EU VC Update - Samurai Shodown II

THAT'S IT ! Why is NOA so secretive about their release dates when NOJ and NOE are not!? Is it Reggie's fault!? We need a new NOA president!

And they said we Europeans get screwed. Ah well.....

...How is this in any way related to what happened in America? Nintendo Europe didn't mention any dates, it was likely we'd get SSII anyway. And don't be hating on Reggie, 'cos you know full well it isn't his fault.

Get over the fact we didn't get the games on Monday! Move on

Bit of a mixed bag one great one very good and one shocker not a bad week, but samurai showdown 2 oh yes

I'm playing it now. Its not easy just because I am familar with the first games. And I'm finding it difficult to pull off super moves. shame sonic didn't appear today as i would have downloaded that as well. never heard of pitstop 2 before but it looks to be just your average C64 racing game. and the less said about ecco jr. the better but i've been expecting it for a long time to happen.

Well I've just wasted 900 points on SS2. It's a shame as I had high hopes for this one seems as I like fighters and this game was getting bigged up. Having played it I think its awful.

The other 2 don't float my boat either so I wont bother with them, Never mind, I know there's a lot of people out there that wanted SS2 so enjoy it people.

I'll have the review for Pitstop II up later tonight, but it's a good little racer. Especially as a two-player game.

That being said, Samurai Shodown II is the best title of this bunch, by a good margin.

@ SadPanda - The Samurai Shodown series is quite a bit different from some of the more in-depth fighters like Garou: Mark of the Wolves or the King of the Fighters titles. It's more of a standard-style fighting game from the original Street Fighter 2 era. I don't think I've ever met a fighting game fan that didn't like Samurai Shodown II, so this is a first for me.

you couldn't have had time to play more than a few rounds, sadpanda. thats no where near enough time to make judgement. learn the moves, keep playing the game and you might change your mind.

Personally I think SSII is a steaming heap. Wish I'd just stuck with the first one. MUCH better game IMO.

It seems the Golden Period of game releases is over for Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade and PSN...Were still waiting on SNES Super Mario Kart and a whole pile of other games. Without classics the Wii becomes filled with under par titles to fill the gap. Theres no excuse for dragging releases out at this slow speed. Twice as many games every 2 weeks and lower prices for the consumer please!

@ Bass

I can generally tell if I'm going to like a game inside 20 minutes.

I hate the controls, I hate the slowdown and I dont care much for the character balance either. It is a shame as I really am a fan of fighters, I'm loving Soul Calibur IV on my PS3 at the moment but this just isn't very good IMO.

I judge all 2D fighters by SFII (Which is my personal favorite), This doesn't come close to measuring up.

Maybe Samurai Shodown II will come out this coming Monday for the US, I doubt it though.

Maybe you're just not playing it the way it was meant to be played.

this is just making me sad
we in the u.s. were supposed to get it and then you guys in europe get it which makes not getting worse just knowing that other people are playing it
why, nintendo, why

You guys get Pitstop II? I have it on a compilation, and it was awesome! Great week, huh? I don't really have to mention SS2, so I won't. Too bad you didn't get Ys Books I & II, that would've been a real kicker!

Edit: Nevermind, it was Pole Position 2 I played, my bad. Looks exactly the same though, so it should be pretty good, maybe even better!

Edit again: It is a lttle different, what with a fuel gauge, and no gearshift. And instead of racing against other cars, they simply act as a hinderance for your ultimate goal of racing around for as long as you can until you run out of fuel. I'll stick with Pole Position, thank you.

@Corbie

THAT is one big-arse screen!

The strange drip-feed of games to regions is baffling. Theres no marketing concept behind releasing games such as Shadow Dancer only to Japan months ago and nowhere else and Samurai Showdown 2 only in Europe tonight. It makes absolutely no sense. I reckon theres a constant breakdown of comms inside Nintendo leading to this kind of stupidity. They obviously can't see the harm in what theyre doing to fans, repeated disappointment and frustration.

big HOORAY for SS2, big MEH for the other 2.

As I keep mentioning, Europe should never have a reason to complain about the VC this year. .

Europe is damn lucky these past few weeks..........

This, Wild West Guns, Defend your Castle.......

C'mon, Reggie, give us Americans some love!

I mean the guy who said storage is for geeks and otaku is giving them this, so the guy who promised us hardcore games at E3 should give us some awsomeness.

What's wrong with our week? And, don't we already have Defend your Castle and Wild West Guns?

Never even heard of Pitstop II before. How does it stand up against the Pole Position series? It seemed awfully slow on the video.

Ok, I wont quit yet..... at least not for another week.

@Mazero

No! I'm not getting over the fact that we didn't get the games on Monday! This so bogus!

Pitstop II is a fun little C64 racer. I still prefer Pole Position, but as a two-player experience, Pitstop II is a lot of fun. It's the best C64 racing game, let's put it that way.

Well, at least Europe is getting it this week.

I was hoping we would get Sonic SMS and Wonder Boy 2

I hate fighters that require the crazy combo inputs, and pretty much every fighter from those times was like that, so I wont touch SS2, Ecco Jr I have on the Megadrive Collection, and it is a load of rubbish, and C64 games dont get released in New Zealand.

Terrible week for me.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Corbie, one of those MVS things is in the movie theatre I go to, SS2 was there

@ Corbie.

Does that version feature totally different gameplay like

I dont get why we are not allowed to get anything good

Everyone is complaining but really both N.A. and Europe got better-than-average weeks. Who hasn't been waiting for SSII? Well, you just got it. We got 5 games between us whereas we usually get 3-4. Not amazing, but definately not bad.

@ Demon - LOL. No it's still the same game. And I wouldn't change a thing.

@ Ragnor - I bought this thing 8 years ago and restored it from the ground up. It's my pride and joy!

HAHA, Reggie's fault, that's good

It's great to see that you guys got Samurai Shodown II but still rather disappointing that you guys are still only getting three games every other week. One more game and it would at least be fair.

@NintendoBrad
Exactly. I imagine Samurai Shodown II to come out on Monday, so rejoice you Americans that want it. Sadly, I don't see the same for Star Parodier....

Judging from all the comments, I really think that the updates got a little mixed up, for at least one game in each. I think Europeans would've appreciated Sonic SMS better than NAians, and I think many more people over here would've enjoyed Samurai Shodown II. The rest do sound about right though. Oh well, maybe all the people who liked it and played it for more than 20 minutes are too busy having fun to post.

@ 33. NintendoBrad

"SS2 should hit soon for the U.S, so hold yer horses, my fellow Americans."

I'm sure it'll please some Americans, but some like me are more upset about Y's. That's the one that I wanted.

I used to play Pitstop II all the time. I loved it...and I'm not much of a racing game kind of guy. Too bad the US isn't in the c64 loop for vc...

Oh well - back to Lolo 2!

@Ghouls 'n Ghosts

Personally, I would've been content with either, though more so with the fighter. I never really got into fighting games, but I always wanted to - the fights seemed so cinematic and corriographed, like an action movie - and I think Samurai Shodown II would be a good game to try since, oddly enough, I find it more appealing to see people beat eachother up bladed weaponry, rather than there bear fists. After all, if you're gonna beat someone up, it might as well be with a sword.

I am, however, jealous that you guys got Pitstop, since the collection that I have doesn't support two players, and Pitstop II sounds like it would be really fun in two-player mode.

I take this as a good sign. Nintendo probably bumped SS2 to the front of Euro rotation as a way to save face with SNK. I'd be willing to bet the ranch that Megaman, Y's, and SS2 come out on Monday. Nintendo F'd up ; this is how they say 'our bad'.

@Virus,

It is unlikely that Samurai Shodown II will be released this monday. North American gamers are 2 Neo Geo games behind Europe now.

North American gamers are more likely to get Neo Turf Masters on Monday than Samurai Shodown II.

Samurai Shodown II should be released by the end of the month in North America.

@7th lutz
You got a point there. Neo Turf Masters has yet to come out for the US and I wouldn't be surprised to see it on Monday. I would agree also that we will see Samurai Shodown II by the end of the month, but I'll keep with my original prediction. I don't think Hudson's two "confirmed" games will come out on Monday. I also believe SSII may come out because of that botched press release. Alas, this is the VC which is only second to the Twilight Zone in its unpredictability. You'll get points though if you're right.

@7th lutz

Yes, and I can't wait, it's been a while since I played a good golf game! Funny you say that right when I start thinking about taking up the real deal to tide me over.

@Mickeymac: A good golf game? When did they make one of those?

@ Corbie.

So you like the new irritants... I mean features?

Like the over sensitive wall jump that's gotten me hit so many times just because I like to set up my specials in the air (On most games like this I can land and pull off a move as my feet touch the floor. The wall jump disables this).

The running has gotten me hit because I pressed forward twice quickly accidently (SP).

The crouching makes for a pathetic single player experience as later in the game on a real difficulty, your enemies just sit there.

I was vs-ing Cham Cham/Aisha Clan Clan Of The Ktarl Ktarl (If you've never seen Outlaw Star you won't know, but CC is so obviously modeled on her) and she slaughtered me by crouching. She just crouched so that she could grab me before I even had the chance to hit her.

The balance seems totally off too.

I find the above comment laughable, as SSII hasn't fixed anything, it's made it worse.

The only flaw SSI had was the slowdown and that's still there.

Totally not my idea of a fighter and so not worth 900 points / 5 stars IMO.

But hey, everyone's different.

I mean some think that SCIII and SCIV are better than SCII. Not me as IMO II was perfection. Since then the format's totally changed. I could pull off a 25 hitter with Maxi stupidly easily, now his moves are that slow and unlinkable I'm struggling to get a 10.

And I didn't even use him that often (Perfect Link beater), I was a Damascus Mitsirugi user.

Anyway, I'll persist with this, but as I loved SSI after only a few fights, I don't expect me to enjoy this one more. As I've had more fights on this than I'd had on SSI when I knew I liked it.

I prefer something a lot deeper and more intricate like Garou: Mark of the Wolves myself, but I still enjoy a more simple and straight-forward fighting experience at times like the one found in Samurai Shodown II. I do like Samurai Shodown VI, but III is easily my least favorite of the series. To each his own, I guess. If you don't like it, you don't like it.

This video is the only convincing I need to get Samurai Shodown II:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx38JqdB5uQ

Maybe it is a little unbalanced, though I don't think anybody was actually playing the second player in that video.

There is Splatterhouse 2!!! I saw it today at 6 o´clock in the morning when i put on my Wii! Or it is only released in Germany?

@RGVEDA

That's weird, the last place I'd expect to get Splatterhouse 2 as an exclusive. Guess you lucky fellows got 4 games, then!

@RGVEDA: Nope, it's there alright. I just checked. But it wasn't there at 5 o'clock in the morning.

Wow, so this turned out to be a pretty swell day for Europe, you got 4 games this week! The quality of those games is up to one's own opinion, but at least it's a start!

So, i hope they update the News

Off to get Splatter me thinks

Boy, Europe sure got VC releases in spades, huh? You get Samurai Shodown II (which I hate you guys for. ), and then you get the easy-peasy kiddie game Echo Jr. I don't know anything about Pitstop, so I can't say whether I'm jealous of that or not.

This actually is a good week, if we take Ecco Jr out of the equation >.>
Relax, my fellow Americans. We might have got Samurai Shodown 2 first, but if you're anticipating it well, then surely it'll be a matter of time before it follows up in your home territory. Just be patient.

Yup, just been playing.

I though Splat 1 was hard but **** me!

@el cabarto

Yes, there are a lot of good golf games, the last one I played being a Links game for Windows. I would've played more, but I forgot I liked golf games. Wii Sports' golf game was decent, and it renewed interest in the sport, but it doesn't quite measure up to Links, or even Mario Golf.

I can't stand Golf games, they're always faulty. The control and everything.

Review for it and the incredibly dissapointing SSII later

Odd, just realised, with the exception of Ecco, every game we got was a 2, and every game inc. Jr. Was a sequel.

I knew we were due some SEGA games though, had been saying to Panda just before the release.

Splatter house 2 has arrived "Party Time!!!!!!!"

Great week for us!!, didn´t know about pitstop, I´m very curious about it so this afternoon problably I´ll donwload it, I wish all weeks were at least so good as this one!!

Ahhh pitstop 2 really brings back the memories of sitting inside a hot summer and play 1 vs 1 games with my friend while everyone else was bathing

A good week for Europe. I will pick up SS2 sometime later as I have no money for Wii points. My girlfriend also wanted a Wii-mote and a classic controller. I think you all can guess who had to pay for that.

@DEMON212

I loved Outlaw Star...and yet I have no idea who you're talking about. I know that Cat Lady you mentioned, but...actually the name looks familiar, and now I have a faint picture in my head. Otherwise I'm at a complete loss.

In any case, there are at least 7 characters that I want to use, and I can assure you Cham Cham is not one of them. Now if it was Hanzo you were complaining about, this would be a completely different story.

I love Nicotine and Seiger as character art, but they're almost useless against a really good opponent. I'll sometimes use Nicotine when I play a friend that's not so good at the game just to humiliate them, but otherwise I normally use Hanzo or Haohmaru.

I was actually going to come here and rant about what a rubish the update was.. but last night no one told me about Splatterhouse 2! So i am so happy in about three months i have downloaded nothing and now i have blessed with Splatterhouse 2!

Quick, everybody in America, run to your Wiis and see if we were as lucky as the Europeans and got a late update of Splatterhouse 2. Hey, look it was put up on our VC-- wait a second...

As I keep mentioning, Europe should never have a reason to complain about the VC this year. .
Key word being should. Nearly all our releases are still unfathomable 50Hz monstrosities. We get slower games usually with fat borders which distort the graphics and we pay more. Yep, nothing to complain about there...

Really strange that they added Splatterhouse 2 at 6AM... has this sorta thing happened before?

Okay, i'm just trying not to laugh......
soz USA

I was only disappointed that Samurai Shodown 2 is about 80 more blocks than the first game. I had to delete a few more games for it.

Its not Street Fighter II. It doesn't pretend to be Street Fighter II. But there is a life outside Street Fighter II and many equally good just completely different fighting games. I only once rented Samurai Shodown 1 on the SNES many years ago and never touched the series since so I am pretty unfamilar with how the game plays or how you need to play the characters. I keep getting beat yeah, but you just can't expect to pick up an unfamilar fighting game and expect to become good at it immediately. I need to go play it more.

I havent bought a vc game in bloody ages... when are the rest of the majorly popular games coming out? will they really wait till the end of the wii's life? or are they just not coming? where is Star Fox, where is Yoshi's Island? etc etc... sorry to moan, i know there is enough of it on here. I just don't want to spend money on games I won't bother playing till the end...

Finally Samurai Shodown II. You will be mine once i get my Wii online again lol.

Some of the younger gamers out there enjoy Ecco jr. due to the low frustration factor. Let's go easy on the game because it not made for older gamers.

Also I also wish the US were in the C64 loop because I would like to play Pitstop. ALthough I would settle for Outrun or Super Monico Gp

Yay! Another beat em up...:S

Can we please have something different from shooters and beat em ups? Who the hell is in charge of putting VC games out? Sounds like two people, A beat em up maniac and a dribbling moron who's never heard of C64 before.
How about a N64 FPS? Turok 1 & 2 would do nicely, I'm not even going to hold out hope for Doom 64...
Or how about Pilot wings? or a SNES decent platformer? The amount of classic games on C64, and they put out crud like Pitstop 2...
I haven't bought a VC game in months too, I'm temped by Splatter House 2 but I know how hard it is, so thats wasted money.

Rant over and congrats for those waiting for SShowdown 2.

How amusing; you call Pitstop 2 as "crud", yet for its time it was technically impressive and yet has the status of being a cult classic amongst the C64 scene. If you don't want to play any of this week's releases, then there you go, but just appreciate the fact that people like this sort of thing. Plus, it's neither a shooter or a fighter, so that just means that you want to disregard the C64 completely.

I do understand that Ecco Jr was intended for a much younger audience than anticipated, which is why after appreciating the other two Genesis titles I was rubbed shoulders the wrong way with this one. If people want to play something easy to play then they could have at least picked a franchise that isn't prone to having its name tarnished by a move like that - Kirby, for example.

C'mon, You really believe Pitstop 2 holds up these days compared to other C64 games? How about some Monty Mole, or ATF, Bolderdash, The Batman games, Dizzy series. Do I need to go on?
So yeah, thats me disregarding the C64...

@ 38. Mickeymac

I never really got into fighting games, but I always wanted to - the fights seemed so cinematic and corriographed, like an action movie - and I think Samurai Shodown II would be a good game to try

Oh, yeah. The game is gooood. One of the things I've always liked about it is the atmosphere and the music. So awesome.

I think two consecutive weeks of European releases match up to two consecutive weeks of American releases. At a guess. Whereas America gets VC games and WiiWare games in the same week, they do it seperately here. But we always get three or more VC games in our VC weeks.

Could someone update the Release Date from Splatterhouse 2? It still says Europa TBA

@ Damo.

I thought 97 was just the date we got it/that it was translated? If not, then they ripped of Cham Cham, lol.

And next you'll be saying SFII sucks

@ Mickey.

She's Black with White hair, has a Gold ring in her hair and wears a getup of Brown, Green & White. Oh, and she can turn into a man eating Tiger

HURRAH, SAMURAI SHODOWN II !!!

That was an unexpected turn of events! Samurai Shodown dodged the US release of the Black Monday and ended up in europe instead! I thought we had to wait for several months, glad I was wrong! I´ll get this one of course.

Great thet the very best Neo Geo titles start to arrive, it´s about time

@ Kokstra (comment 71): Happened twice before. Castlevania was added a few hours after A Link to the Past was added, and Metroid was added a few hours after Street Fighter II Turbo/Silent Debuggers.

Finally, SS2, i never thought this day would come! I've given up hoping for the SS comp to be released!

Now all Europe needs is Powerball and SMS Sonic to have all the Sega games that America has.

Neither of these games interests me but i am glad that some of the good games finally gets releasd on the wii and not some bad ones. I am at the moment playing tloz ocarina of time so thats enough for me at the moment.

Why can't we all just get the same games every week? Not that I buy VC games anymore, just wondering why we didn't get one of the games announced for Monday supposedly and EU did.

SS2 is good, but I already have 1, and would prefer to wait for a Last Blade title.

I actually found Ecco Jr mildly amusing when I rented it so many years ago. Maybe because I was younger...

At any rate I certainly wouldn't spend more than 50 points on it, and even that's being generous. It's one of those games that's more "toy" than "game".

@ 91. deadly.by.design
"SS2 is good, but I already have 1, and would prefer to wait for a Last Blade title."

Dear god, yes. I love The Last Blade 2.

I'm surprised it took Nintendo so long to release Ecco Jr. over in Europe. Decent week for you guys.

@Corbie As great as this game is I was just wondering if you think the last blade will come out sooon so i can save my points for now or i should just by ss2 on monday if it comes.

To be honest with you, I see there being a bit of a wait before we see The Last Blade. It's a marquee Neo Geo title and I could see them holding on to it for awhile. But you never know. If you're a big Shodown fan, grab Samurai Shodown II, but if not, I'd hold off and wait for The Last Blade.

Street Fighter 2 does suck compared to most of the Neo Geo fighters available. SNK are much better making fighters compared to Capcom in my opinion.

Looks like the quantity disparities between North America and Europe have been worked out. Assuming you guys get 4 games in your next update and we continue to get 2 every week, we will both consistantly have an equal number of games released on the service. (Including the discontinued Lost Levels)

Now this sort of solidifies my theory that Europe will get C64 games exclusively to even out the releases that either, will never be released in Europe, or to bide time before they are ready to be released in that region.

Now if we can only catch up to Japan...

@D00M

Yes, Turok was good, actually prefered it over Goldeneye.

@DEMON

I still have no idea who you're talking about, but then again, I haven't watched Outlaw Star since I was 8, so that might explain it.

Need to get some Wii Points fast!! xD

@ Adroitone.

BLASPHEMER!

I like a lot of SNK fighters, but I've yet to see one have the speed and balance as well as the great endings and after fight tag lines, that SFII has.

@ Mickey.

Yup, that might be why.

IMO PD 64> ANY other FPS.

i really don't know why some americans are so angry over this update. it's not like north america won't be seeing SS ii this month, and i'm sure the other releases for this month will be Y's 1 & 2, break-in, star parodier, mega man, and lastly neo-turf masters, but it could be vectorman since europe got ecco jr and that was released months ago in north america.

@Cocoa Man5

I'd say there's a very good chance of seeing vectorman, since it was in the same collection as Echo jr., plus the length of time between release dates, as you mentioned.

@DEMON212 "PD> Any other FPS"

That's what I hear, an overstatement, but I hear it.

Although none of these games interest me, I acknowledge this release as being a fair bit better than what has been given to us recently. Maybe this is a sign that things are about to get better, =O

Or not, as is most likely the case, XD

BTW, although this is off-topic...

The first Hanabi Festival was in September, and the second in May. Does anyone reckon that the same pattern will be used each year? If so, then the VC release after next could be veeery interesting...

I think pound for pound, Garou: Mark of the Wolves is the greatest 2-D fighter ever crafted. Great speed, loads of combos, feinting moves, power moves, just defenses, and a very balanced and powerful set of characters. The bosses are a bit cheap, but what fighting game bosses aren't. I love SF2, but I think time has passed it by.

That being said, I still personally enjoy playing The Last Blade a bit more just because of its weapons-based combat. It's not as deep, but I still like it.

@ Lynx.

I'm thinking that we may just get 'em every 7 months. If so... BRING ON NOVEMBER!

@ Corbie.

Never played Garou.

@ Lynx: Well, the last Hanabi Festival was in May, so if they're every seven months then the next one isn't due 'til December.

I only suspect September due to the fact that they could quite feasibly be bi-annual. After all, just because something is as such, it doesn't mean that the months have to be exactly six apart, =P

Just mindless banter from moi.

@ Demon - I can't believe you're a fighting game fan and have never played Garou: Mark of the Wolves. That's astounding! Let's put it this way, you could spend months trying to master one character and still not have it down. Trust me, I know.

@ Lynx.

Thinking about it, Sep-May is 8. My bad.

@ Corbie.

My local arcades were **** holes, lol.

In which case it's January '09, lol.

I'm still going for the bi-annual theory, at least until September rolls along and it's dashed, =P

After all, I wouldn't be surprised if it was simply a case of Nintendo thinking 'We'll give you a Hanabi Festival when we feel like it', =S

@ Demon - I can sympathize with you as the arcade here was pretty bad too. I'd brave it every now and again, but that's why I started just sticking to my consoles for gaming. It was a lot safer.

If Garou: Mark of the Wolves hits the VC, it's one you really need to try out. I bought it back when it was new and don't ask me what I paid for it. Luckily, I've got my money's worth out of it over the years.

Boy, Corbie, how'd you ever find the money for these cabinets/games? I had to shun social life just to scrape up enough money to buy the Wii!

Just lucky I guess.

That and the fact that I hardly ever sell anything video game-related and have been basically building my game collection for the past 27 years.

Yeah. 4 games again

@ Corbie
Geez now you have me wanting garou too which I never played but watched on youtube (only 15 here). But I'm guessing they will hold this just like the last blade too right? Onto this topic tho, I'm still split between shodown 1 and 2 for buying cuz I trust demons reviews and stuff but a lot more people here seem to like 2 over 1, ohhh what should I do, and Im not getting both of them LOL

Let me say this - you can't go wrong with either game. Both Samurai Shodown games are outstanding. The first game is a little bit more basic in design and probably easier for someone new to the series to pick up and play. The sequel added some new offensive and defensive moves that some like and some do not. I still think Samurai Shodown II is the better overall game.

@Corbie - thanks mate you really are quick and reliable for responses so I might ask you more questions in the future if u don't mind. I think ill go for 2 because more characters and moves overall

Always happy to help out. I think you'll really enjoy Samurai Shodown II.

@ Lynx.

Yeah Panda was saying Jan.

@ Corbie.

I plan to

Here's a really good YouTube video that shows some intense fighting action in Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

@Corbie

Wow, now you got me hyped up over another fighter, and I don't even play fighting games!

So there are more than 3 rounds? Awesome.

I wish SNK would simply release a Greatest Fighting Collection with all it's best fighters in it, just so to get it over with. They could charge $100 or whatever, and people would still buy it, maybe even me! That'd probably be too simple, obviously, and chances are they will release it, but only after I've bought all of them on VC.

G-D I can only hope!

Edit: Well, actually, now that I think about it, it was Sepiroth79 that got me interested in a bunch of other games, so this is a first. Thanks anyway for the vid.

It's normally 3 rounds but you can change it to 5 in the options. It's easier to take out the bosses, like Kain in the video, with 5 rounds.

Thanks for the response. Sounds like a good option, more games should have it.

I just found out this game takes 237 blocks for crying out loud, why so many when streetfighter 2 is only in the 60's for memory. Man the wii should have come with more space cuz sd loading time is annoying and some games like this take up a lot. Why does this game have so many

Demon, SNK has always had a little balancing issues, but when it comes down to fighting, SNK always win hands down. I see you didn't like SS2 , it's not my favorite in the series since SS4 takes the cake, but, nothing beats Last Blade 1 and 2, Garou, Real Bout series, King of Fighters 96 and above, Rage of the Dragon, and Matrimelee.

Oh, and forget the tag lines, I do my own junk talking

@corbie
hey just wandering which game do you think is the best fighting game.

SNK didn't use any compression in their games so they would sometimes grow to quite a large cart size. Especially for that era of gaming. If you think Samurai Shodown II is big, wait until you see Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

Samurai Shodown II = 202 Megs
Garou: Mark of the Wolves = 688 Megs
(Keep in mind that's Megabits, not Megabytes)

@andy - Between the Samurai Shodown games, I think Samurai Shodown II is the better title. Overall I think Garou: Mark of the Wolves is the best fighting game ever made. I slightly prefer The Last Blade simply because it involves the weapons-based combat, but I'd still rank it below Garou in terms of depth and intensity. But just slightly.

@ corbie
oooo looks like i'll have to get all three. i hope the wait isnt to long as i love fighting games. Though i would have to say one of my favorites is Capcom versus SNK 2... so many characters

Corbie, hmmmm, Garou over Last Blade huh. Well, can't go wrong with either, but I like Last Blade over Garou. Both are the best 2D fighters of all time though so hey, like I said, it's pretty much a toss up

Have you played Matrimelee and Rage of the Dragon?

I like Matrimelee and Rage, but I wouldn't put them up in the top tier of SNK fighters. Maybe the next tier down. I do prefer Rage of the Dragons over Matrimelee. I've never been a big Power Instinct fan, personally.

@Corbie
Based on videos I've seen of garou and last blade, last blade and its combos looks a lot cooler. The last blade also has two health bars to deplete instead of one which with one bar matches can be really short and frustrating if you have a bad start, agree?

Man, if this doesn't come out tomorrow, I'm gonna have to go to the store and get Soul Calibre II and Tekken 5, because I gotta thirst for fighting games that needs to be quenched, and I don't think Brawl's gonna cut it this time.

LOL priceless I like the serious tone in that

Last Blade is a lot less "combo-friendly" than Garou is. And how long the match lasts depends on how good you are at feinting moves, defending, and just defending. So I guess you can't afford to have a bad start, can you?

@DaDun

Yes, because we all know that won't happen .

But really, the sheer anticipation of this game has gotten me interested in Fighting games like never before! I can't wait until it comes out, but at this rate I might cave in and just get something else, though I do have 1000 points waiting for it. The problem is, I only have $20, which I was planning on spending on a Wireless Classic controller, so getting something else is pretty much out of the question. I also don't have any fighting games except for DBZ and Super Smash Bros, neither of which are very deep, and neither will stem my cravings for a good fighting experience. I've played a few others in arcades, but I was never able to play them long enough to learn any moves, so this will be a new experience for me.

The one I hope appreciates it the most though, is my brother, since considering the way he plays Super Smash Bros( 1 vs 1, on flat stages, mastering every character), I can say that this is the game for him, and since we don't have many games that we can play together, it would definitely be appreciated.

@ Mickeymac
Thats nice to hear. My bro is working at university and attends it obviously but when he comes home on most weekends the multiplayer time we have on brawl n other multiplayer games is cherished so much more than it used to be. Having someone to play with is really what makes videogames valuable to me and most likely to most people. Live it up mac, live it up

@Corbie
Are you saying combos are harder to pull off in last blade than garou? Also you can't look over the fact that the added health of last blade isnt something that can place it above other fighters for a lot of people because it really allows more twists and comebacks to be made in battles if you know what I mean. We talk about these types of fighters a lot but don't you want to see smash bros 64 released as the next n64 game (if we ever get any more at this rate), to add to the great list of n64 games with nintendo bred characters? (imagine the block size tho lol)

I'm going to be honest with you, I absolutely hate all of the Smash Bros. games. I have never understood what the draw is with those games at all. That's just me personally, as I love regular one-on-one fighting games.

And it's not that it's harder to pull off combos in Last Blade, it's just not nearly as necessary in order to be good at the game. You can be a button masher in Last Blade and get away with it. You try to mash buttons in Garou against a good player and you'll get your ass handed to you.

@ Adro.

Only played SSII out of that list. Before the VC I'd only played World Heroes, a Fury and a KOF. And I hated the last 2. Now I like 'em.

@Corbie

You really need 3 or 4 people to really enjoy Super Smash Bros. If you can only muster up 1 other person, then there's the custom rules, which can lead to some really interesting matches. There's also the stage creator now, which really add to the mix. Sadly, the only functional stage I have( just to give as an example) is one my brother came up with, which consist of a long row of blocks, apparently to simulate a normal one-on-one fighting stage. Also, he threw in a row of springs underneath it, which make CPU battles a pain, since they'll KO you, then they'll randomly run to the springs, making it nearly impossible to get hit. I tell you, the game has some of the smartest(yet strangest) AI I've ever seen. The non-functional stagest( rather gimmicky and are well designed for actual fights) are where one gains the most enjoyment from the stage creator, if only for a few laughs.

Mix custom stages with a stage creator, not to mention engaging, if rather light, fighting mechanics, throw in a bunch of your buddies, and you got a rather unique brand of fun that you can't get from your usual fighting game.

I agree with Mickey Mack. When I first played SSB Melee, I only played the single player game. I never really enjoyed the series until I played with 3 others. That's when the game gets crazy fun!!!!

@ Corbie i would hate to think what 688 Megs equals in block size. That thought haunts me everyday.

Agree here too, except with the ai part, the ai isnt really smarter, its just more rubberband ai, meaning they usually gang up and team up on you to make you die faster and tick you off. I figures this cuz when you die and its only computers left it takes a long time for them to kill each other, especially if there are two left from a 4 man brawl you were involved in, if there were no players tho then the ai does attack each other more, but if you die playing with ai they don't know what to attack lol for a long time ( I've had two ai trying to fight each other for 3 minutes above 100% damage. All in all, without multiplayer you can't really judge the smash bros experience (3 humans and one rubberband ai=revenge)

I am very sad that for another hyped up week, noa does not give us ss2, very disgraceful

snif
No SSll why!!!!!!! o well theres always next week.

Whoa whoa whoa, neither Last Blade or Garou are button masher fighters. Last Blade does have a good heavy combo focus if you set your character to Speed instead of Power. Speed makes your characters weaker, but makes it easier to chain combos together, plus, your super move in Speed is pretty much like (is it X-ism, the custom combos) in Street Fighter Alpha. Power makes your characters stronger with a focus on single strikes, with minimum combos.

The super moves in Garou are much easier to do than in Last Blade, but Last Blade has a little more focus on defense since it has guard impacts just like Soul Calibur.

@ corbie
well since i cant wait for SSll another week is the first one worth getting cuz i can get both but i was wondering if i should get it or wait for the second.

Very good question I was wondering the same thing lol but personally I don't think its worth it cuz when 2 comes out we'll likely throw this one into storage, I wud think waiting is best and saving 900 points but the craving is there for sure

I didn't mean that Last Blade was a complete button masher. I meant that you could at least play it that way and "get away with it." My 8 year old niece almost beat the game set on Level 4 and had never even played the game before when I first bought the MVS cartridge years ago. I always use the Speed setting and I still don't find the game nearly as combo-friendly as Garou. I still play The Last Blade more than Garou as I love the weapon-based combat.

As for buying SS1 or waiting for SS2, that's a tough one. Both are outstanding and since we don't know how long the wait will be for the US Virtual Console release of SS2, it might be worth it if you just can't wait any longer. If it were me, I'd at least give it until next Monday and see if it comes out then.

@DaDun and Corbie
lol thanks guys i guess i'll wait.

"As for buying SS1 or waiting for SS2, that's a tough one. Both are outstanding and since we don't know how long the wait will be for the US Virtual Console release of SS2, it might be worth it if you just can't wait any longer. If it were me, I'd at least give it until next Monday and see if it comes out then."

What about waiting for the collection that will have every Samurai Shodown game on it?

Personally, I only need one Samurai Shodown game, and that would be 2, and I have enough trouble waiting for that, so I doubt I'd have the patience to wait for the compilation, especially since I'll probably hold off on it until its price drops.

Although, at this rate, I'll probably have no choice.

@Corbie. What do you have against SSB? It's the only fighting game I ever truly liked! Are they not "hardcore" enough for ya? I, for one, love how that game lets you trigger a character's special move at the press of a button and a flick of the analog stick, rather than get clobbered trying to enter some 7-button code. I sound like a fanboy right now, I know, but it's how I feel.

And Mickey, It's true that SSB is pretty dull with only 2 players, but CPU opponents always work for me, even though they are annoying to fight in custom stages. For example, I made a castle stage that contained a spike trap, and whenever they get in it, they always get stuck and keep bouncing around until they reach 999% damage. It's actually kind of amusing really, but I had to put in "safe Zones" in the castle regardless. I do think they are smarter than they were in Melee though, as they don't do stupid stuff, like use a Green Missle attack when they're stuck in a pit, nearly as often. XD

@Mr. Cheez

I can never get out of the spike pits to be honest with you, and even if you did, you wouldn't want to.

Well, I'm giving this one more week, and if not, I'll try to make it to Gamestop and purchase a modern fighting game with store credit, so I can at least quell this overpowering need to play a fighting game.

I have absolutely no idea what it is about Super Smash Bros. that I don't like. I bought Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64 and hated it. I then tried Super Smash Bros. Melee on Gamecube and hated it. I even took a chance and bought Brawl for my Wii...and guess what? I hated it. I wish I knew what it was about the series I didn't like.

It really has nothing to do with casual or hardcore with me. I either like or I don't. Simple as that.

Fair enough I guess, maybe you don't like the rubberband ai that gangs up on you, do you still hate it playing with friends?

@DaDun

He already said he doesn't know. He just doesn't like it.

CRUCIFY HIM, lol nah corbie's da best

It would seem only natural that I would like Super Smash Bros. I love fighting games and I love Nintendo characters. But as I said, I've now tried three different Smash Bros. games and I haven't even liked one of them. Not even remotely.

I've tried them alone and with several friends and I didn't like it either way. I guess I kept trying them out because so many gamers love the series and I kept thinking that I must just be missing something. It's one of the few Nintendo franchises that I don't care for.

Oh well, let's go back to the topic here, speaking of streetfighter, do you think SS2, garou, or last blade was better than the epic streetfighter?

Super Street Fighter II Turbo is the pinnacle of the SF2 series so Samurai Shodown 2 would rival that but is easily better then the earlier SF2 games. It is different though - some people may initially find that its not as accessible as the SF2 games and be put off by that. doesn't make it bad though. far from it.

never played last blade or Mark of the Wolves.

@Bass X0 Hmmm, I have to disagree with SF2 turbo being the peak because i think or at least for me it is SF2 new challengers because that has more characters and turbo as well, ya i never played garou or last blade or even showdown 2 yet (which should come on monday) but i really can say the style of each is different and very suited to any fighter fans.

@Corbie, here's an even better combo video from last blade than that garou one you gave us. THE RIVALRY IS TOO GREAT between these two games. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0GwbNWqY7c

@DaDun

Super Street Fighters II Turbo is a completely different game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLMfbekZ4ck&feature=related (the music's from Mega Man, for some reason)

we don't have this one do we? Cuz I have hyper fighting and new challengers yet this one looks different and yes this one is indeed better than the other sf games if it is different

It was only ported to the Dreamcast(which was shown in the video) and the 3DO( another doomed system), so I doubt it'll come to the VC. They're making a remake( I think it's a remake anyways), but it's only for the HD next-Gen consoles. Too bad, it lookss really good.

By the way, I did wind up going out and getting Soul Calibre II (almost got Tekken 5, too, but I figured one fighter was enough), and while buton-mashing gets you pretty far in the game(until you get to the guy with the ax), and gaurding isn't as useful as I'd like, I'm having a pretty good time with it. However, considering the trecherous ways of irony, I'd say that Samurai Shodown II will be coming out tomorrow, and I won't have the funds necessary to obtain it.

lol i can't respond to that because i want it as soon as possible but it wud suck for you if it did

Despite the use of big words, it wouldn't be all that big a deal, since, unlike retail, I won't have to worry about it being sold out (SC2 was the last one in the store). I'd be very happy for the people who wanted it, and once me and my brother get bored with button-mashing (it's irresistable when it works), at least there'll be another option just one $10 download away.

I think Garou and Last Blade are both better than any version of Street Fighter 2. Samurai Shodown 2 is a close call. Garou: Mark of the Wolves is just so deep and intricate. As I said earlier, it could take you months, even years to become really great at this game. I don't think there's a fighting game, 2-D or 3-D, that can hold its own against Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

Yeah, I'm going to have to hold off on Mark of the Wolves. I can barely handle SC2. I just spent 2 hours practicing Ivy's moves, and I still can't get her down, and my brain is absolutely fried. SC2's supposed to be the accessible one, I can't even imagine how hard Mark of the Wolves must be. I was right to only grab one fighting game today, this is going to take a while( not that it matters, chances are I'm going to get beat by my brother once he starts button-mashing). At the very least, it has a practice mode, and iit'll tell you how to do certain moves right in the menu, most games you have to practice by actually playing it. Well, I think Ivy's the more complicated character in the game, so if I can get her down, I know I can handle the rest of the characters.

I've owned Garou: Mark of the Wolves for over 7 years, and I still don't have more than one character down perfectly. Freeman is the only character I'd go up against somebody that was really good at the game with.

Thank you for the ringing endorsement.

Sarcasm aside, it does sound like a great game, and it's cool that you managed to get one character down. Imagine if it was like King of Fighters, and you had to play with teams of 3. That would be the ultimate hardcore challenge.

Edit: I wrote that hours ago and forgot to post it

I love King of Fighters, but you're right, if I had to concentrate on three different characters in one bout of Garou, I'd have to seek professional help afterwards. Yikes!

And thanks to the shooter discussion, I now can't stop playing Radiant Silvergun long enough to get some work done.

I just fight 1-on-1 for KoF94 - i like to play as Heidern.

You can do that? I've only played it in the arcades, so that must've been added to the home version.

My brother hasn't quite gotten into Soul Caliber like I thought he would. He never bothers to learn the moves and just mashes the buttons, and while it works sometimes, when we do VS I wind up winning the majority of the time since I've actually practiced. That is the complete opposite of every other fighting game we've ever played, and those were more button-masher friendly than this. Now I'm not so sure if he'd actually like Samurai Shodown II, since that is definitely not a button-masher's game.

@Corbie

Sorry.

I own King of Fighters 98, 99, and 2002 and I didn't even know you could play just a one-on-one bout. I know KOF99 has the 3 characters plus you get the "striker" to use as well. 98 and 2002 both use the standard three character bouts.

BASS is a genius, hurray!!

@Mickeymac- does your bro play the streetfighter games or any other fighters u own without button mashing? And u may havve to give it time, he may not be so interested yet cuz u said u only bought it like a week and a half ago u know, might just have to grow on him.

No, the only other fighting games we have are Super Smash Bros., Sonic the Fighters, Dragon Ball Z, and some Naruto thing, and honestly you could buttonmash through all those games. Yet he didn't, he took the time and effort to learn the moves and get good at them. Soul Caliber 2, however, all he does is buttonmash: hitting buttons randomly, or even just pressing the same button over and over again. The only problem is, contrary to my previous statement, it works, really, really well. I actually put the time and effort into the game to learn the moves and to learn combos, and for a while, I was actually winning more often than he did, though buttonmashing still proved quite effective. Then he found some buttonmasher-friendly characters with "spamable moves", and now I can never win. We played a team battle, which makes the game more like King of Fighters, and I lost every match thanks to two attacks that he kept on doing over and over(think SSBB's Pit). He revels in his ability to buttonmash, like as if being able to hit the Y button over and over again was something to be proud of.

But I guess I have nobody to blame but myself. I did nothing to discourage his buttonmashing, if anything I incouraged it. Really, I was hoping that he would grow out of it, either out of boredom or frustration, but since it proved to be so reliable, I don't know if he'll ever stop, since there's no need to even bother learning the moves. Also, chances are this whole problem could probably be solved by using the deflections and take advantage of openings, but I'm not so good at being defensive( I'm the guy who runs hailmary into a hail of bullets in a shooter game).

I'll try to practice some more, maybe putting the bit on hard, and see if I can get any better at it, and hopefully convince him to stop, and if that doesn't work, then there's always Samurai Shodown II, which I'm told is not buttonmasher-friendly.

"You can do that?"

Yeah. Its called "Single Play" I believe (without going to check). Its always been in the home versions of KoF games.

@mickeymac- i see, thats like my friend who always goes up in the air with kirby and keeps dropping or with pikachu keeps using the thunderbolt over and over, its very annoying, i know. I always go halimary in shooters too but only if i keep losing when ive been trying for a while.

@ Bass X0 - I've owned these King of Fighters games for years and I had no idea you could play Single Play in the home version. I set my arcade BIOS to "Console" mode and sure enough, Single Play was there. Thanks for that tidbit of info. I may try these other games in Console Mode now.

Well, after seeing a review of Samurai Shodown 6( which apperantly wasn't released outside Japan), I think I'll just wait until the Anthology. Plus, I probably won't be able get a Wireless Classic Controller until November anyways, so I might as well get it alongside the game it was intended to be used for anyways.

what!!!!!!!???????mickey man how can u back out now, we've both been waiting on this train and now that we're on the watch knowing ss2 can come out very soon you're backing out...cmon man but when does the anthology come out?

I don't know, the only place I see that has anything is IGN, but they aren't good with dates. I assumed it was coming out around Sept-Nov. time, which would mean I could get it as a Christmas present. From what I heard, SS6 seems to be worth the price of admition alone, but I decided to up the anty by holding off on SS2 until the Anthology comes out.

...Which doesn't make much sense, since I probably won't touch it since SS6 is right on the thing. I'll just get SS2 when it arrives on VC like I had planned, and just consider the Anthology an SS6 stand-alone. Only problem is I won't have an extra Classic Controller to play it on. Does the Gamecube controller really cripple the experience, or is it at least functional?

K good, you had me worried that u were giving up for a while there lol, and if u decide play vc games with gc controllers than it won't be bad for ss2, just because the vc controller is advertised for vc doesnt mean it makes it better than other types of controlling. For example I play mario bros 3 with wii more sideways and I hate It with vc controls. For star fox 64 I love vc controller on it whereas demon212 as I heard on his starfox review says the vc controller is terrible for the game and that gcn is best, I tried gcn and hated it for starfox. The control youre using will eventually adapt with you as u play the game ure playing, all the controls I originally started a game with have stuck with me and Ive adapted to using them well now. A gcn controller will work fine, it may be odd at first, but overtime u will always get used to it for what youre playing. No one can really say which controller is best for u cuz u play games the way u do and ure unique to ure own style and you can adapt to any control scheme you work towards using, alot of people don't bother to even get vc controls you know man?

Thanks, most people complain about using the Gamecube controller for fighters, though it may just be for the reasons you mentioned. I already have the classic controller, but if I want to play two-player, one person has to use a Gamecube controller, and I didn't know whether it would make things unfair or whatnot.

In that case there is 3 ways you can go about it. You may find your bro will prefer the gcn controller anyway, you cpuod alternate between vc and gcn controller with the person you play with so both of you can have a feel with both control schemes and eventually be able to use both easily, or you could both use gcn controllers if you have 2. The second method is the most likely to occur and the first methoday surprise you. I advise trying both to wee which you feel more comfortable with playing the game and also it will let you at least be able to play both ways decently overtime so if ur opponent wants to play with one scheme, you won't mind using the other, you know?

@DaDun

Alright, I remember to try that, thank you.

And Europe continues to make us Yanks jealous. Now they have SMRPG!

It sucks over here I know, we get the leftover crap games for a long time until sum1 says maybe they can have 1 good game
LOL

Okay, now Samurai Shodown II is in NA, and I think the addition of Ys 1 & 2 more than makes up for the lack of SMRPG.