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One of the most successful developers of arcade games has to be SNK, with a wide assortment of high quality arcade titles. Their Neo Geo multi game, arcade cabinets allow for several games to take up only a little space, making them popular with arcade owners. The home Neo Geo systems, although not widely popular, play the exact same games available in the arcade, an advantage which no other system can lay claim to. Unfortunately, the regular Neo Geo is very high priced with games ranging between $200 and $300 each, and the less expensive Neo Geo CD has a rather long loading time. Now SNK has chosen to bring their games out for the 32-bit systems beginning with The King of Fighters 95 for the Sega Saturn. One of the most unique features of this game has to be the fact that it is on both a cartridge and CD! This will allow for a quick load time with no sacrifice to the animation, as well as a fairly reasonable price. Let's hope this idea catches on with other developers, such as Capcom and Williams. The King of Fighters 95 features 24 characters, divided into teams of three, for some one-on-one fighting action. Many of the characters are from other well known SNK games, including Fatal Fury, The Art of Fighting, Ikari Warriors, and Athena. For fans of fighting games, and especially Neo Geo fighting games, this is great news. Once all the other teams have been defeated, you will gain the opportunity to face the two bosses. Defeat them, and you will win the title of the King of the Fighters. The game plays like a standard 2D fighting game. There are punches and kicks of different strengths, and special moves which are performed with charging and rolling motions. Also included are desperation moves, which can be done when either your charge meter at the bottom of the screen is full, or when you're close to defeat. These moves are as visually impressive as they are deadly. Of course what fighting game would be complete without a variety of combos to discover and exploit. All eight of the Saturn's buttons are put to use, and each one has a different function. You will find they all come in handy, although it may be a bit confusing at first. The game plays well, and the moves are fairly easy to do, whether you use a control pad or joystick. Good control can make or break a fighting game, and KOF95 does very well in this department. The graphics in this game are very good and do the Saturn proud. The backgrounds are well detailed and feature lots of motion and many scrolling layers, putting even Street Fighter Alpha to shame. Look closely and you may even see more SNK characters watching the fight. All the animation is smooth, and each character's personality is reflected in their style of fighting. The attention given to all the little details really does make a difference. The sound is given just as much attention as the graphics and game play. All of the characters have their own voice, and most of them have over a dozen voice samples. The music isn't anything you'll find in the hall of fame, but it's definitely good fighting game music. Everything is played straight off the CD, so it's the exact same music found in the arcade game. As far as a translation goes, this game is as close to perfect as they come. There are some small details that some might point out such as a tiny border around the screen, or the fraction of a second of slowdown during the Art of Fighting stage. It seems almost trivial to mention these things, but if that's all that keeps the game from being a perfect translation, so be it. If only other games such as X-Men: Children of the Atom, or Ultimate MK3 were as good a translation as this one. Overall, this game will please just about anyone who enjoys a good fight, especially fans of the arcade game. |
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