{"id":6109,"date":"2017-11-24T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/karnovs_revenge_neogeo"},"modified":"2017-11-24T11:30:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T11:30:00","slug":"review-karnovs-revenge-switch-eshop-neo-geo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2017\/11\/24\/review-karnovs-revenge-switch-eshop-neo-geo\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Karnov&#8217;s Revenge (Switch eShop \/ Neo Geo)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<aside class=\"picture embed right\"><a title=\"Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/29406\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/29406\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Hamster has done a good job of providing a variety of genres with its ACA Neo Geo series, but SNK&#8217;s machine had a <em>lot<\/em> of one-on-one brawlers and consequently Switch owners are not exactly short of options when browsing the eShop. Here&#8217;s another one, this time from the <strong>Fighter&#8217;s History<\/strong> series. Interestingly, SNES owners will soon have a chance to replay the third game and a port of the first on an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/10\/retro-bit_lifts_the_lid_on_its_multi-cart_collections_for_the_nes_and_snes\">upcoming compilation cart<\/a>, but for now Switch fans can play the second entry (the only one on Neo Geo Hardware),\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/neogeo\/karnovs_revenge\"><strong>Karnov&#8217;s Revenge<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>(AKA:\u00a0<strong>Fighter&#8217;s History Dynamite).<\/strong><\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed left\"><a title=\"Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/29404\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/29404\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The game gives you a choice of thirteen fighters and features the usual best-of-three rounds mechanic as you work through the opposition en route to the ending.\u00a0There&#8217;s a &#8220;weak point&#8221; system, but otherwise nothing to make it stand out from other fighters of the time, often coming across as &#8220;like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/snes\/street_fighter_ii_the_world_warrior\"><strong>Street Fighter II<\/strong><\/a>, but not as good&#8221;. Indeed, back in the day Capcom found the first Fighter&#8217;s History a bit <em>too<\/em> similar and took developer Data East to court (unsuccessfully, it should be noted).<\/p>\n<p>There are similarities here too, with the announcer, HUD elements and other screens having a similar style to the Capcom game. Actually playing the Data East&#8217;s effort also results in a little d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, as while there&#8217;s no out-and-out clones, moves much like Sonic Booms, Flash-kicks and Hundred Hand Slaps feature throughout, with the titular Karnov calling out &#8220;fire&#8221; with his fire breath attack. Of course, a number of games from this period feature similar special moves (and this one does at least have some unique attacks) but even a few of the regular, non-special moves seem to have been blatantly copied from Street Fighter, including some Zangief-style grapples and a Blanka-like slide. There are less options available however, as there are only two strengths of punch\/kick rather than three.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed right\"><a title=\"Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/29407\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/29407\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Despite these similarities, the brawling is not as fluid, moves don&#8217;t flow together well and fights become a series of odd taps here and there, although the weak point system adds a little bit of strategy. Each character has a spot where they&#8217;re especially vulnerable to attacks and should hits be repeatedly landed the character gets stunned, leaving them open to further attack. Weak points are certain items of clothing (such as a headband) which flash the more they are hit, but some are easier to get than others; they are often struck without really trying.<\/p>\n<p>Other games may provide better fighting, but the rounds are not devoid of entertainment and you can still have fun from turning a bout around with a well-timed special move. There&#8217;s some replayability in trying to clear the game with each character to get the different endings and should you get <em>really<\/em> good then there&#8217;s a bonus fight against an Ox for you. The usual adjustable difficulty (8 settings) is present in the options menu if you&#8217;d like a tougher\/easier path through the game, and a second player can join in at any time to challenge you to a fight.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed left\"><a title=\"Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/24870\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/24870\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The usual ACA Hi Score and Caravan modes are here giving you one credit\/five minutes to rack up as many points as possible to try and move up the online leaderboards. Like most fighters these modes aren&#8217;t as appealing as in other genres (like shmups), but do provide you with some alternative ways to play.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Karnov&#8217;s Revenge can provide some entertainment, but attacks don&#8217;t flow together with ease, sometimes making button mashing more effective (and quicker) than a well-timed series of planned moves. The weak point system can add a bit of strategy as you target certain spots on an opponent, but with some characters more susceptible to attacks than others it&#8217;s not a system that works that well or is particularly balanced. Ultimately, more accomplished fighters are available on the Neo Geo (any entry from\u00a0<strong>Fatal Fury<\/strong>, <strong>Samurai Shodown<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>King of Fighters<\/strong> series will do), and a number of these can be downloaded on Switch. Pick one of those over this rather limp and uninspired title.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hamster has done a good job of providing a variety of genres with its ACA Neo Geo series, but SNK&#8217;s machine had a lot of one-on-one brawlers and consequently Switch owners are not exactly short of options when browsing the eShop. Here&#8217;s another one, this time from the Fighter&#8217;s History series. Interestingly, SNES owners will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}