ACA NeoGeo: Samurai Shodown (Xbox One, 2017)

ACA NeoGeo: Samurai Shodown

Developed by SNK/Hamster

Published by Hamster

Released for Xbox One (5/2/2017)

Also on Arcade/NeoGeo/PC/PS4/Switch

PREFACE
While there were a few SNK titles released during the Xbox 360 era, I was always disappointed that SNK decided to release Samurai Showdown II on the Xbox Live Arcade while skipping the original game. Fast-forward to the next console generation and thanks to Hamster and the Arcade Classics Archive series, the original Samurai Showdown has now seen a release on just about everything out there.

Kakuto Chojin: Back Alley Brutal (Xbox, 2002)

Kakuto Chojin
Developed by DreamFactory
Published by Microsoft Game Studios
Released for Xbox (11/2002)

My first reaction upon seeing Kakuto Chojin was that it was just another generic fighting game from a Western developer. I was surprised to discover that the Japan-based developer, DreamFactory, was founded by Seiichi Ishii, who was a designer for Virtua Fighter and one of the creators of Tekken. DreamFactory would go on to create the Tobal games on the original PlayStation and the arcade fighter Ehrgeiz, so they definitely do have some experience under their belt when it comes to fighting games. Kakuto Chojin was released exclusively for the Xbox console and has never received backward-compatibility support for either the 360 or the One, so it can only be played on Microsoft's original console.

Kakuto Chojin allows you to select from 12 different fighters, each represented by a different fighting style and from various countries. By this point in the timeline of fighting games, none of these characters really stand out and they all feel a bit cliche so while they do look nice, they're just not that memorable in the end. There's a decent range of fighting styles which include karate, jeet kune do (complete with Bruce Lee knock-off), capoeira, tae kwan do, a pit fighter, ninjitsu, hakkyoku-ken, pro wrestling, muay-thai and two fighters who use kung fu. Several of these have very odd countries of origin in regards to their fighting styles, for instance the capoeira chick is from Japan rather than Brazil like one would expect. When you complete the game with a fighter you unlock an alternate move set that can be selected at the character select screen. If you beat the game with all 12 characters you'll be able to select the boss character, making for a grand total of 13 characters to choose from.

Graphically Kakuto Chojin has some nice visuals for a game released in 2002. While the arenas are enclosed squares in design, they at least look nice and there is a unique stage for each character. There are some good details, like the rainy rooftop which features reflective surfaces. There are also a few stages that offer a chance to ring-out your opponents which does help add a little variety. While the stages and characters are both well-rendered, the characters have a strange shine to them which I suppose was intended to be perspiration but it ends up looking a bit cheesy. The game features some nifty particle effects on certain stages with rain or snow. The shading and lighting is also very well done for the time. There's even some battle damage depicted on the fighters as they take a beating, making for a very nice overall presentation.

The controls are a bit different when compared to your standard fighting game. You have low, medium and high attack buttons which works okay. There is a dedicated button for special moves, which when used will turn your health meter yellow. You are unable to use this move again until your meter fills back up and is completely red, which I assume was done in an effort to prevent you from spamming your special move. The triggers are used for blocking and running, which needlessly over-complicate things, especially considering you can dash by tapping forward twice. I've never been a fan of fighting games that have block assigned to a button and it feels just as awkward here as it does in any other game that does this. By holding block and pressing up you have the ability to jump, though you'll rarely need to use this to win.

In addition to the story mode, the Kakuto Chojin single player modes also include survival and practice mode. There are also a few multiplayer modes that allow up to four players to compete in battle royal, capture the crown or standard versus games. I've heard the game is quite enjoyable with up to four players but I never had four pads for my Xbox so I couldn't tell you personally, though it does sound like a good time with the right friends. There's not much else to say about the fighting in Kakuto Chojin other than you punch, kick, throw and occasionally use a special move to deplete the health bar of your opponent. Everything works fine, though the game just really doesn't do much to set itself apart from other fighting games of the time.

The main menu also has an option to access some game demos. There are interactive demos featured for NFL Fever 2003, Shenmue II and Quantum Redshift. There are also non-interactive movies for Xbox Live, Blinx the Time Sweeper, Fable, Tao Feng, Kung Fu Chaos and MechAssault.

Kakuto Chojin was met with some controversy, particularly in America, due to the Somalian character named Asad. The fighter is a Muslim which is apparent by his stage's theme, which contained phrases from Quran being chanted in the background. Bear in mind this game was released in 2002, not long after 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, so Americans were still very sensitive to anything referencing Islam. Due to this the game was recalled by Microsoft in the United States and was only available for a very limited time in Japan and was never released at all in Europe.

In closing, Kakuto Chojin is a nice-looking game and the fighting is serviceable, though it's definitely not up to par with the heavy-hitters at the time. When it comes to 3D fighters of this era, the Soul Calibur, Tekken and Virtua Fighter franchises are still several steps ahead of this one. That's not to say it's a bad game, so if you're a fighting junkie just looking for something new for your old Xbox it's worth a look. The game never really picked up in value and is still quite easy to find despite being recalled from stores. The full title of the game on the cover is Kakuto Chojin: Back Alley Brutal but I honestly just didn't feel like typing that throughout the whole review.

Final Verdict: Kakuto Chojin definitely doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's a decent 3D fighter that remained exclusive to the original Xbox.

Purchase Links:
Buy Kakuto Chojin - eBay

Related Links:
Kakuto Chojin - GameFAQs
Kakuto Chojin - Wikipedia
Kakuto Chojin - Hardcore Gaming 101

Japanese Cover Artwork

Colosseum (XBLIG, 2008)

Colosseum
Developed by Shortfuse Games
Released for XBLIG (11/2008)

Colosseum is a 3D arena fighter with support for up to four players locally. It's not too common to see a 3D game on XBLIG and Colosseum does a decent job with it. One thing different from most other fighters is that your attacks are mapped to the right analog stick rather than the face buttons. You also have dodge, block and run functions assigned to the top buttons. The face buttons on the pad are used for special features, such as a health restore or shield boost that uses a meter you build up while attacking your foes. The action moves along at a brisk pace, though there were a few instances I had trouble keeping tabs on which character I was. The trial limits your character selection to two, but in the full version there are seventeen different fighters to select from (at least the game claims, it looked like twelve on the character select screen to me). By completing in-game challenges, you can unlock new pieces of armor and weapons to customize your fighters, so this helps add some replay value. Colosseum is a competent fighter that retails for $2.99, which probably hurt sales for this game when there were so many other great games available for just $1 on XBLIG.

Final Verdict: Colosseum is a very playable arena fighter and you can tell the developer put some time into it, however the high price for an XBLIG title likely kept most away.

Related Links:
Colosseum - GameFAQs

Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection (XBLA, 2011)

Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection
Developed by Midway/Other Ocean Interactive
Published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Released for Xbox Live Arcade (8/2011)
Also on PC/PS3

Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection (why not Arkade) was released in 2011 and boasted to have the original arcade versions of the first three entries in the series. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was previously released on XBLA but had since been de-listed, so it was nice to see that game make a return in some form. The games all featured support for both local and online versus battles. Let's start off with a brief look at each game:

The original Mortal Kombat game came out way back in 1992. I remember thinking this game looked pretty sweet all those years ago, but looking at it in modern times the first entry in the series really hasn't aged all that well. While the game does seem pretty accurate to the arcade version, the move-sets are quite limited and the characters all play alike except for a few special moves. There's only seven fighters to choose from, and while they are a colorful crew it just feels a bit lacking. Thanks to nostalgia, I'll personally always be able to play and enjoy the original Mortal Kombat but its simplicity will probably bore most of those who didn't grow up with it.

Mortal Kombat II hit arcades in 1993, just one year after the first title. Midway went all-out on this sequel and added in a bunch of new characters, fatalities and secrets. The new characters were all welcome additions and everything about the gameplay just felt better the second time around. There were more moves, better graphics and nastier gore. In my opinion, the second game was always the best in the series when it came to the original arcade Mortal Kombat games and the version included here is a solid port of the arcade.

Mortal Kombat 3 (for some reason they didn't use roman numerals this time) would release in 1995 and would receive an update that same year, titled Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The Ultimate version of the game added in some fan-favorites and is considered by many to be the best version of MK3. The version included in the XBLA trilogy doesn't feel like it was ported from the original arcade code, feeling more like one of the console ports of the time. The character sprites look low-resolution and the colors feel a bit washed out. The game looks quite a bit worse than the previous two and I'm sure that wasn't the case with the arcade version of this game. Personally I was never a big fan of the third game but if it was your favorite beware this is no perfect port. It's still totally playable if you're willing to use the goofy run button and memorize lengthy combo chains.

The games all feature support for both local and online versus competition. While it can be tough to find a random lobby, if you have a friend with the game on Xbox Live and are able to play it the netcode is above average. You'll want to play against a friend for maximum enjoyment as the computer AI in all three games can be downright brutal and cheap. The options and settings are bare minimum but it does at least have a graphics filters and screen-size options. While definitely not a perfect compilation, Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection is still a nice blast of nostalgia for those '90's folks that remember these games. I would have liked to have seen the inclusion of Mortal Kombat 4, which was the last MK title to release as a proper arcade, but for some reason they never bother (likely due to emulating the 3D hardware of the time). The standard Xbox controller isn't the best for these types of games, which are definitely best experienced with an arcade joystick.

Final Verdict: If you're a fan of the original trilogy of Mortal Kombat games, you will enjoy Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection. Nostalgia member-berries galore with this one.

Related Links:
Buy Mortal Kombat Arcade - Xbox Marketplace
Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment - Official Site 
Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection - Metacritic
Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection - GameFAQs
Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection - True Achievements

Battle High 2 (XBLIG, 2013)

Battle High 2
Developed by Mattrified
Released for XBLIG (3/2013)
Also on Mac/Linux/Ouya/PC/Xbox One

Two years after the original Battle High: San Bruno was released the game saw a sequel. Battle High 2 offers twelve characters to select with a decent amount of diversity between them. Graphics & audio are mostly the same as the first title though there are a few new characters to select from. At the main menu you have an arcade & versus modes, challenge mode plus some bonus mini-games in extracurricular. There is also the journal, where you can view bios & endings of the fighters and also acts as the achievements for the game. The game still uses the four button control scheme, with light & heavy attacks for punching and kicking. Some of the fighters are far more effective than others, causing some balancing issues so it's not going to be suitable for high-level competition, but the game is still fun to play. There is a versus mode, but it's local only so don't expect to go online and challenge other players.  Battle High 2 is leaps and bounds above any other 1-on-1 fighters I've encountered on XBLIG and rests safely as the best in its genre on the service.

Final Verdict: Battle High 2 is a simple but solid throwback fighting game, it feels like something that came right out of the late '90's! Recommended for fans of old-school fighting games.

Related Links:
Battle High: San Bruno - Xbox Overview
Battle High 2 - GameFAQs

Battle High: San Bruno (XBLIG, 2011)

Battle High: San Bruno
Developed by Matthew DeLucas
Released for XBLIG (2/2011)

Battle High: San Bruno is a throwback 2D one-on-one fighter and almost feels like it came from the early '90's. You have eight different fighters to select from and you have a decent amount of variety between them (in the trial version you can only select from four of them). The game offers an arcade mode, versus mode, challenge mode and extracurricular which is a mode containing mini-games that was added in a title update.

According to Giant Bomb (link below), the game was originally released for PC and was created in GameMaker, but I had trouble locating a download link for the PC version. Battle High definitely looks the part of an old-school fighter, with some great detailed sprite artwork and some pretty good animations to match. The controls are responsive and moves work as advertised. You have four attack buttons, two punch and two kick, all mapped to the face buttons. The layout is similar to Neo-Geo fighters from back in the day. Like many fighters, you also have a super meter which fills up and allows you to unleash powerful moves. Battle High is solid little time killer, though I wish there was a little more impact to the hits. They all feel very light and it's easy to spam moves leaving the computer helpless. Still even with these issues, Battle High is a solid experience and is not the type of game you typically find floating around on XBLIG. Two years later, the game would receive a sequel which was also initially released on XBLIG, but the sequel would receive ports to the Xbox One, PC, Linux, Mac and even the Ouya.

Final Verdict: Battle High is a cool, simple throwback 2D fighter that will prove a fun diversion for fans of the genre.

Related Links:
Battle High 2 - Xbox Overview
Battle High: San Bruno - GameFAQs
Battle High: San Bruno - Giant Bomb

Hockey Fights (XBLIG, 2010)

Hockey Fights
Developed by Silver Dollar Games
Released for Xbox Live Indie Games (2/2010)

Having enjoyed One Finger Death Punch by the same developer I decided to give some of their other titles a look. Hockey Fights intrigued me, with a cool premise that recalls classics like Blades of Steel on the Arcade/NES. The fights in that game are definitely its most fondly remembered feature. You will of course go into Hockey Fights expecting a fighting game, and it is, but not in the conventional sense you're used to. It plays more like paper, rock, scissor with an extra equation added in. You don't have to worry about character movement, both characters stand static within striking range. X and A are your high and low attacks; Y and B are your high and low blocks. If a player misses 3 blocks consistently, you earn a "jersey stun" where you can pull the opponents jersey over their head and get a few free shots in.

That's really all there is to Hockey Fights. It's incredibly simple, but what it does it executes pretty well. The artwork looks great, but every player has the same face with just a slightly different jersey on. Some graphic variety would have been nice. The animation is also limited to a couple frames, but in the heat of the action you won't notice that as much. The presentation is pretty solid overall with a professional-looking menu and good sound design. I had a few minutes of fun with this title, but really after you've beat down a few competitors you've seen all the game has to offer.

Final Verdict: If you need a few minutes of pummeling a hockey player, Hockey Fights can be somewhat cathartic I suppose but it wears thin in a hurry. There's worse ways you could spend a buck though, but there are certainly better games to play out there.

Related Links:
One Finger Death Punch - Xbox Overview
Hockey Fights - GameFAQs

Soul Calibur II HD Online (XBLA, 2013)

Soul Calibur II HD Online
Developed by Project Soul
Released by Namco Bandai Games
Released for XBLA (11/2013)
Also on Arcade/GameCube/PS2/PS3/Xbox
Backwards Compatible with Xbox One

As somebody who used to frequently play the arcade and PS2 versions of Soul Calibur II back in the day, I can safely say that this is indeed a very solid port of a Namco classic. If you're unfamiliar with the gameplay, Soul Calibur is a one-on-one versus fighter where every character has a different weapon.This is an update of the console port, so you get the wealth of extras that were included with that version. In addition to the standard arcade, versus (local or online), time attack and survival modes, you get the robust weapon master mode.

 In weapon master mode, you fight across a map through various challenges unlocking different weapons, new characters, costumes, new game modes and other various features like artwork as you go., adding a ton of replay value to the single player experience. The HD update to the graphics looks great and it has definitely aged alot more gracefully than many other titles from this era. Namco has also included online support, which seemed to function quite well in the couple instances I was able to find a match. Since the game has been out for years now, it's no surprise to find the online community a bit dead. As an added bonus you get Spawn (from Image Comics) who was exclusive to the Xbox home port back in the day and Heihachi (Tekken) who was on the PS2 version, but sadly no Link (for obvious reasons) who will remain a GameCube exclusive..

Final Verdict: If you were a fan of the original game or a fan of fighting games in general, I'd definitely recommend Soul Calibur II HD Online. The two-player versus modes are an absolute blast.

Related Links:
Buy Soul Calibur II HD Online - Microsoft Store
Namco Bandai Games - Official Site
Fighters - Xbox Overview
Soul Calibur II HD Online - Metacritic
Soul Calibur II HD Online - GameFAQs
Soul Calibur II HD Online Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
Soul Calibur II HD Online - True Achievements 

Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting (XBLA, 2006)

Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
Developed by Capcom/Sensory Sweep
Published by Capcom
Released for Xbox Live Arcade (8/2006)
Also on Arcade

As of this writing, Capcom has long since released Super Street Fighter II HD Remix, which remedies several of the things I'll be complaining about it this review, but that's another game for another review. Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting, released August 2006, is a solid port of the arcade game, but I'm perplexed by the "now loading" screen that pops up before each battle. A minor complaint, I know, but it would appear Capcom is using the port of Street Fighter II that came out on the original PlayStation (they've done this before in their various Capcom Classics releases). While the gameplay and graphics look pretty much arcade-perfect, there's really no reason at all this game should have loading times on the Xbox 360 or the PS3.

A second complaint stems from the lack of options. The options menu is quite bare as there's no round select and very few video settings. The netcode for the online vs mode seems pretty decent, but it can be quite difficult to find an opponent online playing this version due to the age of the game, but there's always local vs. So, it's a very basic port of the 90's fighting game giant that does at least remain quite faithful to its arcade counterpart, but how well this game has aged will depend on whether or not you played it back in the day when it was hot. I also find it worth noting that when using the in-game menu to return to the dashboard the game would freeze my system. If I exited via the guide I could get around this issue but there were several times I forgot and froze my system up. I couldn't seem to find anything about anyone else having this issue so maybe it's just my 360.

Final Verdict: If you want a more robust game with more features plus updated graphics, you may want to check out the later released Super Street Fighter II HD Remix. If you prefer to play the game as it was in 1992 arcades, Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting takes you back to the past on the 360.

Related Links:
Buy Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting - Xbox Marketplace
Fighters - Xbox Overview
Capcom - Official Site
Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting - Metacritic
Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting -GameFAQs
Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting - True Achievements