Having recently taken a look at an SNK arcade collection, I decided that now would be the perfect time to compare the console versions of some of the games to their arcade counterparts. Originally I was going to review King of the Monsters on Mega Drive also, but for now the cart doesn't seem to be working, so it'll just be the two games featured below.
Game: Samurai Shodown
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: SNK
Release Date: 1994
Samurai Shodown is a fighting game featuring combatants all wielding swords of some variety, featuring light, medium and heavy attack options as well as special moves for a fairly standard, but enjoyable fighting game experience. What sets Samurai Shodown on the Mega Drive apart from its arcade version is the adjustable difficulty and settings provided in the menu. Since SNK games are known to be fairly difficult, it's nice to be able to play around with the settings and find a level of difficulty at which the game is both fun and challenging.
There's a good amount of variety between the game's 11 characters and their movesets, providing replayability and options if players get stuck. The fighting action featured certainly isn't the fastest ever, but it's at least similar to the speed of combat in the arcade version, if a little less smooth. The controls map well to the Mega Drive controller's 3 button layout, and combos can be pulled off without too much difficulty.
Graphically the game looks good, with colourful sprites and interesting destructible backgrounds. The animation is generally smooth although not as good as the arcade version. Special attacks seem to have the most exciting visuals in the game, with bright colours and large areas of damage. The soundtrack to the game is made up of various mostly Japanese sounding tracks, and sounds good on the Mega Drive for the most part
Overall Samurai Shodown is a fairly average, but interesting fighting game for the Mega Drive which has some good features but no real unique selling point. In nearly all aspects it can be described as 'good, but not amazing', leading to an generally positive feel without any real excitement. I'd recommend the game to players who like their fighting games, but it's not a must-have for the Mega Drive.
Rating: 62/100
Grade: C
Game: Fatal Fury
Console: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: SNK
Release Date: 1993
Fatal Fury on the SNES looks and sounds much like its arcade counterpart, but looking a little deeper will reveal that there are subtle differences. The game features the stages and characters from the arcade version, though the introductory shots of each stage have been removed along with their impressive 3D effect. Another removal from the game is the double plane feature where players could dodge into the background or foreground. While the Mega Drive version of the game kept this, there's only one plane in this version.
The difficulty level can be selected, but makes little difference to the overall gameplay as even difficulty level 1 results in a spammy and cheap AI opponent, whilst cranking it up to level 9 brings the game to a near impossible level. The controls have been converted in such a way that special moves are difficult to pull off, and throwing moves too are harder, leaving players with simply punches and kicks as their move options.
Graphically, the game is an approximation of the arcade version with many of the environmental effects and backgrounds simplified. The fighters too aren't quite as well animated, with some clunky movement in certain cases. The game's sound is probably it's strongest feature with enjoyable and fitting music improving the experience very slightly.
Overall, without its innovative two-plane approach, beautiful establishing shots of its locations and smooth animation, there's not a lot left separating Fatal Fury from any other fighting game of its day. After the release of Street Fighter II, the genre was full to the brim with acceptable but unremarkable games, of which this is just another.
Rating: 56/100
Grade: D
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