World Heroes Perfect

"That a hero lies in you..."

Someone screwed up. It's not really a question of who's to blame. It all really goes back to Professor Brown, anyway. It's a question of when. Sometime in the past, something went wrong. Considering the power of the professor's time machine and the warriors involved, it could have been anything. Maybe someone went back to the Jurassic era and accidentally squished a bug, thus affecting an ecosystem, a food crop, or an entire civilization. Perhaps a fight erupted in the middle of an impoverished country, sparking a battle that never should have happened. Or maybe some famous inventor was killed in the crossfire. Whatever it was, it changed everything. Modern society, culture, economies, entire histories have been rewritten or obliterated with a single punch. No one's taking responsibility for it, though. Professor Brown and his league of legendary heroes are still wandering the course of history, duking it out to determine the greatest warrior of all time. The thing is, there may not be a future for to which they can return.

This story is nothing new. Since the professor unveiled his time machine three years ago, the clashes between the world's heroes have grown more violent and frequent. Some are in it to test their skills. Others are there for the glory and grudges. Not surprisingly, the majority of the roster is comprised of the veterans from previous games. Jeanne has returned from the Middle Ages, only to find her French homeland in the midst of revolution. Rasputin has avoided assassination attempts long enough to develop his magical powers to their greatest potential. Not content with ripping through innocent bystanders in nineteenth century Britain, Jack has come back to slaughter whichever heroes stand in his way. Ryofu and J. Carn have struck a respectable rivalry that goes beyond their professions as military leaders. No one seems to notice than the legendary Gokuu (The Journey to the West version. Sorry, Dragonball Z fans.) has been stalking the competition. Given the ferocity of this year's competition, the winner could be anyone.

It's not exactly a competition, to be honest. The tournament-style arcade mode from World Heroes 2: Jet has been scrapped entirely. Rather than working your way up the rankings of predetermined fights, you'll get to dish out the punishment the old fashioned way. You'll have to smash your way through the entire cast (though some of the only show up on specific difficulty levels) before finally facing the most goofy-looking final boss that SNK has ever conceived. This straightforward approach to the game's progression is a double-edged sword; it's simplistic enough to appeal to those looking to get right to the fighting, but it lacks the inherent strategy of the tournament structure. World Heroes Perfect is limited to only its arcade mode; with no alternative gameplay options, veterans of the previous games may dislike its lack of variety.

The game makes up for it by featuring the most developed combat mechanics in the series. The first few titles only allowed you to perform a handful of punches, kicks, special attacks, and overpowered throws. The strength of such moves was determined by how hard you were pressing on the corresponding buttons. It was infuriatingly slow paced and glitched beyond belief. Later versions allowed for more moves and a greater emphasis on gameplay speed, but that wasn't enough to take care of all the issues. World Heroes Perfect, however, revamps the control scheme entirely. Sure, a lot of the old moves have been retained – Jeanne's aerial sword pogo trick and Captain Kidd's pirate ship Hadokens are deadlier than ever – but they've been incorporated into a much more extensive movelist. Both new and old attacks have been delegated to different buttons based on their strengths; you can now mash the weak attack buttons to start a combo, get in a normal jab, and finish things off with a heavy blow. Instead of wearing down your enemy's health with strong attacks, you can now focus on developing combos and utilizing a character's abilities to the fullest extent.

The new control scheme is supplemented by several additions to the combat mechanics. Aside from their usual special attacks, each character comes packing a handful of extra abilities. Projectile deflection and nullification, feints, guard-breaking tactics, and aerial guarding maneuvers are essential to your success in combat. These new features open up the potential for plenty of strategy and combative mind games against your foes. Such concepts may not sound remarkable in comparison to the likes of Street Fighter Alpha 3 or Guilty Gear, but they are considerable given the age of the game. The most prominent addition, however, is the Hero Gauge. It's nothing terribly exciting or original; you execute attacks, build up energy, and release it in the form of some suped-up version of one of your character's special attacks. It's funny how utterly useless they are, though; many of these so-called ‘Ultimate Attacks' are so ridiculously underpowered and ineffective that there's little point in basing a strategy off of it. There's something wrong when a couple of well-timed combos can dish out more damage than a standalone super attack.

But hey, at least they look pretty. Watching Ryofu roast everything with his flamethrower breath or Jack flying around like a knife-laden torpedo is definitely one of the more entertaining parts of the game. Not surprisingly, the basic character models have been left unchanged; Hanzo, Fuuma, and the rest of the gang are just as horribly pixilated as ever. Captain Kidd still gives himself a neck massage before each battle, and Mudman's dance steps haven't been altered at all. The real difference comes with the attack animations; veterans of the previous games will be surprised at what their seemingly familiar characters are now capable of. Rasputin has developed his powers from magical finger pokes to turning himself into a statue or lobbing elemental projectiles in every direction. Jeanne's sword has been reworked into an extendable bladed whip. Even their traditional levels have been scrapped; you'll now get to fight along the lava-ridden shores of Earth's genesis, the foggy streets of the European Dark Ages, and amongst the cheering crowds of the twentieth century. Those, combined with appearance from the Industrial Revolution, World War II, and the Megalithic and Stone Ages, make for some of the most varied stages seen in a World Heroes game.

It's about time. After three attempts to make a great fighting game, SNK finally learned from their mistakes and delivered a decent title. World Heroes Perfect may be the end of a series infamous for its flaws, but it's quite a sendoff. While there are a couple of new faces to master, it's the older characters that steal the spotlight; it is through them that we see how the series has progressed. The newly designed gameplay mechanics are far better than those of the previous games; the emphasis on attack combos, fast pacing, and underlying strategies replace the glitch-fests of old. The inclusions of the Hero Gauge and Ultimate Attacks aren't as impressive; the mismatched attack strengths and usefulness mean dire consequences in terms of the game's overall balance. While the characters may look the same, their new moves, animations, and stages are sure to bring a smile to those who actually had the patience to see the series through to its finale. World Heroes Perfect may not live up to its name, but it's still one Hell of a sendoff.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/21/08

Game Release: World Heroes Perfect (US, 06/30/95)