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World Heroes (1992)

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World Heroes (Japanese: ワールド・ヒーローズ, Hepburn: Wārudo Hīrōzu) is a 1992 fighting arcade game developed and published by Alpha Denshi (later known as ADK) with the assistance of SNK. It was originally released for the Neo Geo MVS arcade cabinet on July 28, 1992. It is ADK's first game in the fighting game genre, as well as their earliest attempt in the fighting game trend of the '90s that was popularized by Capcom's 1991 arcade hit Street Fighter II. It was even the last game with the "Alpha" logo labeled within the game before the developer became "ADK"; however, the "Alpha" logo was last used on one of the arcade flyers of its sequel.

Due to its success in the market, World Heroes was followed by a sequel released less than a year later titled World Heroes 2.

According to ADK World, the other famous and infamous figures that were considered for the cast were Al Capone, Billy the Kid, Musashi Miyamoto, Hanzo Hattori, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, and Jack the Ripper.

Out of the entire prototype lineup, Hattori was the only one kept for the final product. Hitler was taken and reworked into a different Nazi-based fictional character named Brocken to avoid controversy. Jack was also redesigned and later added to the cast in World Heroes 2 Jet. Miyamoto's character was instead used in other SNK titles such as The Last Blade, the Samurai Shodown series and Ganryu.

World Heroes was later ported to the Neo Geo AES in both Japan and North America on September 11, 1992, which is identical to the Neo Geo MVS version, but designed for home gaming, just like nearly every AES versions of Neo Geo titles. World Heroes was later ported to the Neo Geo CD exclusively in Japan by ADK on March 17, 1995 and then to North America in October 1996, which is the same as the MVS and AES versions, but with arranged background music.

Besides SNK's consoles, it was first ported by Sunsoft to the SNES in Japan on August 12, 1993, in North America in September 1993, and PAL regions in 1993. Later, it was ported to the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis by Sega Midwest Studio (then known as Sega Midwest Development Division) exclusively in North America on August 16, 1994. The Neo Geo AES version was also added to the Wii's Virtual Console first in Japan on September 28, 2007, then in North America on October 8, 2007, and in Europe on October 19, 2007. Later, it was added to a compilation of Neo Geo arcade games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii titled SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 as an unlockable game.

On October 18, 2007, SNK Playmore added it with its three sequels to the arcade game compilation World Heroes Gorgeous: Neo Geo Online Collection Vol. 9 (ワールドヒーローズ ゴージャス) in Japan for the PlayStation 2. It was later published in North America on March 11, 2008, and in Europe on November 7, 2008, both titled as World Heroes Anthology. This was created to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the World Heroes series. This compilation was later reprinted as part of a series of best-sellers labeled "The Best" in Japan on June 18, 2009.

The arcade version was commercially successful upon release. It was said to be one of the first games that brought the attention of SNK's consoles to game players. In Japan, Game Machine listed World Heroes on their September 1, 1992 issue as being the third most-popular arcade game at the time.

In the United States, on RePlay magazine's coin-op earnings charts, World Heroes topped the software conversion kits chart in July 1992, ranking just above Capcom's Street Fighter II. RePlay then reported World Heroes to be the most-popular arcade game in September 1992. It was then the top-grossing software conversion kit during October to November 1992, and then again in January 1993. On the April 1993 charts, it was the fifth highest-earning software conversion kit. On the May 1993 chart, it dropped to number-eight, with World Heroes 2 at number-five. It was one of America's top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1993.

『ワールドヒーローズ』（WORLD HEROES）は、1992年から1995年までにADK（1作目はアルファ電子）がネオジオ向けに製作した対戦型格闘ゲーム。本項ではシリーズ全4作について説明する。

本作は、服部半蔵やジャンヌ・ダルク、ラスプーチンなどの歴史上の人物や「著名なフィクションの登場人物」に類似した、漫画的なキャラクターが登場するという特徴がある。

ワールドヒーローズ
1992年7月28日発売。

使用可能キャラクターは全部で8人で、同キャラクター対戦は不可能。

Aボタンはパンチ、Bボタンはキック、Cボタンは投げに使用する。Dボタンは使用しない。パンチ・キックについてはボタンを短く押すと弱攻撃、長く押すことで強攻撃となる。

通常の対戦モードの他に「デスマッチモード」が存在する。このモードでは地雷、電流リング、壁一面のトゲ、オイルリングなど様々なトラップが用意されており、ダウンやバウンドした際に追加ダメージを受けたり、操作が困難になったりする。これにより、攻撃を仕掛けた側が思わぬダメージを喰らうことや不利な状況に立たされることもあった。髪切りマッチも存在し、負けたキャラクターは坊主頭にされてしまう過激な演出も存在したが、『ワールドヒーローズ2』（以下『2』）では多少マイルドになっている。

キャラクターのバランス調整が悪く、ジャンヌが必殺技の「フラッシュソード」を連発しただけでマッスルパワーは全ての戦略を封印された。そのため、対戦ダイヤグラムではまず存在しないとされていた「10:0」の数値がはじき出される事態が起こった。はめ技にはJ.カーンの「覇極道はめ」、ブロッケンの「しゃがみ弱パンチはめ」も存在する。

初代のみにみられるその他の特徴としては、気絶した際とコンティニューの際に場外からの応援としてキャラクターの名前が連呼される演出が挙げられる。

● マッスルパワーに対する応援は「マッスルパワー」ではなく「ナンバーワン」と連呼される。
● J.カーンは「ジェイ・カーン」ではなく「ジンギスカン」と呼ばれる。
● 他の6人は「ハンゾウ」「ジャンヌ」など、通称ないしは略称で呼ばれる。ただしブロッケンだけは「ブロッケン、チャチャチャ」と拍手が入る。

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