SNK FTGs

[Moniker]

So I'm hunting around for some fighters to toss on my psp. Since I've got a good neo-geo emulator, I decided to check out SNK's catalogue. And there's like a billion of them. Any hints on where to start? I'm absolute trash at FTGs but every once in a while I get the itch. So, games that have simpler input/intuitive basic play would be better. I know there's a KoF anthology for psp, but for some reason I want to try the games that feed it first. For whatever reason. Anyway, thanks. Cheers.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Ninja Master's. (In before the "Ninja Master's what?" jokes.)

[Leandro]

The best early SNK fighters (pre-1994) are Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury Special.

They are still very solid games, I've been a Samurai fan for a long time, but only tried FFS recently and was surprised at how good it is

But be warned, the CPU AI of early SNK fighters can be frustrating if you are starting now, sometimes it's needed a lot of pattern memorization...

And Ninja Masters is awesome, I actually like it better than the Last Blade games (but Samsho still number 1!)

[Estebang]

In terms of raw content, the definitive KOF is 2002 Unlimited Match, available on Japanese PS2 and XBLA. But it's hardly a good "starter" game.

KOFs '95-'98, 2003, and XII are the easiest games in the series to get into. The Last Blade series plays smoothly, isn't terribly combo-heavy and has an intuitive counter button. ADK's Ninja Master's (not a typo) has a similar appeal. Kizuna Encounter is a great, lesser-known fighter that manages to be simplistic and "pick-up-and-play" without feeling dumbed down. For late blooming Neo fighters, I'd recommend Rage of the Dragons and Power Instinct Matrimelee, which are both relatively user-friendly. Kabuki Klash might also be worth a look.

As was mentioned, most pre-1996 Neo fighters have absolutely brutal AI.

[rancor]

I was never a fighting game player either, but I really enjoyed Last Blade 2 and Samurai Shodown III. I hear that KOF '98 was the pinnacle of that series, but I have yet to try it. I'm just not very good..

[Skykid]

Very few SNK fighters are simple since they're not much like SFII, but if you're willing to spend some time you'll reap the rewards. Kizuna Encounter and Waku Waku 7 are probably easier ones to get into, and I have a soft spot for Kabuki Klash since the music and aesthetic are amazing (and it's quite easy going too.)

The feudal stuff - Sam Sho and Last Blade - are slower games and rely on timing and tactics rather than abundant fireballs and special moves. SSII is probably the best starter (and probably still one of the best in the series.) World Heroes JET is good fun (but hard!)

For KOF you may as well begin with '94. It's a bit stiff these days, but still perfectly playable. It will give you an opportunity to learn some basic series pad motions and then you can work your way up to '98 and your life will change for the better.

Don't bother with Art of Fighting. 2 is the best, but even then not such a hot game.

[Ruldra]

Don't bother with Art of Fighting. 2 is the best, but even then not such a hot game.

Art of Fighting is incredible, I love it. It probably feels clunkier to other fighters but it's still a very good game. The sequel didn't appeal to me though.

[nem]

Samurai Shodown II is the only right answer

(was going to suggest Mark of the Wolves, but then read the bit about OP wanting simpler games, so nevermind!)

[Skykid]

Don't bother with Art of Fighting. 2 is the best, but even then not such a hot game.

Art of Fighting is incredible, I love it. It probably feels clunkier to other fighters but it's still a very good game. The sequel didn't appeal to me though.

What, the original Art of Fighting?

Clunky is the right word. Got great nostalgic value, but I'd draw the line there. AOF2 is the only one that I felt bordered on playable (we don't even need to mention the third one. )

[kid aphex]

Mark of the Wolves: The most modern, most polished, most "fluid" fighter.

King of Fighters: If you're going to approach the KOF series, I rec starting from 99 ... it's a good midpoint between the series old and new ways. Plus, 99 has some of the best sprite backgrounds ever created. From there I'd alternate forward AND backwards 1 year through the series. 98 is the best of the series, but I'd argue you need to understanding of it's technical side to appreciate it and get beyond things like it's ugly UI.



And yeah, NINJA MASTERS....

[null1024]

Mark of the Wolves: The most modern, most polished, most "fluid" fighter.

King of Fighters: If you're going to approach the KOF series, I rec starting from 99 ... it's a good midpoint between the series old and new ways. Plus, 99 has some of the best sprite backgrounds ever created. From there I'd alternate forward AND backwards 1 year through the series. 98 is the best of the series, but I'd argue you need to understanding of it's technical side to appreciate it and get beyond things like it's ugly UI.

MoTW really is SNK's best fighter, but definitely not simple.
I'd vote in KOF 96 to start out with -- 94 and 95 are good and simple, but 96 feels far less clunky than either. 97 and up get more and more complicated.

[Moniker]

Briefly tried out Samurai Shodown 2, Ninja Master's, and Mark of the Wolf. Damn, but MotW has insane sprite animation. SS2 feels like it's more my speed (although Nicotine is a bastard). Have a feeling I'll be booting up MotW a lot though if only for the eye candy.

[Skykid]

Briefly tried out Samurai Shodown 2, Ninja Master's, and Mark of the Wolf. Damn, but MotW has insane sprite animation. SS2 feels like it's more my speed (although Nicotine is a bastard). Have a feeling I'll be booting up MotW a lot though if only for the eye candy.

Genjuro ftw!

MOTW is fantastic and really deep, but the combo system is tough to get to grips with even for fighting game vets, and like any game with tons of animation you need to learn to compensate for it timing wise if you're going to get all the cancelling to flow.

KOF '98 is still SNK's finest imo, the peak of their fighting game expertise.

[EllertMichael]

Breakers is really fun and the combos are pretty intuitive and extremely gratifying.
I heard the sequel, Breakers Revenge, is even better but I haven't played it yet.

[cools]

I tend to prefer the more complex, later fighters on the MVS even though I suck at them - they feel better to play, and the polish they have in comparison with the earlier releases is outstanding.

Garou is #1, regardless of the depth it's hugely fun to play. Of the KOFs I prefer 2000. Waku Waku 7 is wonderful too.

[terry330]

I don't know what an FTG is but as far as the Neo library goes:

Fatal Fury Special- the very best of the old school fighters.
KOF 96-98- 99 is cool and has the best backgrounds ever as Kid Aphex mentioned but 96-98 is really the best of the best.
Art of Fighting 3- this game is very underrated, the animation is insane but the gameplay takes some(a lot) getting used to.
Samurai Shodown 3- everyone is correct in recommending 2 but 3 is a beast of a game.
Garou- SNKs Third Strike
Last Blade 1 & 2- In the same league as Garou
Real Bout Special & Real Bout 2- my favorite games on the system, both are amazing and have a cartoonish feel to them. The first Real Bout is also fun.
Ninja Masters
Waku Waku 7
Matrimelee

Those are really the best. Others like Kizuna, Breakers Revenge, World Heros Perfect etc. are all good fun but can't compare to the above.

[Domino]

Ninja Master's. (In before the "Ninja Master's what?" jokes.)

Everyone should try this game just once. Yes it has the MK combo system but the atmosphere of the game makes it up for it.

[Skykid]

Breakers is really fun and the combos are pretty intuitive and extremely gratifying.
I heard the sequel, Breakers Revenge, is even better but I haven't played it yet.

I actually prefer the original Breakers to the sequel, might be alone in that though.

Garou is #1, regardless of the depth it's hugely fun to play. Of the KOFs I prefer 2000.

Opinion invalidated.

[ZacharyB]

What was that taiwanese fighting game where the characters represented a lot of famous wu shu styles? Like Tiger, Crane, Lotus Master...

[terry330]

That would be Martial Masters by Igs on the PGM hardware and that game is fantastic.

Wish the monitors on my cabs didn't have an issue with the hardware because that game and Demon Front are great.

[Shatterhand]

SNK were really THE guys when we talk about fighting games. I always find amazing how they tried to do lots of different stuff with their games. While Capcom would usually find a good formula and then stick with it for a long time, SNK tried lots of different approaches to their fighting games.


I always find sad how Art of Fighting 3 doesn't get any love. It plays nothing like the previous 2 games, and its very unique, not like any other 2D fight game I ever played. It actually feels a bit like 3D fighting games with its combo system, but with the smoothness of 2D and some twists from the AOF series. I like it a lot.

Samurai Shodown games are more slow and methodic, not a lot of combos, but you need to be precise, not waste your attacks and force your enemy into making mistakes.

The original Fatal Fury games are the ones which are more similar to Street Fighter IMO, though they have the 2 planes stuff that make them a bit different.

The Real Bout series are fast games that are all about amazing long combos and killer DM moves.

KoF series are about huge rosters where the "balancing" of characters is made by making all characters very strong, nearly cheap.


I can't pick one. I spent too much time of my childhood playing all of those games. I just enjoy each series for what they bring of new to the genre. Capcom may have created the genre or something but, to me, SNK were really the gods of this genre.

[Estebang]

Art of Fighting 3 is basically Virtua Fighter 2 converted to 2D, and it works amazingly well. Arguably the best sprite animation on the Neo, although they had to make heavy use of rotoscoping for it to look as good as it does.

[stryc9]

Don't bother with Art of Fighting. 2 is the best, but even then not such a hot game.

Art of Fighting is incredible, I love it. It probably feels clunkier to other fighters but it's still a very good game. The sequel didn't appeal to me though.

What, the original Art of Fighting?

Clunky is the right word. Got great nostalgic value, but I'd draw the line there. AOF2 is the only one that I felt bordered on playable (we don't even need to mention the third one. )

I bought AOF back in '92 for almost four-hundred Australian dollars (AES version).
Then followed up with Fatal Fury 2. It was amazing to be able to walk into the arcade attached to the shopping center and see Fatal Fury 2 on the big screen, then catch the elevator down to Virgin Megastore and buy the exact same game for home console.

While my mates and everyone else were messing around with SNES and MD, I HAD FF2 IN MY OWN
HOME!!! It may seem whatever now, what with emulators and shit but back in the day it really was something else.

Tell you what though, Art of Fighting was great when it first released, amazing actually.
But considering the only competition at the time was SF2 and the original Fatal Fury, of course it was going to impress, what with the giant sprites and never-before-seen full-screen scaling.

But once those novelties wore off you could see how poor the actual gameplay was, even back then.

Especially when Fatal Fury 2 dropped, and just shat over the original and Art of Fighting in one swoop.
The graphics at the time were the best of any arcade game, as well as the fantastic sound and music.
The gameplay was only ever bested by one other game at the time, and that was Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition.

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

Garou is #1, regardless of the depth it's hugely fun to play. Of the KOFs I prefer 2000.

Opinion invalidated.

The fuck are you talking about, KoF 2000 was good.

[Skykid]

Garou is #1, regardless of the depth it's hugely fun to play. Of the KOFs I prefer 2000.

Opinion invalidated.

The fuck are you talking about, KoF 2000 was good.

It was okay.

Better than '99 and 2001, not as good as 2K2 or 94 - 98. Strikers fudged the harmony of KOF, the sooner they were rid of the better. Wasn't a fan of all the brown factory backdrops and shipping yards either, bit soulless (a step down from '99 surprisingly.)

I had 2000 on AES when it was a £400 cart and paid it its dues, but I only kept '94 - '98 in the end, they're the best the series has to offer imo.

[Ruldra]

By the way, one guilty pleasure of mine is fighting the absolutely cheap bosses of SNK fighters. I like to savestate there, attempt a million times to beat them and get my ass kicked every single time.

I'm especially proud of being able to beat Igniz (Kof 2001) using only K' in the arcades. There was a small crowd watching me at the time and no one believed what happened, myself included. It was a miracle that will never happen again.

[Skykid]

I'm especially proud of being able to beat Igniz (Kof 2001) using only K' in the arcades. There was a small crowd watching me at the time and no one believed what happened, myself included. It was a miracle that will never happen again.

Colour me impressed!

That's some feat, I watched a ton of guys playing 2001 and all got painfully hacked down by Igniz and the boss troupe.

[cools]

Strikers fudged the harmony of KOF, the sooner they were rid of the better. Wasn't a fan of all the brown factory backdrops and shipping yards either, bit soulless (a step down from '99 surprisingly.)

I had 2000 on AES when it was a £400 cart and paid it its dues, but I only kept '94 - '98 in the end, they're the best the series has to offer imo.

It's the strikers system in 2K I like most of all about it, plus the music is superb. Big fan of the backdrops too, the dirty urban look suits the sprites.

Probably the least hardcore of the series too, which helps

[Estebang]

2003 is definitely the "least hardcore" KOF game. Very easy to pick up and play even with a minimal knowledge of the system. It wasn't really played competitively, because Duo Lon occupied a ridiculous one-man god tier.

XI is more balanced and far less forgiving.

[Eaglet]

Garou.

Nuf said.