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| Each game has its own unique Nettou/Deadheat Fighters logo, so I just went with the one with the least relation to its game. |
While founded solely as a toy company in 1955, come the mid-90s Takara had also found footing in the video game industry as a publisher of various titles, mostly (but not all) that were either adapting a licensed IP (like an anime) or were a home port of an arcade title. In particular, Takara managed to ink a deal with SNK that resulted in Takara hiring various for-hire development studios to produce console versions of Neo Geo games, starting with Fatal Fury in 1992 & 1993, which was a success. With the fighting game genre seeing a massive surge in popularity during that time, Takara seemingly decided to take full advantage of that momentum by releasing portable versions of various fighting games on the Game Boy, all of which would also take advantage of the then-incoming Super Game Boy, a peripheral by Nintendo that allowed people to play GB games on a Super Famicom/SNES, by allowing two players to fight each other via the console & a single cartridge (though, naturally, traditional link cable play was also an option), and Takara managed to leverage its relationship with SNK by having all but one of these releases be based on Neo Geo games.
Tying all of these releases together would be a shared start to their titles: "熱闘/Nettou", or "Fierce Fighting", though Takara would offer its own English name on the covers, "Deadheat Fighters"; ironically enough, that English name would never appear on any of these games outside of Japan. From mid-1994 to early 1998 Takara would release eight Nettou "Deadheat Fighters" games on the Game Boy, though only five would see release outside of Japan (one of which was only in Europe), and today they are generally considered some of the absolute best fighting games ever released on the handheld. With 2024 marking the 30th Anniversary of this series of Game Boy fighting games, let's go over each one in chronological order, see the evolution of the Nettou Series, and figure out which one still reigns supreme over them all.
Starting things off is Nettou Samurai Spirits, which released in Japan on June 30, 1994, just a couple of weeks (at most) after the release of the Super Game Boy itself. This would see release in North America & Europe later that same year as simply Samurai Shodown, though only a nebulous "November" time frame looks to be known for North America. As the title indicates this is based on the original Samurai Shodown from 1993, and in fact is the first non-Neo Geo version of the game, as the Super Famicom/SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, & Game Gear versions wouldn't come out until later in 1994. As for the developer of this version, this was actually the very first game handled by Tamsoft (the only Nettou game it'd develop), a studio founded in 1992 that initially worked on non-gaming computer software before transitioning over to games; Tamsoft would find major success with its second game, but we'll get to that later. Let's check out how the Nettou Series started & see if it had good footsies from the very beginning.
While there were both Game Boy & Game Gear ports published by Takara, they are actually completely different conversions from each other developed by different studios (Tamsoft vs. Santos), with the Game Gear version featuring fewer characters (Earthquake, Tam Tam, & Wan Fu are missing) than the Nettou game, which remarkably includes the full 13-character roster! In fact, this Game Boy version even outdoes the arcade original by including Kuroko the referee as a secret character, predating his appearance as a secret character in the home version of Samurai Shodown II!! Moving on, the gameplay is naturally simplified somewhat, as instead of having three levels of strength for both Slash & Kick there's just B for Slash, A for Kick, and pressing the two together does a Hard Slash. You can also run by double-tapping towards your opponent, perform a quick back dash by double-tapping away, & the random items that get dropped on the playfield (either healing you or being a bomb that hurts you) is even maintained, though the man who runs by is gone so the items simply fall from the top of the screen. The bonus stage where you slice straw men is also here, appearing after every three fights, and even the story sequences have been carried over in modified form to match the new chibi designs for the characters. In fact, each character now has a short intro cutscene, which wasn't in the Neo Geo original. Combine all of that with very solid visuals that are about as accurate in stage design to the original as possible considering the hardware, and honestly excellent renditions of the game's musical score using the Game Boy's rather basic sound tech, and from a presentation perspective Samurai Shodown is a very impressive conversion... but how does it play?
To put it simply, the answer is "very well". I am playing these games on an Analogue Pocket, not an original Game Boy, but the controls are in general very responsive & special moves are executed in their traditional motions & work well. While there aren't any running attacks to be found, the simple fact that you can even run & back dash at all in a fighting game for the Game Boy in 1994 is kind of astounding to begin with, and the overall feel of the original Samurai Shodown, which emphasizes slower-paced gameplay based around taking advantage of openings for massive damage, is kept intact here, even with the simplified mechanics. I mean, I once threw out a Senpuu Retsuzan as Haohmaru at Tam Tam, who then jumped over it, so I countered with a jump kick, which then knocked Tam Tam backwards into the still moving Senpuu Retsuzan, which in turn damaged Tam Tam even further... and this was on a Game Boy game from 1994! However, one thing does admittedly bring down the general experience, and that's the unskippable waiting between rounds. If you lose a round you have no choice but to watch your opponent do their win pose, say their win quote, and eventually reset for the next round... and on the Game Boy this takes between 15-20 seconds. If you win, though, you have no choice but to watch your character do their win pose, say their win quote, & eventually reset for the next round... but you also have to wait for the scoring system to add up & then add to your score, resulting in you having to wait around 30 seconds between rounds just for winning!!!!! The end result is that while matches themselves can go by a decent pace (any slowdown seen seems to be intentional for dramatic effect), the long waits between rounds absolutely kills the entire pace & results in it feeling like it takes forever to advance through the traditional CPU ladder, even if the occasional cutscene looks cool.
Combine all of that with difficulty options that seemingly just decide how often the CPU decides to just get cheap & not lose (as even on "Easy" you can get rounds where the opponent is just impossible), plus the honestly subpar Super Game Boy bonuses (no border & very limited color usage), and the end result is that while Samurai Shodown for the Game Boy is a solid enough start for the Nettou Series, there are still some aspects that could use improvements.
Takara was wasting no time whatsoever with this brand new series as the second game, Nettou Garou Densetsu 2 -Aratanaru Tatakai-, would come out in Japan just a month later on July 29, 1994. For those unfamiliar, Garou Densetsu is the Japanese name for Fatal Fury, so this is a Game Boy version of 1992's Fatal Fury 2, though unlike the previous entry this Nettou game was actually one of the last versions of Fatal Fury 2 released, coming out a month after the Mega Drive version in Japan; only the Neo Geo CD version would come out after this Game Boy version. Since this was in development more or less at the same time as Samurai Shodown's conversion we have a different studio handling things here, in this case Sun L, a studio primarily known for making games based on licensed IP, like Tekkaman Blade & Tenchi wo Kurau for Game Boy, Kamen Rider & Mega Man Soccer for Super Famicom/SNES, & The Great Battle III to V for Super Famicom; Sun L would also later develop the Game Boy version of Street Fighter II in 1995. This would be the first Nettou game to never see release outside of Japan, so let's see if we missed out on anything with this conversion.
Similar to Samurai Shodown, Nettou Garou Densetsu 2 features the entire eight-character roster of the Neo Geo original, as well as all four bosses (Billy Kane, Axel Hawk, Laurence Blood, & Wolfgang Krauser), and with a simple code (press Select three times) entered while the Takara logo is on screen you can have access to all 12 characters. In terms of gameplay the four-button controls have been converted into Light Punch/Kick by tapping B/A & Hard Punch/Kick by holding B/A, and it actually works rather well; you can even taunt by pressing B & A at the same time. Characters have their entire special move sets from the original, right down to some of the old motions originally used (i.e. Terry's Crack Shoot requires you to include an up-back at the end, not just a simple quarter-circle), and even Desperations Moves (introduced in Fatal Fury 2) work exactly the same way & utilize the same exact motions; in that regard, this might be the very first handheld fighting game to feature super moves. Visually the game looks very nice, utilizing a similar chibi style as Samurai Shodown (though now word balloons are used when characters taunt or perform their special moves & DMs, which is actually adorable), with well animated characters for the time & hardware at least (seeing Kim's Hou'ou Kyaku in this style is rather impressive), and Fatal Fury 2's musical score is converted over to the Game Boy hardware excellently, allowing some of the now-iconic songs to be instantly recognizable. From a presentational & conceptual perspective Nettou Garou Densetsu 2 sounds great... but does it nail the landing?
Simply put, absolutely. While the multi-plane system that the Fatal Fury series would be (mostly) known for is gone for this Game Boy conversion, the overall fighting experience here is still handled very well. While the "length of press" based controls aren't exactly conducive for combos, this was still in an early enough time in fighting games where such things weren't really intended to be all that long anyway, so for this conversion they work just fine. Doing special moves & DMs are also generally rather reliable, though some of the more complex motions for DMs can sometimes be a little picky if you are trying to rush them; it also doesn't help that some DMs, like Terry's Power Geyser, now require point-blank distancing to hit with. However, true to form, the CPU in single player can be a fair bit cheap, even on Easy, as they will tend to simply block anything you hit them with, even when they're in the middle of a taunt (which they actually perform fairly often, surprisingly enough); I even got thrown out of Terry's Rising Tackle once, despite my Terry being visibly off the ground when it happened. Because of this, you wind up needing to cheese the CPU, also true to Neo Geo form, as specials do chip damage... or you could simply pick Kim Kaphwan & spam his aerial Hishou Kyaku, which the CPU often doesn't seem to know how to react to; if all else fails, you can also just spam Kim's Hou'ou Kyaku when at low health, as it can seemingly hit downed opponents.
Still, there's no doubt that Nettou Garou Densetsu 2 is a stellar fighting game for the Game Boy, an excellent conversion of the Neo Geo original, and I feel that it's easily the better of the two initial offerings from the Nettou Series; even the wait between rounds is barely nothing compared to Samurai Shodown's!
Following Nettou Garou Densetsu 2, Takara took some time before releasing the next Nettou game, and I can only guess maybe releasing two in consecutive months wasn't exactly the smartest idea. Therefore, the third game in the series wouldn't come out until February 24, 1995, and that would be Nettou World Heroes 2 Jet, based on the 1994 Neo Geo game by ADK & SNK; no radical name change between regions this time around. Despite the name, this was actually the third proper entry in ADK's World Heroes series, which featured a cast of characters from throughout history (via time travel, of course) & tended to have fun poking at other media & fighting games; the title itself was meant to parody Street Fighter II's penchant for simply adding new words to its title for its various updates. This time around development duties were handled by Betop (also sometimes seen online as "Be Top"), a short-lived studio (only around from 1994 to 1996) best known for developing the cult-classic Innsmouth no Yakata for the Virtual Boy. This game would see release outside of Japan, where it was simply titled World Heroes 2 Jet, with North America receiving it some time that August (with Playmates Interactive helping Takara with distribution), while Europe has no exact time frame known, though Takara 100% self-published it in that region. Admittedly, World Heroes 2 Jet is a bit of a bizarre & unexpected pick for the Nettou Series, so let's see how fares on the Game Boy.
This winds up being the largest roster seen yet in the Nettou Series, with 16 playable characters from the get-go, with the final boss Zeus being playable via a code entered during the Takara logo on boot up. As for gameplay, World Heroes 2 Jet on the Neo Geo is notable for going in a different direction when it comes to single-player action, as instead of the traditional arcade ladder to move up until you fight the final boss you instead enter into a tournament where you fight a quartet of 3-on-1 battles, where you have to win against at least two opponents in single-round fights to advance to the next group, before eventually fighting Captain Kidd, Hanzou, Jack, Ryofu, & finally Zeus in traditional 2-out-of-3 fights. The Game Boy conversion carries this over 100% the same exact way, which in turn does make it one of the most unique fighting game experiences on the handheld, and if you want just traditional bouts there is a "Training" mode to choose. However, the controls are naturally completely different, as instead of the "Punch, Kick, & Throw/Taunt" control scheme of the Neo Geo original it know controls just like Nettou Garou Densetsu 2, so it's only B for Punch & A for Kick, and how long you hold down the button determines whether it's weak or strong, while throwing is done in a more traditional fashion. Finally, you can also back dash, while attacks of similar strength from both sides will result in a clash which rebounds both characters without any damage being dealt, just as in the Neo Geo original.
What makes this conversion of World Heroes 2 Jet truly notable, though, is that this is easily the fastest playing Nettou game yet, with quick combos being easily performed (quick tapping gives you automatic three-hit combos), and if you end one with a special move you can easily take off half a health meter. Special moves are generally easy enough to pull off, though you do have to be just a little more precise when inputting motions, especially if you want to pull off a DP motion instead of a QCF motion, or especially if you try to do a double QCF for something like Hanzou or Fuuma's double shuriken projectile. While the AI opponents might feel a little cheap at first, once you realize how offense-focused this conversion is you quickly realize that the AI actually isn't that tough (though, as usual, it will still constantly block or simply duck certain specials if they aren't used as counters), and even when I got to Zeus I first though the same of him for Round 1. However, then Round 2 happened & Zeus became the utter monster that he is in the Neo Geo original, hitting you with moves so powerful that you die in just three hits or so. Super Game Boy color usage is yet even more an improvement than before, as while the main game screen simply uses a different color for each stage, the HUD utilizes colors excellently, and the character portraits themselves are just superb when seen in color.
From a technical perspective, Nettou World Heroes 2 Jet is yet another step up from the prior Nettou games, especially when it comes to Super Game Boy utilization. In terms of gameplay, this is easily the fastest, most hectic game seen yet, but whether or not that's an improvement over Nettou Garou Densetsu 2's slower & more focused gameplay is really up to personal preference. Still, so far the Nettou Series has simply converted a 2D fighter to a 2D-focused handheld... so what happens when Takara decides to tackle a 3D fighter?
Interestingly, after Nettou World Heroes 2 Jet's release Takara would once again put the Nettou Series on hiatus, though it'd come back with force the following year. 1996 would see three different Nettou games released, with two of them even seeing international release, and it all started on March 22 with Nettou Toshinden. Unlike the prior three entries, which were all conversions of 2D, sprite-based, Neo Geo fighters published by SNK & originally released in arcades, the Nettou Series' fourth entry was a conversion of a 3D polygonal fighter published by Takara itself that first saw release on the Sony PlayStation in 1995 & was the second game developed by Tamsoft. In fact, Toshinden was a major deal upon release, as it was generally considered the first "true 3D" fighting game due to its usage of the sidestep (games like Virtua Fighter & Tekken initially only had 3D movement via certain attacks, not as a normal movement option), and Sony itself would publish the game in North America & Europe as a launch title for the console in those regions (in Japan it came out roughly a month after launch), giving it a lot of promotion & attention. By the time Nettou Toshinden came out in Japan, though, a sequel was already out in Japan (both in arcades & on PlayStation), while the original game had a port to the Sega Saturn out in Japan (& would see international release just weeks after the Nettou game's release in Japan); in other words, Toshinden was no longer the major PlayStation-exclusive it once was.
Regardless, this Game Boy conversion would also see international release under the Battle Arena Toshinden name the series was given outside of Japan, though this time Takara wouldn't be self-publishing in any way, as by this point the company had left the international video game market. Instead, Nintendo of America itself would publish it in North America some time that November, while the Germany-based Laguna Video Games would handle the European release, though again with no known time frame outside of "1996". In terms of developer this Nettou game actually has conflicting reports, as both Betop & AI (which would later develop various side entries in the Super Robot Wars Series,from 1999's 64 all the way to 2013's UX) are listed, depending on where you look. Despite that confusion, let's check this out & see how the Nettou Series handles converting a 3D fighter into a 2D one, the only time the series would do this.
Battle Arena Toshinden on PS1 is technically a six button fighter, with two punches, two kicks, & two types of sidestepping (inward & outward), so naturally things have to get simplified for the Game Boy. For attacks we once again have tap & long-presses for B & A to allow for four types of basic attacks, but since this is now a 2D fighter instead of sidestepping there's a dodge mechanic (similar to what early King of Fighters games had), which you can do by double-tapping down on the d-pad; there's also back dashing & a quick forward dash by double-tapping back or forward, respectively. Special moves are still generally performed by doing the same motions as they were on the PS1, but this conversion actually includes an element from Toshinden 2 by allowing players to use shortcuts (B+A+any direction) to perform some specials, in case they aren't used to motions. To finish up mechanics this conversion also includes the ring out mechanic seen in the PS1 original, but in a modified form due to the change in dimensions. At the start of each round both characters have essentially three ring edge saves, and if someone gets pushed into one of the two edges of the arena they lose one save; once all three saves are lost the next push will result in a ring out. While this is an admittedly clever way to include ring outs in a 2D fighter, it's also one that can sometimes be made nullified by simply getting a good combo going on an opponent by an edge, as each hit in the combo will nudge the opponent against the edge, resulting in edge saves being lost in quick succession, if not allowing a ring out to happen, even if the character still had two or three saves left when the combo began. Still, when you consider the changes made to transition Toshinden into a 2D fighter, you can see why some people actually prefer this version over the original... so how does it feel to actually play?
Similar to World Heroes 2 Jet before it, Toshinden for Game Boy can be a very fast-paced fighting game, with combos being very easy to get going, especially when you consider that some specials have multiple hits in & of themselves. When combined with how the ring out system works, the end result is a fairly rush down-heavy experience, as you kind of want to focus on ringing out your opponent, and if that doesn't happen then you've likely at least done good damage, so the end of the round shouldn't be too far off anyway. As for the roster of characters, this conversion features the eight from the PS1 original, as well as Gaia in his final boss incarnation, but the proper final boss of this Game Boy version is Uranus from Toshinden 2... and she can be just as much of a pain as she can be on the PS1 (or arcade, in that game's case). Finally, if you perform certain actions (namely Desperation &/or Secret Moves to finish fights), you can also access two secret bosses, "Gaia II" (i.e. Gaia's Toshinden 2 incarnation) & Sho Shinjo; unfortunately, Cupido, Master, & Vermilion are nowhere to be found here. When playing via the Super Game Boy you get the same extra color usage as before, but you also have access to bonuses via cheat codes! You can have the CPU essentially fight itself, access "Scorcher Mode" (Desperations Moves are available at all times, & some characters have new moves), or play in "Jet Mode" (where everything moves at a faster pace that the Game Boy alone can't possibly do on its own).
Simply put, Nettou Toshinden is truly the real deal when it comes to the Nettou Series, as it not only converts a 3D fighter into a very solid & enjoyable 2D fighter, but it also includes some elements of Toshinden 2 & takes advantage of the Super Game Boy in ways not seen before via the secret bonuses you can access during the game's booting. Is this "better" than the PS1 games? I won't try to make a definitive claim to that, since I do have a soft spot for the Toshinden Series, but I can certainly see why some would feel that way.
The following month, Japan would receive yet another Nettou game, though this time returning to the standard SNK source. Released on April 26, 1996, Nettou The King of Fighters '95 was a conversion of the second entry in what would become SNK's most iconic franchise, coming out neatly between the Saturn port (which required its own 1MB ROM cartridge, which stored character sprite data, to properly work) in March & the PS1 port later that June. Just as before this would also see international release, as simply The King of Fighters '95, with Nintendo of America handling North America some time in February 1997, while Laguna would handle Europe some time that same year; this would be the last Nettou game to see release in North America, however. This time around development duties were handled by Gaibrain (I've also been "Guybrain" used, at points), which by this point had shown prowess in doing fighting game conversions & ports via Fatal Fury 1 & 2 for the Mega Drive/Genesis (the sequel, in particular, is sometimes considered better than the Neo Geo original!), an especially polished conversion of Fatal Fury Special on the Game Gear (generally considered the best fighter for that handheld), & would later be hired by Sega to handle the conversion of Virtua Fighter 2 into a 2D game for the Genesis later in 1996. With that kind of pedigree expectations are actually kind of high, so let's see if Gaibrain took the Nettou Series to new heights with the fifth entry.
For those unfamiliar, KOF is all about team-based combat, where fights themselves are 1-on-1 (& there is usually a "single play" option for home release) but the main idea is to take out all three members of the opposing team in one-round-to-a-finish fights, with the surviving team member getting only some health back between fights. Because of this KOF '95 on the Neo Geo had 20 total characters, with eight teams of three & two bosses. Understandably, there's no way that all of those characters could be carried over to a Game Boy cartridge, but props to Gaibrain for still managing to squeeze in 17, including the two bosses, Saisyu Kusanagi & Omega Rugal. However, this does mean that there really aren't many proper "teams" in this conversion, with only the Rivals Team (Iori Yagami, Eiji Kisaragi, & Billy Kane) actually being kept intact. The end result is that most teams have two members representing, but Team Art of Fighting & Team Korea both only have one (Ryo Sakazaki & Kim Kaphwan, respectively), while the removed characters are Goro Daimon, Robert Garcia, Takuma Sakazaki, Chin Gentsai, King, Andy Bogard, Clark Still, Chang Koehan, & Choi Bounge. The visual style is also a complete change from all prior Nettou games, with Gaibrain replacing the chibi-stylized character sprites with slightly more natural-looking spirtes, though this does result in things like faces being less pronounced. It's really up to personal preference which is better, though I do kind of prefer the chibi style for these games, honestly.
In terms of gameplay, we once again have the "press vs hold" mechanic for punches & kicks, but this time around pressing both B & A can do multiple things. Pressing B+A alone will taunt, holding B+A+Down will charge up the Power Gauge, and pressing B+A+Back will perform a spot dodge, as the more iconic rolling mechanic would be introduced in KOF '96. When combined with extremely tight controls, but at the same time a forgiving amount of looseness for the d-pad so as to allow specials moves & Desperations Moves to be performed consistently, the end result is an extremely well playing handheld fighter, mechanically speaking. Unfortunately, there are some things that hold it down from an overall package perspective. First, as mentioned before, the radically different visual style (I feel) removes a lot of the charm, and while you can easily identify who is who due to their outfits (this is likely why Robert & Takuma weren't included, as they'd be tough to separate from Ryo) it feels a little too bland to look at. This also isn't helped by the musical score, by which I mean that there really isn't much of one. While both Saisyu & Omega Rugal have their own songs during battle, there is seriously just a single song that's played for all the other fights, regardless of which stage you're fighting in, and after all of the prior Nettou games did an outstanding job in converting as much of their arcade/console sources' scores over, it's astonishing to see how little there is here for KOF '95.
Also, I quickly found a way to utterly cheese the CPU to no end with Ryo: Simply jump & perform an Aerial Ko-ou Ken (this is one of the games where he has this) with Light Punch. When close enough to the opponent they'll almost always perform a spot dodge in response, but since the LP version moves so slowly the spot dodge will end right as the Ko-ou Ken overlaps with the sprite, resulting in a guaranteed hit. Simply rinse & repeat, and even if the CPU tries jumping at you in response it'll just get hit with the Kou-ou Ken. Do this enough times & the CPU will eventually get stunned, giving you enough time to charge up the Power Gauge & perform a Ryuuko Ranbu DM for the win. This works on literally everybody, including the bosses, which meant that by the end I seriously double-perfected on both Saisyu & Omega Rugal; this is honestly an embarrassing oversight on Gaibrain, but immensely amusing for me to discover. Overall, Nettou The King of Fighters '95 is a very solid & enjoyable fifth entry for the Nettou Series, but also one that (in my opinion) loses a fair bit of the charm visually, while the gameplay is good but otherwise unspectacular. For the last entry to see release in North America it's certainly not a bad send off, by any means, but there are still three more games to go.
After another case of two Nettou games coming out in consecutive months, Takara took a short break once again, but would release the sixth entry on August 23, 1996. For #6 we have Nettou Samurai Spirits: Zankurou Musouken, a conversion of 1995's Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood, the entry generally considered the black sheep of the series' 2D offerings (due to a variety of gameplay alterations), though much like the last SamSho game to appear on the handheld the Game Boy version is once again the first non-Neo Geo release for the game, beating out the PS1 port by a single week in Japan. Unfortunately, this would be the first Nettou game since Nettou Garou Densetsu 2 in 1994 to be a Japan-exclusive, and it also wouldn't be the last. The developer for this conversion was Betop, and while it's certainly plausible that the studio simply handled two Nettou games that same year (they did release five months apart, & Betop could have split into two teams to handle development) I think the fact that Betop was the developer for this conversion makes me believe that AI truly was the studio behind Nettou Toshinden. Still, with a more controversial game taking the bat, let's see how it converts into (Super) Game Boy form.
In terms of roster, Nettou Zankurou (for simplicity's sake) is an interesting mix of missing characters but also featuring exclusive content. Compared to the Neo Geo original's 13 characters (including final boss Zankuro Minazuki), the Game Boy conversion has only 12. However, two characters from the original, namely Kyoshiro Senryo & newbie Gaira Caffeine, are gone from this portable version, so how is it 12? In a neat touch, the Game Boy version includes Jubei Yagyu (from the first two games) as a special boss fight, giving this version something unique, as Jubei isn't in the original version of SamSho III. As for gameplay, this is sadly the first Nettou game to not fully convert over the control scheme of the original, even when compared to the conversion of the first SamSho. You see, the original Neo Geo game utilized three strengths of Slash (Light, Medium, & Heavy) & a single Kick, but in the Game Boy version there's only two strengths of Slash using the press/hold method with B (Light & Medium), while Kick is still a single strength, so there's no difference between pressing or holding A. While I can understand not wanting to have a single button be either a Slash or Kick depending on whether it's pressed or held, it does result in an awkward feel that also gives the feeling that's something missing. Meanwhile, pressing B+A together does a spot dodge (& when close lets you swap over to your opponent's back), while B+A+Down lets you charge your Rage Gauge, and you can even select between the "Slash" or "Bust" forms of characters at the character select screen, which was a new feature introduced with this third entry.
In terms of how it feels to play Nettou Zankurou, though, the overall feel is admittedly a bit rough. Maybe it's because it's based on a generally disliked entry in the series (that I admittedly have little experience with), but while the general gameplay feels OK there's just this feeling that something is off; I imagine the lopsided control scheme doesn't help in that feel, either. It's certainly nice to see the variety of options available in terms of gameplay (dodging, disarming, the multiple play styles, etc.), but while playing I never really had this feeling that it felt truly cohesive, overall. Even from a presentation perspective it's a bit of give & take when compared to the original Nettou SamSho game, as while there is no longer an absurdly long wait between rounds & a much better usage of the Super Game Boy's color options, there are also fewer chibi-styled cutscenes between fights, which definitely feel like a loss in charm. There's also the potential of the game repeating itself unneccesarily, as while playing as Haohmaru I wound up fighting Haohmaru as one of his arcade ladder opponents... only to then later encounter Kuroko the referee, who disguises himself as Haohmaru, giving me two mirror matches in one arcade ladder; why even have a mirror match programmed as a possible fight if Kuroko already does it? Eventually, playing this Nettou game honestly kind of felt like a chore, and I never got that feeling with any of the prior ones; the long wait between rounds in the first SamSho was annoying, but at least the fights still felt good to play.
Overall, Nettou Samurai Spirits: Zankurou Musouken is there on a mechanical level, as you do have a lot of options to work with and adding in Jubei in place of Kyoshiro & Gaira's removal is a cool touch. Unfortunately, a lopsided control scheme (which, in turn, can't even fully replicate the original game's controls), potentially repetitive arcade ladder, and honestly kind of bland feeling experience definitely bring it down a lot, making it one of the worst overall experiences out of the entire Nettou Series, at least so far; that being said, though, it's still likely preferable to most other fighting games on the Game Boy. This is also, from my experience, one of the more expensive carts to buy from this series, and in this case its monetary value is not representative of its overall value, as a game.
We're nearing the end, but after Nettou Samurai Spirits: Zankurou Musouken Takara would, once again, put the Nettou Series on hiatus, this time for an entire year. The Game Boy wouldn't receive another entry until August 8, 1997 with Nettou The King of Fighters '96, a conversion of the third entry in the KOF series, though this time around it'd be the last port of the game, coming out a month after the PS1 port (the Saturn port came out fast in late 1996); in fact, the Game Boy conversion would come out a little over a week after the arcade release of The King of Fighters '97! This would be the last Nettou game to see release outside of Japan, though it was only in Europe under the title The King of Fighters: Heat of Battle (a rather literal translation of "Nettou", admittedly), and by this point Laguna Video Games had been purchased by Infogrames, so while Laguna is credited on the title screen it's Infogrames' logo on the packaging. Also, this European release is seemingly rather scarce (& expensive, especially boxed) now, so it's likely that Infogrames only released it in limited quantities to honor Laguna's contract. For developer we once again have Gaibrain, which would also develop the next & final entry in the Nettou Series, so by this point it looks like Takara had figured out which studio was best for the job. Not much else to say but to see how the second & final KOF game for a Game Boy, at least until the GBA in 2002, fares in combat.
Similar to KOF '95 on the Game Boy before it, Heat of Battle can't possibly contain the Neo Geo original's 29-character roster, but the end result is still mighty impressive, especially once you include the hidden characters. In terms of the "normal" roster, we once again see that only one team has been maintained 100% (in this case it's the Boss Team of Geese Howard, Wolfgang Krauser, & Mr. Big), while the remaining seven teams only see one or two members (sorry Korea Team fans, but they're 100% gone this time around), but at least Gaibrain decided to mix things up a little. For example, Daimon is now with Kyo here instead of Benimaru, Robert is now here instead of Yuri, & Andy replaces Joe, while Leona is now the sole Ikari Team rep, Mai is the sole Women Fighters Team rep, & Athena is without Kensou this time around. Sub-boss Chizuru Kagura is also available at the start, while final boss Goenitz is unlocked the usual way for a Nettou game (i.e. press Select three times at the Takara logo at start up). However, there are actually three more hidden characters, two of which take advantage of the fact that this conversion came out after KOF '97. Namely, Orochi Iori & Orochi Leona are hidden away to fight & play as, while this Nettou version also includes Mr. Karate, giving you a total of 19 characters to choose from! Visually Heat of Battle looks similar to Gaibrain's prior conversion, though the slightly larger or more zoomed out playfield results in the characters looking slightly more "chibi" than last time; I can't tell if that's intentional or not, but I actually kind of prefer it.
As for gameplay, Heat of Battle is honestly a pretty packed Game Boy fighter, mechanically speaking. "Press vs. Hold" controls once again allow for the four-button control scheme to carry over just fine, and instead of spot dodging there's now the iconic roll that would become a KOF standard going forward. However, B+A has a bunch of uses to go over. When pressed with Forward or Back you roll in that direction, but this conversion also includes both the Emergency Evasion & Attack Deflector mechanics, where pressing either of those combinations while blocking will result in your character either rolling to the other side of your opponent or hitting with with a counter that knocks them away, depending on the direction. Pressing B+A by itself is the equivalent of the "CD Attack", which is a universal knockback command, while pressing with while holding Down lets you charge the Power Gauge; you can even tech out of throws! There's also both back hops by double-tapping Back & full-on running by double-tapping Forward, and the CPU takes full advantage of running, resulting in an extremely fast paced & rushdown-heavy fighting experience... on a Game Boy!!
Needless to say, Heat of Battle is almost unlike anything else on the handheld when it comes to fighting games, with only World Heroes 2 Jet really coming close to matching it in terms of speed. Make no mistake, as even on Normal difficulty the CPU will absolutely show no hesitation in running towards you after it knocks you down to continue assaulting you on wake up, so you kind of wind up having to play very aggressively against it, but once you adjust it's actually not that difficult; Ryo still has a sort of exploit with his strong Hien Shippuu Kyaku, but it's not as consistent. Even Goenitz is, sadly, barely even a pale imitation of his Neo Geo counterpart, as he doesn't Yonokaze (a.k.a. "Koko desu ka?") you to death at all, while doing the same to the CPU as him is a little trickier, due to the "Press vs. Hold" control scheme. Still, whereas I found KOF '95 enjoyable enough, Heat of Battle feels truly legit from a gameplay standpoint, and had this seen release in North America I bet it would be talked about more as a true cult classic for the Game Boy. If anything, the only real low point would be the music, as while Gaibrain did a fantastic job in converting KOF '96's songs for the Game Boy, there's just not a lot of it in general, since there are only a handful of stages in this version; still, stuff like "Esaka?" (Japan Team), "Fairy" (Chizuru), & "Trash Head" (Goenitz) sound excellent in this version.
Overall, The King Fighters: Heat of Battle is a standout entry in the Nettou Series, standing tall with Nettou Garou Densetsu 2, Nettou World Heroes 2 Jet, & Nettou Toshinden (in no real order) as one of the absolute entries, so far... but will the final entry be challenge any of them for the top spot?
Finally, we reach the end of the Nettou Series with the last entry of them all: Nettou Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special. Released on March 27, 1998 & developed by Gaibrain, it kind of makes sense that this would be the final game for this series, as the Game Boy Color would see release in Japan later that October (& November, abroad), so developers would naturally want to start focusing more on making games that took advantage of the GBC's enhancements. In fact, only 17 games would come out for the original Game Boy in Japan following the Game Boy Color's release... and the last nine of those were all entries in Imagineer's Shikakui Atama wo Mark-suru series between 1999 & 2001; for all intents & purposes, the original Game Boy was done with in Japan after 1998. Not just that, but Nettou Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special was actually Takara's final release for the original Game Boy, while the game itself would be the third & final Nettou game to remain a Japan-exclusive. As the title indicates, this is a conversion of 1997's Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, the second game in the Real Bout sub-series of Fatal Fury games, & came out three months after the Saturn's port of the Neo Geo original; the PS1 would later receive Real Bout Special: Dominated Mind, a unique entry with some new characters, plot, & altered gameplay. So let's finish things up & see if the Nettou Series ended with a (Livewire! Go) bang, or if it (& Takara's time with the original Game Boy itself) simply burned out.
In terms of roster, Nettou Real Bout is understandably truncated when compared to the Neo Geo original, featuring only 14 characters, two of which being secret. In comparison, the original game features 20 total characters, plus four characters having "extra" versions with modified move sets (so some technically consider it as having 24 characters), so the ones who got the axe for the Game Boy conversion wind up being Tung Fu Rue, Cheng Sinzan, Jin Chonsu (though twin brother Chonrei is kept), Hon-Fu, Franco Bash, & Sokaku Mochizuki; to be fair, aside from Tung & Sokaku, it was the least relevant characters that got removed. The end result is a roster that admittedly feels a bit more like Fatal Fury Special than Real Bout Special, only with Yamazaki & Chonrei in place of characters like Big Bear & Axel Hawk, and while Yamazaki, Billy Kane, Laurence Blood, & Krauser are the final bosses you are allowed to select them right away. As for the two secret characters, you have "Nightmare Geese" (since Geese canonically died in the main SNK universe, i.e. not KOF's universe, in the first Real Bout) as a bonus fight after defeating Krauser, and if you wait through the entire end credits you're rewarded with one final extra fight... against Iori Yagami from KOF! It's admittedly neat to see Iori playable in a game like this, as Nettou Real Bout still maintains the quirks of the original game, namely the multiple fighting planes (two, in this case, which you can switch between with B+A), the H & S Power Gauge for DMs, everyone having two health meters per round, etc. Of course, though, the "real" question to ask is whether or not this final Nettou game nails the gameplay itself well.
For that I have to, unfortunately, answer with "kind of". On the Neo Geo RBS had a bit of a non-traditional control scheme made up of three attacks (Punch, Kick, & Strong Attack) & a button to switch planes. Since plane switching is handled with B+A that results in Punch & Kick being relegated to pressing B and A, respectively, while Strong Attack is now done by holding B, but Gaibrain also essentially added in a second Kick by holding A, turning the game into a more traditional four-button fighter; it's simply the same Kick animation as just pressing A, but performed a little slower & doing slightly more damage. It helps prevent that feeling of a lopsided control scheme as in Nettou Zankurou to an extent, which is nice, but the main problem with the game is just that it kind of feels a little bland to play. There's nothing really wrong with the moment-to-moment combat, as combos feel good to perform & specials and DMs are easy to consistently do, but while I was playing this it just didn't have that hook that some of the other Nettou games had. The multi-plane system, though impressive that it was maintained (Nettou Garou Densetsu 2 notably removed it), feels kind of ancillary in this conversion, and DMs are honestly kind of busted by doing way too much damage, even in their weakest forms; Terry's Power Geyser literally took off nearly half my opponent's health every time. It also doesn't help that the CPU is, once again, insanely aggressive, repeatedly dashing towards you at almost all times, and even performing attacks before you ever get up, sometimes leaving you unable to defend yourself on wake up; Geese & Iori were especially crazy with this.
However, what really brings Nettou Real Bout down the most is the presentation. Visually the characters look somewhat worse than they did in Gaibrain's prior efforts, though they are still visually identifiable, and though the stages themselves are brought over well to the Game Boy the actual usage of color via the Super Game Boy feels rather lacking, reverting things back all the way to how the original Nettou SamSho was like; the character portraits look outstanding in color, though. But the worst aspect of Nettou Real Bout, though, is easily the music, which is especially surprising since KOF: Heat of Battle's score (though limited) sounded great. To put it simply, the songs found here are just not good renditions of their Neo Geo originals, with some (like "London March" & "Soy Sauce for Geese") honestly sounding unfinished, though some songs do sound better, admittedly. And, really, that's more or less how I feel about Nettou Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special: It's Okay. Mechanically it's a solid conversion of the game, though the CPU is kind of wild at times, but it's marred by a lackluster presentation, both in visuals & audio. I won't say that the Nettou Series ended on a whimper, but it definitely didn't end at its best.
After Nettou Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special you'd think that Takara would simply move the Nettou Series over to the Game Boy Color... which it sort of did, but not quite. On March 19, 1999 Takara would release its very first Game Boy Color title, Kettou Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Senshi Saikyo Ketteisen/Duel Fight Transfomers Beast Wars: Battle Between the Strongest Beast Warriors, a fighting game based on the Beast Wars: Transformers franchise, specifically the Japan-only anime continuations, Beast Wars II & Beast Wars Neo. On the one hand, this was developed by Gaibrain & plays similar to the Nettou Series before it, but on the other hand it's not a conversion of an arcade or console fighting game, and it uses the word "決闘/Kettou", or "Duel Fight", instead of "熱闘/Nettou", or "Deadheat Fighters", so at best it's a spin-off, hence why I'm not covering it in detail; it also can be put in the N64 Transfer Pak & interfaced with Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals, though obviously only the Japanese version. Following this game, though, Gaibrain would only make one more game (Magical Drop for WonderSwan) before going out of business, and by 1999 Betop & Sun L were both also long out of business, while AI had since moved over to making games for Hudson Soft & Banpresto; as for Tamsoft, it had long switched over to console games, only eventually returning to handhelds in 2007. In other words, Takara had no real way to even continue these kinds of releases after Kettou Beast Wars (& I wouldn't be surprised if this game underperformed, to start with), and so it marked the definite end of the Nettou/Kettou Series.
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| Japanese covers are used here mainly for consistency... and to showcase each game's unique Nettou "Deadheat Fighters" logo. |
Today, Takara's Nettou "Deadheat Fighters" Series of Game Boy fighting games is a perfect encapsulation of what needed to be done to make a proper "tournament fighter" work on the limited hardware of handhelds of the 90s. As time moved on & technology advanced (& more buttons were added), though, there was less & less of a need to convert & reinterpret this genre of video game for handhelds. In fact, once the PSP debuted in late 2004, just over a solid decade after the first Nettou game in Japan, companies were now able to simply make direct ports of arcade fighting games (or at least rely on emulation), some of which were even given additions & improvements, sometimes resulting in the handheld version being the absolute best one of them all. For example, Street Fighter Alpha 3 came out in Japanese arcades just three months after Nettou Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special came out on Game Boy, and in just less than eight whole years Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max on the PSP became the best version of that game! In that regard, the Nettou Series today is more or less a curio of days long gone, back when the difference in hardware between arcade, console, & handheld were still so vast.
Now, since this is all about a series of fighting games, I guess the only proper way to finish this would be with a "tier list" of some sort, right? OK, so here's how I personally would rank each of the eight Nettou Series entries covered:
Nettou Samurai Spirits © SNK 1993, Reprogrammed © Takara 1994
Nettou Garou Densetsu 2 -Aratanaru Tatakai- © SNK 1992, Reprogrammed © Takara 1994
Nettou World Heroes 2 Jet © SNK/ADK 1994, Reprogrammed © Takara 1995
Nettou Toshinden © Takara 1996
Nettou The King of Fighters '95 © SNK 1995, Reprogrammed © Takara 1996
Nettou Samurai Spirits: Zankurou Musouken © SNK 1995, Reprogrammed © Takara 1996
Nettou The King of Fighters '96 © SNK 1996, Reprogrammed © Takara 1997
Nettou Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special © SNK 1996, Reprogrammed © Takara 1998
Kettou Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Senshi Saikyo Ketteisen © 1998 Transformer Production Company Inc./Takara・TV Tokyo/Ashi Production/NAS © Takara 1999
Great write up! I own all of these and I think they are really special as like proto Neo Geo Pocket games and I am a sucker for chibi sprite work. I am surprised though that you thought so highly of Fatal Fury 2. It seemed much slower and maybe less fun to me. I def agree with your overall tier list. King of Fighters 96 is really packed with features and is prob the best fighter on the Gameboy.
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