Capcom and SNK’s rivalry actually began a number of years before Street Fighter II and Fatal Fury arrived in the arcades. The “Look, we can do it too!” back-and-forth exchange translated into several classic hits from both sides, including Capcom’s 1985 Senjō no Ōkami (better known in the West as Commando) and SNK’s Ikari Warriors in the following year. While both titles went on to become revered run-and-gun classics, there was a small yet brilliant twist that failed to be translated to the home conversions of SNK’s title: The rotary joysticks!
While in Capcom’s Commando you were always forced to fire in the direction you were moving (often into an incoming line of enemy fire), on Ikari Warriors (and a few other games that will be a part of the upcoming SNK 40th Anniversary Collection) the cabinets came with rotary joysticks which allowed the players to move and aim in distinct directions simply by twisting the handle left or right.
As you probably have figured out by now, since the sticks on your Joy-Cons and Pro Controllers can’t be twisted, this particular aspect has always been a bit of a hassle to properly emulate in the past. However, Digital Eclipse has now found a solution around this issue. The news were delivered by The Video Game History Foundation owner, Frank Cifaldi, on Twitter:
I wanted to show off something I’m incredibly proud of: we managed to force all the rotary games to work as twin stick. Let me explain how cool this is: pic.twitter.com/GnzwhVgYRH— Frank Cifaldi (@frankcifaldi) June 21, 2018
By mapping firing directions to the right analog stick, the classic SNK titles that used rotary sticks will now become full-fledged twin-stick shooters. This will surely make them an easier experience than the original arcade counterparts. It’s a far better option than simply assigning extra digital buttons to twist your avatar left and right.
What do you think about this modernised take on classic SNK games? Are you looking forward to picking up SNK’s 40th Anniversary Collection when it releases on the Switch later this year? Leave your twisted replies below.