Developer: ADK Publisher: Sunsoft Release: 09/93 Genre: Fighting
I think its safe to say SNK and the fighting game genre were quite fond of each other. Of the 150 or so Neo Geo games over 50 are fighting games. That’s 1/3 of its library! Needless to say not every game set the world on fire. World Heroes has always been the runt of the litter. It was popular enough to spawn multiple sequels but not memorable enough for anyone to clamor for a revival. Both the SNES and Genesis would receive home ports of the game of varying quality. While the SNES version is pretty good you have to ask yourself is that enough to warrant a purchase.
I will give World Heroes credit; at least the game’s premise makes for a good fighting game. In the future a scientist named Dr. Brown invents a time machine. Rather than use it to become rich he instead gathers eight fighters throughout history to fight and see who is the greatest warrior of all time. Yes it is not original but outside of Eternal Champions I am hard pressed to think of another fighting game from that period with a better “plot”.
The cast of fighters contains homages or outright rip-offs of popular figures in history. Janne is essentially Joan of Arc. Kim Dragon is the prerequisite Bruce Lee clone nearly every fighting game feels the need to include. J. Carn is a loose interpretation of Genghis Khan. Muscle Power is Hulk Hogan. Come on, that one is blatantly obvious although I suppose the younger gamers might not know who he is. Then there are the less well known. Hanzo and Fuma are based on real life ninjas from rival clans and play a similar role here. Rasputin, like his historical namesake, is the leader of a cult in Russia. The only original character is Brocken, a robot created by Dr. Brown out to prove the power of science.
While the cast may be interesting the gameplay is less so. World Heroes is as standard as fighting games from that era get. Although the characters are original they follow the Street Fighter mold heavily. Hanzo and Fuma are Ryu and Ken respectively, down to their special moves. Muscle Power is basically Zangief which makes sense as they are both wrestlers. The closest analog to Guile is Janne but here move priorities are slightly different. Interestingly Brocken plays like combination of Dhalsim, M. Bison, and Blanka. Although this may be disappointing and to an extent it is it also means the game is easy to pick up and play.
World Heroes used a simplified control scheme in the arcade. There was only a single punch and kick button with the third relegated to throws. The arcade game could get away with this as it strong attacks were controlled by how long the buttons were held. With only two attack strengths it worked. It was still silly in my eyes seeing as the Neo Geo had four buttons. That setup is the default in this SNES version and like Fighting Street it does not work well at all. Luckily you can assign each attack its own button with one to spare on the SNES. Many special moves use simple inputs making the game very accessible. But that also means you will blow through World Heroes’ content quickly. With its limited roster this one does not have much staying power.
There is one unique feature in World Heroes: Death Match. Here the unique backgrounds are replaced with a wrestling ring with varying stage hazards. These can be slippery oil, spiked walls, electrified cordons, and even land mines. This adds an extra element of strategy to each match as you try to force your opponent into threats for extra damage. You could almost view it as a prototype for what would come later in Smash Bros. While it is not as interesting when fighting against the computer Death Match is a riot against a friend and something I am glad they expand on in the sequel.
The gameplay is mostly there if a bit sluggish. But everything else about the port is not as impressive. World Heroes may not have been original but it at least had the usual Neo Geo spectacle going for it. The SNES version has significantly smaller sprites and noticeably worse animation. Foreground and background elements that were animated in the arcade are static here. The music fares pretty well but there are less voice samples. These are all issues that are more a fault of a smaller cartridge; had they gone with a 24-meg cart rather than 16 I have no doubt this would have turned out better. I will say this though; the SNES version is a sight better than the sad Sega game.
In Closing
World Heroes is a pretty good port of the arcade game overall. Unfortunately World Heroes was nothing special to begin with. Of all of SNK’s fighting series’ this one has always been the most generic. That does not mean it is bad but that it pales next to the far too numerous competition out there.
