ACA NEOGEO World Heroes 2 Jet

Genre: Fighting Game

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

.

Review:

World Heroes 2 Jet is a Fighting Game originally released in 1994 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.

While this game is titled like an update to World Heroes 2, it has significant differences from its predecessor. The roster has been expanded to 16, finally almost bringing the series to par with the current Street Fighter title (in this case, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which had 16 playable fighters plus one secret unlockable fighter). Additionally, there’s an added dash move, and overall the controls have been noticeably improved, and though I wouldn’t say they’re great here, they’re… acceptable. The game still uses timed button presses to determine which attack you’re using, unfortunately.

The game modes have been changed a bit too, and this time around “Normal Game” and “Death Match” modes have been replaced with “Entry to the Tournament” and “The Forging of Warriors” modes. The former has players fighting a single match with multiple successive characters while trying to keep their win-loss ratio above a certain amount, while the latter has players simply selecting which opponent to fight. These are odd choices, and while they set World Heroes 2 Jet apart from other Fighting games, it’s disappointing that this game doesn’t contain a more traditional Arcade mode.

I should also note that compared to previous entries in the series, World Heroes 2 Jet’s computer-controlled opponents are surprisingly tough, and seem to be good at anticipating your actions. This is definitely not going to be a great Fighting Game for newer players to the genre.

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.

For the first time in the series, I think World Heroes 2 Jet presents us with a game that deserves some consideration for modern fans of the Fighting Game genre looking to play an old classic. However, it’s still lacking in multiple ways – the dated button-holding attack mechanics, the lack of an Arcade mode, and the overly-tough computer-controlled opponents make this game more frustrating than it needs to be. It has its charms, but it’s not the timeless classic that its contemporary Super Street Fighter II Turbo was.

tl;dr – World Heroes 2 Jet is a Fighting Game that has players taking the role of historical figures in battle, and this game makes several additions and improvements over the prior World Heroes game. Its controls still leave something to be desired, it lacks a traditional Arcade mode, and its difficulty level is overly-high. But overall this is a marked improvement for this series, even if it still doesn’t hold a candle to the Street Fighter series.

Grade: C+

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Jamie and His Cats, Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Johannes, Jaka, Jared Wark, Gabriel Coronad-Medina, Francis Obst, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}