r/SNK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ibOlGhkbuw&t=300s

Originally made on september 16th 2025 by slightly tweaked her hair . x3

Happy Birthday Princess Athena!

To be transparent Im drafting out a vid about the recent ports from SNK with their NEOGEO premium stuff. The positives and negatives so far that I have and that folks in my community have commented. I wanted to reach out to you all as fellow SNK community members, to let me know whats yall thoughts? My hopes is that making this video will help SNK understand what it is we fans want more of & less of. Be it pricing, multiplat, crossplay, physicals, collections ect.

https://youtu.be/L2qMUAtdn9A

Just finished wrapping up a project, and I wanted to share it with your community.

King of Fighters Grand is an original soundtrack that’s inspired by the 90’s Era of music from the KOF franchise.

All 15 tracks / 37:43 minutes of content are completely original. (No remixes. No covers.)

This album's genre is a combination of Jazz, Funk, Rock, Orchestral, Hip-Hop, and Electronica elements.

01 - Member & Order Select

02 - Team Kusanagi

03 - Seoul Justice Team

04 - Fatal Fury Team

05 - Neo Hero Team

06 - Team Femme Fatale

07 - Team Yagami

08 - Secret Agent Team

09 - Team Orochi

10 - Team South Town

11 - Art of Fighting Team

12 - Team Ikari Warriors

13 - K' Team

14 - Team Garou

15 - Super Pro Sports Team

I’d highly recommend listening to this music while reading. 

STORY (5/10) 

• Storytelling followed the same idea as the previous 2 games. But here, the way it was presented didn’t even make sense, as I didn’t understand who I was fighting, why and most of all, when?! 
• The presentation although messy, did have its own charm with cool locations from China, Italy, USA, Brazil and even Kyoto. 
• The characters were very nice with awesome designs. Once I discovered Okuni though, I chose to play that way, the boobs way! 
• Pacing was pretty long with the game overstaying its welcome. It required at least one hour of continuous play, and by the end, it got so tedious that I simply wanted to quit on the spot. 
• The game also teased a sequel, guess 3 games with the same story was more than enough!

 

GAMEPLAY (4/10) 

• Starting with controls, which were quite extensive once you understood every combo and special attack. You could dash, run, punch, slash, jump, throw, grab, do specials with alternate abilities, super moves and more! 
• The tutorial helped on the initial screen, which I always love as most of the time the games don’t even show you what’s possible. 
• On top of all of the above, you could also pick up and throw shurikens, darts and even bombs. As well as collect health items hidden within boxes and destructibles. 
• The game also had a power meter, where the more damage you dealt, the more power ups you could use. I ended up using quite a lot of special attacks by the end, mainly because the enemies themselves were literal sponges! 
• Changing characters upon death was cool, although already outdated by 2001 standards. Plus, removing what the originals created with switching characters on the go was a bad move! 
• While platforming wasn’t extensive, the game did have some cool jumping sections with traps and nice scalable environments. 
• Now, while all of the above sounds good on paper, the game was a total snooze-fest. Starting with enemy variety, which didn’t change from the start of the game till the end. There were some new enemies on certain occasions, but essentially, you fought the same types with reskinned looks and increased health bars. 
• Speaking of health bars, who in their right mind develops such monotonous crap?! I swear to god, the last stage got so tedious I dropped the game and was ready to scrap the review, only pushing forward after a few days! 
• Your own combo moves got repetitive to hell, as once you got the best sequence, you didn’t need the other ones. You could juggle enemies sure, but doing the same attack patterns upon spongy enemies, over and over again, wasn’t fun! 
• Traversal was boring AF! So boring that I couldn’t understand the shift from the original and its sequel. What happened?! You went on a diet or something?! 
• Difficulty was brutal by the end. While it started gradually with increased spikes, by the end I ended up spending more than 10 greasy bucks!

 

AUDIO (9/10) 

• Sound design was very good with a cool stereo output. Yet again, the first game remains unbeatable in this department. 
• The music though, pure perfection. Each level had its own unique soundtrack and I’m telling you, push the volume to the max! 
• While voice acting was reduced to some character shouts and minimal dialogues, it delivered in its own way. 
• The sound effects themselves were pretty awesome, with quite some variations between them!

 

VISUALS (7/10) 

• Now, I might be biased or extremely cracked in the head, but I swear, the previous 2 entries were so much better than what was shown here! 
• Fidelity wasn’t good, as most levels were reduced to huge sprites with little to look at besides landscapes. For 2001, I’d say that was a bust. 
• Character models were spectacular though, with each having awesome cloth animations, body movements, attack patterns and even bouncing melons! 
• The enemies though, were terrible and showed extensive monotony! 
• Performance kept a steady frame-rate even in demanding scenes. 
• The art style was cool and minimalistic on each location, with most backgrounds adding unique vibes! 
• The visual effects were quite nice for 2001. From reflections to smoke, fire, explosions, water, wind, dust and so on, quite unique.

 

WORLD DESIGN (10/10) 

• Level design while divided into multiple sections within each location, delivered outstanding vibes with cool backgrounds and landscapes. You went from Italy to Japan, China, Brazil, USA and even the Underworld Dungeon in Kyoto! 
• The atmosphere was off the charts thanks to the music and awesome art direction. If you closed your eyes and simply mashed buttons, it gave you even better vibes! 
• World destruction was great, with smashing doors, pots, barrels and more!

TL;DR -> Quite a step backwards from Sengoku & Sengoku 2, although with some unique perks. While the overall progression coupled with enemy variety butchered the gameplay, the story didn’t fall far from the mark. Visually not impressive, not even for 1993, let alone 2001, with only the sound and world design redeeming themselves. A (7.0) game, good in my book. Unfortunately a good game doesn’t quite make the cut for a replay, as I’d rather meditate for an entire day than replay this monotonous clay! 

Developed and published by: SNK Playmore 🕹💥

Fun fact: Despite only releasing in Japan, the voice acting is fully in English! 🔥

Did you know the Japanese Monthly Arcadia magazine made an illustration contest for Moe Habana (the female protagonist of The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood)?

你还记得安琪莉娜吗？如果 SNK 让她回归，你会支持吗？

I’d recommend listening to this music while reading. 

GAMEPLAY (8/10) 

• While storytelling was pretty basic in comparison with the original Sengoku, it also followed the same plot and characters. Same presentation, same vibes, same everything really, with only the Tengu replacing the Samurai from the original. 
• The gameplay on the other hand, was altered in a new direction. Starting with controls, which added new and cool attacks in between. You could attack from a normal or low stance, jump, change characters and even do charged attacks or specials with magic abilities. 
• The game also had a tutorial, which helped with basic knowledge as to what buttons to press. 
• It had the same orbs with power ups, but here you didn’t change swords, you simply gained magic abilities and attacks. The main character had swords by default, with the Tengu wielding a staff, the Wolf his bloody claws and the Ninja throwing shurikens around. Here though, I hardly used the Wolf, as he wasn’t as needed as the other ones. 
• The horse rides were nice too, although quite short and pretty basic for a change. Although I loved slicing horsemen heads off! 
• Enemy variety was heavily reused, with some unique entries on new stages, but mostly the same throughout the whole game. I did love boss encounters, as those were really awesome! 
• The enemies themselves had the same block patterns with unique animations, but mostly the same as the original. 
• Traversal was seamless within each teleportation, with every level transition feeling like a new journey. The levels themselves were short, with the whole game being no more than 30m to beat. 
• Difficulty was nice, but I did drop at least $5 here, maybe more!

 

AUDIO (7/10) 

• Sound design remained the same with an awesome stereo output, although not as good as the original.
• The music was nice, but not my cup of tea. 
• Voice acting was in Japanese, which was a nice addition for 1993. 
• The sound effects themselves were heavily reused and by the end, you got bored of the same slicing and punching effects.

 

VISUALS (10/10) 

• Fidelity had the same outstanding vibes as the original, but with improved immersion vibes all around. The combination of visual effects with the ancient and modern art styles was simply magnificent. 
• Character models were insanely well made with a lot of new animations. I was really impressed by the amount of enemies on screen as well, as the game kept a steady frame-rate even in intense scenes!

 

WORLD DESIGN (10/10) 

• Level design was truly spectacular, and I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. On a side note, I did love the modern environments in combination with ancient enemies, really scared some kids around the block! 
• The atmosphere was off the charts, mostly because you fought Ninjas, Samurai warriors and even mythical creatures on top of an air bomber, during a World War and even on modern city streets! 
• The landscapes were breathtaking and the world destruction itself while not extensive, did have sharp cutting animations on poles and stones!

 

TL;DR -> An awesome continuation of the original Sengoku, although with some drawbacks on monotony and enemy variety. While Boss encounters shined in their unique ways, the overall progression towards them felt stretched and monotonous. Still, an (8.7) game, very good in my book. Wouldn’t replay it though, as it didn’t quite catch the same sound and gameplay aspect as the original. 

We're running a golden ticket contest in the official FATAL FURY discord

Pulling a golden card will earn you an exclusive T-shirt prize but the secret golden ticket gets you the brand-new Mai Shiranui figurine

join here discord.gg/fatalfury and head to the /pull-channel, check the pinned message for how to use the system

Good Luck ^_^

I’d recommend listening to this music while reading. 

STORY (8/10) 

• Storytelling had its own twists with cool boss battles and enemy encounters. It focused on the evil Warlord and his plan for world annihilation! 
• The presentation itself was cool with awesome cutscenes and flashy visual effects. 
• You played as a Cowboy, but could choose the Ninja depending if you wanted to give CO-OP a shot. Plus, could transform into the Ninja in Solo, Samurai or Wolf if you so desired, which helped with different enemies and their attack patterns. 
• The pacing itself was somewhere between an hour and 1/5h if you got your ass kicked, less than that if you were trained by a Ninja at birth!

 

GAMEPLAY (9/10) 

• While the controls were pretty basic at first, the gameplay itself did expand beyond that with cool swords, magic attacks and even a flying section. 
• You could also change the characters at will, but the Samurai was always locked behind mini-bosses, which I hated, because he was the most powerful one! 
• By collecting basic orbs, you got magic abilities depending on the character. But the golden ones, well, you better find that on your own! 
• Enemy and boss variety was impressive for 1991, even mini-bosses while mostly reused, had their own unique attacks. Their attack patterns and attack combinations were so good, cause you had to adapt to each and every enemy, each attack and each pattern. Hence the character selection on the go, so you’d avoid getting your ass kicked! 
• While you wielded a sword, you could clench with some enemy attacks. Also, some could drop their weapons from your strikes or simply break them while still being armed, which made my jaw drop from pure awesomeness on screen! 
• Traversal was seamless between each world, either during underground or top levels. The ability to respawn with I-Frames was really useful, as most enemies killed you in 3 hits. 
• Difficulty was balanced, as in emptied your pocket change balance. It started easy with an incremental spike towards the middle, while by the end it got nearly impossible!

 

AUDIO (10/10) 

• Starting with the sound design, which was outstanding. This was the first Arcade game where I truly felt the stereo kick my spatial awareness. It wasn’t simply streamed from left, right or middle, it merged together perfectly in combination with all audio effects. 
• The music was nicely integrated within each level, providing cool immersion vibes from the get go. 
• Voice acting was mostly in Japanese, but I did recognise some shouts and screams from my own deaths, as they spoke in an universal language! 
• One extra detail that I noticed, was how each step had its own audio effects depending on which surface you stepped onto.

 

VISUALS (10/10) 

• Fidelity had that futuristic vibe in an ancient setup. While the visuals were gorgeous, the visual effects and overall art direction blew me away. There were some instances where I really thought I was playing a modern indie game! 
• The characters models were fantastic as well, with so many unique animations and attack patterns it was crazy. From the downed animations to the sword swings, parries, clenches, jumps, background enemy introductions and so much more!

 

WORLD DESIGN (10/10) 

• Now, while I was impressed with the visuals, the overall world buildup and scenery change was simply mind blowing. You went from one stage to the other seamlessly, with so many changes to the backgrounds, art direction, landscapes and even atmosphere! 
• Speaking of immersion, the vibes were through the roof. I also loved how the game made you feel like you were supposed to go somewhere farther, just to drop or ascend you to a new area! 
• While world destruction wasn’t present in a general sense, I did love the lava explosions and cracking floors upon entering a new section.

 

TL;DR -> Here we are, at the end of an awesome game with an even better visual, audio and world design perspective. While it suffered from some difficulty spikes, it did deliver on everything else. A (9.4) game, masterpiece in my book. Will definitely replay the game with friends, as the Cowboy alone clearly couldn’t handle all the mayhem on screen. Time to change into a Wolf and run to the next encounter! 

Always liked this world cup logo,and fond memories of Zidanes headbutt in the final!

But this logo instantly says in my head....NEOGEO

Tia from Breakers Revenge

Who's next? I'm turning classic video game characters into my Mini Heroes style. Suggestions are always welcome! You can see the rest of the collection on my page.

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/deriavis/art/Mai-Shiranui-1308991726