by: John Olin

September 05, 2005

SNK the creators of the ultra expensive Neo Geo originally released these titles in the arcade, in Japan at least during 2002 and 2003. While they are a bit older the rosters don’t change like your favorite sports titles. The game has some improvements to it for the Xbox that will make it worth it for any 2D fighting fan, such as the ability to play online but other than that many of us gamers who want a more vivid and free-style experience will have to turn towards today’s 3D fighters.

King of Fighters 2002, which was my personal favorite of the bunch, includes 40 different characters. Like the recent Capacom fighting games, the SNK fighting games have tons of fighters and because of that, a lot of the fighters will end up having similar fighting styles or just plain suck. This is a pity, because why would you put so many characters in the game unless they each had the potential to be the best fighter? Also like the Capcom fighting games, you are able to have three people on your team although you can’t use them back and forth and do cheap moves like you can in the recent Capcom titles. This could be good or bad however you look at it, but in the end the game is actually very tame compared to games like Guilty Gear, and the Marvel vs. Capcom games. You also have a meter that builds up after a certain amount of time, letting you do more powerful moves, again nothing really new. The most annoying thing about the gameplay is the fact that you have to memorize certain moves for certain characters, but the game counteracts this a bit as the same combinations can do special moves and combos for other characters as well. Visually the game is standard to what to expect from say ten years ago? There really isn’t much more headroom for 2D fighters so do not expect the visuals to blow your mind, although there are some pretty nice sprite tricks.

King of Fighters 2003 is very much the same as 2002, but now you can use tag-team much like you can in Marvel vs. Capcom games. The controls while aren’t dead-on in 2002, seam to be a tad to much unresponsive in 2003 which is a shame because both titles rely completely on preciseness of button presses. The graphics are pretty much the same in 2003 although now there are some 3D backgrounds like you would find in Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

Besides playing multiplayer with a friend on the Xbox the main reason to even buy the title is the Xbox Live play. It basically brings the thrill of arcade to your house, and in that respect it is pretty exciting. Players new to the series will find difficulty fighting online however, because while you don’t see them advertising themselves, there are tons of people out there who could completely annihilate you at either of these games. Trust me, I saw a few and I couldn’t believe how good they were. It would have been nice if the game set you up with players of your skill better, but since less people are going to be playing this than say, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory that would end up being pretty hard.

Like most 2D fighters the music in the game just punches you in the ear with horrible bit-music quality, and you will end up hearing a lot of “rockin’ 80’s music”. The punches and kicks in the game all sound pretty similar as well, so don’t expect this to be the best sounding game you have ever played. Still there is some charm to the game, and it always amazes me that somebody actually paid a few hundred dollars just for a cartridge of these games. Of course, most of us aren’t that hardcore so if you wish you could have bought those, or the arcade version even then this might just be right up your alley.

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If you haven’t gotten enough 2D fighting games than this might be for you. The only real reason to actually buy the game other than if you are a ‘King of Fighters’ fan is to get the Xbox Live play out of it, which brings the competitiveness of the arcade to your home. Other than that, if you already have some 2D fighters with Live play you might want to try before you buy.

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