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Super
Sidekicks 2 |
| Gamefan
review
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SNK's Super Sidekicks 2 is making its debut on the Neo-Geo and it turned out to be, unexpectedly, an outstanding piece of software indeed. Before we get too involved in the content of Super Sidekicks 2, there are a few observations and opinions that I would like to take the opportunity to voice at this time. In my mind, SNK is the most impressive, non-Sega or Nintendo hardware and software developer on the planet. That may, at first, seem like a backhanded compliment, but I assure you that the talented men and women at SNK are held in the highest regard.
They launched the Neo-Geo console in 1990 (4 years in now considered an eternity in the video game industry) and, to this very day, many enthusiasts still consider the Geo to be one of the most advanced and highly desired pieces of hardware out there. The arcade Neo-Geo was widely criticized from its inception. Many pundits lead us to believe that having identical coin-op and home versions of a game would sacrifice the potential of the arcade game. Conversely, these boneheads assumed the home user would see no reason to buy a game they could play for a quarter, months before it surfaced on the home console console. Well, it now seems as though Sega, Sony and Nintendo will have home and arcade versions of their next generation hardware.... sound familiar? Can you say, "way ahead of their time?" Surely these "experts" lack the intestinal fortitude to question the choices made by these three massive corporations. Then there's also the Neo-Geo
software to consider. The SNK programmers have made great strides toward the goal
of software excellence. I'm sure many people, including myself, remember the old days when you could waltz through your brand new, $200 game in under an hour. In many instances, the
gameplay, replayability, graphics and sound in these early games left much to be desired, especially considering the monetary investment they demanded. How times have changed. Few would question the quality of recent SNK games. Fatal Fury 2 and Fatal Fury Special are fantastic fighting games, Top Hunter looks like it may set a new standard for action games and Samurai Shodown is considered to be one of the best games of all time. Now comes Super Sidekicks 2. To me, soccer games are about as intriguing as a toe cheese seminar, but that's beside the point. Not only is SSK2 a great soccer game, it's a great game... period.
So what's so great about SSK2? The game uses only the A, B and C buttons. On offense, you shoot or do a low pass with A, high pass with B and short kick with C. If you tap the A or B buttons, you will do a short pass and, if you hold them down longer, you will do a long pass. While on defense, you can slide with A, tackle or throw with B and select a different player with C. You can choose your favorite team from 6 different areas of the world, each with 8 teams, for a total of 48 countries. Then, you select which aspect of your team you would like to power up (offense, defense, speed, it's up to you). Now you flip the coin and you play the game. The first thing to stand out in the 16-meg SSk2 is the
gameplay. Not only is the control great, but it's an easy game to learn and insanely fun to play. all the players seem to have different abilities and personalities. In fact, the game itself has plenty of personality.
The crowd cheers, chants and sings. Players grab you and throw you to the ground. A long the way, players get tired, you can do windmills, head butts, kick the ref with the ball, etc. It's all quite awesome. The sound of the players sliding on the grass or kicking the ball is very realistic. SSK2 scales and line scrolls so seamlessly that, at times, it's difficult to sense that it is doing so. The graphics are nice, with a slightly digitized
effect on the smoothly animated players. Add in great voice, cool cinemas and awesome first person goal kicks, and you've got the best soccer game I have ever laid eyes on. -K. Lee
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