Developer: ADK Publisher: Takara Release: 09/94 Genre: Fighting
Takara were a god send for fans of Neo Geo games during the 16-bit era. For those that wanted to play SNK’s games at home the prospect of owning the system was a pipe dream. To this day I have still never met anyone that owns a Neo Geo. But Takara’s home ports were the next best thing for console owners. Unfortunately they did not get off to a good start; the SNES version of Fatal Fury is dire. But they would improve in short order and World Heroes 2 is one of their better efforts. This much improved sequel is a great edition of an oft overlooked classic.
In the summer of 1993 SNK were on a roll. The 100-Mega shock line of games was some of the most technically accomplished games out in the arcade at the time. While the naming was pure marketing no one could deny the results: games like Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury 2, World Heroes 2 and especially Samurai Shodown were showstoppers. You would have to be pretty dang stupid to expect the SNES and Genesis to receive perfect home ports of these games. But given the constraints they had to work with Takara did an excellent job with each of these titles.
The roster has expanded significantly with six new characters, bringing the total to fourteen minus the bosses. The developers have dug deep for some of the new fighters: Ryoko is a judo fighter and based on real life Olympic Judo champion Ryoko Tani. Shura is a Muay Thai fighter who resembles Adon but is patterned after Nai Khanom Tom. Erik the Red is a massive Viking and based on the historical figure. My personal Favorite is Captain Kidd. With his ghostly attacks it seems as though ADK put the most work into him but maybe that is my bias talking. Johnny Maximum is an evil version of Joe Montana, someone only die hard football fans will remember now. Mudman…..is not based on anyone. He just looks cool and has an awesome move set. Sometimes that is all that is necessary.
The general gameplay has been sped up and is better for it. In this version you can increase the speed even further which makes the game feel great. There are no major new features, instead this is a sequel of refinement. Almost the entire original cast has received new moves to make them well rounded. Basic move sets have also been altered to make everyone more distinct including Hanzo and Fuma. Projectiles can be reflected to prevent spamming. Counter throws are a cool addition although they are so hard to pull off few will ever see them. Although there is almost nothing to set it apart World Heroes 2 is still a solid game at its core.
Honestly the only thing that truly holds the game back is its lack of different modes. Fighting games of that era relied heavily on multiplayer to keep players coming back. Playing against the CPU becomes old quickly as you always face the six new characters first and then four random fighters. It becomes predictable fast. To the game’s credit survival mode does spruce up the single player mode. This is a slightly different take on death match from the original. Now it more closely resembles a wrestling match. There is a single life bar that swings back and forth like a seesaw. Whichever side it ends on initiates a ten count that you avoid by slamming the buttons. The back and forth is great and unpredictable and with the addition of more hazards like lightning and buzz saws you might prefer it to the regular three round system.
As a port World Heroes 2 fares much better than the first game. The character animation is fluid even though it is missing frames and most of the background detail is still present. For its time World Heroes 2 had one of the largest cartridge sizes which allowed for an extravagant amount of detail. That the SNES still fares favorably is a miracle. With that in mind there are still some obvious cuts and such that prevent it from being as good as it could have been. There is a lot of missing voice samples and sound effects that make the game sound a little too quiet. The vertical resolution looks a bit low and makes the graphics look squished as well. It is hard not to compare it to the stellar conversions of Super Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat II and feel a little disappointed.
In Closing
World Heroes 2 is a vast improvement over its predecessor and a better conversion overall. It lacks the outright wow factor of the likes of Super Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat but is more than capable of standing up to those two in the gameplay department. It is not my first choice when it comes to fighting games on the SNES but is a more than respectable second or third option.
