SNK's NeoGeo fighting games--I want to get GOOD

[airzonk]

Hey Guys...

This forum started me off on a trek to play the arcade games I could never dream of having enough quarters to play (or in the case of the Neo Geo, parents willing to pay hundreds of dollars per cart )

anyway, I've always had an intense fondness for the Neo and its beautiful, colorful, fun, awesome fighting games. Problem being, I am NO good at them! I just button mash, and really that's not playing them like I see the pros do.

I like Fatal Fury Special (probably because I played more of it at arcades and on the PC Engine ACD than any other SNK game), and Art of Fighting 3 a lot... I guess my question is--there are so many, and I have them all, so, which one is a good one to start with for a novice player? To learn the death combos and blocking at the right time, simple enough controls that I don't feel like throwing my gamepad at my PC?

I am decent at Capcom beatemups but not a pro either. For some reason tho I find myself more attracted to SNK fighting games.

-Gabe
(newly reacquainted with the Neo )

[Capt. Takehiko]

I am decent at Capcom beatemups but not a pro either.

That won't help you here... muhaha.

Basically, you should try to know your character(s) of choice commands really well and and get good at connecting them. For better info you should probably get more specific because there are a wide variety of fighting games on the Neo.

[Specineff]

King of fighters 97 is more or less fair. Except when you get to Orochi Iori.

[it290]

Fatal Fury Special is a good one. It's not very combo-oriented, and most of the moves are simple enough (except for Geese's moves and the super moves). The AI is tough, but fair (again, except for that bastard Krauser), and it's overall just a classic game.

If you've already played FFS too much, why not try Real Bout Special? The Real Bout games are simple, yet complex... kind of like the Virtua Fighter of 2d fighters IMO. You could give Garou a shot as well, it's a great fighter, but I fear the combos may come out too easily to really allow mastering the timing... although it does have the Just Defend system to reward you for well-timed blocks.

[Acid King]

Any of the Samurai Shodown games. Though I'm not particulary fond of 3, and I haven't spent time with Zero, it's my favorite fighting series of all time, 4 is my favorite and my candidate for best fighting game ever. It's got lots of depth and an assload of technique, amazing art and character design, 2 separate movesets for each character, and a grade select that can either simplify th eplay for a beginner or make it harder for an advanced player.

[Cthulhu]

The Neo-Geo games vary a lot in their complexity... most of the early games focus on single hits with occasional combos of maybe three hits. In those your special moves are really important as a source of damage. In later games, the combo systems get more detailed and regular moves take on greater importance. I personally prefer the later games on the system, but try out a bunch and see what you like yourself.

[BrianC]

You could give Garou a shot as well, it's a great fighter, but I fear the combos may come out too easily to really allow mastering the timing... although it does have the Just Defend system to reward you for well-timed blocks.

You mean Mark of the Wolves? Referring to it as just "Garou" is very confusing becuase all of the Fatal Fury games have Garou in the title in Japan and some versions of Garou: Mark of the Wolves are called Fatal Fury Mark of the Wolves.

[sjewkestheloon]

i've found the best way to advance in almost any 2d fighter is to take one character, learn their moves, and figure out from playing a lot of single and multi player games the moves which cancel others. example a dragon punch style move for a jump in etc. when you get competent with countering an attack you can then take advantage of the window opened by it to figure out a damaging combo or three to punish the other player. kind of the basis for all that i've played.

i love 2d fighters...

[mannerbot]

You mean Mark of the Wolves? Referring to it as just "Garou" is very confusing becuase all of the Fatal Fury games have Garou in the title in Japan and some versions of Garou: Mark of the Wolves are called Fatal Fury Mark of the Wolves.

It's not that confusing because it's the only one that Westerners call Garou.

[BrianC]

You mean Mark of the Wolves? Referring to it as just "Garou" is very confusing becuase all of the Fatal Fury games have Garou in the title in Japan and some versions of Garou: Mark of the Wolves are called Fatal Fury Mark of the Wolves.

It's not that confusing because it's the only one that Westerners call Garou.

But, only the NeoGeo one is called Garou: Mark of the Wolves in the US. The DC version is called Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves. I'm used to the US name of Fatal Fury, so Garou confused me a bit.

[mannerbot]

True, the US DC version was renamed Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves. Still, nobody says "Garou" when referring to other Fatal Fury games.

[Shatterhand]

i've found the best way to advance in almost any 2d fighter is to take one character, learn their moves, and figure out from playing a lot of single and multi player games the moves which cancel others. example a dragon punch style move for a jump in etc. when you get competent with countering an attack you can then take advantage of the window opened by it to figure out a damaging combo or three to punish the other player. kind of the basis for all that i've played.

i love 2d fighters...

Yes, that's how I play fighters too. Of course. this annoys some friends of mine, as in some games I ALWAYS play with the same characters, but in the end I always kick their butts

that's really the best thing to do IMO. Pick a fighter, and begin to play with him. It doesn't even needs to be the BEST character in the game, you just have to learn to play with him.

[Capt. Takehiko]

Any of the Samurai Shodown games. Though I'm not particulary fond of 3, and I haven't spent time with Zero, it's my favorite fighting series of all time, 4 is my favorite and my candidate for best fighting game ever. It's got lots of depth and an assload of technique, amazing art and character design, 2 separate movesets for each character, and a grade select that can either simplify th eplay for a beginner or make it harder for an advanced player.

4 is nice and balanced but I really prefer 2. I don't think that they would really be a good point to start, but well worth mentioning them. You can not fully enjoy the diversity of the games without playing the weapons based titles.

I would agree on the Fatal Fury games on being a good place to start but Garou:MOTW might be slightly advanced. When you're playing KoF I can give you plenty of advice, after all I am the Australian '98, 2002 and 2003 champ.

[sjewkestheloon]

indeed shatterhand. being mainly a capcom fan, cvs2 is a legendary game for learning the skills on. there are about 5 joypad motions to pull off the main sets of moves for everyone, so once you've learnt one or two characters well you can bluff almost anyone. however i'm still only really good with evil iori and evil ryu... what can i say? i just love evil gits. plus e.ryu's l.3 super is one of the best int he game for pure humiliation. knock a sucker down with that and you get major bonus combo score :):)

[shariar07]

Yeah the Best Neogeo fighters are

1. Samurai Showdown 2
2. Mark of the Wolves
3. Fatal Fury Special Bout
I didn't like Last Blade 1 and 2 at all

[Acid King]

4 is nice and balanced but I really prefer 2. I don't think that they would really be a good point to start, but well worth mentioning them. You can not fully enjoy the diversity of the games without playing the weapons based titles.

Two is great as well, I just prefer the increased technicality of 4. On the other hand, 2 had the last appearance of my boy Gen An, plus Wan Fu, Nicotine and Sieger.

[Shatterhand]

indeed shatterhand. being mainly a capcom fan, cvs2 is a legendary game for learning the skills on. there are about 5 joypad motions to pull off the main sets of moves for everyone, so once you've learnt one or two characters well you can bluff almost anyone. however i'm still only really good with evil iori and evil ryu... what can i say? i just love evil gits. plus e.ryu's l.3 super is one of the best int he game for pure humiliation. knock a sucker down with that and you get major bonus combo score :):)

There are games I managed to be good with everyone, but I spent a LOT of time in those games. Street Fighter 2 CE in the Mega-Drive comes to mind. In KoF 96 I learned to play with lots of characters. In Bloody Roar 2 I managed to "master" 3 characters (something that I find pretty impressive, as mastering a character in this game needs a LOT of practice... this game is deep as hell.. though of course mastering a character is very relative)... in Capcom vs SNK 1 , I used to play with friend and LET THEM CHOOSE my characters, and still beat the hell out of everyone

[Capt. Takehiko]

4 is nice and balanced but I really prefer 2. I don't think that they would really be a good point to start, but well worth mentioning them. You can not fully enjoy the diversity of the games without playing the weapons based titles.

Two is great as well, I just prefer the increased technicality of 4. On the other hand, 2 had the last appearance of my boy Gen An, plus Wan Fu, Nicotine and Sieger.

That's one of the reasons I regard it as I do. But Wan Fu will be in the new title by SNKP.

[alpha5099]

SS4 is the only one I've played, although I'm gonna try out 3 in just a bit. I was just playing it, and man do I suck. The Saturn pad is great, but it's not ideal for an SNK fighter, you really need 4 buttons in a row.

I tried switching from Jubei to Shizumaru (who I just found out is not a girl), I liked the change of pace, I always found it annoying when Jubei started doing his rapid sword thrusts, I was stuck doing that forever. However, whenever I faced Jubei, I got my ass handed to me.

My problem is I don't know the very basics of fighting games. All the guides I've found out there, they assume I know what the fuck all of it means, with all sorts of fancy shorthand I can only halfway decode. I can't block. You just push back, don't you? Yeah, I can't react that quickly.

What I need is a human opponent, I think that'd help me learn how to play these games far better than training modes, FAQs, and playing the computer.

[raiden]

I think SS4 is a great game to learn many basics in 2d fighters, because it demands a very methodical style of play and contains a great AI to support this. You don´t even need to concern yourself with special moves to find a lot of depth in it. Just pick a character and try to win fights the turtle way by attacking with crouching and standing variations of basic slashes and kicks from a blocking position. Focus on blocking all enemy moves and learn the recovery times of all the basic moves, the way you can land a hit after your opponent attacks with a C slash which you block, for example. This can get pretty sophisticated already, and as the basic moves do some serious damage, it´s actually useful to play the game competitively later on. The special moves are actually there to broaden your attack options primarily, not as a way to deal more damage.

[alpha5099]

I think SS4 is a great game to learn many basics in 2d fighters, because it demands a very methodical style of play and contains a great AI to support this. You don´t even need to concern yourself with special moves to find a lot of depth in it. Just pick a character and try to win fights the turtle way by attacking with crouching and standing variations of basic slashes and kicks from a blocking position. Focus on blocking all enemy moves and learn the recovery times of all the basic moves, the way you can land a hit after your opponent attacks with a C slash which you block, for example. This can get pretty sophisticated already, and as the basic moves do some serious damage, it´s actually useful to play the game competitively later on. The special moves are actually there to broaden your attack options primarily, not as a way to deal more damage.

Thanks, I'll try that out. Now that summer's here I should have more time for gaming.

One of my problems with the fighting genre is that I lack the discipline to get good at them. A lot of these games, it seems like people have to play them for weeks, months, years even to get the hang of them, and I'm the kind of guy who likes to pop a game in for 10 minutes and fuck around.

My other gripe is I've noticed that I always do better when I first start playing and just button mash, and start to suck once I try to come to terms with the system.

[Acid King]

I think SS4 is a great game to learn many basics in 2d fighters, because it demands a very methodical style of play and contains a great AI to support this. You don´t even need to concern yourself with special moves to find a lot of depth in it. Just pick a character and try to win fights the turtle way by attacking with crouching and standing variations of basic slashes and kicks from a blocking position. Focus on blocking all enemy moves and learn the recovery times of all the basic moves, the way you can land a hit after your opponent attacks with a C slash which you block, for example. This can get pretty sophisticated already, and as the basic moves do some serious damage, it´s actually useful to play the game competitively later on. The special moves are actually there to broaden your attack options primarily, not as a way to deal more damage.

Thanks, I'll try that out. Now that summer's here I should have more time for gaming.

One of my problems with the fighting genre is that I lack the discipline to get good at them. A lot of these games, it seems like people have to play them for weeks, months, years even to get the hang of them, and I'm the kind of guy who likes to pop a game in for 10 minutes and fuck around.

My other gripe is I've noticed that I always do better when I first start playing and just button mash, and start to suck once I try to come to terms with the system.

The thing with the SS games is that they are much slower paced, more methodical than a lot of other fighting games. It's hard for someone to jump into SS after playing Street Fighter or Tekken or MvC or whatever and get the rhythm of the game. I've been playing alot of Alpha 2 and 3 against a friend and when I threw in SS4, he was attempting to play it like Street Fighter.

Raiden is on the money. With the amount of damage regular moves can do it's good to just ignore the specials until you get the flow of the game down. You have to learn to look for holes and know what slashs hit/counter what. For example, Nakorurus jumping slash hits upwards, so any slow jumping character attempting to jump in, as a friend of mine constantly does with Ukyo, on you is easily countered. Hard slashes tend to leave you wide open so it's good to poke away with light and medium attacks until you know you can connect with a hard slash, or are atleast far away that the recovery time doesn't matter.

[TVG]

you will only ever get as good as your mates, that means you wont be a top level player if you dont play with top level players, and if you're stuck with the cpu, well, you're bound to suck forever.
thats the sad truth about fighting games, and thats why i kinda stopped playing them, if you dont have acess to immediate comp, finding some getting better is more tedious than it is fun, at least with shmups i dont need a room of 5 people to challenge myself.

shmups are like the fighting games of the lonely.

i might get into tekken 5 if i find some people in my area when the pal version is released, which is a town i just moved to and where i know pretty much nobody.

[LoneSage]

My other gripe is I've noticed that I always do better when I first start playing and just button mash, and start to suck once I try to come to terms with the system.

LMFAO, quoted for truth Same with me, same with me..

[Sundance]

I grew up playing most of the SNK fighters on/in the arcade and it was much easier to go from Arcade to control pad. But i still do better w/ a stick. I eventually got a Stand Up Neo Geo Arcade just to play all my favorites and i def do better on it. Just as others have already said...your best to pick a character that you like and master there moves.

[Acid King]

you will only ever get as good as your mates, that means you wont be a top level player if you dont play with top level players, and if you're stuck with the cpu, well, you're bound to suck forever.
thats the sad truth about fighting games, and thats why i kinda stopped playing them, if you dont have acess to immediate comp, finding some getting better is more tedious than it is fun, at least with shmups i dont need a room of 5 people to challenge myself.

shmups are like the fighting games of the lonely.

i might get into tekken 5 if i find some people in my area when the pal version is released, which is a town i just moved to and where i know pretty much nobody.

Uhh... being stuck with the CPU doesn't mean you'll suck forever. It's takes a lot of skill and practice to be able to beat any fighting game on the harder difficulties. Eventually, you'll just run out of competition with the CPU, that's the only problem, not that you'll "suck forever".