If there's one thing that is just as certain as death and taxes, it's that if someone has a good idea that makes money the you can be sure as shit that it will be copied and copied hard! Games are no different and the 90's saw what can only be described as swarms of beat em ups made by shameless developers trying to claw even a morsel of flesh off the carcass with their usually sub par offerings.
Probably the biggest culprit in these proceedings was SNK. SNK were the makers of arcade games but were also the people behind the much talked about Neo-Geo home console. The Neo-Geo was just essentially an arcade machine in a box as it shared almost identical hardware to it's arcade counterparts. The downside to this was that the system and games were horribly expensive, with cartridges costing upward of £150 which even now one would think twice about for just one game. The Neo-Geo was almost the exclusive domain of rich kids and snidey school goblins with no real worth or friends of their own bar maybe an overprotective mother or murdered pet that lives buried in the back garden.
 Ikari Warriors, a staple of 80's Rambo like gaming | In the 80's SNK were a fairly respectable company not doing anything too different from anyone else. Solid titles like Ikari Warriors and Street Smart were respectable coin guzzlers but this was back when arcade machines were still rather 8-bit and the real money makers hadn’t appeared just yet, but that all changed in the 90's. A trend that started not long after Final Fight is that SNK would see what Capcom had done and then start mass producing clone after clone for the arcade and Neo-Geo. |
The first of these clones was Burning Fight in 1991, a more obvious Final Fight rip off you could not imagine. Similar characters (an orange clad martial artist and a blonde guy?) similar gameplay and just a blatant attempt to cash in on a household name. Burning Fight wasn't actually a bad game but it's hard to be taken seriously when the arcade manager puts you next to the real Final Fight and instead of pumping in 20p's people are standing there squinting at you. SNK made the same mishap in 1989 by releasing Gang Wars in the arcades which was a solid game on par with Double Dragon but came no where near the rage of Final Fight which was released in the same year and Burning Fight also suffers from this 'too late' syndrome. SNK continued this trend by swamping the Neo Geo with about a million scrolling beat em ups. Titles like Mutation Nation and the Sengoku series all appeared to chant pretty much the same speech but all seemed to lack any real impact or thought to the gameplay. Even the PC Engine got in on the game with Crest Of Wolf in 1992 which was as well a pretty below average scroller.
 Burning Fight - A fun but utterly shameless rip off |  Crest Of Wolf was a rather scruffy PC engine Streets Of Rage rip off |
When Street Fighter II was released and started smashing records the SNK bloodhound was hot on the trail and the bitch machine once again began to pump out clones. Art of Fighting became it's own series despite the first game getting average reviews. The clever sprite scaling effect and detailed graphics caved slightly with the choppy animation and rather cardboardy characters but they were certainly a good way to kill a few hours, even just to laugh at the abysmal story script. Fatal Fury made a bigger impact and was actually quite popular despite being much less technical that the Capcom game. The game was quite good fun to play and quite a chuckle to spot the 'rip off' characters in the game. The graphics and sound were solid and the game was very playable with the only downside being the choice of three characters amongst a sea of bosses.
 Fatal Fury, one of the creamier clones of the SNK family | SNK upped their game in 1992 with the very playable World Heroes, again another one on one fighting game. Although still very much a rip off the game had much more character variety and was great fun to play. It didn't top anything graphics or sound wise and it suffered from SNK shadow flicker (why?) but a thoroughly enjoyable smackathon (though not the Glasgow kind you understand! :P). The game spawned many sequels which were equally as good although not too different but the series was a definite step in the right direction. |
 Art Of Fighting brought some new tricks to the table |  Samurai Showdown, classy, brilliant and so much fun |
1993 saw what is probably the Jewel in the SNK crown. Samurai Showdown (or Samurai Spirits in Japan) was released to much acclaim. A one on one fighting game it may be but it was different enough from Street Fighter II and it's ilk to very much deserve it's own praise. The introduction of weapons, some slight gore and a period setting game the game a beautiful edge and combine it with the sprite scaling of Art Of Fighting, amazing graphics and sound and some really memorable characters and the game couldn’t really be anything else but a winner. This game again made way for many sequels featuring various improvements in play and design but the original will always be fondly remembered for breaking the mold.
 Sengoku turned into a much respected series |  World Heroes was a great laugh and smashing fun to play |
SNK released a zillion other titles in that era, most of which this reviewer hasn't played yet or not enough to form a solid opinion but back then you could tell at a glance what was an SNK game in the arcade as the feeling of deja-vu would be almost overpowering........but still a hell of a lot of fun! :)
 | Striding forth from his lair at Castle Stareskull one morning, Prototron decided to not reign down terror on the villagers, but instead go back inside, crack open a beer and load up Streets Of Rage 2. One hundred years later, he's still there. A avid music maker (of TERROR!) and retro gamer, he can be found whooping any and all heroes at all manner of SNK-based challenges. |
