NeoGeo Battle Coliseum Game Sample - Xbox 360
28SNK Playmore's (and by extension, SNK) love letter to decades of games, "NeoGeo Battle Coliseum" is a fun and somewhat underrated 2-on-2 cross-over fighter featuring characters across SNK and ADK's storied history. Originally released in Arcades in 2005, it was first ported to the Playstation 2 between 05-07 (as well as a JPN PSN port of the PS2 version in 2015) and later released in 2010 for the Xbox 360's "Live Arcade" service. However, before you go thinking that this is just another casual port job, you need to know that it's not; the Xbox was a pretty cool system, but the X360 was an amazing system and Japanese developer support was at an all-time high for Microsoft.
Not only did its Indie Market and low entry point make it a haven for lower budget gems, but they were at their most lenient when embracing games from overseas, resulting in a bit of goodwill from developers and earning it several unique titles or ports that wouldn't appear for any other system, often with upgrades or notable differences (quick examples being Treasure's "Radiant Silvergun", Yuzo Koshiro and Ancient's "Protect Me Knight", one of Cave's best SHMUPs, "Akai Katana Shin", etc.). I dare say that I often preferred my 360 over my PS3, but with thousands of Indie titles gone and many games delisted (Scott Pilgrim, Trouble Witches NEO, etc.), it's important for us to reach out to our favorite developers in the hopes of getting ports or re-releases to other platforms (notably PC). Anyhoo, I digress. Here's what you need to know about the NGBC and its 360 iteration.
The game is a hybrid of the Arcade and PS2 version with upgraded sprites, backgrounds, new HD assets like higher resolution artwork, a consistent 60FPS and a 16:9 aspect ratio. It also features all unlockable characters from the start, new character win portraits (that more closely match the character select artwork and is more cohesive in general, though the Arcade/PS2's art was more realistic and stylistically interesting), reworked modes, and the obligatory leaderboards, achievements and online play. Some features also return such as editing character colors (two per character), a normal or arranged soundtrack (not all tracks are arranged), and a few character movesets have been rebalanced.
That said, the 360 version seems like the clear stand-out, but that isn't necessarily the case; The Arcade (Survival in 360) mode has been modified. It's "Story Mode", but you're required to only defeat one of the two opponents, not both. Consequently, you fight many more pairs of opponents (360= 5 + Boss, Arc/PS2= 12 + Boss). They take about the same time, give or take a little longer in the PS2 version, but the bigger issue is the 360 version's trade-off for prettier stages is to have less of them -- the PS2 version has 16 while the X360 version has 12, and most stages don't tie into the "Embracing Neo Geo" theme like the other versions. Stages like the Cool Cool Town level or the SNK Playmore Planet are gone and so are their cameo references, taking some of the game's history along with it. While both versions of the game are cheap, it seems odd that the 360 version would have such omissions and opted to keep the stages with the most easily updatable 3D assets.
Nevertheless, they both handle identically. As such, players have access to two punches, two kicks, a taunt button and a change button to swap out characters, as well as a few spare buttons to map out additional inputs for moves that require two or three simultaneous button presses. Characters have green health and red health; green is their overall remaining health while red is health that was lost during battle but can be recovered when your partner is on standby. In addition to a bevvy of regualr moves, super moves, and standard operations are tag team combos called "Dual Assaults", where characters execute flashy tag combos. Some characters even have special tag combos when paired with specific characters that require specific conditions to activate and flash gold when successful (they're weak physically, but greatly reduce the red bar to impede recovery, making them a game changer if they connect). The game also has your standard SNK combo system which require precise spacing and near-perfect frame inputs with added super cancels, so the game is surprisingly deep when mastered.
With 40 characters, great exclusive characters like Goodman (jerk boss), Yuki and Ai (with their irreverence for references... love Ai and her NGPC!) and a goofy story (a future where "Warez" all but destroyed SNK/NG... actually, that's partially the reality), either version is a cool fighter overall. This is a video showcasing various things such as different posses during Time Over, a standard run fighting Neo-Dio as a boss, artwork, etc. Enjoy.
- ADDITION -
Like Us On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegamingsanctuary/
Follow Us On Twitter: https://twitter.com/GS_Vyse_and_Bel
Visit Us At: http://www.gamingsanctuary.com