultant junks and debris! Wow. What an acurate observation. Indeed it is. Yes. No doubt. A part of the game, you know. All in all, Battle Garegga weights in as evident, brave classic, inviting you timelessly to show it your awesometacular one credit run.



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Heavy Duty Battle Garegga Guide
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Bad Dudes VS Dragonninja

A BAD ENOUGH DUDE






Proprietor of one of the most hilarious titles of videogame history, DataEast's 1988 effort Bad Dudes VS Dragonninja emerges as a statement of solid rivalry towards the era's flamboyant Beat'em Up traditions. While our present subject matter isn't afraid to borrow its basic gameplay mechanics from the 1984 classic Kung-Fu Master and its direct descendant Vigilante from 1988, the output's primal agenda is to ride with the well defined modal waves established by Double Dragon one year earlier.

A copycat then? Far from it. This retroid delicacy possesses both a tremendous global charm AND the most memorable Mission Briefing you'll ever see in a Beat'em Up. Got doubts? You are about to lose those utterly ma'man, as the Bad Dudes, Blade and Striker are Back in Town - and they are about to dominate hostile ninja assets of the midsection character as they make their way to save the President of the United States from the Gruesome Clutch of the Dragonninja! Are! You! a! Bad! Enough! Dude! to present their amazing skillset with intact convince power?

Enjoy and Read on!




Bad Dudes VS Dragonninja is more complex than the good old first glance will probably suggest. Controls are simple, yet are supported by firm context sensitivity, meaning certain moves are available only in case particular conditions are fulfilled. We will see into this matter later. Your basic arsenal is seemingly - even practically - limited to an Attack and a Jump button, yet the aforementioned context sensitivity and some variations with the basic tools will give you a more flamboyant palette of maneuvers to rely on. Let us see into these in relation with the basic pace- and character of the gameplay.



The Ideal Place to settle a Conflict.

To put is simply, Bad Dudes VS Dragonninja is about: Bad Dudes and Ninjas, AND a Dragonninja. More precisely: it is about Bad Dudes and a BEEP!load of Ninjas to be found-, and to be dismissed by demonstration of an amazing skill set of martial arts. The screen is ruthlessly, fervently frequented by massive packs of the generic enemies, yet each of them exhibit a different method to punish you. Thus, learning, then preparing for the attacks you will most likely be subjected to in a given moment is one major chunk of the fun here, while, naturally enough, the second portion forms merely by the casual fact that you are not only supposed to defend your butt(s) - you are definitely supposed to punish all others that are fool enough to present themselves with the Bad Dude(s) around.

Your basic punch seems rather scarce. You know why that is? Because it IS scarce. Once there are enemies in front of you though - an occurrence to consort with relative frequency in this here game - you can start a semi-coarse combo of three-four consecutive hits, though being stationary is a risky stance to rely on, for most of the time. Notice that we have just seen an example of context sensitivity. To put is simply: do the combo when you are not approached from different directions. Let us see the other tricks that are waiting to be unleashed.

Charge up the Attack button by pressing on it, invoking the Long Forgotten, and Even Forbidden Technique of The Electrified Fist of Gruesome Atomic Shattering!, even: !!. As results of the firm amount of time it takes to spend in a stationary position to invoke the move, be aware that this particular Special is rather risky to rely on, not to mention that most of the generic baddies will be knocked out cold by a single attack you connect with. Not all, though: more advanced enemies at the later stages will ask for more of the quality punishment, to them, it is a logical method to introduce the Charge Special - you will need excellent timing and an excellent screen position to state it successfully, nevertheless.



NOBODY! Steals our PRES'! - and LIVES!

Try and smash the respective Direction buttons supported by each Actions, inlcuding a combined press of Attack + Jump. Some rather interesting maneuvers will occur, including an unorthodox "jumping lowkick" that comes in handy against the doggies, - in this here game, they are a PITA, no doubt. Your most frequently used weapon will be the Hurricane Kick though, the move quite similar to Ryu's Trademark (?) Special. In Bad Dudes VS Dragonninja, you invoke the maneuver by Jumping either towards Left or Right, then you want to push Attack immediately. It does not work if you simply Jump up. This is a nice, trusty method to connect on multiple enemies while keeping your movement consistent.

Jumping up remains an integral part of the game, as well: Player Characters are able to demonstrate a Jump of Definite Bean Overdose, something which comes rather handy when you plan to evade a massive swarm of baddies you would prefer to loose their usually tight formations up. The High Jump is simple to rely on, just press Up while you press the Jump button, as well. It is also worth mentioning that this is partly the way you switch between the upper-and lower sections of a stage, granted you are on one that has multiple stories to wage war on. To get to the lower section from a higher one, press Down + Jump.

Extras are present, too: knives, nunchakus, and Hate, the Weapon of Mass Destruction. Surely, one of them is absent, or at least I did not notice its evident presence yet. While knives and nunchakus have a different attack range, they will make your Bad Dude turn much more swiftly. Other extras are coming to you in forms of Time bonuses and Coke to re-supply health. Yeah baby, this, even ZIS! is the Coke way. The exact method of picking Extras up is a Riddle begging to be solved by the Dearest Visitor. As for the context sensitivity we touched upon earlier, a further example for this is neutralizing the shurikens on the floor: approach them superclose, then unleash a combination of Down + Attack to get rid of the thing. You can't execute this amazingly satisfying kick though without a shuriken in front of your feet. Yet, in case you CAN: then you are a Badderer Dude than I Is.



Each of the game's seven stages is concluded by a classic Boss Fight, with a Final Showdown coming to you via a surprisingly clever dramaturgical buildup. Like most Beat'em Up titles, Bad Dudes VS Dragonninja is particularly grateful once you decide to play it rigorously, meaning: you refuse to get kicked around, and choose to exploit weaknesses and gaps in the opposition's lines instead. With its now-supercoarse, though timelessly intact presentational values and memorable gestures/lines placed throughout its mere fabric, Bad Dudes VS Dragonninja weighs in as a piece that delivers the hilarious modal cheesiness of the original, One-and-Only Ninjamania of the late '80s. A definite retroid delicacy.



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DoDonPachi

MIND THE GAP(s)!






DoDonPachi, or, what this Japanese title roughly and playfully translates to: Angry Boss Bee - you know from this point on that you have to play this effort - is a manic sci-fi shooter developed by the Atlus and Cave corporations, also is the direct descendant of Don Pachi, a game that hit arcades and grew quite popular two years prior our delicate subject matter would have had claim rigorous shoot' em up dominance in 1996. This game knows no jokes at all, and has 0 intention pretending it does, hence the consensus decision to regard similar outputs as manic shooters. Bid farewell for relief and pleasant moments of inhalation upon mission completion, and set all your cybernetic reflex-enhancing neurocircuits to the "Temporal Overdrive" position instead, as DoDonPachi is quite the grouchy and elegant game, deeply dedicated to the delicate art of dodging enemy projectiles while still trying to deconstruct hostile alien formations. An immensely demanding title, DoDonPachi guarantees that it will keep your senses and reflexes steadily occupied via a pace optimized for living beings with two pairs of eyes. At least, that is.

Enjoy and Read on!




The game is composed of six levels, delivering an increased difficulty with each section you freshly fly on. Respecting rigorous, yet nice and clean traditions, every level will put you against a Boss fight as a conclusion, though you will need to perform superbly in order to emerge worthy enough to gain the interest of the True Final Boss.

Gameplay is both very fluent and intact, and - this is the bizarre case, folks - wonderfully masochistic, as well. While DoDonPachi is kind enough to let you render relatively peaceful sessions of destruction - great source is the world of videogames if you plan to find exquisite oxymorons - on the first and second levels, those portions are but to get you and your trigger fingers in the mood. Target practice with immense stakes, that is all. From the third level on though, the game gets quite serious: constant survival becomes extremely demanding, yet constant survival is the thing you are looking for and try to master.

You have three selectable ships at your disposal, each with slightly different speed and firing capabilities. Considering the number of enemies you will face on the maps, it is always good to know that the player ships are capable to destruct matter filling out space not just in front of them, but around them, as well. Greet the two little mechagizmos beside the hull: those are called "Option"s, and you can set them either to represent double punishment power, or you can select them to be indestructible against smaller enemy classes.



In this here game, firing occurs in a relatively frequent manner: tapping the attack button will start a burst that can be maintained fluently if you keep on tapping, there is not even need to go Metal Slug Psyhotic this time around, either. Pressing and holding the attack button will unleash the lasers: this is Pure Mayhem Potential baby, never subject your staggering haircut to THIS stream of ruthless devastation. Though relying on the lasers is great fun for the whole family, there are drawbacks you got to deal with. First and foremost, delivering this constant attackfoam slows your ship down, and you won't have too much of a chance - because 0 is exactly THAT much, too - to take out your surroundings at the sides. Surely, the lasers represent impressive punishment power, but you need to introduce the enemy to them in the frontal manner so your cannons can recite a truly warm welcoming.

Bombs are offered and usable, too: use your alternate fire to unleash one of those. Bombs are little helpers you can rely on in case the DoDonPachi experience would prove to be way too much to handle. Whether this will happen or not - you must find out on your own. Suffice it to say that Bombs do clear the screen pretty much 100%, including enemy projectiles that will get converted to collectible Bonuses upon Bomb contact. You can store a maximum of six Bombs at a time. Or you cheat, or you hallucinate. Or both. The Bombs- and five levels of Power-Ups can be obtained by collecting the letters you see flying around: once you reach the maximum Power-Up and/or Bomb level/number, consecutive letters will get you Bonuses.

We have a little no! no! here, as the individual Power-Up states are not represented visually, or at least I did not notice. I am not sure which of the latter two possibilities is the more catastrophic. Either way, once you are on a higher Power rank, your ship deals more damage. A nice minigame is kindly, subtly offered as far as collection of Extras go: they have a tendency to fly around in an easygoing, bohemian way, one that is quite funny to watch, but making it a definite pain in the definite butt to collect them. Simply put: DoDonPachi invites you to take risks if to go for the Extras - and you WANT to go for the Extras, trust me. And now, for something completely different: the game has a truly brilliant soundtrack. Nuclear guitar warfare with pretty solid, complex, catchy compositions - an evident classic.



DoDonPachi will keep your senses relatively occupied, indeed.

A nice Hit system is implemented in the game, quite similar to a combo method: once you deliver a kill, a little meter fills up hastily, starting to count down in an abrupt manner. In case you manage to deliver yet another kill before the meter empties: a Hit combo occurs. You want to keep this meter immensely entertained, as doing that will give you both massive Bonuses and optional means to reach the True Final Monster. Hit Bonuses do not conclude the Extras you can go for. Throughout the game, you will see Bees lying around. It is a nice Bonus subsystem: the more Bees you collect without a death, the more they will worth in points to the maximum of 13 Bees. This subsystem also is an optional method to gain the attention of the Final Boss, for example. For all the other means, please consult the great Guide I link you to at the bottom.



Now is the time to account on the very core- and very grouchy kinna' fun DoDonPachi delivers. This is the Gap Seeker kind of fun. From the third level on, the title will subject you to pretty much obscene enemy onslaughts, there are times when laying down yet another hostile projectile would be near impossible without intersecting an existing one. These immensely vicious waves are results of multiple projectile patterns. Your only way out is through nevertheless, so you are either to find the gap(s), - thus, MIND THE GAP(s)! - or you could always use a Bomb in case you have some yet. But, to be honest with you, I have the impression that the game could be beat without using a single Bomb, though I realize that you either need Superhumanic abilities or a blatant Fortune Boost - or, granted: both of the latter - to accomplish this. I would urge you anyway to try and go for survival without Bombs. You can always use one when you are absolutely sure that otherwise your butt would be dead meat. Dead meat butts are not very efficient here - avoid ending up as one at all costs.

The necessity and inherent-, though vicious fun of finding gaps in enemy patterns is an aspect of the game that - sorry 'bout that, Ladies - simply loves to break a man's balls. Waves have a pretty decent length to them, so surviving those is not just a matter of dancing skillfully around with your ship, now that you can do that so elegantly, the game will kindly invite you to demonstrate your readiness for 8-10 hellish seconds in the company of Mr. Death - Imminent. It is also worth mentioning that firing your weapons naturally will intersect with incoming hostile projectiles, making it pretty much impossible to see what is going on - so you will need to balance out efficient aggression and efficient evasion with rock solid skills. I don't know about you, but there were times when I died by the VERY LAST projectile of a wave. Oh, you got to LUV those vibes, baby. And there is little if any doubts that you got to love this game, being one which is not afraid to push your abilities to the limit - and beyond.



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Metal Slug

TRIUMPH OF THE (S)KILL






A supreme representative of the run and gun genre, Metal Slug elegantly assumes you to be a weapon-crazed maniac, thus, you should have no problem whatsoever that this 1996 überclassic lacks autofire. In fact: you should be grateful!

Metal Slug is the kind of game that lacks autofire with a purpose, indeed: if you play this title in the Well Defined Chest Hair Fashion - meaning you focus as much on staying alive as you do on delivering good old destruction - then you will indeed find yourself completely changed into the very specie the game keenly invites you to be from the very start: come, feel the Metal Slug! Give in to the Weapon Psycho you secretly (?) keep around in your gaming psyche! Oh, what do I babble about - you WILL give in to it, otherwise you won't survive here for TWO nanoseconds, trust me.

Enjoy and Read on!




This classic output is a result of an integral collaboration between the D4, Nasca and SNK Corporations, taking you to an alternate universe with an - surprisingly 'nuff - alternate future. An alternate universe you may witness and play in indeed, yet, it is pretty much impossible to miss upon the evident, hilarious WW2-cartoon character the game unleashes with high octane.

The main attractions here are the superbly balanced gameplay mechanics, coming to you on demandingly steep difficulty which though always gives you the means, the paths to rely on- and to take in order to survive: surely, you could be a crazy-ass bionic mobile siege tower of mild efficiency, giving in the consecutive credit after each 5th kill you accomplish - yet the main appeal of the output is the experience it delivers when you put massive focus into your survival abilities.

Essentially, Metal Slug is a long-long foam of subtly presented, pattern-driven minigames that demand pretty much flawless, constant awareness of your surroundings if you are about to present a truly (s)killful session. Yet, mastering these patterns of course is a continuous result of being subjected to the intense assaults the Metal Slug armies and Bosses do unleash on you. Solution is evident: rely on the BESTEST Defense, which naturally is the BESTEST Offense. Finding THAT at each and every section of the game is one immense half of the even more immense global fun the title brings to the table, also it keeps our delicate gray matter and reflexes steadily occupied. As such, do yourself two favors in advance: first and foremost, definitely give Metal Slug a try, and, secondly: when you do that, be sure to play a rigorous game, refusing to get your butt kicked as often as the title invites you to do that.



- III!! WOON'T!! DIIE!!
- AHHAHAHAHAHAA!!

Now, this is really the main charm of the game: as hinted, Metal Slug will give players continuous, though direly strait means to stay alive, yet, spotting and exploiting those are the frequent peak moments by which the piece exhibits furious attacks, casually asking you if you happen to have a conception of staying integral by the very next moment. Be it either way, know that Metal Slug never poses situations that doom you to inescapable death. It just likes to shock you with the impression. Use it to fuel your anger instead, Young Anakin, and deliver your final verdict to the Bosses supported by the Muhaha! of Eradication, that you are to perfect yet.

You will have nice extras at your disposal: a massive chunk of the levels is destructible, revealing instruments of amazing stopping power, yet ammunition for those is rigorously, wisely constrained. You will obtain Heavy Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers and - oh ye! oh ye! - good, old fashioned Shotguns, while the trusty butt-savers you will frequently rely on do come in the form of classic frag grenades: splash damage potential with mild amnesia as possible side effects. Grenades are offered in a similar fashion as weapons are: be sure to keep an eye on the surroundings, since elements you destruct will surely reveal stuff you will be interested in.

The game's title refers to the small vehicles scattered around the levels: these are the Metal Slugs: cute, little, yet quite usable tank-like instruments of destruction. You can occupy them, then fire two kinds of shots of considerable potential, yet Slugs are not indestructible: in fact, three immense direct shots will find the vehicle bidding farewell - you are free to drive the desperate Metal Slug into the enemy, though. To do that, just push your two main attack buttons simultaneously when the vehicle's energy is low. It is also worth noting that the Metal Slug is capable to jump/duck and fire in multiple directions, even better: you are free to offer grenades from beyond the cover of the trusty thing. Directions are of note in one particular regard yet: your hero can shoot downward at the highest steep of a jump, not from a stationary position, though. This gives a fervent visual appeal to the pace, making your protagonist look totally psyched up jumping around madly, punishing All Below.



Metal Slug delivers POWs, as well. They are the Prisoners of War, you can, and, in fact, should release them to obtain the extras they give you. These are weapons or bombs, let alone the Score they weigh in with. A nice trait of Metal Slug is the destructible hostile projectiles: you can stop almost all kinds of anti-blessings with amazing precision aiming, with some exceptions that make rigorous and rather unpleasant sense: some Bosses will deliver Plasma, for example. Not healthy for your butt at all. Not stoppable by your arsenal, either.

As it might have just occurred to you, let me deliver confirmation power: naturally, all levels - there are six of them - conclude with a Boss Face-off. These are encounters of inventive and memorable moments, while their character is heavily dependent on the status you arrive to them by clearing the level of the generic enemies. So, it is important whether you arrive to the Boss with a fully packed Rocket Launcher in hand, OR with two shells remaining in your trusty Shotgun. Indeed, the game definitely recognizes tactics and skills even in this particular regard, making it safe to say that the title is capable to offer different experiences, depending on the arsenal you choose to mainly go for- and rely on on any given stage.



The effective run and gun language the game speaks in is rather straightforward and intense. Staggeringly enough, you have a Fire button with as steep of an effectiveness as your Amazing Cosmic Trigger Finger has, meaning if you can press the button 5000 times/sec as Yngwie J. Malmsteen picks 5000 notes on his guitar by the same amount of time: THEN you will have an Advantage, and the Metal Slug baddies will fear your wrath from the very start. Let me tell you though that you only just imagined that: sad fact is that your Amazing Cosmic Trigger Finger will scream for some relief at the most dire of times, giving you the eternal Metal Slug dilemma of:

How In Hell Will I Survive THIS With Only THIRD Of My Finger Remaining?

And this is the question every player answers for herself/himself, making the game weighing in as evidently timeless run and gun classic. A definite, safe go-for it was, remaining as such with its intense snarl ever since.



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Art of Fighting 2

A BLAST TO LAST






Art of Fighting 2 remains memorable as one of the most difficult single player experiences you have ever encountered, this though takes nothing away from the sheer enjoyment the piece brings to the table nevertheless. This here 1994 sequel to SNK's highly successful Art of Fighting emerges in arcades as a bigger, meaner and even more colorful statement than its predecessor, giving you the fortunate opportunity to select every character in the story mode, even better: in the long run you may have the chance to face off against Geese Howard, the single Baddestest Dudette the Planet Ever Seen - right after Fedor Emelianenko, of course. With Art of Fighting 2, SNK accounts and delivers all possible standards the era- and even contemporary consensus demands from a quality 2D Fighter experience, resulting in an exceptional title that has the considerable amount of 0 intention to conceal the fact that it absolutely hates, hates, HATES your guts.

Enjoy and Read on!




In its rhythmic buildup and inherent core gameplay mechanics, Art of Fighting 2 remains true to its direct originator, though introducing mild adjustments to deliver a controller scheme which feels more sober than the method the first installment relied on. Previously you needed to "buffer in" either a punch or a kick to invoke their respective stronger variants with the third button, in fact, the same button you used to utilize Throws when your puny rival was at nose distance. While this method is still present in the game, its relevancy have been wisely, and greatly reduced: the form of attack - punch or kick - you buffer in will be invoked by the third button, yet, this buffered variant will always be the weak maneuver, giving you the delicate hint that the third button is now intended to be regarded/used primarily as the Throw command. Though, as we will see, it also is a modifier button that gives you access to two extra basic maneuvers.

As far as the different attack variants go, now all you need to do is to tap the two primal attack buttons either in a rapid fashion to introduce quick, yet relatively weak flurries composed of - amazingly enough - relatively weak punches or kicks, or you can simply choose to tap the button once: now you can see what those flurries are exactly composed of. Pressing and holding the buttons for a split second results in a Strong attack upon the release of the button, though. In reality, the "press-requirement" for the weak attacks are so tiny and supersensitive that it is likely that you will perform Strong attacks for most of the time, yet, this is not the most unfortunate circumstance that is about to haunt you during your stay on this planet, generally speaking.

Modifiers are easy and intuitive to grasp, also, quite similar to the system you have seen in the first installment: offer your Basic attacks simultaneously with the third button, and you will gain access to the particularly useful Uppercut- and Low kick maneuvers.



The Spirit Gauge was one of most famous feature of the original game, surely, it reigns here again without any radical modifications, saved the fact that now it replenishes with time. For those dear cosmo-and ufonaut visitors of Mamereview whom are not yet familiar with the system, I do deliver the following information with keen readiness that the Art of Fighting method consumes your Spirit Gauge each time you throw a Special move, and OH!, you WILL throw those Specials, because you are going to NEED them: BAAAAD, trust me on these delicate assumptions.

The Spirit Gauge with its new replenishment ability is a nice tactical adjustment, and here is why: in AoF1, it was entirely your responsibility to use up your Spirit AND to replenish it by meditating. You can do the same thing here as well: remain still for some moments while making sure that you place the weight of every single atom in your magnificent body on either of the attack buttons. Then your chosen character will meditate to regain her/his considerable potential. Cool design. Notice this, though: now it is partly your opponent's responsibility if you manage to catch her/him with Specials all the time, because either she/he lets you walk around with Spirit energy intact, missing out on the opportunities by which your Spirit Gauge could and - frankly - SHOULD be molested via ruthless, relentless efficiency for the sake of good old frustration, personal enlightenment and closely/scarcely related fighting - OR! - it might be so that your rival is simply unable, or unwilling to interrupt your meditation. Let us notice nevertheless that this new Spirit Gauge is way more sensitive to the actual events that the round greets on the screen.

Taunting is still present and still works in a perfectly funny and trusty method: be aware that you are effectively helpless when you choose to taunt your opponent - a brief moment, yet a significant moment it is indeed, the experienced player is capable to capitalize on your cockyness in the blink of an eye. Naturally, it is never a good idea to offer your mockery lines from close quarters, instead move out of reach and state your verdict from the Safe Distance.



THIS particular taunt was NOT directed from Safe Distance.

While blocking is very traditional, - just move away from your rival - the game sports a rather nice subsystem that lets you escape a semi-successful Throw attempt if you manage to give in the exact command in the exact time while airborne. This way, you will do what cats do best. Art of Fighting 2 comes with Desperation Specials: these are neat combos that do have the tendency to knock your opponent's butt off if they do connect and - logically - fully commence, yet there is the rigorous trade off: you must be very low on Life to rely on them, even more: it is not necessarily worth trying to go for the Desperation Special once a chunk of your Spirit is missing. Generally, it seems safe to say that you want to attempt the Desperation with a full, nice and clean Spirit Gauge.



Art of Fighting 2 comes with nifty Specials and a flamboyant character roster, with the majority of the protagonists being transported- and now freshly implemented from the original effort. There are some nice secrets available in the game which are not even too hard to stumble upon, like the availability of Mr. Big as a playable character - he even has an Endsequence - granted you fulfill one particular condition. Normally, it is still Mr. Big whom you do the Final Battle against, yet, in reality, there is someone even meaner on the secretive scrutinize process out there. Indeed, as hinted in the intro section, Geese Howard from Fatal Fury is featured in the output as True Final Boss, what is more interesting: you will see a younger version of him. Man, this dudette is a fervent S.O.B. to say the least. To reach Geese, you need to dismantle the entire character roster without any rounds going to any of your rivals - that is the steep requirement to gain Geese's interest and making yourself able to face off against him.



Hey, THAT'S a Start!

Art of Fighint 2 is a notoriously hard game when played against the CPU, yet, fortunately enough, the pace and appeal of the piece weighs in strong enough to keep you both extremely busy and interested finding out the proper techniques and means to overcome your adversaries. The game generally: despises you. I have the intact impression - oxymoron? - that the system even cheats sometimes, meaning it hardly takes away anything from your rival's health once you think that you scored big time, while it punishes your butt in a radical manner once YOUR sitorgan gets casually constructed into the pavement.

Time is very well implemented in Art of Fighting 2. This is among the few 2D Fighters I have encountered so far that have a delicate relation to- and dependency on the period that is about to left yet from a given round, inviting/forcing you to adjust your tactics according to your rival's and your own Life bar, as, naturally, the character with the longer bar goes away with the win in a round once the timer stops. Surely, this is perfectly legit stuff, yet the effective pace does have a symbiotic, sane relation to the time that is offered for battle during a given round.

It is especially notable against Geese, for example: the dude is so rampantly aggressive and deals so immense damage that you are sort of OK with stealing punches on his hive to gain the upper hand, then you would surely prefer to stay away from him until the time counts out - escaping from him and offering moments of counter-resistance between the stalk periods he haunts you with is essential part of doing battle against him, AND against the clock. One mistake, and you will find how crude is the meaning of this here saying:

You Are All Over The Place.

As a strong, intact SNK effort to solidify the Art of Fighting franchise, this here second installment remains true to its originator and recognizes its primal appeals via sober understanding and fresh inventiveness. As one of the more serious CPU challenges you can get your hands on and as timeless of a 2D multiplayer collider as you have ever seen, Art of Fighting 2 still delivers its eternal grin to you, and let me tell you that THIS particular grin still looks quite intense and still is perfectly aware of what you are longing for.



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Fatal Fury 2

SECOND F(r)IGHT






The second Fatal Fury statement is your Direct-To Rivalry Market effort to put up reinforced commercial struggles against Capcom's Street Fighter II, the dominant power in arcades that the first Fatal Fury game could not convincingly compete against. With this here second installment of the Fatal Fury series, SNK changed its strategy significantly, pretty much offering a decent SF2 clone that has keen readiness to introduce some extra pleasantries atop its rigorous dominator.

Enjoy and Read on!




As hinted, Fatal Fury 2 refuses to thread further along the path it started to solidify on via the first output, instead it goes for the SF2 appeals up to the point that there are Specials present in the game invokable as you would play with Capcom's dominant title, even results are identical. A good example is Kim Kaphwan's Flying Swallow Slice, this is the exact trick Guile from SF2 is famous of. Thus, though it would be utterly incorrect to suggest that Fatal Fury 2 would lack its own tastes and unique attributes, this doesn't keep the output from claiming radical liberty, re-introducing solutions offered- and popularized by its inspirator.

This re-introduction of certain, though focal SF2 elements is a very smart move from SNK when you start to think about it, and here is why: SNK copies portions off of Capcom games in a deliberately shameless fashion. What would be Capcom's likely reaction to this? Can they give an answer of sobriety at all? SNK assumes its adversary to follow this particular train of thought:

They Stole From US, So We Shall Start Stealing From THEM, Too!

SNK clearly, cleverly provokes the arcade giant Capcom to do so, inviting the firm to start copying elements the smaller company invented. The moment Capcom falls in for this trick and starts to re-introduce solutions- and features you have seen in previous SNK games, IS the same moment in which Capcom admits that it considers SNK a now-bitter rival and an adversary worth learning from. Something that SNK admitted of Capcom already via copying elements. Now, would you return this "favor" and admit that you are in a serious struggle, or would you move on and redefine the genre once again on-and with- your own fresh inventions?



- WHAT are you DOING here??
- I am TRULY BAD at Philosophy.

The game is set in the same fictional universe as Art of Fighting, though the aforementioned title - AoF, that is - tells of events that took place a decade prior the start-off developments of the Fatal Fury series. The game brings in the magic numbers SF2 relies on. You have eight playable characters, some of them are the original fighters from the first installment, while the others - amazingly enough - are fresh additions. The magic numbers prove to be persistent, as usual, (not to mention that there are NO numbers that are NOT magical) thus Fatal Fury 2 brings you four Boss characters to collide with once you have proved yourself against the playable protagonists.

Let us notice how a development of the future unfolds silently by this point: Capcom will indeed set a foot in front of SNK with Street Fighter II Champion Edition, a title that lets you play as any of SF2's four Bosses. Whether SNK will have a reply to this, remains a question to be answered at a later occasion.

The button layout is a little bit funky on this one when played on MAME - nothing too serious, just a mild mixture here that might claim some time to get used to. Basically, you will find a Kick where you would anticipate a punch and vica versa. The game has two kinds of strikes and two kinds of kicks, while simultaneous pressing of those AND respective directions do give a wide palette of executable Basic and Command moves to the fray. You can even perform Strong Attacks by invoking the Stronger variants of your offensive maneuvers together, this results in a third Basic attack that knocks the enemy to the different Plane than the one you kicked her/his sitorgan on. As you might have guessed already: the Plane system is presented- and offered once again.



Basic attacks and maneuvers are dependent on the Plane system, the trademark delivery this effort kept from its predecessor. The method still gives you two spatial setups to play on: as in the original Fatal Fury, you have a Front Plane and a Back Plane, thus, if your character is on a certain Plane, then certain Basic and Command moves are accessible, while others are not. This method weighs in as a decent minigame to entertain the eyes and the hands, even better, it still remains a reliable way to escape temporarily and re-plan your opposition during this period. All these features were already accessible in the first episode, yet now the Plane method sports an increased tactical potential, giving you the green light to Charge across different Planes. You have respective "Cross-Charge" movements against your rival's respective body sections, thus Fatal Fury 2 certainly delivers fresh sensations as far as the core gameplay mechanics are concerned. And let me tell you this: those are heavily concerned once MAME Review rampantly emerges to ruthlessly scrutinize.

There are maps you won't find a second Plane on, though you will find obstacles on such backgrounds. Maneuvers that will knock your opponent to the opposite plane will drive her/him unto an obstacle on single plane maps.

Fatal Fury 2 lets you interconnect certain Basic- and even Special attack moves to form quasi-combos. These maneuvers can be interrupted any time by blocking the attack, thus, these are not exactly combos in the classic sense of the word, but they are very useful both to pressurize your rival, let alone how happy you will end up as if the quasi-combo quasi: lands, right?

The primal additions you will be shocked by considerably are the Desperation Moves. Especially when I tell you that those additions are present in the game. These Specials are only accessible once your Life reaches its Critical point, an occasion the flashing Lifebar will inform you of.
While Specials are rather straightforward to pull off, the game also makes a versatile use of the mere contexts the game might have to count with. I realize it may have sounded a little bit weird, so let us pick an example for such a context: the game inspects if- and when a character is under attack, and encourages you to do the same - you have Counter moves especially designed to punish an unsuccessful attack, while your Strong Punch will be a Taunt if you perform it while standing far away from the enemy. Taunt does not seem to have any relevant effect beyond the animations though, unfortunately.



Fatal Fury 2 is also among those rare 2D Fighters that let you crawl forward in an utterly inept ducking position, though this may prove useful against certain projectile attacks - just don't believe it will.

The output suffers but from a couple of minor flaws, even those are of presentational nature. Like - highly subjective - inconsistency in the impact certain backgrounds will likely have on you, as some of those are totally neat, while some look - surely, it is highly subjective - somewhat crude, not-particularly cared for, even rudimentary, in my opinion. My personal favorite is the Parallax Swamp on Joe's stage.

Now, if THIS is not a WTF, then TELL ME, what a WTF is.

Apart from this, or, even better: with THIS included, the game emits considerable charm and sports quite a few fresh elements to weigh in as a more successful effort than its predecessor, especially once their mutual primal agenda of rivaling the Street Fighter franchise reveals in its alarming persistence. SNK took a reliable and solid step with Fatal Fury 2 that remains an easy, safe retro recommendation to date.



- YER turn ...



- ME turn...

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