KIZUNA ENCOUNTER: SUPER TAG BATTLE

Quick review from a filthy casual: I play a lot of fighting games - but generally single player as I don't really have the time to devote to becoming at least competent(!) Arcade modes are generally my go to. I'd never even heard of this one until a couple of days ago. It's a lot of fun thanks to a really neat mechanic. It's a tag team game - 2 characters on each side - and you can only swap in a smallish zone on your starting side. Here's the catch - if either of your characters are knocked out it's game over. It's a really simple mechanic that keeps you engaged i.e. "can I get that last hit or should I back out?" etc. It's the usual Code Mystics quality - and the usual barebones package. A bit of a 'how to' wouldn't go amiss but at least there's a practice mode in this release.

I feel like Kizuna Encounter is another overlooked gem in SNK's stable of amazing fighting games. Although X-Men vs. Street Fighter gets credit as the first true tag-team fighting game, I believe development on Kizuna Encounter began before that of Capcom's game. Additionally, Kizuna Encounter is certainly the first to do it with a weapons-based fighter. Also, each game was released in the arcade mere days apart. Regardless, Kizuna Encounter is an incredibly polished and well-crafted fighting game that incorporates so many new-at-the-time mechanics which laid the groundwork for other tag-team fighters afterward. Considering this was an entirely new idea in the fighting game genre, Kizuna Encounter turned out to be an incredible effort that both continued the saga of characters from Savage Reign and helped cement SNKs legacy as fighting game developers. The relatively small roster of characters is made better by how unique each of them play. The combo system (similar to that of the Darkstalkers series, e.g. chain weak>medium>strong attacks in said order while connecting specials) is essentially the same for every character, however, each one has slightly different timing, dis…

32 reviews? Here's 33. Best buy this on sale, horribly overpriced. Still don't know why people buy this while Fightcade exists and has better online.

An incredible port, that also has local co-op and also a 4 player party mode in offline. The only thing it is missing is online co-op. For superfans of fighting games, like myself, there are multiple characters that were only seen again very rarely, as in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, but you've probably never played them before. Eagle was a ton of fun for me, as he has Clark's throw and an air projectile. Pretty great. Oh and thanks for not lying about online co-op like Capcom has done for three games so far.

Fun and innovative. Getting to the last boss was easy, but the last boss is an input-reading cheat and I still haven't beat him. These old SNK fighters make efficient use of just 4 buttons. There's not so many moving parts that the innovative features, like the tag team, feel overwhelming.

Excellent fighter. Classic game. Really cool to see this getting a port on Steam. If you like this, look into the other SNK games. SNK games go on sale all the time.