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.

Incredible retro game First tag team game of this type ever. Good Visuals and easy to get into fighting game.

重温96年街机格斗游戏的独特魅力。真硬核啊。 默认1P键位大概是上下左右箭头然后拳脚是89UI附近，感觉不舒服，我直接插手柄了。 然后看了下商店未标注PS5手柄，但是实测我用着没问题。续币是上箭头右上角那个小小键。 我选了最低难度，想着轻松速通一下，多通关几个角色。万万没想到，最后一关的BOSS真的跟他出场动画一样，简直活生生的黄金圣斗士。 不光有黄金盔甲，而且速度快范围大，还霸体，伤害也老狠了。让我回忆起了被老游戏难度支配的恐惧，真正的BOSS压迫感。 即便我想用拖延时间战术读秒给他读死，都完全没给我任何机会，我感觉挑战了几十次。几乎伤不到他分毫。 我尝试多次我个人稍微能与之抗衡的是大胃袋，可能是血厚和攻击稍微高一些吧。打了30分钟用尽全力仍然无法战胜。 游戏有很多特色，几乎每个人的武器都能被打落，可以空手继续战斗，可以重新拾取。老头半血后会突然爆衣变红变快。 不止老头，我似乎发现其他角色有时候死了也会爆衣。 在选人画面，光标停留在第二个和第三个角色时，按上键，可以选择隐藏角色。 移植版强化了练习模式。 Stealing Turns，执行防御取消 Back to the Lab，在练习模式中累计花费 10 分钟 Last-Ditch Effort，使用绝命攻击赢得一局 You'll never see it coming，发动突袭 Double Trouble，以满血状态赢得一局 Not on my watch，执行紧急角色切换 Uncontested Champions，不使用续关通关一次游戏 If you want a thing done well...，使用 Jyazu 或 King Leo 通关一次游戏 Best Friends Forever，使用 3 支高契合度队伍中的任意一支通关一次游戏 Not that I want to...，使用 3 支低契合度队伍中的任意一支通关一次游戏 A Challenge Worthy of a King，在最高难度下，不使用 Boss 角色通关一次游戏 The True Beast God 使用所有角色各通关一次游戏

Says 0.1 hours played but I primarily play on Steam Deck and it never tracks properly. This is another high quality port from Code Mystics. I have picked up all their releases on Steam and this one is just as good as the rest. It's got a good training mode, a jukebox, achievements, leaderboards, and rollback netcode for up to 4 players, which is quite impressive. As far as I know, fightcade does not easily allow for 4 players so this is a really neat way to play a very rare 4 player NeoGeo title. Now, whether you can actually find 3 others online at the same time is another discussion, but at least it's here, maybe if you've got some friends. The game itself is just a good ol' NeoGeo fighter, I wouldn't say it's anything to write home about but it has some really cool mechanics and I'm a sucker for old fighters. I will definitely boot it up to have a good time in arcade mode. The only true negative I have for this release is the price, it's no secret that SNK and Code Mystics seem to be releasing these every two weeks at $20 (some at a $15 launch discount), and that's a lot for a single NeoGeo game. Especially when their absolute best fighters with rollback go on sale regularly for $1-2. Still, I think for what you're getting $15 is "fair", but it really just needs one more feature or bonus somewhere to really justify that. Steam trading cards, a console release with crossplay, arranged soundtrack, just something. Personally, I am enjoying it right now, and will try to unlock all the online avatars through the achievements and get new high scores on the leaderboards. Looking forward to maybe AOF3 shadowdropped at Dreamhack.

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, distance, and, of course, special moves with which to connect. The character designs are some of SNKs wackiest in the best ways possible. As a fan of Savage Reign, I had an attachment to the characters before this game released, and as such, I was disappointed to see that Carol and Nicola did not make the cut. Despite that, the two (technically three) characters that were added to Kizuna Encounter make up for my missing Carol. Both Kim Sue-Il and Rosa are strong additions to the cast of quirky characters. Kim is a fun nod to the character introduced in Fatal Fury 2, and he not only looks like Fatal Fury alum Kim Kaphwan, he also uses many of the same moves! I might be in the minority on this, but I feel like Kizuna Encounter is one of the best looking SNK fighters in the company's portfolio. Indeed, the urban, dystopian future setting is the perfect backdrop for the Battle of the Beast Gods tournament. All of the stages tell a detailed story without ever needing words to do it, and the unique stage-opening sequences are top-notch. Specials and supers are flashy and hit hard, small details like torn clothing, broken weapons, and the reactions of losing teammates all give that extra bit of polish to the game. For Steam's 4-Player, Premium Selection version, Kizuna Encounter offers extras like a practice mode, two-player co-op or versus, and true four-player battles! Rollback net code, and input-delay options make for some extremely nice QOL updates as well. Overall, I am very happy that SNK decided to add Kizuna Encounter Super Tag Battle to their Steam lineup. Hopefully, more people will be introduced to one of the most underrated fighting games ever. I wholeheartedly recommend this game to any fighting game fan - young or old.

最冷冷饭硬炒！1996年街机游戏《风云默示录：超级组队战》现已移植至Steam！游戏在前作的8个角色基础上增加了新角色罗莎和金秀一，同时boss角色在单人对战时也可选择！整体体验下来，游戏的引导教程做的还是很好的。攻击包括：普攻、武器攻击、连招组合等，战斗丝滑简单适合格斗游戏新手入坑体验。游戏的战斗形式主要还是2v2的团队战斗，虽然每个角色拥有单独的血条，但是只有有一个人死了另外一个也会死，这意味着玩家要学会控制血量，在极限血量的时候换下另一个角色。此外，游戏支持单人和四人联机游玩，画面最高分辨率支持4k，这也算是比较好的一点吧，老玩家至少可以喊上自己的朋友一起在高画质下重温这款经典的格斗游戏。可惜的是本作没有中文，希望snk及时加上吧。

I... did not see this coming. If you told me a few years ago that SNK would have Code Mystics do a re-release of Kizuna Encounter, which not only has all the good stuff they usually do for these ports, but also featuring the rare 4-Way edition, two weeks away from my birthday no less? I would have laughed in your face! xD But they damn well did it. Kizuna Encounter is a somewhat obscure title from SNK, which I must have discovered in the ancient times of using Kawaks to play arcade games. (Y'all remember Kawaks? Good times.) It's a very different game from its predecessor Savage Reign, and... THAT IS A GOOD THING. Savage Reign's gameplay was a bit all over the place, with a cracked out line system borrowed from Fatal Fury and very weird inputs for special moves. Kizuna takes a more streamlined route, with some more normal inputs for moves (except for King Lion's sword throw, it's not that easy to do in this game), and pretty much everyone's super move being hcb,f+A. It's a much easier game to pick up and play, with the chain combos and tag mechanics being the game's strong suit, iirc there's like 3 Neogeo games that use tag mechanics, this one, KOF 2003, and Rage of the Dragons. The roster isn't really big, considering it's just the Savage Reign cast minus Carol and Nicola (ngl, I wouldn't mind them being here, if they had the rework in gameplay everyone else had), and two newcomers in Kim (Kim's cousin from the countryside who pokes people with a stick, his Phoenix Kick super is AMAZING, with the slow-mo and embers falling at the end), and Rosa being the sole female character. I like this roster. King Lion and Hayate are cool, and Eagle is so damn silly, what the hell is that spinning air move? xD. His super however? Chef's kiss. The backgrounds are VERY different from the bright and colorful ones in Savage Reign, the city is all ruined, no sign of people apart from one instance in the Waterway stage, instead of parks and caves and laboratories you get empty slums, a deserted highway, and some unfinished skyscraper, and the soundtrack kinda reflects it, too. It's a great setting IMO. ...now let's talk about the elephants in the room: the bosses. OH GOD, THE BOSSES. I always had this unpopular opinion that King Leo is one of the hardest bosses in SNK history: he blocks everything, counters everything, reads you like a freaking book, does ridiculous amounts of damage, and oh yeah, let's talk about that TRIPLE HITBOX on this Earth Chopper, shall we? xD (thanks, hitbox viewer) And that's all considering he's not even the last boss. I am glad to say I didn't find him as hard in this specific version: he's still not easy, far from it, but he's a tiny bit more tolerable in this version, which isn't saying much considering the original version is straight up impossible. Just pray for the best. (Edit: Useful tip for beating King Leo, move away from him at least half screen, do a forward dodge (A+B), most of the times he'll try to throw that projectile where he is exposed or something else that can be punished. I use a throw. It's the most consistent way I found to beat him, making 1CC runs slightly easier.) (Also King Leo has one of the most hilarious voices in fighting game history. Guy's laugh gives Shao Kahn a run for his money.) And just when you think you're done: here comes Jazu. Oh dear. Just his intro alone might make you crap your pants. Ninja sorceror who kills the boss you spent several quarters on like it's nothing? And does some black magic to change the arena into some creepy ass dimension? Is Kizuna Encounter secretly a horror game? xD (Also I just realized that Jazu masquerades as a crow before fighting you, and there's several crows in most stages in the game, meaning any of these could have been him. Oh dear.) He's not as hard as King Leo but he can still kick your ass if you're not careful. He gets two moves with massive hitboxes for free while Gozu and Mezu's are supers, he can zone you to death but he can easily fight you up close as well. And his super does a ton of damage and has lots of reach. And the less we say about that taunt, the better. I'm very happy Code Mystics gave this game a shot, even though it's not very popular and maybe not even that well known among fighting game fans. I was always a fan of it and despite the painful boss fights (which honestly, it's among one of the hardest in SNK history, and although exploits do exist, it must be a miserable experience for new players), it's a fun game to go back to every once in a while. Add the fact that it's the rare 4-Way version, rollback netcode, AND the practice mode, adds a lot of value to it when it comes to preservation of games like this. I agree the price is a little weird, but I'm assuming it's the standard price and something Code Mystics does not have control over, considering SVC Chaos and Real Bout 2 are the same price, but all things considered, I'm very happy to see this game on a more modern platform. It's an easy thumbs up from me. If only they made the bosses easier, lol. (Also, the achievement for beating this game on Hardest is freaking diabolical. xD But somehow I did it.)

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.

El peak de SNK ahora es posible jugarlo de 4 jugadores en equipos y onlineeeeeee!!!!! Ningún otro juego de peleas del momento te pide tantas manos para jugar ni te da la adrenalina de que a tu compañero lo maten por no alcanzar el relevo para salvar el match. Para ser del 96 69/10 🃏

boss isn't any fun at all. Why SNK didn't change this? Well they had more then 25 years to bring some changes into the game... and 20 bucks for this..? Really? Maybe I will try MP, but Singleplayer is not worth it!