ACA NEOGEO World Heroes 2

Genre: Fighting Game

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

World Heroes 2 is a Fighting Game originally released in 1993 in arcades and the NEOGEO home console, and in the years since it has been brought to numerous other consoles, with this ACA NEOGEO version releasing on Nintendo Switch in 2018.

World Heroes 2 continues with the series’ premise of a Fighting Game with a roster of fighters comprised of legendary figures from throughout history, though this time around the definition of “hero” is a bit more suspect – Mudman doesn’t seem based on any specific person so much as a caricature of Australian Aboriginal people and Pacific Islanders. And Johnny Maximum, the football-playing killing machine? I suppose this series was trying to find its iconic characters the same way Street Fighter and Fatal Fury had, but I think it ultimately just ended up losing its original vision.

Of course, it doesn’t matter so much as the gameplay, and here the controls seem improved over the first game but still clunky, still using the same button-holding mechanic to get different attacks from the same button. The “Death Match” mode has also changed to feature more creative stage hazards, and a new health mechanic where the two fighters share one health bar that moves back and forth based on who takes damage.

The roster at least has been boosted to 14 playable characters, which is still behind contemporaries Fatal Fury Special and Super Street Fighter II, which had 15 and 16, respectively. And the speed is thankfully faster than the first game, though not as much as games like Street Fighter II Turbo.

When it comes to the specific features of this port, players are given a decent array of options and features. The game features the Japanese original release, the English original release, and Caravan Mode, a 5 minute score challenge with Online leaderboards. Furthermore, in-game players can access display settings, save states, game settings, and a digital manual. It’s a decent selection of features, though sadly what’s missing is online play, and there’s no art or making-of content to speak of.

Is World Heroes 2 an improvement over its predecessor? Certainly. But it’s still clunky and outdated by today’s standards, and its was still behind-the-times by the standards of its day. And while I could see some players enjoying this, I cannot imagine any reason why you would buy this game for $8 when you have numerous better options.

tl;dr – World Heroes 2 is a Fighting Game that has players taking the role of historical figures in battle, but that’s about all this game has going for it. Clunky controls and an uninspired cast of fighters makes this a game that hasn’t been treated kind by history, and it wasn’t even competitive with games of its era. Skip it.

Grade: C-

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