Bass: Time of Reunion Review

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It’s time for a oneshot about the best character in all of media. Bass has returned and he’s ready to really dominate as always. Many people forget this but Bass is the strongest character of all time. Who can possibly challenge the guy? Well, in this chapter some tough fighters like Megaman try but they are definitely found lacking. It’s nothing to be ashamed about though, it was…inevitable.

The special starts off with Searchman and the army trying to take down Bass but they are quickly routed. Surprisingly he spares their lives. They then go over to Lan and Chaud to ask for their help. Basically Dr. Cossack is dying and he wants a chance to say his final goodbyes to Bass. They all figure Bass won’t come quietly so they’ll have to try and defeat him. Lan agrees to help since he’s ready for a fight and Chaud’s not one to be left out. Do they really have a chance though or is this a suicide mission? One wrong move and they may end up being confined to oblivion!

Trying to mess with Bass definitely doesn’t sound like a good idea under any circumstances. Serenade makes a quick appearance and also confirms that this may be ill advised. For starters, trying to kidnap Bass to make him meet up with Cossack seems a little iffy right? That’s not a great reason to kidnap someone in general. It’s certainly not as if the planet is at stake or anything like that. So that’s the first problem here. Then of course there is also the matter of his power. Serenade crushes Megaman and Protoman while admitting that Bass is even fiercer. Still, they are eager to try.

It was fun to see Serenade for sure. Then in terms of the actual fight, the art is top tier as always. It’s great to see Bass taking everyone on again like in the good ole days. People forget but Bass was the original powerhouse. He speed blitzes Megaman and Protoman while dealing massive damage the whole time. It’s great to see that he has not lost a step. Even with Hubstyle and Double Souls combined, it’s clear that Megaman wasn’t quite strong enough to be of any real danger to Bass. Bass wasn’t afraid of anything the whole time, nor should he have been. He doesn’t even have to resort to Beast Out or his own Hubstyle at this point. He’s just at a completely different level.

One thing you will notice is that Bass is quite a bit nicer here. He seems to have mellowed out a whole lot since the events of the manga to the point where he actually spares people at times and doesn’t mind talking things out. The old Bass would never have humored the heroes the way that he did here. He’s definitely had a whole lot of character development over the years. So it all works out okay here but I do agree with Serenade that Megaman and Protoman were in the wrong the whole time. So if Bass had wanted to murder them then he would have been fully in his rights to do so. You can’t just go trying to take someone down like this.

I wouldn’t say that the oneshot opens the door to future sequels I’m afraid. So don’t get your hopes up for that but even just getting another look into the world was fun. Megaman NT Warrior is still my favorite manga of all time and everything is exactly as it was. The art still looks super intense and the writing is on point. It just goes to show that there are still a ton of different stories you could do within the series. There is a lot of ground left to uncover. It may be tough to come up with enemies who can be a real threat at this point but then you could do some prequels or something. Lets just get more Megaman content around.

Overall, This is a really fun one shot. I’m also impressed at how long it was. It’s almost like a full volume with around 100 pages at the ready. The author really knows how to craft a good story. Outside of the battles the humor was also pretty fun. I liked the banter between Lan and Chaud. They definitely haven’t missed a beat there. The series always had top tier action but would take a break for some comedy every once in a while. It’s a good mix I would say. You should definitely check this out. It’ll really be very nostalgic as well.

Overall 8/10

Mega Man V Review

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It’s time to end my Mega Man game marathon. This one definitely ends things on a real high note. For starters, it is the most plot based Mega Man game that I’ve played in the classic series. You actually have a sense of danger here and it’s not the usual story of Wily trying to cause some trouble. I appreciated the difference here and then the game actually gets rather long for a classic title. You definitely won’t be running out of content here, I can tell you that much.

The game starts off with a mysterious robot appearing and defeating Mega Man effortlessly. After that, other robots from space show up and conquer the planet with ease. Mega Man must now gain some upgrades and find a way to take these guys down. If he doesn’t, then the world itself will be doomed to destruction. It will be his hardest fight yet but Mega Man is ready for this. He’s never fallen short when it counted before after all.

There are actual cutscenes and automated fights here which really feels ahead of its time. In a lot of ways you could say this game is light years ahead of the first 4. It’s just in a completely different league and this goes back to the length as well. In addition to the usual 8 robot masters, you fight a bunch of bosses from previous games. There are so many bosses in the climax that I wonder how people did it back in the day without the rewind feature. Particularly for the older game bosses since it always takes time to get used to a moveset and I doubt you would have had the previous games memorized. The difficulty climb is really crazy by the end.

Still, it is ambitious and I like that. One of the main critiques for the Mega Man games is generally that they are a little too short. You blast through them and then that’s it. So at least with this one you do have all of this extra content which does make the actual campaign longer. It’s also worth noting that while the collectibles have been removed, you still do have the Dr. Light shop where you can buy items and collectibles as needed. It’s definitely a big help since you can actually work on grinding out E tanks if you need them for the climax. They are super handy so of course you will need them.

The graphics still have that sad green tint that makes everything a bit hard to look at. You eventually get a little used to it but yeah that part’s a bit rough so you will definitely want to avert your gaze. The soundtrack isn’t bad although I wouldn’t say that any of the tunes were super memorable. The game stands strong mainly on the story and gameplay in this case. The rest of the title isn’t quite able to keep up.

The gameplay is what you’re used to with the series so I don’t need to go into it very much. I still mainly stuck with the mega buster for all bosses except when they force you to change. The Mega Buster is just such a great all around weapon that they almost went too far and ended up making it the best weapon. Why use anything else right? The firing speed and amount of damage per shot is just handled exceptionally well. It may not be broken but it’s extremely steady and will take out any opponent before long. It also works seamlessly with your movement since there is no delay so you can really do your best on dodging enemies and this won’t slow you down one bit. This is exactly the right way to handle things but if you want a challenge you can try to figure out which weapon is good against each boss and win that way. It’s technically how the developers likely envisioned you beating the game at least.

Overall, The story is really good here. I appreciated that the game took itself rather seriously the whole time. The final boss is also a very interesting figure. Certainly not someone that Wily could ever hope to control. There was definitely a lot of potential here if the game had decided to continue down this path for future installments. Of course the color situation would be fixed for the next console. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check this one out. It may even change how you look at classic Mega Man in general.

Overall 7/10

The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga Review

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It’s time for my last King of Fighters review for a bit and it’s going to end with the game that started it all. The fact that this collection brings 5 whole games is really impressive. Collections like this are a really handy way to really play through each of the games especially the ones that are really old. Since the games are older the casts tended to be a bit smaller so the arcade modes go by pretty fast.

The first game is KOF 94 which has the toughest final boss to date. I could not find any way to actually take Rugal down. That guy is absolutely crazy. When you get close to him you get absolutely demolished. If you stay far away then you get blasted to smithereens. I read online that you gotta try and cheese him but that doesn’t work either with how much he’s always moving. I’m convinced you need exceptional video game reflexes to really keep up here. Without that then it is the end of the road for you. Still, it’s a fun way to kick things off and Rugal is still my favorite King of Fighters villain. The guy just has a whole lot of style. I ended up playing as Terry for quite a few of these games and he always made for a solid MC.

Then the next game was KOF 95. I wouldn’t say you can tell very many differences here compared to the first game. The final boss is also super OP but slightly more manageable than the first one. You just have to move fast because it’s another boss that can basically take out your whole health bar if you get too close. So you want to try and keep some distance at all times. Getting close to the enemy is something to only be done at your own risk and personally I would not recommend it. Again, you can throw this advice out if you have super good reflexes though.

After that was KOF 96. You start to feel the series getting ever so slightly more modern with this one. The sprites look sharp and in general the game looks very solid. You’ll be going back to Arcade Mode here and rolling with Terry’s crew again. The final boss is still super difficult but now the games allow you some help once you have lost and gotten a game over. You can revive and make your boss’ health go down to 1/3. You’d be surprised at how difficult the fight is even at this point. I can’t imagine pulling this off if I had to go up against the full deal. At 1/3 health the boss gains extra durability though to make up for it.

KOF 97 is pretty climactic and keeps up all of the momentum from the previous game. The gameplay is on point, there is a good cast running around here and there’s a lot to do. The story is mainly told through the cutscenes at the end so you can really feel free to pick just about any team and you’ll get the bulk of the story there. The final boss is another really tough one so definitely bring your A game. You may be here a while even with the bonus. So expect to lose a lot but you should pend that time trying to learn as many of his tricks and attacks as you can.

KOF 98 is interesting because it was there at the end but it actually feels a bit older than some of the previous ones. I think perhaps that was done on purpose to further support the whole nostalgia angle that the game was going for. I don’t think that’s a stretch, I think it even makes a lot of sense. Still, I can’t be sure, maybe it’s just a slight art tyle that didn’t age well. Part of what makes it look older to me is the font. It’s very zoomed in and so it gets a lot blurrier than the other games. Maybe they just wanted the game to stick out though.

The games are very old so naturally the graphics aren’t exactly top tier. Still, they work pretty well I would say. Sprites never truly go out of fashion. The combo attacks look really good and all of the backgrounds have good detail to them. I don’t feel like they phoned in any part of the game. Lots of effort and dedication went into the title. The various soundtracks aren’t bad either. I would like some more hard rock type themes to be included into the actual stages but at least the openings tend to go rather hard in that direction.

When it comes to replay value, there is naturally a whole lot here. You can keep on playing through all of the games to look at the changes between each one. It’s nice to play them all back to back to really see how things have updated and evolved over the years. Realistically there’s probably not much reason to keep playing vs mode for a super long time when the sequels are around but you can’t count out the nostalgia effect. To an extent you may just want to have fun seeing how retro the whole thing is and you can’t do that with a newer game.

Combat gameplay is also something that’s fairly timeless. Yes, there may be less special effects but the actual fighting itself will be relatively unchanged even as many years go by. So that part won’t feel dated at all and you can just have a fun time trying to land your favorite combos. Like Terry seems to be mainly unchanged across all of the games but granted, It’s not like I know any of the advanced ones so just going by the bread and butter combos isn’t the most accurate way to go about things.

Overall, You can’t really go wrong with a collection that brings 5 games. You’re getting a ton of bang for your buck here. I got the Wii version since it uses the Gamecube controller but note that you have to play it on the Wii in order to use this function. The Wii U adaptor doesn’t support the Gamecube controller although that’s to be expected as it doesn’t for most titles. The game’s controls don’t bother with motion though so it’s really not that bad though. When used traditionally, the Wii remote tends to be downright decent. Either way, no matter what console you get the game for, you should pick it up at some point. The games do have actual stories with cutscenes explored during the fights so you don’t want to miss out on the first arc.

Overall 7/10

The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match Review

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King of Fighters XIII definitely surpassed my expectations here. The instant it had a real story mode and not just throwing cutscenes into arcade mode, I knew it was quite literally built different. This was a game that was putting the story first and I was all here for it. There are even branching paths so you can see different versions of the story and more added context as you play through the game. I ended up getting 60% of the cinematics on my first run.

The story concludes the big saga of the villains trying to revive Orochi and using their cosmic powers to get in everyone’s way. Ash gets a big role in here as he stole Iori’s powers last time and is working on getting Kyo’s now. If the old lead isn’t careful then he is going to be taken down. It’s a really good premise to get you pumped up and I greatly enjoyed the intro. We got to see all of the old leads like K and Kyo and then it ends with the lead being attacked. This game just has the most focus on story by a longshot and it was an excellent idea. I always feel like this is the perfect way to really get you focused up for what is about to happen.

The story definitely doesn’t disappoint. We get a lot of fun illustrations the whole time as the plot moves forward and a ton of dialogue. I didn’t even see all of the paths as I mentioned before so they added a ton of content here. It almost felt like a visual novel at times here. I should also mention that there is another King of Fighters tournament going on here of course. That’s always got to be a factor here of course. Why would there not be a tournament?

It should come as no surprise that the gameplay is great as always. The graphics look really sharp here once again and the movement speed is really good. I felt like the bosses were also designed better so you got to actually play against them. It wasn’t a matter of abusing loopholes or cheesing the opponent out. Instead you were actually fighting them mano a mano the whole time and that was a much better idea. So I was really glad to see that, it’s definitely the way to go.

You feel more of a sense of triumph when you win as opposed to just exhaustion and wondering if the boss is still more skilled than you are. Here, the boss is still rather difficult but it’s nothing crazy. The boss is way aggressive and like a real player will leave openings for you to attack with. I will say that the second to last boss had such long animation cycles though. When he grabbed you, you could basically close your eyes and rest a bit because then he keeps on punching you in the stomach and taking forever to get on with it. He’s a very dramatic fighter to be sure. I feel like it would probably be funny to see anyone using those combos in a competitive tournament assuming that the character has these moves when you play as him.

In terms of the paths in the game, usually you will have a choice for example to see what’s happening at the tournament or what Ash is doing meanwhile. Typically I went with the Ash plot since I figured it would be more intense but you’ll probably want to try them all. When I googled how to get the true ending, there seemed to be quite a few requirements to even get the chance so good luck. Definitely not a pushover by any means but that adds to the ever expansive replay value of the game.

You have the endless vs fights, getting all story mode paths, and of course getting the Platinum trophy in the game. By the time you’re done with that I’m sure you will have spent a ton of time on the game. Additionally, here are a lot of characters to play around with so you’ll want to test them all out and see which character you are best with. I’m actually starting to like the grappler characters in this game. It feels so satisfying when you land a command grab out of nowhere and it deals a ton of damage. A super throw is what won me the final match after all. I was about to lose otherwise.

Overall, King of Fighters XIII is a great game. I dare say that it is easily the best of the early games although calling it an early game is probably misleading. I think XV is probably still the best overall but I’d need to think about it. Either way the latest 3 games are the top 3 overall which is cool because it shows that the series is in its peak right now. They need to bring us some more games but bring back this expansive kind of story mode. It really does help the series go to the next level and doesn’t feel like it should be a giant ask. If there’s any King of Fighters game that you should get, this may even be my first recommendation because of the story.

Overall 8/10

The King of Fighters XII Review

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It’s time for another big King of Fighters game! This time around there’s not really much of a story but to try and make up for that we do have a pretty big cast of characters. The visuals have noticeably improved and so the whole thing works out pretty well. It’s definitely a game that you can’t afford to miss out on if you want to own the whole collection. If you don’t care about owning everything….well then I guess you’ll be okay but it’s still a quality game either way.

With no story you’ll probably want to start off by clearing an arcade mode. The arcade mode is a lot shorter than usual as it’s only 5 levels long and there are no bonus levels or bosses this time. It’s really just you seeing how fast you can beat all of the opponents. In fact they call it a time trial arcade mode so that really was the intent right from the jump. It definitely does work to make the game stand out there but it’s still no substitute for a full on story. I was really surprised that there wasn’t at least a secret boss at the end. Something to really test your might you know?

I did appreciate the jump in graphics though. Like I mentioned before, the graphics look really sharp this time around. The controls feel a bit different and you really feel like this is the next generation of KOF. There are a whole lot of details thrown in here and so you you can really appreciate all of the super attacks. I also think they did make the special techniques easier to use this time around. I was cranking them out like nobody’s business for a while there while in the old games it was really hard. There was a simple vs technical mode option so I did go with simple which may help with that.

The soundtrack isn’t super noticeable this time around. King of Fighters seems to be on/off in that regard. You’re here for the gameplay first and foremost though and that is solid as always. It’s pretty fast paced and you can really use a whole lot of combos. It’s a game that really pays off your hard work and dedication by letting you deal out more damage. The better your combo skills, the more you are going to absolutely dominate the competition when the going gets tough. It’s a very satisfying circle in that regard.

There is unlimited replay in the vs modes of course and this time you even have trophies that you can earn by playing the game. So if you aim for the Platinum trophy that will add a lot of time into the mix as well since fighting game platinums are always extremely intense. Hopefully none of them are online based though or you could be in a lot of trouble there. I still think they need some kind of fix for games where there are online trophies but you want to get the Platinum. It’ll likely never happen but it’s nice to think about.

I ran with Terry’s crew for the arcade mode but feel free to switch up your teams and try as many characters as you can. They all have very distinct movesets and nobody feels too similar to anyone else. The developers did a good job with all of the characters there. The fact that we have several different fire users at this point and none of them feel like clones of each other is definitely impressive. This game knows how to really craft a moveset that fits every character’s playstyle.

Since there’s no story mode here there’s a little less to talk about compared to the other titles. You sort of get the drift after all since a fighting game is very direct. You either enjoy the combat style or you don’t and whether you like the game or not really comes down to that one trait. Gameplay is mega important for any game obviously but if you’re a fighting game then that rises up even further. If you don’t have fun with the combat then that automatically means the game is no fun either. There’s just no way to get around that after all.

Overall, King of Fighters continues to be a really solid fighting game series. While I miss the story, the gameplay is solid enough to hold its own here. Fans of the franchise will have a good time as always and I can definitely recommend this to any fighting game fan. Sometimes you just want to sit down and have a few matches and in that case this game has you covered. You can explore all of the characters and see which fighting style works the best for you. As always I like playing as Terry Bogard quite a bit and he has the old design back which is great.

Overall 7/10

King of Fighters 2002/2003 Review

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King of Fighters has had many games over the years. There are very few who can say that they have played all of them. Even for me thanks to the elusive 99 I won’t be able to say that but I will have basically played through the whole series so that feels like a rather massive W if you ask me. These two games are pretty fun and continue the game on a rather high note.

First up the 2002 game doesn’t really have a story. So for that game you’re really playing through the arcade mode to have a general sense of the controls and you get to beat up a revived Rugal again which is always intense. Definitely not a boss that you want to mess with. In 2003 you’re mainly playing with Ash as you try to get more power and then get wrapped up into another big villain conspiracy. Looks like the Orochi factions aren’t quite done yet but Ash can hold his own.

At this point King of Fighters has so many different factions and it’s always fun to see all of them being active a the same time. That’s not something that you usually see so that’s pretty different compared to other fighting game titles. You have the Orochi revivers, the NEST remnants, Ash basically counts since he’s trying to absorb more power, Rugal’s kids, etc. The game would really be able to do a whole lot as an RPG with this many characters to play around with.

The gameplay is pretty classic as you would expect. There are different mechanics that get added and removed as the games go on but the classic core of the gameplay is still the same. Use your attacks and special moves to take your opponents down. The arcade mode will take you down the path to taking down the main villains. After playing so many of them in a row, I do think it’s impressive how consistent the games are. They all tend to generally follow the same patterns and schedules.

It’s mainly the story that changes and of course some specifics in the actual gameplay like I mentioned. I wonder if the hardcore fans could immediately tell you which game it is based on the win screens after a match. That would be a fun test for some of the more intense fans. I naturally wouldn’t be able to clear that quite yet but I do think I would be able to put up a decent fight since they’re all really fresh in my mind.

The graphics are good as always. I definitely have no problem with them. I do miss Terry’s old design with the cap but since he gave it to a girl at the end of one of the games, it makes sense that he no longer has it. It was so iconic though. I forget if he ever gets it back in the newer games but hopefully he does. He still has it in all of the spinoffs after all. The soundtrack is also good. I felt like we got some more memorable tracks this time around although it might be difficult to find them. I suppose I’d just have to listen to the full soundtrack to pick it out.

As always there is no limit to the replay value here. Just keep on playing with a friend and you could do that all day. If you’re only playing by yourself then that might not be quite as fun but that’s always been the case historically. So it’s not unique to King of Fighters or anything like that. These games were made to be enjoyed by everyone and that way you can also learn how to fight the right way. In a lot of ways fighting the computer teaches you the wrong things since you are focused on exploiting the AI and your moves may not be optimal. Like overusing the jump kick to sweep kick combo may work on the computers but if you keep on doing that against a real opponent then you’re going to be countered real hard.

As always get ready for some real crazy final bosses. These aren’t the craziest to be sure but you’ll likely still die a few times an need the bonus. It’s still very impressive that the bosses are always this tough though. It’s like a point of pride for the series and it is definitely well earned. That kind of difficulty doesn’t just appear on its own. The developers had to work really hard on that one.

Overall, These two games were fun as expected. They had some fun tunes and the gameplay was good as always. You really get to test your limits in these games as well as your reaction times. You’re not going to go down very easily that’s for sure. I’ll be having more King of Fighters reviews up pretty soon so get ready for that. It is definitely a really fun franchise and if the developers were willing to go just a bit harder with it on the next big title, it could really start to make waves on the fighting game scene. Give us a story like Street Fighter V or what Tekken always has. The characters in KoF and their backstories are definitely detailed and expansive enough to support this.

Overall 7/10

Mega Man World 3 Review

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It’s time for another Mega Man adventure! This time around we actually have a full volume’s worth of chapters to tackle Mega Man World 3 so the pacing is a whole lot better. This is much more in line with what an adaption of a video game ought to be. Each robot master and his stage get a decent amount of screen time before Mega Man dispatches them. This is why he is the Blue Bomber, the hero of legend. He will continue to fight and win for as long as humanity needs him.

The story starts with Mega Man visiting a beach while on vacation and looking forward to having a good time. He seems surprisingly lazy as he isn’t thrilled to help Roll out with the preparations but reluctantly he does his part. The festivities are short lived though when it turns out that wily is causing chaos to unfold on the planet. He has a bunch of evil robot masters and together they are doing a bunch of evil things. The only way to stop them will be for Mega Man to destroy each and every robot master. Does he have what it takes to vanquish these foes though or is it all over?

Like I said, this time each of the bosses gets something to do so I definitely appreciated that. Mega Man actually has to contend with each of their special abilities and figure out how to counter them. In quite a few of the boss battles they even show him using the weapon that is super effective against the boss. Works like a guidebook to an extent and the series even gives tips about some sections within the manga itself. So that’s some really nice attention to detail and it’s the little stuff like that which makes you feel like the writer was really paying attention to the game. He knows exactly what was going on with the levels and was given enough of a page count to do it justice.

It also has an extra impact since I just played through the game and I recognized all of the areas that were referenced here. The manga feels like an extended boss rush of sorts you could say as the main focus here at all times is for Mega Man to thoroughly crush everyone in his way. He really doesn’t get a break as he will beat one boss, then the next one shows up, then an army of minions appears, etc. It’s a good thing that as a robot he doesn’t get tired because otherwise he would really be in rough shape there. It’s not easy being the Blue Bomber but someone’s go to do it.

The art looks pretty solid here. Perhaps not out of this world or anything like that but it certainly does the job and leaves you satisfied. The action scenes are al on point and the artist draws the characters well. Everyone is immediately recognizable and the pages are very easy to read. It’s part of why you will be blasting through the series because the quality is so good.

Mega Man is the kind of franchise that was made to have a bunch of manga titles. It’s a simple plot that is still always an interesting one. The storylines for each of the games always guarantee that you will be getting a lot of action as well. So it’s really a win/win no matter how you slice it. What I would like to see down the road is Proto Man or Bass showing up though. Even if they weren’t in the game, at least give them a cameo in the manga or something right? That would be awesome. The secret boss for this game was Punk and he get a solid appearance. I’ve always liked his EXE counterpart and I can safely say that the classic one is good too. He really gave Mega Man a tough time.

Overall, Mega Man World 3 is definitely a fun Mega Man story. I wouldn’t say it stands out per say as you will probably mix it up with other Mega Man stories eventually but it still does execute every scene rather well. So even if it is by the numbers, there are no real negatives that I had with it. I could easily recommend the title to any fan of a good action title or if you just wanted a quick read. It’s an entertaining story after all with themes that anyone can appreciate. Sometimes you have to stand up and save the world even when it’s hard. If it was even longer then we could have really dove into some scenes outside of the battles but the author really had the priorities straight here. Most importantly, the manga is just fun to read and that’s always an automatic W.

Overall 7/10

King of Fighters 2000 & 2001 Review

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It’s time for some King of Fighters hype! It’s pretty fun to be playing through all of the games in the series. These two start to feel a bit more modern on the PS2 but you’ve still got enough retro elements in the game to make it feel nostalgic. You’ve also got some real stories going on here which is always fun. It would be nice if there was a longer story for everybody but I’m still satisfied. There is basically always a cliffhanger here as well to keep things moving.

In 2000, we get to play as K who is fighting for his memories and to take down the villains like NEST. He enters the King of Fighters tournament to deal some serious damage and along the way the villains make their move as well. Kula also gets involved which is fun because for me she’s one of the more nostalgic characters. I played as her a lot in one of the spinoff games. So to see her with more of a starring role was definitely a lot of fun, her ice abilities also work pretty well in the gameplay.

The game has the striker system active so you can summon assists like in Marvel vs Capcom. It’s pretty fun although it never really works on the bosses all that much. This is the only game where the final boss isn’t too crazy though. You can actually fight him like a normal boss and eventually win as opposed to just being cheesy the whole time and staying in the corner. Hey, you have to win whatever it takes right? So no shame there, you just look forward to actually rushing in and fighting so this was a fun change of pace. Part of King of Fighters’ whole appeal is the insane difficulty though. These final bosses are really made to make you work to find whatever exploit you can in order to win.

2001 adds another extra mechanic to the striker system. This time you can have up to 3 strikers. So you can use all 4 fighters to attack the enemy or only have one. The balance is up to you but one thing to keep in mind is that the final boss will have more health if you opt to go with 4 fighters. I didn’t even realize that so for a while there he was dominating me and had tons of health. Fortunately every time you die you can readjust your team so after a bunch of losses I put everyone into being a striker except my main guy and then I used him to win the day. It was still extremely difficult to be sure and I just barely pulled it off but that does seem like the play. You are basically banking on RNG here to be able to beat the final boss.

You need him to make the wrong choices just a few times on 2001 and then you will be able to finish him off with minimal difficulty. I suppose the one drawback is you will be getting sent to the game over screen a lot quicker this way as your one fighter will keep on going down quickly but at the end of the day it’s still worth it. I still advise going through this way. Also, make sure you do not use your summons. They will never land a hit anyway and only exist to get in your way. Activating them is basically ensuring your own defeat. So definitely make sure that you don’t do that. In the split second it takes to call them out the boss will inevitably use a wide energy wave to take down both of you.

The final boss is also able to use super attacks without using up any magical energy. This means that blocking forever is only worth it if you are aiming for a timeout but otherwise it’s not like you’re going to tire this guy out. So definitely just keep an eye out on that. For most battles you still want to go with the tried and true tactic of an aerial kick into a sweeping kick but you never want to approach these final bosses. Let them come to you and you just stick to punishing their mistakes. Each small hit will eventually add up and then you’re good.

As you would expect the graphics for both games are pretty good. In general you can see the graphics improving s the games go on but it still will take some time before they’re completely up to PS5 level or anything like that. The sprites are very colorful though and that’s why I recommend them as an artstyle. They will never get out of date and will always look very pleasant no matter how many years go by. The soundtrack is another okay one as well. The themes match the stages but aren’t something you would necessarily be looking up on Youtube.

That’s good enough though, at the end of the day this is a fighting game and one that is a lot of fun. I enjoy all of the combos and the big character roster. It’s a game that really never has to stop giving you entertainment since you can have endless vs battles. The replay value is there and since the gameplay itself is really solid, that’s all you need. It’s certainly possible that you won’t need to play this one if you have the sequels but at least this will still work out. Terry is still my favorite character even if I’ve had to play as the other characters lately for the story.

Overall, King of Fighters is a solid series that has certainly had a lot of games. This collection does a good job of bringing two of the games in and they work really well together. I’ve certainly improved my King of Fighter fundamentals even if I would not exactly be tournament ready just yet. I would really need to stud the games for that and get used to the combos. In the meantime, going through story mode is definitely the right amount of investment for me. I don’t really need anything more. Of course if we ever do get a massive cinematic story mode then I would have to really learn the controls because I would not want to miss that!

Overall 7/10

King of Fighters XI Review

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It’s time to jump to another King of Fighters title. XI really gets modern in a lot of ways as it just feels newer than some of the others. The gameplay is really crisp and it’s all on point but they definitely do ramp up the difficulty quite a bit here. I was definitely not prepared for the bullet hell final boss where he was just spamming all kinds of attacks. Certainly not a boss for the faint of heart.

The villains are all making their moves during the King of Fighters tournament which makes sense. We fight Rugal’s kid again and in the climax we’re up against more people trying to harness the powers of Orochi. It’s easy to see why they want this kind of power because it seems like it consistently pushes you to near the top of the verse. So that’s an incredibly handy ability to have. Of course the heroes aren’t about to let that happen so easily. As long as there are heroes left to defend the world, Orochi will not be revived without a fight!

Good luck beating the final boss though, he actually did end up vanquishing me this time. So here’s the tough part, he has many different projectile moves. He can shoot these large orbs that move slowly but bounce a lot. Then he has his lightning fast purple energy blasts. If you get close he has an energy uppercut that deals massive amounts of damage. The guy can also teleport so he will suddenly appear behind you and go for a command grab. You must not let him grab you! I cannot stress this enough, if he grabs you then it’s all over. You’re not going to stand a chance here.

You also can’t time him out this time because the rules have changed. Even if you have more health than the boss, he will win when the counter goes down. It seems like the health is based as a percentage since you had 3 characters to his one. There’s really no chance you are going to triple his health though because all of his energy attacks deal chip damage. So what this means is that you are going to have to take the attack to him. Of course we already know that approaching him is not a good idea because of the uppercut so what other options do you have?

Well, one of them is to try and roll towards the boss. You roll under the energy blast and land a sweeping kick. Of course the problem is that he will often teleport away or hit you as you approach. It’s also not so easy to time the energy attacks and when you roll because of how fast they are. So while the plan itself may be good, that doesn’t mean that it will be successful. In the end you may end up getting absolutely destroyed anyway. No matter how many times I fought the guy, I kept on losing.

That’s even including the bonus they give you after losing where the opponent starts with a lower amount of health. It’s not quite the 1/3 health that it used to be but it’s still a good bonus. I don’t get why this gives the boss so much more defense though. In a way it starts to completely offset the advantage of his having low health in the first place so I really don’t get it. Not a great move if you ask me, I wanted to have a way to defeat this guy. Ah well, major props to anyone who succeeded here.

I didn’t really talk about the gameplay but at its core it is the classic kind of King of Fighters gameplay. It’s a 2D 3 on 3 fighter where you beat up on your opponents. The goal is to knock all of them out before they knock you out. You can use various special moves although the button combinations are rather difficult. In most games I can button mash and get the special attacks out easily but not in this one. Usually your best bet is to use an aerial kick and then a sweeping kick either way though. It’s a 2 hit combo that is incredibly hard for the computer to resist.

Meanwhile the graphics are fairly sharp. I’d say they have aged well and the sprite based style is just a lot of fun in general. The cutscenes themselves are also nostalgic with the different images popping in and out. As always the dialogue can be rather quick though so you need to bring your A game. The soundtrack is also pretty good. Not the best one in the series but it does work pretty well in general so it gets a thumbs up.

In terms of replay value, there is naturally a whole lot here. The vs mode means that you can play that part of the game forever and ever. There are certainly a lot of characters after all and fighting games never really have to end. They can keep on going so long as you have someone to play with. If that is the case then you will be in really good hands. The price isn’t bad either, you could buy this online right now.

Overall, King of Fighters delivers with another really fun game here. The final boss may even be the toughest in some ways just because the game removes the option to cheese him via time out. Rugal still feels like the toughest to me but I was ultimately able to beat most versions of him. (Just not the first one) So I suppose KOF 94 will go down as the hardest and this will be in second place. One thing’s for sure, if you’re looking for a challenge then you have absolutely come to the right place.

Overall 7/10

Mega Man World Review

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I just got to play the game boy games for this title so seeing it in manga form is interesting. Ultimately what keeps it from a higher score is how short the title is though. There are 2 chapters, they have 20 and 18 pages respectively. In those 38 total pages they have to adapt the first two games so as you would expect there isn’t a whole lot of time to really go through the story. Some characters end up missing out entirely and other bosses are downed in a single hit. What this means is you’re sort of seeing an abridged version of the games. I’d have liked to have had a more extended look at the series but at the end of the day I’d still prefer to have an extended version over not having it at all. So in the end I’m still reasonably satisfied here.

The story starts with Wily destroying the city and so Mega Man asks Dr. Light to let him fight. Light equips the kid with a Mega Buster and gives him the iconic Mega Man armor. Now our brave hero is ready to face off against Wily and does so with ease. Cutman and Elecman are the only ones to get real fights as Mega Man gets used to combat. From there he one shots all other opponents as he gets into the zone. Poor Wily is forced to run off and that’s how the adventure goes. It’s a good story but again just so super short.

The second story really follows the same beats here. Only difference is this time Mega Man one shots all of the bosses until he runs up against the alternate, evil future version of himself. This time we get an actual fight as he has to try and win while also realizing that he is destroying his own future. It makes for a pretty good dilemma and also makes the second chapter feel like it has more of an actual story. Wily having to go to the future here is definitely not something that I was expecting the manga to have time to get into.

It reinforces what a genius Wily is and how he will go to great lengths to ensure that he gets the outcome that he wants. He is definitely not the kind of guy that you want to make an enemy out of, that’s for sure. Dr. Light still did good in making Mega Man or at least helping Wily to make him but I wish he would do more during the series. If I saw him being more proactive on a daily basis then that would definitely raise his stocks in my eyes. I want to see him using his own wits to help protect the planet.

The artwork is fairly solid. It’s got more of a retro feel to it with how wide the eyes can be. The battle scenes look good and the pages are easy to follow. Clearly the focus of the manga was not on fights so they are fast but the images that we do get are pretty solid. I definitely didn’t have any issues here, the adventure works pretty well on all accounts. If anything the fact that I think it’s too short shows that this was a quality title since I think there is more they could have done with it.

Overall, Mega Man World is definitely a good manga but it goes by in a flash. The good news is that means you can read is super fast so there’s no excuse not to check it out. Just give up 10-15 minutes of your day and you are all good. That’s not a huge investment right? It’s always fun to check out Mega Man stories and this one was no exception. It’s just a well balanced story all around with a wholesome ending and good writing. If you enjoy this one a lot then you should follow up by checking out Mega Man Gigamix which is still the definitive story for the classic version.

Overall 6/10