King of Fighters Neowave

September 18,2006 - The King of Fighters series, like just about anything made by SNK, started out in a state of relative obscurity on the developer's first-party platform, NeoGeo. Also, like just about anything made by SNK, the series picked up a strong cult following between 1999 and 2002, with the company finally embracing the PlayStation and Dreamcast as systems worthy of receiving their games in a timely manner. With both systems now a part of gaming's past, SNK has stayed the course, moving on to the PS2 and Xbox for their home ports in the post-NeoGeo era. However, philosophical conflicts with SCEA have left the Xbox as the sole North American recipient of such SNK goodies as Metal Slug 3 and SNK vs Capcom: SvC Chaos. Now, The King of Fighters: NeoWave joins that list.

Though not distinguished as such, NeoWave falls within a sub-class of the KOF series, known as “Dream Match” games. Other titles in this group include the 1998 and 2002 installments, meaning huge, well-balanced rosters, in games completely devoid of story, as to allow any characters into the lineup, living or dead. NeoWave may, in fact, be the greatest Dream Match yet. Also worthy of note; the title, NeoWave, is used because it marks SNK's departure from the NeoGeo hardware, now favoring Sammy Studios' Atomiswave board instead.

NeoWave is a straight-up 3-on-3 fighting game that features a huge 43-character roster, ranging from SNK fan favorites like Kyo Kusanagi, Terry Bogard, and Iori Yagami, to more obscure KOF participants such as Saisyu Kusanagi, Vanessa, and Yashiro Nanakase. Also selectable is the boss character, a younger and completely different version of the first true SNK villain, Geese Howard (which can surely be chalked up to being one of the perks of a fighting game that has no story at all). Part of your character selection also includes choosing one of three fighting styles, very similar to the “Grooves” from the Capcom vs SNK series. Super Cancel, Guard Break, and MAX2. Super Cancel is similar to the C-Groove from Capcom vs SNK 2, as well as the system found in The King of Fighters 2003. Guard Break is a style focused on pressuring the opponent, but perhaps gave top billing to the wrong feature, since it also sports the Just Defense system found in Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves and Capcom vs SNK 2's K-Groove, which can be game-breaking in the right hands. Finally, MAX2 is a very simple style geared toward beginners. It's streamlined, but also has a stiff handicap in the lack of any evasion system to speak of.

Once the action starts, NeoWave shows that it is easily the most polished KOF title of all time. Like many Capcom fighters in recent years, KOF NeoWave involves low-resolution 2D sprites on a high-resolution background. With a simple four-button control layout, NeoWave is as easy to initially pick up as any game in the King of Fighters series, yet has the raw depth to make days, weeks, months, and even years of practice highly rewarding. As always, mastery over a King of Fighters game implies the ability to achieve mastery over 2D fighters in general, and NeoWave is the deepest KOF that SNK has ever given us.

Some players may have a few complaints about the graphics. Despite the move to the same board that's giving us the Guilty Gear series, SNK is still using its NeoGeo-era low-resolution sprites. This looks particularly bad with beautifully-rendered high-resolution backgrounds behind them. To make it even more jarring, the game's entire interface is high-resolution, from the intro, to the character select screen, to the HUD that appears once play starts. They're well-drawn sprites, but SNK could have at least re-scanned them before putting them on an arcade board as capable as the Atomiswave.

The soundtrack is a bit unusual for a KOF game, but that isn't calling it bad. It actually has something of a Battle Arena Toshinden sound, which was one of the most underrated game soundtracks of all time. Being that this is a Dream Match, it would've been nice to at least hear a nod to Kyo's 1996 Esaka theme, or the Orochi team's Rhythmic Hallucination, but there are enough high points to the new music that it isn't such a big deal. The voice acting is also as solid as ever, giving every member of the game's 43-character cast a believable voice.

The King of Fighters: NeoWave is a game that won't change the mind of anyone who has yet to get into the series to date, but one that all fighting gamers should be thankful to be able to get their hands on here in North America. Thanks to some stupid happenings on the business side of the game industry, nobody here can take even the best SNK releases for granted anymore, with such titles as Samurai Shodown: Tenkaichi Kenkyakuden, NeoGeo Battle Coliseum, and the aforementioned Mark of the Wolves falling through the cracks. With NeoWave as a clear-cut highlight of the KOF franchise, SNK is practically giving it away at the $19.99 price point. Snap it up.

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