I’ve never been the best at fighting games; I always tried, but I could never quite understand the dozens of layouts or complex mechanics. I still love to play them; however, games like Super Smash Bros. and Mortal Kombat bring back some fun memories as I played those a lot with friends after school, but it’s with SNK that I have a greater fondness. Growing up, I used to visit my family in Mexico a lot, and because we lived in a place pretty far from others, there wasn’t much to do except explore. But there was a store with an arcade machine. And for years, every time we visited family, I would find myself lost in the sea of endless games the cabinet held, with SNK being the most prevalent. It wasn’t for too much time, but the small moments I was able to bond with some cousins via quick games of King of Fighters or Fatal Fury or just any other game that arcade cabinet had are moments I won’t forget.

Nowadays, while I haven’t gone on to play most of their recent titles, SNK still holds a unique place in my heart, so when I was given the chance to play World Heroes Perfect, I knew I had to give it a shot, as it was one title I didn’t end up playing. Releasing as part of the NEO GEO Premium Selection, I was excited to see how this differed from the other titles I briefly played growing up. While I was left wanting a bit more, I was still satisfied with what I played.

Battle Start

World Heroes Perfect, right off the bat, looks absolutely beautiful; each arena looks and feels so unique from each other, making entering a new fight all the more exciting as I never knew where I would be sent. The Ice Age and the Jurassic Period stages are my absolute favorite as they have some of the coolest ambience in the whole game. The gameplay, as well, feels nice and fluid. It took me a bit to get used to the unique layout, but after a while of learning in the training mode, as well as being able to freely adjust both the keyboard and controller controls, I found myself enthralled in the chaos. Having to decide on the fly between either a light punch or a heavy kick was a bit off-putting at first, as each one has its own dedicated button I had to press, but after a while, it started to feel more natural. Alongside this, the game also has the combos you would expect, but also hero moves, which, when pulled off properly, feel so satisfying to pull off against any difficult opponent, especially those that were giving me a hard time.

World Heroes Perfect’s arcade mode was honestly a bit hard at first, as someone who isn’t the best at fighting games, especially those from the early to late 90s. I kept on having to restart fights, but being able to immediately jump back into the action with the option to change character if I wanted to was nice. Even in the options, there was a toggle to lower and raise the difficulty and damage of the CPUs, and while I did slightly lower them from a 5 to a 4, the game still felt like a small challenge. It was a fun time, but also a bit short, with only 10 opponents to go against. The game does contain some story elements, but with the main meat of the arcade mode being the gameplay and boss fights, whenever I first defeated the final boss, I was left wanting to jump back in with another fighter, excited to see how they would play.

World Heroes Perfect sports a total of 19 characters, with bosses like Neo Dio and Zeus being unlocked and playable from the get-go. Most of these characters are clearly inspired by real historical figures, with some being quite obvious, like Jeanne and Rasputin, but others felt more like characters of the era, like Muscle Power and J. Max being caricatures of Hulk Hogan and Joe Montana, respectively. On paper, having characters like these in the same game would feel strange and clash, but surprisingly, they all feel like they belong. I found myself gravitating towards quick characters like Hanzo and Neo Dio as their quick movement felt more at home to me compared to slower characters like J. Max and Zeus.

Minor Cracks

While I had fun with World Heroes Perfect, there were some minor issues I felt brought down the game from being perfect. For starters, the overall presentation, while good, feels a bit lackluster; the menus and backgrounds leave a lot to be desired, especially when viewing the gallery, as the beautiful artwork contrasts hard against the menu, which feels out of a different game. The lack of frames is also a minor complaint I have. Sure, you won’t be staring at them for most of the game, but only having 4 feels off, as I would’ve liked it if they had one for each character or stage, but as it stands, it’s not a complete deal breaker, as most will probably have them turned off. The game’s menus also feel a tad sluggish; whenever I paused the game or was browsing the settings, it felt like it took longer than needed to move, which is odd, as everything else in the game is nice and quick, but trying to move in the settings is noticeably slower. Overall, most of my issues with this game can be chalked up as nitpicks, but for a game like this that has a fantastic presentation, small cracks like these stick out. 

Ranking Highly

World Heroes Perfect was an absolute blast to play, with its fast-paced action and beautiful art style. I had so much fun learning the ins and outs of the game in its training mode, and I also felt really challenged in the arcade mode. While I wasn’t able to try out the online, including rollback code is a nice touch and is going to make fights smooth, which I will be excited to try out. However, the game also slightly staggered in its presentation, with the menu feeling slightly sluggish to control and having a style that contrasts hard against the incredible hand-drawn work from the original title, and the lack of customization with the frames. While not perfect, this was a fun time and has me interested in checking out more SNK games so I can make new memories to go alongside the ones I still hold onto from long ago.

Disclaimer: SNK provided a PC (Steam) copy of World Heroes Perfect for review purposes